Lily Iserson
A&E Editor
Directors Michael Hatchett ’16 and Dana Stamos ’16 of Effie’s Players are excited to announce that auditions for The Vagina Monologues will begin next Thursday Sept. 25 in Kauke Tower. Effie’s Players is The College of Wooster’s only student-run theatre group, headed by theatre majors and non-majors alike. As Effie’s has already made an informal tradition of performing The Vagina Monologues every two years since 2011, Stamos and Hatchett are eager to reinstate The Vagina Monologues as a full-blown Wooster tradition.
Written by Eve Esler, The Vagina Monologues first premiered Off-Broadway in 1996 and quickly ascended to a cult hit as well as a staple of feminist theatre tradition. The experimental drama features a cast of rotating female characters who each remark on their intimacies across boundaries of age and culture, to hilarious and activist-centric ends.
“This is such a powerful and important show and Hatchett and I are extremely excited to be bringing it to campus again,” said Stamos. “Eve Ensler’s play is funny and heartbreaking and everything in between, and its aim is to give a voice to women from all walks of life, sharing stories about every day injustices, victories and tragedies.”
As for audition specifics, Stamos mentioned that she and Hatchett “would love for any and all interested girls to try out, as the script consists of an all female cast.” Since the full text of The Vagina Monologues is available online, both directors said that interested actresses should prepare a one-minute monologue prior to their audition. Actresses may visit Kauke Tower any time between 7 and 10 p.m. with their material.
Effie’s plans to premiere the show at the end of November, in connection with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which is Nov. 25. Until then, Stamos and Hatchett can be reached for question at their respective Wooster emails, DStamos16@wooster.edu or MHatchett16@wooster.edu.