Community production of 'The Vagina Monologues' directed by CWU music professor

The ground-breaking feminist play “The Vagina Monologues” has been performed on stages the world over, and it has earned a well-deserved place among the great works of art exploring gender and sexuality.

This year, Kittitas County Pride has sponsored a production of the piece in Ellensburg, directed by CWU Professor of Music Gayla Blaisdell.

Blaisdell, who also serves as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, saw the production as a way to give back.

“This is my community, too, and I have a lot of LGBTQ+ friends, so I’m thrilled to be able to help create an environment that is supportive of all experiences,” she said. “Getting to bring our students into the community and bridge that divide has been a big part of it, too.”

The Vagina Monologues, written by Eve Ensler in 1996, was originally intended to be a one-person show, based on interviews and focus groups with over 200 people, with an intent to celebrate and explore the female experience. Since then, it has been revised to feature a larger cast and explore a broader variety of lived experiences from people across the gender spectrum.

The Ellensburg production features seven actors from ages 21 to 70, including one current CWU Theatre Arts student, Aidan Beerbower. She auditioned for the show over the summer, with the goal of expanding her horizons.

“It was definitely a little outside of my comfort zone at first,” Beerbower said. “I debated with myself on whether to audition, but it seemed like the healthy amount of uncomfortable, the kind that you need to grow as an actor and as a person.”

As part of the production, Beerbower is able to work alongside actors she might not otherwise have come into contact with. She explained that opportunities like this are valuable to her as an actress, and as a student.

“It’s been very cool to work alongside such a diverse cast of actors. I get to learn from all of them and take mental notes on how I want to shape my own approach to the art form.”

The show is produced by Rice Majors, a board member of Kittitas County Pride. He explained that the show lent itself well to the organization, as well as their intended audience.

“It’s a powerful work, but it’s also relatively easy to put on in terms of production design,” Majors said. “I thought it’d be a great way for us to dip our toes into theater and bring the community along in the process. Our organization serves the whole county, and I think it’s important to provide equal access to these kinds of enriching events for everyone who lives here. We’re hoping to see attendees coming from all over the place.”

The Vagina Monologues was performed on September 14 and 21 at Ellensburg United Methodist Church, with a third and final performance scheduled for Saturday, October 5. The final performance will be followed by a Q&A session with Blaisdell, Majors, and CWU Assistant Professor of Theatre Natashia Lindsey, who also specializes in gender and sexuality studies. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and tickets are available online.

Blaisdell hopes the performance will help attendees find connection with one another, as well as some resilience within that connection.

“We’re human,” she said. “We experience negative things like loss, grief, and shame, but we’re here together going through it together. Events like this help show us that we’re never alone, even when things get dark.”