The Vagina Monologues - Hiroshima 2008
Despite most of us being born from a vagina, how can the terms for womanly parts be so taboo? Especially in Japan, where despite a comfortableness with the
naked body at onsens
and the fact that frankly talking about bodily functions and sex never seems to embarrass most people- the womanly word is never, ever used.
 |
Everyone loves a good story and the Vagina Monologues are a collection of inspiring, funny, tragic and heartbreaking tales. Before reading the monologues,
I hadn't conceived of the complexity of stories that could come from interviewing women about their vaginas.
Eve Ensler wrote her monologues based on these interviews and started performing them on stage in the 80's in New York city theatres. The sense of empowerment that
arises from the shows has led to the monologues being performed across the globe.
|
For me, the vagina monologues performance in Hiroshima was astounding. The women who took part, all came from such varied backgrounds and upbringings. Our only
commonality being that we all reside in Hiroshima and felt drawn somehow to give voice to this project. It was maybe thanks to our differences that the performance
was so powerful and effective.
This year's V-day in Hiroshima was held on March 15th, 2008.
It was a bilingual version of the play performed at
Fair Trade Cafe "Paco". This was Hiroshima's first V-Day and may have been the only performance in Japan this year.
Bringing the monologues to Hiroshima was native New Yorker, Lisa Quattlebaum's vision, who shared her vision and rallied
a group of spirited, hardworking Hiroshima women to take part in organizing, publicizing and performing.
Lisa:"The Vagina Monologues" was the only play, I ever truly wished I wrote and always wanted to perform.
It was a 13 year dream come true - sounds sappy and over-dramatic, but guess now my inner actress is out of the closet.
Florence Smith took on the task of promoting the event talking with the
Japan times: 'Vagina Monologues': Did you know it was about ending violence?
and the
Hiroshima Womens' International Club. Flo also got some useful advice and support about the event
from Caroline Pover. Pover, a long time resident of Japan, has become one of the most
well-known foreign women in Japan thanks to her website, book and magazine
"Being-a-broad".
Flo: "I'd be more than happy to share the materials I've made and what I've
learned about putting on a V-Day event with any other potential organizers
out there.
Kimberly Bardoel found the charity organizations that would benefit from the money that was
raised for the performance:
The Katrina Warriors Network, Amnesty International's
"Stop Violence Against Women Campaign" and a local women's shelter in Hiroshima. Yukie Maeda was the Japanese
coordinator who also introduced a lot of the acts. Michelle Crothers helped give the play a more dramatic feel by sharing her
stage experience. Co-director Vanessa Saggio was the only member to have performed the
dialogues before. Donna Corns did many of the introductions for the acts with Yukie Maeda.
Nicky Fernandez designed
the striking v-day hiroshima poster.
Nicky: It was such a rare opportunity to work with a group of very motivated
and inspired women. I think we all felt empowered to be working on project that benefits women in
difficult situations as well as raising awareness of the plight that some women face. Personally I was very
excited to have a chance to perform in front of a live audienc- a natural adrenalin rush that can't
be beaten!
Director Michelle Crothers helped with the dramatic side of things and technical stage directions.
Michelle: It was a very rewarding
experience for many reasons- it was a great pleasure
to work for and raise money for issues that I feel
very strongly about. The fact that we reached people in our
community who had not perhaps given a lot of thought
to such an issue is fantastic.
The Main Acts of the Performance
Nao Kono (Japanese=JP) and Florence Smith (English=E) "Hair", Mary Z (JP) "Questions", Lisa Quattlebaum (E)
"The Flood",
Claire Mallam (E) "The Vagina Workshop", Rebecca Schmidt (E) "Because He Liked To Look At It", Maggie Kusada (JP)
and Vanessa Saggio (E) "My Angry Vagina", Kimberly Bardoel "My Vagina Was My Village", Emma Sakamiya (E), Mary Z (JP)
and Michelle Crothers (E) "Reclaiming Cunt", Emma Sakamiya (E) "A 6 year old girl was asked", Nicky Fernandez (E)"The Woman
Who Loved To Make Vaginas Happy", Joy Jarman-Walsh "I Was There In The Room".
There were also many smaller parts played by many of the cast members in between the main acts.
100% of proceeds from V-Day 2008 Hiroshima will be split between 3 groups. The first third will be donated to V-Day's
2008 Spotlight Campaign which focuses on the Women of New Orleans and the
Gulf South. The second will go to Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women
Campaign and the last third to a local women's domestic violence shelter in Hiroshima.
Over 150,000 yen was raised at the event this year.
Joy Jarman-Walsh
4/2008 |
Similar Articles
