Becca Jacobson
Guest Writer
“One Billion Rising for Justice” was the theme for the Vagina Monologues this year. As an individual cast, we played only a small role in a much larger show.
As a cast, we took an active role in rising for justice. We have spent the past few months preparing for the show that not only impacted our lives, but the lives of students and families. Our message echoed throughout not only Judd this past weekend, but the entire world.
As a senior, this was my fourth year advocating for justice through the Monologues. Each year, there are ups, downs, goods, bads and all that falls in between.
Each year there are a group of girls who rise for justice. This past year has been a year filled with hope. Certainly, the Monologues have a poignant message; we did not want people to leave the show feeling sad, but rather, we wanted them to feel empowered, and to have hope.
With this, the postscript this year focused on giving hope.
Members of the cast lined up, walked down the center of the aisle and gave a white feather, which symbolized hope and a letter of hope to a member of the audience. This moment of the show was when we as a cast realized that the Monologues were so much more than a show.
For the first time, we were able to physically and metaphorically give people hope, to empower audience members to rise for justice, and to have hope for themselves, and for this we were all moved to tears.
This show was not simply just a rendition of the Vagina Monologues. It was our chance to rise. It was our chance to have justice.
It was our chance to fill a small piece of a much larger puzzle. The same nights we put on the show, there were hundreds of thousands of other shows going on throughout the United States and also the world.
Together, casts of women connected through sharing stories of women and connected through justice.