“Funny, outrageous, emotionally affecting and occasionally angry” … following a one-year hiatus, Eve Ensler’s wildly popular series of monologues about women and performed by women is back for the nineteenth year with the Roxy Regional Theatre’s presentation of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, January 7 – January 15.
This year, four local ladies will take the stage of theotherspace, the 50-seat black box theatre located upstairs at the Roxy, in readings of these monologues based on interviews Eve Ensler conducted with 200 women about their views on sex, relationships and violence against women:
- Emily Rourke, artistic associate and company member of the Roxy Regional Theatre, whom audiences will remember from countless productions, including The Rocky Horror Show (Columbia), Oklahoma! (Ado Annie), Damn Yankees (Gloria Thorpe) and A Chorus Line (Cassie);
- Melissa Schaffner, chief of the Non-Appropriated Fund Support Division at Fort Campbell MWR and board member of Roxy Productions, Inc., who has been lending her talents to the Roxy’s annual presentation of The Vagina Monologues since 2017;
- Kimberly Wiggins, Montgomery County Trustee and board member of Roxy Productions, Inc., who last graced the stage of theotherspace for The Vagina Monologues in 2018
- Adriane Wiley-Hatfield, a Clarksville native and Roxy veteran whom audiences will remember from Doubt (Mrs. Muller), Distracted (Vera), A Raisin in the Sun (Beneatha Younger) and Nunsense (Sister Mary Herbert), among many others.
An Obie Award-winning whirlwind tour of a forbidden zone, THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES introduces a wildly divergent gathering of female voices, including a six-year-old girl, a septuagenarian New Yorker, a vagina workshop participant, a woman who witnesses the birth of her granddaughter, a Bosnian survivor of rape, and a feminist happy to have found a man who “liked to look at it.”
In an interview with women.com, Ensler said that her fascination with vaginas began because of “growing up in a violent society.” “Women’s empowerment is deeply connected to their sexuality.” She also stated, “I’m obsessed with women being violated and raped, and with incest. All of these things are deeply connected to our vaginas.”
Contributions will be collected each night for the Sexual Assault Center, which provides counseling and support to children and adult victims of sexual abuse and community education programs to reduce the risk of victimization. To learn more, visit www.sacenter.org.
THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES is presented in theotherspace, the 50-seat black-box theatre located upstairs at the Roxy, and plays at 7:00pm for five nights only: January 7, 8, 13, 14 and 15. Due to language and content, this production is recommended for mature audiences only. THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES is presented through special agreement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York, www.dramatists.com.
Tickets are $30 and may be reserved online via the button below, by phone at (931) 645-7699, or at the theatre during regular box office hours (9:00am to 2:00pm, Monday through Friday, and one hour prior to curtain).
