Circle Theatre is still on the move, and still taking on big challenges. This time it encompasses Eve Ensler’s controversial 1996 sensation The Vagina Monologues, directed by Omaha’s Ryle Smith. (http://www.rylesmith.com/bio.html
Evidently Ensler has been updating her scripts every so often. Consequently, this production may not entirely resemble one you’ve seen before. On her website (www.eveensler.org/) she describes her creation as “a wildly divergent gathering of female voices, including a six-year old girl, a septuagenarian New Yorker, a vagina workshop participant ,a woman who witnesses the birth of her granddaughter, a Bosnian survivor of rape and a feminist happy to have found a man ‘who liked to look at it.’ Versions of The Vagina Monologues have been translated into 48 languages and performed in over 140 countries. It has been described by Variety as “Spellbinding, funny and almost unbearably moving…a work of art…incisive cultural history.”
Ensler got an “Best New Play “ Obie Award in 1996 for this. She’s written 10 other scripts including The Good Body which ran on Broadway, plus a memoir In the Body of the World. Her collection of other monologues, I Am An Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around The World was published in book form and on the New York Times Best Seller list in 2010. Moreover she’s been very active addressing issues about violence to girls and women, including those in Afghanistan where she demonstrated against The Taliban. BTW, Ensler is the adoptive mother of actor Dylan McDermott and was married for 10 years to his father, Richard.
Clearly, you can see that she has a lot more on her mind than mere entertainment.
The Vagina Monologues runs February 13 to 28 at Urban Abbey, 1026 Jackson Street, Old Market. Fri. Sat: 8 p.m. Tickets $10-$15. 402-553-4715 or dlmarr@cox.net.