My First Rehearsal for The Vagina Monologues 3

V-Day is a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls.

Yesterday was our first rehearsal for The Vagina Monologues – East Bay 2011. It was also my first rehearsal for anything beyond musicals in grammar school.

Prior to, I was insanely nervous, pacing around the house–monologue sputtering from my lips. And then I got to our space and met a slew of cast members: plenty seasoned in the show and others as ripe as me. We sat in a circle. Introduced ourselves. Talked about our feelings about and toward our pieces. And then we performed them in the space and company of each other.

I was still nervous, but I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I thought I would be. And I was bigger than I normally am. And my comrades laughed and applauded. The directors offered feedback; I adjusted, and everyone laughed and applauded again.

The women in that room made me proud. Not of myself (I’m still in awe about being cast), but of them. They inspired me. I loved the sound of their voices and their cadences and their confidence. I was in a room of people who not only wanted to be there but who were handpicked to be there. And I can’t wait to go back next week.

About V-Day (from vday.org)

V-Day is a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sex slavery. Through V-Day campaigns, local volunteers and college students produce annual benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues, A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer, Any One Of Us: Words From Prison, screenings of V-Day’s documentary Until The Violence Stops, and the PBS documentary What I Want My Words To Do To You, Spotlight Teach-Ins and V-Men workshops, to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups within their own communities. In 2010, over 5,400 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls.