Scripts with titles like “My Vagina Was My Village” and “The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could” were being distributed among students, and every one of them was snatched up.

Parts were being assigned for the upcoming performance of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.” 

Every seat was taken as students crowded into a meeting at the Gender and Sexuality Center on a late Tuesday afternoon the first week of March. 

“The Vagina Monologues” will be performed on March 19 and 20 at 8 p.m. at Dodge Hall as part of a series of events celebrating Women’s History Month. 

The production is sponsored by the Women’s Issues Forum and is part of V-Day, a global movement on campuses across the country and in communities around the world to end violence against women and girls.

  Nataisha Washington, the president of Women’s Issues Forum and a senior women and gender studies major explained that V-Day is centered on bringing awareness around violence and sexual abuse against women. 

The “V” in V-Day stands for victory, valentine, and of course, vagina.

Washington said the first time she ever heard about “The Vagina Monologues” was in a women’s studies class sophomore year when the teacher made the class watch the movie of the play, in which Ensler performs.  

She said everyone was quiet and seemed a bit scared when they first heard about the premise of the movie.

“You see this word (vagina) and you’re like ‘Whoa’ like ‘what is this?,'” she said. 

The monologues, which are based on over 200 interviews with women about their memories and experiences of sexuality, cover a wide range of topics including love, rape, menstruation, childbirth and genital mutilation. 

The assortment of topics may sound heavy but Washington said that “The Vagina Monologues” has something everyone can enjoy.  

“It makes you want to laugh, but it also makes you aware of the issues. Everyone leaves feeling so good,” Washington explained, “You don’t have to have a vagina to relate to ‘The Vagina Monologues.'”

Washington said that every time she has seen the play there have been men in the audience.

Although men are not allowed to perform on stage, they are allowed to participate in the event.

Washington said that it helps that some of the members of Women’s Issues Forum are men. 

Todd Fitzsimmons, who is doing technology for the show said that he worked on the production before.   

He said that OU hosted “The Vagina Monologues” several years ago, and that they brought them back two years ago.

Washington describes the monologues as “stories from women told by other women.” V-Day stipulates that all of the people who perform the monologues must be living lives as women. 

The performers in “The Vagina Monologues” do not have to be actors and in fact they are allowed to bring notes onto the stage with them.

One performer, junior psychology major Kelly Shaw, said she had some acting experience in high school. She said she played Dogberry in “Much Ado About Nothing” and “got to do a little cross-dressing for that role.”

Washington said it’s similar to doing a speech in a public speaking class. The performers are not paid. 

Crystal Cromwell, a junior sociology major, said putting on the show is “pretty fun.” Her monologue is a 6-year-old’s response to the question: “If your vagina got dressed up, what would it wear?”

Tickets cost $10 and are on sale now at the CSA window in the Oakland Center or can be purchased at the door on the night of the performance.

Ninety percent of the proceeds from ticket sales will be split between two local charities.

One of the charities is Alternatives for Girls, a nonprofit from southwest Detroit serving homeless and high-risk girls and young women. The other is Turning Point, which works with victims and survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and homelessness. 

Ten percent will go to V-Day.