The Vagina Monologues

7:30 p.m. Feb. 26-27

Langford Auditorium, Vanderbilt University

For ticket information, call 322-3774

For the third consecutive year, Actors Bridge Ensemble, in conjunction with Vanderbilt University’s Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center, will present Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues. Little more need be said about the successful nature of this singularly inspirational piece of theater, comprising individual performance pieces that express the depth and breadth of female experience. Like last year, the show will be presented in Vandy’s Langford Auditorium and can be expected to draw a large and fervently enthusiastic audience. Proceeds from the two-night engagement will be donated to Magdalene House, an innovative recovery program for prostitutes with drug problems.

Vali Forrister is the driving force behind what is becoming a very high-profile annual communal event in Nashville. A co-founder of Actors Bridge Ensemble and a professional actress in her own right, Forrister has also proved to be a fine director, with the three Vagina Monologues productions to her credit, as well as ABE’s well-received 1999 production of Lee Blessing’s Independence. “I love directing,” she says. “I think it’s such an art form—to sculpt a group of actors together in an ensemble way. I love helping them find what’s inside of them, to give them permission to find their own truth in the story. I think 90 percent of directing is about encouraging actors to trust their instincts—as opposed to imposing instincts on them that may not work organically.” Forrister will direct again this summer when ABE stages Rebecca Gilman’s controversial relationship drama Boy Gets Girl.

Even the third time around, Forrister treasures the opportunity to mount The Vagina Monologues, which this year features a mix of returning actresses such as Rachel Agee, Tracy Gershon and Stephanie Rankin as well as newcomers Anna Gorisch, Claire Mullally and Magdalene House executive director Rev. Becca Stevens, who will temporarily exchange her pulpit at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church for the Langford Auditorium stage. “The piece changes every year,” says Forrister. “Each actor’s attitude has shifted a little, so the monologues have different nuances. It’s great to see the growth of a group of women, and I’m so honored to be a part of that. That goes especially for my Vanderbilt students, some of whom have been with the show since they were freshmen. They’ve evolved a lot in three years. It’s amazing.”

This year’s production, however, has especial resonance for Forrister, who will be performing as well. In a departure from the past, playwright Ensler has granted permission for the company to add one new original monologue that captures the story of a cast member. And so Forrister herself will hold the spotlight as she debuts “My Vagina Is a Warrior,” a poignant reflection on her own true-life experience as a survivor of rape. The crime occurred in Nashville nearly 15 years ago, but aside from family and intimates, no one in Forrister’s social sphere was aware that it happened. Her reasons for drawing upon the event as an artistic vehicle are both sincere and courageous.

“I hate the way women who have lived through rape are portrayed in the media,” she says with calm precision. “It seems like we’re always portrayed as frightened mice who live behind a door with 15 deadbolts on it, or as man-hating, bitter, unfeeling and irrational women. I’ve never seen us portrayed as healthy, strong people who are living life on our own terms. So I decided that I had to either stop bitching about it, or have the courage to present another approach. As I say in the monologue, 'I’m not a victim, and the term survivor isn’t descriptive enough.’ I’m the hero in the story. I’m the warrior.”

Forrister is a 1990 graduate of Lipscomb University, a Church of Christ institution. Her background as a member of that powerful, predominantly Southern, unswervingly conservative faith has shaped some of her views on the importance of speaking out personally and of presenting The Vagina Monologues. “There is a lot of shame attached to rape under any circumstances,” she observes, “but it’s worse in the Lipscomb world, where there’s not a lot of value placed on women in the first place. Women who are 'damaged merchandise’ have their reputations ruined and become pretty invisible in that culture. So I’d kept my silence about what happened.” (Forrister’s attacker was apprehended and is serving a prison term.)

“The Church of Christ is a very insular body,” she continues. “Years back, when I announced my intention to be an actress, one of my professors at Lipscomb said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for an actor to go to heaven—implying that in the theater you’re surrounded by godless people, and that you should stay with your own kind.”

Forrister’s recent involvement in The Vagina Monologues stirred up an even more stunning reaction from a member of the church. “Last year I got a letter from someone who has known me my entire life—a well-known figure in the Church of Christ, one of the grand matriarchs. She told me, in that classic Church of Christ passive-aggressive way, that I shouldn’t have to 'debase myself’ and that I could do a lot for women in a tasteful, classy respectable way without using such nasty terminology. She was very upset that The Vagina Monologues embraced sexual diversity. She went on to tell me that the Lord abhors homosexuals.

“Well, I firmly believe that, as an artist, I am called to reflect my culture back to itself—that I am called to ask the hard questions of the community. This explains, in my view, one of the most important reasons to do The Vagina Monologues. The Church of Christ does not place a high value on women. Women are not generally allowed to speak at services, for example. One of the great ironies of my life is that I was raised to be an outspoken person, and was always called upon to read the prayers as a schoolgirl. But once I became an adult, there was no place for me to use the voice that was developed as a child. Which is why I think a lot of bright, spiritually minded women leave Church of Christ. That’s what I did. I could fight that battle for the rest of my life, but I chose to go elsewhere.”

The road from Lipscomb led to Central Missouri State University, where Forrister earned a master’s degree in communication studies in 1993. In between her theatrical activities—which also include work with Nashville’s Actors Equity Association Liaison Committee and the Nashville Professional Theatre Consortium—Forrister holds down a serious day job as the director for communication and outreach at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, a position she’s had since 1999.

“I work for Dr. Hal Moses,” she says. “He’s a visionary—one of the top cancer researchers in the world. He’s been very supportive of my acting. I will be at Vandy as long as it does not conflict with my theater life—and so far that hasn’t happened. I’d love to have that dilemma, though.” Forrister adds with a laugh, “Dr. Moses says he loves my acting as long as I’m not too terribly successful at it.”

In the meantime, this self-described workaholic has The Vagina Monologues to contend with, as both guiding light and performer. The play “has been a tremendous outreach for Actors Bridge,” says company artistic director Bill Feehely. “It allows us to give back to the community and to raise awareness of women’s needs. The show was something that grew solely out of Vali’s interest in the company. Her persistence has been key, and the show is a really important part of what we do.”

“Vali is a brave, independent thinker with a compassionate heart and perseverance,” adds Rev. Stevens. “The Vagina Monologues is a force to be reckoned with, and it’s beautifully feminine and radical...like Vali herself.”