Taitt forms all-women's theater group to address female issues

In 1993, playwright Eve Ensler was walking past a newsstand in Manhattan when a photo on the cover of Newsday caught her eye.

It was a picture of six women who had just returned from a camp in Bosnia. Horrified that thousands of women were being raped in the middle of Europe as a systematic war tactic, Ensler traveled there to speak with some of the victims. She subsequently wrote a monologue titled "My Vagina was my Village" for her play "The Vagina Monologues," which was performed on campus last February.

Tamara Taitt '02 was one of the directors of that play.

And just as learning of the Bosnian women's suffering was an inspiration for Ensler, so was Taitt's experience with the playwright's work.

While Taitt has been involved in many productions with the Black Arts Company and Theatre-Intime since arriving on campus, "The Vagina Monologues" was one of the most meaningful for her, she said.

It was a desire to bring more plays similar to "The Vagina Monologues" to campus that inspired Taitt to create an all-women's theater group she calls Wy'mn Space.

Opportunities to play strong female characters in campus theater productions do not come more than once per year, Taitt said.

They are the roles found in plays that handle a range of issues, such as abortion, relationships, sexuality and rape. The complexity of the characters and the scope of their emotions make them challenging for an actress to portray, according to Taitt.

"These are roles that deal with tough subject matter," she said.The group, still in its incipient stages, will attempt to offset this deficiency in campus drama by focusing on women's issues in its four or five productions per year.

"It will make an abundance of strong female roles available for talented actresses on campus," Taitt said. "This was an outlet that had not yet been tapped," she added.

Taitt said the group will likely hold discussion sessions after its more serious or controversial performances so the audience also can weigh in on the subject matter.

Taitt said she chose the alternative spelling of "wy'mn" because many other women's arts groups also had creative spellings. She also said she wanted to "take the word 'man' out of things" to reflect the focus on female issues in the group.

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Jennifer Schanbacher '03, who is involved in the group's selection of plays and its publicity, said she believes the group's performances will bring up issues that really need to be talked about.

"Young women have a lot of issues that are unique to them that are brushed off simply as teen angst," she said.

Before becoming involved in Wy'mn Space, Schanbacher wrote and directed the "Ophelia Diaries," which was performed earlier this month in McCosh 50.

Though University has officially recognized the group, no administrators are directly involved in its establishment. Wy'mn Space also has yet to secure any funding, but the group plans to request money from the USG Projects Board, Taitt said.

Taitt's proposed women's dramatic performing group will have an all-female board made up of women actors, directors and production staff.

"I expect that woman-focused theater will attract a lot of people," Taitt said, adding that she believes there are already many aspiring actresses and directors on campus who will likely be interested in the group.

Wy'mn Space will hold its first organizational meeting within the next few weeks. Taitt said she will see how many people come to the meeting, and use that information to decide whether to advertise the group more broadly.

"The Vagina Monologues 2001," tentatively scheduled for Feb. 20, will be the group's inaugural show. Auditions will take place sometime before Winter Break, according to Taitt.

She said though the core group of performers in the group will be women, there will be room for men who are interested in women's issues to participate.

"The biggest battle we have now is finding the plays," Taitt said, noting that there is not a wealth of all-female cast dramas from which to choose. As a result, while Wy'mn Space will focus on plays with strong female roles, there may be some male roles available as well, she said.