Approximately 250 people attended each of the two performances of this year's production of “The Monologues,” which featured 14 monologues written and performed by students on the evenings of April 14 and April 15 at 51 Winthrop St. The shows were completely sold out, and those without tickets were able to stand in the back of the room, according to co-director Morgan Freeman.
Freeman and the other co-director Miranda Perez explained that they aimed to distance this year's show from plays like Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” which served as the inspiration for past Tufts’ adaptations and the seed from which “The Monologues” has evolved, according to a Nov. 11, 2015 Daily article. Freeman and Perez, both sophomores, said that “The Vagina Monologues” restricted the types of gender identities allowed in the performance and explained that this year’s production would be open to all female-identifying, gender non-conforming and gender-queer individuals.
According to Submissions Committee member first-year Julia Yun, of 67 submissions, 15 pieces were chosen for the final performance by the committee, and 14 were performed at the production. Half of the student performers read their own work, while other pieces were read by actors who auditioned for the parts.
The directors opened “The Monologues” with a short skit, posing questions to be addressed by some of the following monologues.
Freeman began with “How do you experience life in your body? What is your monologue?” and Perez continued with “Why does it often feel so hard to love ourselves?” and “Who am I right now … who will I be in the future?”
During the introduction, the directors acknowledged that while they hoped to represent a wide variety of individual experiences at the event, the show might still be “limiting.” Freeman asked “How do we begin to find the answers to these questions?” before both Freeman and Perez said in unison, “This show is unfinished; this show is whole.”
The show was tied together with certain themes, namely body image, sexuality, racism, mental health, language and self love, but each monologue was an individual story. The first monologue, “Lite Ethnic,” written by junior Becca MacLean and performed by senior Rebeca Pessoa, was about resisting racial stereotypes and being a Latina woman. The second, “Hotel Rooms,” written and performed by first-year Mar Freeman, explored gender expression and individual growth.
Some monologues were addressed to specific individuals or to the writers themselves, such as “A Letter to My 12-Year-Old Self” by Al Ellison in which Ellison, a sophomore, cautioned her younger self about the life ahead of her but ultimately expressed support and love for herself. “I Looked Up Your Name to Write This,” written by Katie Saviano, a junior, and performed by Allyson Blackburn, also a junior, was directed to a stalker. Others were reflections on particular parts of the author’s identity or body.
Each piece elicited support from the crowd through cheers and snaps, before, during and after the piece.
Mar Freeman performs their piece "Hotel Rooms" during "The Monologues" on April 14. (Alex Knapp / The Tufts Daily)Following the performance, Yun said she appreciated that “The Monologues” helped her find a new, supportive community. Others expressed similar experiences.
“The space has been really healing and really warm,” first-yearSubmissions Committee member Yaa Kankam-Nantwi said. “[The show is about] hearing other people’s narratives and using that to affirm your own.”
Friends and family of writers and performers came to the show both nights. Some members of the audience, including junior Claire Walter, had also seen last year’s show.
“[It has] changed so that it feels a little more relevant to me,” Walter said.
One of the directors of last year’s “Not Your Mother’s Monologues” — the previous iteration of “The Monologues” — junior Aishvarya Arora, described this year’s production as building upon last year's effort to be more inclusive.
“[This year's show was] pushed in some more directions, in terms of including more identities beyond the last show,” Arora said, describing this year's monologues as “flawless.”
“What happened this year couldn’t have happened without what happened last year," junior Abby Lord, member of last year’s Submissions Committee said."[The changes are the] first step in making it the space it’s supposed to be.”
