Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

Giselle Tongi, a talented actress from the Philippines showed her abilities on stage but most of all , she was relevant and funny with that Filipino accent, pronouncing "f" instead of "p" and "b" instead of "v". She said, "I am an angry "Bagina! I don’t know why they have to stuff me with a bunch of cotton balls called the tampon and not feathery cotton sheet!"She was one among the many female performance artists, and actresses who showcased the literary readings of Vagina Monologues, a Broadway play written Eve Ensler which won the Obie.

Among the women who did the readings were Tatyana Ali, Edelyn Aubrey, Esperanza Catubig, Alison dela Cruz, Janelle So, Prosy delacruz, Leslie Lewis Sword, Antoinette Taus, and Tamlyn Tomita.

But the TVM is the not the only highlight. An earlier performance ,A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer was just as moving. This groundbreaking collection, edited by author and playwright Eve Ensler, featured pieces from Until the Violence Stops, the international tour that brings the issue of violence against women and girls to the forefront of our consciousness. These diverse voices rise up in a collective roar to expose, and examine the insidiousness of brutality, neglect, a punch, or a put-down. There was Maya Angelou on women’s work; Michael Cunningham on self-mutilation; Dave Eggers on a Sudanese abduction; and Carol Gilligan on a daughter witnessing her mother being hit;

Both The Vagina Monologues and A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer is a call to the world to demand an end to violence against women. Outstanding among the performers was singer and stage actress Becca Godinez, a character who is a party pooper because she tells the truth about sociopolitical issues and realities of life. Dion Basco as the mutilation artist was funny in a sort of underacting way that you feel that he really enjoys destroying art works.

In both shows, Leslie Lewis Sword was awesome on stage, reading about Sudanese abduction and shouting for the vaginas in the world to unite as she held the crotch of her classic looking trousers on stage.

Of course, the Tagalog monologue of Prosy dela Cruz is really, really funny with metaphoric symbolism of "the flood" which recalls the traumatic experience of an elderly lady when she was young and how the semen made the car of the guy she was with "dirty".

Esperanza Catubig likewise delighted the audience with her character as the Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy. Using her talent on making different types of orgasmic moans, she showed a diva’s moan, a Brown student’s moan, a Jewish woman’s moan as the audience members giggled and laughed.

The controversial monologue aptly done by performance artist Alison dela Cruz is about a 16-year-old girl who realized that she is a lesbian as she describes a sexual experience with an adult woman. Alison performed the Little Coochie Snorcher monologue so well that the experience was very positive.

We all remember Tatyana Ali, who was Ashley in the hit comedy The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. A Broadway trained actress, Tatyana displayed as thespian qualities as she read the monologue on being the comfort woman, the ianfu who was raped by the Japanese military during World War II and who never apologized for the crimes they had done. Ali expressed the pain of the comfort women who are now probably in their 80s. With a tough voice, she demanded "Say sorry to me" , speaking about the Japanese government who refused to apologize to the comfort women who were raped. Historians estimate 200,000 women, mostly from Korea and the Philippines but also from China, Indonesia and the Netherlands, were pressed into prostitution for millions of Japanese soldiers stationed throughout Asia before and during World War II. Some were forced to sleep with up to fifty men a day.

Tamlin Tomita notably known for her role in The Joy Luck Club and Karate Kid Part II was the climax of the show. Tomita inspired all of us in the reading that was meant for everyone to do something to stop the violence on women and children.

Camille Velasco sang from her debut solo album. Musical artist Eleanor Academia played the keyboard and whose music bridged the monologues.

The beneficiaries of the two shows were the Bantay Bata Foundation which rescues and provides rehabilitation for abused children in the Philippines, and the Center for Pacific Asian Family which implements programs and services on domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse in the Asian Pacific Islander community in Los Angeles.

V-Day, a global movement against violence against women and girls, began in 1998 on Valentine’s Day as a benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues. The play by Ensler is based on interviews with more than 200 women about their memories and experiences of sexuality. By last year, V-Day had grown to 2,300 benefit shows in 76 countries. It has raised more than $26 million (?19.75 million) for shelters for battered women, rape hot lines, safe houses in Africa to protect women from genital mutilation and other causes.

Kudos to Ted Benito who produced the show and dedicated the Filipinas productions to his mother, Fe Benito.

As my daughter Hazel and I left the theater, we knew we felt really well as women. As Filipinas, the V-Day 2009 taught us that there is much to be done to stop the violence against women and young girls. But we know we will be strong supporters of the movement until the violence stops!

( www.asianjournal.com )

( Published on March 13, 2009 in Asian Journal Redcarpet Magazine p. 2 )