In a dialogue about The Vagina Monologues, actor Mackenzie Phillips speaks of the play's humor and universal appeal - and compliments Tampa in the process.
By MARTY CLEAR
Published June 8, 2003
[TBPAC]
Mackenzie Phillips
TAMPA - The Vagina Monologues has been hailed as a powerful celebration of feminine sexuality. It also has been criticized as a self-important piece of paleofeminist male-bashing.
Actor Mackenzie Phillips, who has a long association with Eve Ensler's play, said she doesn't really understand the criticism. The Vagina Monologues, she said, is anything but anti-male.
"It's not just for women," she said in a phone interview from her Los Angeles home. "I don't know how the show got that vibe around it, because it's a really sexy show. I have so many memories of looking out into the audience and seeing guys who were just cracking up."
Phillips has appeared in The Vagina Monologues all over the country, from its original off-Broadway home to road shows in Los Angeles, Hawaii and Fort Lauderdale.
"I've kind of made the rounds," she said. "When they're going some place cool, they call me and I do it."
One of those cool places is Tampa. Phillips, the daughter of John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas and one of the stars of American Graffiti and the sitcom One Day at a Time, will join the touring company for eight shows at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center's Ferguson Hall starting Tuesday.
The play's unusual structure and its tours allow Phillips and other big-name actors to perform in selected cities without committing to an extended tour.
Three actors each perform three monologues. Each of the touring companies has two permanent but not-so-well-known actors. In each city, they're joined by a celebrity. That's where Phillips fits in. (When Monologues stopped in Tampa last year, the "name" was Loretta Swit.)
The actors' roles are pretty much interchangeable, and the celebrities in the show have some flexibility as to which monologues they perform.
"This particular time I've decided to do one I've never done before," Phillips said. "It's about all the different kinds of orgasms. I'll be doing 12 or 13 simulated orgasms."
Other monologues, which playwright Ensler based on interviews with hundreds of women, deal with an aging woman's views on sex and with a common vulgar synonym for vagina.
Ensler's play has become such a cultural phenomenon it is has spawned "V-Day," an annual nationwide demonstration against sexual violence centered around readings of The Vagina Monologues.
Like the play itself, V-Day has been more than a little controversial. Legions of supporters say it raises awareness of violence against women, but critics have slammed it for superficiality. And because V-Day is on Feb. 14, Valentine's Day, it has been criticized for turning attention away from romance and toward violence.
For Phillips, who has never been known to shy away from controversy or candor, those criticisms miss the point of The Vagina Monologues.
"It's a different kind of theater experience," she said. "It's a really funny, really raw show that runs the gamut of emotions. It's funny, sad and shocking, all in that 90 minutes. It's an intense show if it's done well."
