Andrew Luttrell came out of the performance of “The Vagina Monologues” with a new perspective of the vagina.

He said the monologues shed a whole new outlook for him.

The Women Studies Program presented “The Vagina Monologues” Monday night in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

“The Vagina Monologues,” a play by Eve Ensler, addresses different issues relating to women and their vaginas.

The performance was delayed 20 minutes as a long line formed of people waiting to get in. One hundred people were turned away after all 570 seats in the ballroom were filled.

The cast, dressed in black with hints of red, demonstrated issues of sex, menstruation, rape, orgasm, birth and love.

The audience reaction was just as varied as the subject matter of the varying monologues.

Roars of laughter erupted during the monologue “The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy,” as Lisa Taylor gave examples of different kinds of moans.

While during the “My Vagina Was My Village” monologue, the crowd sat in silence as Emily Steele told the tale of a Bosnian rape victim.

Luttrell, sophomore psychology major, came with Samantha Sauer, freshman history major, to support their friend Steele.

Luttrell said he probably would not have come to “The Vagina Monologues” because, as a male, it was hard for him to relate to some of the material.

Sauer said there were times when she was uncomfortable as well.

“I think a lot of times it was supposed to be uncomfortable,” Sauer said.

Luttrell said no one, typically, likes to talk about the vagina, which is what the purpose of the play is.

Dana Wyant, senior communication studies major, closed the performance with a letter from Ensler, the playwright.

Wyant said from her work on the cast she has become much more comfortable with the word vagina and other words associated with it.

“It makes me want to use them more too – break the silence,” she said.

Suzanne Enck-Wanzer, coordinator of the Women’s Studies program and director of “The Vagina Monologues,” was amazed at the turnout for the performance but was sad she had to turn away so many people.

She said many people showed up because “The Vagina Monologues” is different for Charleston. It’s something you don’t see every day, Enck-Wanzer said.

She said a lot of people came to the performance to support the end to violence of women.

It is Enck-Wanzer’s personal mission to end the violence of women and girls and did the play for this reason.

Enck-Wenzer said she hoped the audience took away the idea of female empowerment from the performance.

She said violence is serious and women’s sexuality is serious too but should also be celebrated more.

Emily Zulz can be contacted at 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.

The Vagina Monologue of a 72-year-old woman is read to the packed crowd in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union last night. The event featured the monologues and a silent auction to stop violence against women. Proceeds from t

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