The Vagina Monologues Come To Chester College

Performance: February 15, 2008 7:00pm
Wadleigh Conference Room
Charge: $2.00 (Proceeds will go to helping women displaced by Hurricane Katrina and to the Sexual Assault Support Services for Rockingham County)

Directed by new Resident Director / Student Success Center Coordinator Jenna Gawne and co-directed by student Derek Laurendau, this spring’s production of The Vagina Monologues will be new to the Chester College of New England campus. The production, which features twenty-one monologues that all pertain in some way to the vagina, will be its first at Chester College.

“It’s a controversial play,” says Gawne. “It’s funny and it’s moving.” Despite – or perhaps aided by – its controversy, The Vagina Monologues has received an outstanding amount of support, from students, faculty, and the administration, all of whom have been attracted to the play’s purpose of raising awareness and funds for groups working to end violence against women and girls.

As of this publishing, one monologue remains uncast – the difficult “The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy,” which reportedly deals with prostitution and involves the actress simulating orgasm onstage.

For Gawne, the most difficult part of putting the production together has been casting. Gawne describes the subject matter of the show, which stems from interviews conducted with women about their vaginas, as "touchy"; finding the right mix of understanding and comfort with the subject matter has been difficult. The Vagina Monologues, as tentatively scheduled as of this publishing, will feature the acting talents of students Amanda Adamcek, Dawn Coutu, Tiffany Etter, Krissie Gast, Vanessa Geary, Jackie Grande, Cassandra Korbey, Ashley Kreutter, Rachel Lieberman, Shannon Malloy, Linda McGriff, Maryann Stancizk, Anna Swass, faculty members Jenn Monroe, Monica O’Brien, Nannette Thrush, and staff members Jenna Gawne and Sarah Vogell.

This production of The Vagina Monologues is being run as part of the 2008 V-Day College Campaign. For more details, visit Chester’s V-Day webpage.