A Moment with Vagina Monologues’ Kathy Freer
Director Kathy Freer was born and raised in Bethlehem PA. From an early age she had a love for the arts, and since has performed in numerous productions throughout the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia.
In 2017 she directed The Vagina Monologues, and is a burlesque performer/ producer of the only all plus size female burlesque troupe on the east coast, The SnaccTime Revue, based out of Philadelphia PA.
Q: Kathy, tell us about how you first became acquainted with the Vagina Monologues?
I first heard about it at the end of 2008. Civic Theater in Allentown had an audition announcement out for the show, and I researched it and decided I wanted to audition. I got in and the show was put on in 2009. At that time in my life I had an ex who was dying. He was just 30 years old and had a disease that we knew was killing him. I remember him telling me how he was too young, that he wasn’t ready and how he wanted to do so much more. There were things he put off because he thought he had time and knowing that he was passing away he wished he had done everything that he wanted to do instead of taking for granted the time he had. I thought about what I wanted to do, what I had been putting off thinking I have time and theater was the one thing that I wanted to get back into. So, when I saw Civic’s audition for it and read about it and what it stands for I decided to go for it. I told him I was auditioning; he knew I got in but sadly he never got to see it because he died a couple weeks before the show date.
After that I decided I was going to go all in. I was going to do what I wanted, when I wanted and performing was what I wanted to do. Since then I have performed in different shows around the Lehigh Valley, started a successful plus size burlesque troupe in Philadelphia and was fortunate to travel to different cities as a burlesque performer to do shows. I always loved The Vagina Monologues as it holds a sentimental place for me as how I first got started performing again as an adult. I decided to direct the play first in 2017 and was excited to go to NYC to see a show and meet the show’s creator, Eve Ensler. I got to speak with her about the monologues and talk with her about the importance of doing it and continuing the message and fight for women’s rights. This show is so politically important, so personally important, and so empowering. We as women are taught to be silent about this stuff, our vaginas are something we know are there, but we don’t openly discuss. Yet they are such an important part of us, and we ignore it. This show opens the door for discussion about them, about the abuse we deal with daily, about the inequality we experience and teaches all genders to respect and value women. I love seeing audience members who have never seen it watch it for the first time and walk away feeling proud, feeling empowered, feeling seen and heard and overwhelmed with emotion. This show gives us all something to think about and that to me is one of the most important things theater should do for us; change us and open us up to new ideas and discussion.
Q: What made you want to direct this production?
Since it holds a sentimental place for me, I always am looking for it in audition notices but found that usually it was local colleges performing it or community theaters far from me. My mentality is “if there is no seat at the table, make a new table and bring the seats!” That’s why I decided to direct it in 2017. There was no local production near me at the time, I wanted to do it and decided not to wait around for someone to give me that opportunity but instead to just create the opportunity. I seem to get an itch to do this show every few years and since I got that itch again, and already directed it, I decided to reach out to ArtsQuest to have the show done again. I enjoy putting this production on in ways that others may not have seen before.
Typically, this show is done as a fundraiser, in the month of February, the whole cast is on stage, everyone’s wearing black and red and it has a history of having a standard of how it looks and feels. I want to do something different. My goal is to direct a version of this show that even if you have seen this play before it will still be fresh and new to you and you can walk away saying you have never seen it done that way! My personal goals with theater are to direct shows that leave you talking about it days later and send a strong message to the audience and this show will do that.
Q: Tell us a little bit about which monologues you chose and why?
The monologues come pre-selected by Eve Ensler but my favorites are “The Flood” and “The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could.” I don’t want to give away too much but “The Flood” is a conversation a woman had with the author about a man shaming her for the natural things that happen to us when we get “excited”. I am sure every woman has an experience with shaming like this we can all relate to in some way.
“The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could” is a woman who talked to the author about how she felt about her vagina over the years and her first sexual experience with another woman. That’s what I love about this show. These stories are all pieces of or the actual full story from the woman that the author talked to. Everything you hear in this show will be something someone said to her. She interviewed over 200 women about this topic and this show is the result of those interviews.
Q: What are you hoping audiences take away from this production?
I hope this opens conversations not only about the vagina but also the abuse some people face. I hope some can learn not to be ashamed of their bodies. I hope we can learn to talk to our daughters about what to expect from their partners, what to expect from random people passing them in the street, or in the workplace. How they should be treated, and how they should not tolerate anyone abusing them. I hope it opens doors to those who need help to ask for it and find a safe space to do that. I hope men take away the importance of respecting boundaries and understand why people have certain trauma regarding their body. Aside from that I hope everyone laughs, cries, and celebrates during this show. It really is a powerful play and teaches us all something new.
