Sunday Times 2
The Vagina Monologues: A celebration and liberation of women
It was in 2000 while on a trip to the USA that Mahabanoo Modi Kotwal first saw the play The Vagina Monologues. “The rest is history” she says. Twelve years and countless performances later, Kotwal and Poor Box Productions will be flying down to Sri Lanka to present two performances of the play next Sunday, August 24, in collaboration with the Zonta Club III of Colombo.
An acclaimed theatre personality in India, Mahabanoo fell in love with the stage at the age of four. Having initially pursued her higher education in science, she began a professional career in theatre in 1988 and has had notable work on both stage and screen. She has acted i n, directed and produced plays such as Shirley Valentine, Art, Once I Was Young…Now I’m Wonderful!, (W)hole in the Head, Two Hot to Handle.
Mahabanoo Modi Kotwal in Poor Box Productions' The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. Produced and directed by Mahabanoo Modi Kotwal and Kaizaad Kotwal (Photo: Kaizaad Kotwal)
Mahabanoo’s love for the performing arts was inherited by her son Dr.Kaizaad Kotwal, an Emmy award winner and professor of films and theatre at Ohio State University in USA. “Poor-Box Productions was the name of my son’s company in USA and we launched our first production in 1998 (Shirley Valentine)” explained Mahabanoo.
A perfect pairing then, is Eve Ensler’s acclaimed play; brutally honest and yet a celebration and liberation of women and Poor Box, who chose to continue under Dr. Kotwal’s label and have produced several comedic, women-centric dramas. Bring in the Zonta Club III of Colombo, who hope to touch the audiences with their message of preventing violence and abuse of women.
“The play has become a catalyst the world over and in India, to create awareness about violence towards women and girls. The play has helped us raise lakhs of rupees which we have donated to shelters and grass-roots organisations which help combat this scourge” adds Dr. Kotwal who sees the Monologues as more that just one and a half hours of laughter and applause.
Since its debut in 1996 the play has become a celebration and liberation of women in itself sparking the internationally celebrated V- Day Movement. It is no secret that the title itself may raise eyebrows and invite more than a few questioning glances. “The strength of the writing is frank, brutal and explicit while being very funny and poignant all in one. It finds a connection in every woman’s life,” reflects Mahabanoo who remembers their first performance of the play in India as being simply “magical”.
“It was a full house and people were clamoring for tickets, something that continues to happen till to-date” says Mahabanoo, who received the same reaction when they first performed the Monologues in Sri Lanka a decade ago.
From laughter to tears, frustration, anger and compassion the play is a collection of monologues spoken from the perspectives of women of different ages, races and situations all based on over 200 interviews of women conducted by the playwright herself.
“I am blessed to have Eve Ensler as a friend and mentor, a true role model if ever there was one,” recalls Mahabanoo who met Ensler when she along with award winning actresses Jane Fonda and Marisa Tomei performed the Monologues with Poor Box in the recent past.
Appealing to any adult woman Mahabanoo reminds us “there is a new and aware generation every 2-3 years” which is why the play is still so appealing after almost 18 years since its debut. “It’s a superbly crafted play that talks about the pain and the ecstasy of being a woman with great humour and sensitivity” she says.eelings the first time she read the script. “It has to be, if it can be accepted with such open arms in a country like India and continues to run for 12 years.
As one Indian film director said, ‘This play has gone beyond theatre’. Let me put it this way, in India, it has become a brand in itself, passing on a message and bringing about awareness of violence against women which is a global issue.”
Zonta Club III Colombo presents Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” in collaboration with Poor Box Productions on August 24 at the British School Colombo Auditorium. Tickets are priced at Rs 5,000, Rs 4,000, Rs 3,500, Rs 2,500 and Rs 1,500.They are available at the British School of Colombo. Additionally, for ticket bookings you may simply call Quickee.lk on 0117324325/6, get them delivered to you and pay with cash or card on delivery. For updates on tickets and the box plan, please visit the Zonta Club III Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/zontaclub3.