Once Upon a Vagina

Photo Courtesy of Anteater Television.

“Cunt, cunt, cunt, cunt.”

The chant of the performers grew louder as the lights of UCI’s Crystal Cove Auditorium burned brighter. Students and families present were encourag

ed to participate as the performers moved closer to the front of the stage, raising their arms to lead the chant.

February 19 was the second performance night of “The Vagina Monologues: Once Upon a Vagina”. With a maximum capacity of 455, Crystal Cove had been close to reaching a full house. Sitting attentively in the back of the auditorium, a recent UCI graduate, Tess Andrea attended V-Day’s annual show for a fifth, consecutive year.

“Every year it’s always different,” Tess said. Although many of the monologues selected for the production remained the same, she has witnessed the changes in the interpretations of them year after year with the addition of the new cast and crew members.

The waves of comical and melancholic emotions awakened a deeper respect for feminism; her identification with feminism was reinforced after the very first show she attended during her first year at UCI.

“They were talking about everything I felt, things that I’ve thought, and maybe not consciously, but subconsciously, and they’re putting it into words, actualizing it in front of a crowd.” Tess had been amazed and had been attracted by the shamelessness and confidence that radiated from the cast when performing provocative, shift-in-your-seats scenes such as “Hair”, “Because He Liked to Look at It”, and “The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy” in front of their own peers.

Wanting to achieve such shameless empowerment, Tess auditioned to become a part of the cast of “The Vagina Monologues” during her second year at UCI. She eventually became the Outreach Coordinator for V-Day during her third year, organizing campus-wide protests, and a year later, the Lead Director for the production of 2015.

“My short skirt has nothing to do with you. My short skirt and anything under it is mine, mine, mine,” actresses Amy Ferdinand, Argentina Salas, and Moniqua Markham declared united as they held each others hands.

Tess’ involvement with V-Day and its production had become an outlet for her frustrations.

“I like short skirts and I’m tall, and I, often at work will get in trouble for my dresses because they’re too short. I’ll be told that they’re distracting, it’s too sexual, and I don’t feel so. I feel like I’m wearing what I want to wear. I’m wearing clothes that fit me, I’m wearing clothes that look on me the way I want to present myself, and my short skirt is not an indication or provocation.” Tess said as she continued to explain that “The Vagina Monologues” provided her with a residual empowerment.

The relevancy of the production was also a frustration of Tess’ because of some of the performances dedicated to sexual assault.

“They invaded it, butchered it, and burnt it down. My vagina was my village,” performers Ingrid Chan and Emily Mundo ended their scene with tears. Silence resonated through the auditorium.

From the sidelines of the stage, a fellow cast member fanned her face, resisting the urge to cry.

Taped among the front seats of the auditorium were sexual assault statistics. One read: “One in five men will be assaulted in their lifetime.”

“It drew me more into feminism and activism, and it drew me more into a multicultural-diverse-feminine mindset, which allowed me to have a very broad transnational, feminist perspective.” Tess is among many of the individuals impacted by V-Day, a non-profit organization and a global activist movement dedicated to raising awareness and funds for organizations and programs that promote the end of sexual assault and violence toward women around the world.

On a global scale, V-Day has raised up to $90 million for many beneficiaries.

Profits from the admission tickets will be distributed to UCI’s Campus Assault Resources and Education (CARE) and The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center (LGBTRC), as well as Orange County’s local Human Options, which provides safe housing for individuals and families dealing with domestic violence.