Meaningful 'Monologues'

For a few moments tonight, Sharon Bebout-Carr will turn into another person. She'll transform from a normal American woman into a Bosnian woman, raped in that country's civil war. n "In Bosnia, 20,000 to 70,000 women were raped as a systematic tactic of warfare," she says as she introduces her monologue. "In the United States each year, about 500,000 women are raped, which is also war."

As she begins talking, her character imagines the gentle caress of a boyfriend, but quickly draws back in horror, recounting the almost unspeakable crime that was perpetrated against her -- rape with the barrel of a military rifle.

Hers is only one of many stories that will be told again this year in "The Vagina Monologues," by Eve Ensler, which is being performed at the Cape Girardeau Public Library on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.

This is the third year for the production in Cape Girardeau, which is performed by a private group of women in honor of V-Day. V-Day is an observance organized by Ensler to help promote awareness of sexual violence through performances of "Monologues" and other activities.

The performance is directed by Brooke Hildebrand Clubbs, who started the tradition after seeing a performance of the "Monologues" in graduate school in 2000.

"When I saw it, I really identified with it and was impressed," said Hildebrand Clubbs. "All I knew before that was it had the word 'vagina' in it, and I didn't understand that it was so much more."

Every February, the production is performed at more than 700 college campuses and 385 other venues worldwide, said Hildebrand Clubbs, all with the same goal of raising awareness of women's issues.

"It's really exciting to be a part of," she said. "It's a feeling of something worldwide -- you feel connected to all the productions."

The first year of the production in Cape Girardeau it was mired in controversy. Originally slated to be performed on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University, it had to be moved to the library because some university patrons threatened to withdraw funding if the production was performed on campus.

But when it was actually performed at the library, a standing-room-only crowd was there to see its local debut.

"The people who are going to be most angry about it are the ones who haven't read it or seen it," said Hildebrand Clubbs. "They may think it's dirty and pornographic, but it's not about the word vagina, it's about the viewpoints that are expressed by these women."

They are viewpoints taken from interviews with more than 200 women of all ages from all countries. Some are funny and edgy, such as "My Angry Vagina," performed this year by Tana Howard. In it, Howard reminds the audience that being a woman is something to be proud of, not to hide.

It's not a production for children. The intended audience is adults, and Hildebrand Clubbs said it has an "NC-17 rating."

But it will definitely connect with adults, especially women.

"It almost feels like stand-up comedy when I read it," said Howard. "This is stuff women talk about with each other when they're having one of those days. Every woman in the room will know exactly what I'm talking about."

While "The Vagina Monologues" is something distinctly female, men can both enjoy it and take lessons from it, said Hildebrand Clubbs, making it good even for a Valentine's Day date.

"For couples, they can come away from this with a lot," she said. "In many cases, husbands have been more impressed with it than women were -- the men are very touched by it, as well."

That's the goal of V-Day: To raise awareness among both sexes of the issues women face, especially when it comes to sexual violence, which still permeates even developed societies in the 21st century.

"It's a celebration of womanhood and a wake-up call at the same time," said Hildebrand Clubbs. "We've come to accept sexual violence and it doesn't have to be that way."

Sexual violence is a problem in Southeast Missouri, just as it is across the world. Last year, the Cape Girardeau-based SEMO Network Against Sexual Violence provided care to 524 sexually abused clients ranging in age from less than 1 year old to 85 years old, said the group's director Tammy Gwaltney. Nationwide, she said, there are about 60 million adults who have experienced sexual violence.

Hildebrand Clubbs said she likes to envision a world where women can feel safe to walk through the park at night, not needing their mace and alarms, constantly looking over their shoulder.

For Bebout-Carr, that same vision motivates her, but the brutal reality gives her the inspiration to perform her heavy monologue.

"It's really easy for me because it's as fresh as today's headlines," she said. "You turn on the TV and you can see it every day. I've got a lot of stuff to model."

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182