Last night’s performance of the Vagina Monologues was pretty ok. Not the best I’ve seen but not bad at all. There were some pretty good moments and some not so good moments which is as it should be, right?
Not so good moment #1, it was freezing. Never attend a small performance in a very large and what appeared to be unheated bar in winter, even if it is in Florida. Especially if the seats are those flip fold metal chairs. We literally froze our butts off. I should have let TW go to the car to get the travel blanket, silly me I thought it would warm up. It didn’t.
Not so good moment #2, the tshirts were less than spectacular according to Michelle. White is really not her "color" and the plain green or plain grey colored tshirts weren’t much better for her. I thought they were fine but do agree they could have used a bit more "something".
Not so good moment #3, we had to control laughter during My Vagina was My Village. That has never happened before and I hope to (insert deity here) it never happens again. That little monologue should not ever incite laughter, not even in TW and NEVER in me. But last night, it did. I thought having two women perform it was a fine idea but it didn’t work because those two women either didn’t quite grasp the idea (which I doubt) or couldn’t carry it off so they went for something else entirely. That something else didn’t work. At all.
Not so good moment #4, Reclaiming Cunt didn’t work for me.
Not so good moment #5, Little Coochi Snorcher also didn’t work for me. Which is my fault. I’ve seen the show too many times. I’ve seen this monologue done so well that I just have really high expectations. It’s a hard monologue for anyone and last night a woman who is not a professional actress performed. A woman who is in the shelter system. I give this woman props for doing this monologue (oh along with a TG woman – splitting it up for two people was also a problem for me) but from a performance standpoint, it didn’t work.
Not so good moment #6 was really a pretty good moment, it was disconcerting that the woman who did The Flood (one of my personal favorite monologues – and no I don’t have dreams about Burt Reynolds, well not anymore) reminded me of the small children’s kindergarten teacher.
Now onto the good parts…
Pretty good #1, Disconcerting or not, Mrs S she did a fine job on The Flood. She didn’t push the NY/Jersey accent thing, which was good because that’s not an easy accent to do. She just did it, as an older woman, and it worked very well. She also did a pretty decent job on I Was There in the Room. I’ve got no complaints with that one either.
Pretty good #2, very nice job on The Vagina Workshop. Accent and all. I’m picky about accents and generally prefer people NOT do them if they aren’t really good at them. I like this monologue a lot but not when done with a bad accent. This one – good accent, good performer, good monologue.
Pretty good #3, choosing the right woman to represent the Angry Vagina is very very important. Even if the woman chosen giggles her way through it, (you can giggle and express anger at the same time folks), it can work with the right performer. Last night, right performer was chosen. Nicely done.
Pretty good #4, we’ve never seen the Trans monologue (They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy…) in person. The three TG women who performed it did a nice job with it, I think. Three very different women, together, it worked for me. (Charles said this was his favorite monologue which made me and TW laugh but I suppose I can see why that would be the case)
Pretty good #5, Michelle’s new favorite monologue is My Short Skirt. The young woman who performed it troubled me because she’s either a really good actress (which could be) or she’s got a history. She was weepy during a couple of the monologues she was not performing and when she did hers, it felt pretty real to me. (Which reminds me – Not So Happy Vagina Fact of the night – Gainesville has twice the number of rapes as the national average. Twice. The. Number.)
Pretty good #6, Bob. I like Bob, non-descript as he may be. I often dislike the performances given of Bob, aka, Because He Liked to Look. Some woman just don’t get it. Maybe they’ve not yet found someone who liked to look? Last night’s performance went well. Interestingly, Michelle hates this monologue. Not because she is uncomfortable with the idea that someone might like to look – she dislikes it because sending the message that women need someone else to appreciate their vaginas before they can appreciate them is wrong.
Pretty good #7, Hair. This is another one that I either love or hate, generally. Last night, I didn’t love or hate it. Love the performer. Wish she’d slowed down a little. Let it sink in a little. The timing seemed just a little too off for me to love it. But I didn’t hate it either, which is good.
Pretty good #8, Moans. Again, choosing the right woman to perform is very important. That happened last night. Young girl, shaved head, a lot of enthusiasm for her subject. She wandered the stage, she improvised (sometimes badly but her enthusiasm and excitement made it ok), and she had fun. I liked it a lot, not because it was smoothly orchestrated like the professional performances and not because it was unusual in its presentation but because this young woman obviously enjoyed making her cast moan. She obviously enjoyed the topic. She obviously enjoyed herself. Very important for vaginas and moaning.
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Michelle Tea – someone I never thought I’d see in person but as TW says, it’s gonna be that kind of year for me. First Michelle Tea tonight at Wild Iris and then Susie Bright at Blogher in July. Pretty darn cool!
