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Stories raise eyebrows, awareness

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published February 12, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes] Vagina Monologues cast member April Steen reads over her script Saturday at the cast's final rehearsal before the show slated for Friday and Saturday in Dade City. The play has been performed all over the world, drawing both praise and shock for its graphically honest content.

DADE CITY - In a few days, Heather Zirbel will get up in front of 200 strangers and talk about vaginas.

Playing the character of a tax lawyer/dominatrix, Zirbel describes the pleasure she derives from pleasuring other women. Specifically, she mimics their moans.

"She's not afraid of who she is and what she does," is how Zirbel describes her character.

Zirbel, a 36-year-old high school English teacher, is part of the cast of an upcoming production of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues being staged this month to raise money and awareness to fight domestic violence and crimes against women. The play has been performed all over the world, drawing both praise and shock for its graphically honest portrayal of women's issues.

Yes, the vagina - a word, according to Ensler, that sounds like an infection - is coming to Dade City.

* * *

The stage has almost no set, just a few stools. The cast of about 25 rehearses only a handful of times. The performances are supposed to feel spontaneous, not too polished.

During the monologues, the performers use index cards.

"They don't memorize their lines," said Susan Noblitt, who is directing the show. "It takes away from that impromptu, off-the-cuff interview kind of feel. We want to really believe that this woman went through this or is going through this."

The monologues, 11 in all, leave few subjects unexposed. They are based on the real experiences of women interviewed by the playwright. One character was raped by soldiers in Bosnia. Another, a teenage girl, describes being seduced by an adult woman. Some of the monologues are too graphic to describe in the newspaper. But here are a few of the topics: pubic hair, periods, smells and orgasms.

"It will definitely enlighten people and make them aware of some things that go on in society that we don't always talk about," Noblitt said.

She says the play is a "growing opportunity" for cast and audience alike, even if that brings a little discomfort.

"I think there are probably a couple monologues in there that I might not be comfortable with. And I've done a lot of theater in my life," said Noblitt, the drama coach at Zephyrhills High School. "I think a part of personal growth sometimes is having to put yourself in an uncomfortable situation."

A bigger purpose

Zirbel is an outgoing person. Assuming the role of a dominatrix is no problem for her.

More importantly, she says, she feels a bigger purpose in participating in the monologues.

"It's not so much the specific content," she said. "It's the awareness of women's empowerment."

Zirbel says the play teaches intolerance for abuse, and empathy for those who experience it. Each monologue has its own lesson.

You don't have to live in pain after a rape.

You don't have to hide behind your sexuality.

Strong messages, to be sure.

But it's uncertain how such messages, delivered in such frank terms, will be received in a conservative small town that only three years ago began allowing alcohol sales at some civic events. A few years before that, residents in Zephyrhills got into a mini uproar over the display of paintings - yes, containing some nudity - depicting the cycle of domestic violence and physical abuse.

The cast members wonder how they'll be received, but they're optimistic.

"A lot of people think it's going to be a show where they talk nasty," Noblitt said. "It's not that kind of thing. It's definitely enlightening and educational."

Said Zirbel: "The majority of the people here are open-minded. I think they'll listen to this and hear this and take out what they're meant to."

Tickets to the two shows are selling quickly, said Terri O'Brien, with Sunrise Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center. The play is a fundraiser for the nonprofit group.

"This is just an opportunity to use theater to educate the community on issues of violence against women and girls," O'Brien said. "It's just another way to connect with people."

It's not a dirty word

Just last week, another production of the monologues made headlines in Atlantic Beach. According to news reports, some people complained to the local theater about the marquee bearing the title of the play. One woman said she was offended by having to answer her niece when she asked, "What's a vagina?"

The theater responded by changing the sign to say "The Hoohaa Monologues."

O'Brien had to laugh.

"It's like, why is this such a dirty word? Explain this to me," she said.

Pat German, a longtime resident and local real estate agent, said the play isn't for her. She doesn't plan to go. She has heard other people express some of the same hesitation.

But Dade City, German said, can handle it. "I don't think there will be a pox on our city."

Those who do come, Zirbel said, "are going to walk away from this play with ... an 'aha' kind of moment."

Fast Facts:

If you go

The Vagina Monologues - part of V-Day 2007, a campaign to stop violence against women and girls - will be performed Friday and Saturday at the Dade City Woman's Club, 37922 Palm Ave. Doors open at 7 p.m.; showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Proceeds benefit Sunrise Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center. Call (352) 521-3358 or visit www.vday.org.

[Last modified February 11, 2007, 21:56:40]