UPDATE: VAGINA-GATE continues with a twist!

UPDATE: Some people in Florida have shown some balls regarding the VAGINA controversy!!! Thanks to PM for the link.

"We got a complaint about this play The Vagina Monologues. I'm on the phone and asked 'What did you tell her?' She's like, 'I'm offended I had to answer the question,'" said Bryce Pfanenstiel, of the Atlantic Theater. "We decided we would just use child slang for it. That's how we decided on Hoohaa Monologues."

Two days later, The Hoohaa Monologues was restored to its original title -- The Vagina Monologues -- after the play's organizers demanded it be changed back.

The organizers are a group of Florida Coastal School of Law students who said the sign had to read the play's original title because they have rights to the well-known play only if they do not allow any censorship of its content.

"We are not allowed to censor anything because the whole play is about being a woman, about telling certain women's stories. Vagina is the essence of a woman, and if you're going to suppress the name, then you're suppressing us as women," said play organizer Elissa Saavedra.

I really hope the offended woman is ashamed of herself. I also hope someone from the Daily Show goes out and interviews her so we can get a good look at one of America's most brilliant citizens. And by brilliant, I mean bat shit crazy.

In case you didn't see it, Keith Olbermann had this scandal on his worst people in the world list last night. Pretty funny.

End Update


Before I became a political blogger and policy wonk, my interests were pretty much vested in theatre and music. I went to college for musical theatre, and I have performed in numerous shows and theatre companies throughout the country. After residing in Northern NJ and NYC for about a year after college graduation, I decided to make the move to Virginia and basically put my theatre career on the back burner to focus on "real life" for a while. I have since decided to make theatre a fun hobby to participate in when and if I have the time; a decision I am totally comfortable and happy with. I guess I no longer have stars in my eyes and dreams of my name in lights on Broadway, but that tends to happen when one realizes that a life spent waitressing, temping, and auditioning each and every day may very well take you nowhere. So, why end up hating the craft because you can't make a living doing it? I definitely took the road MOST traveled, and again; I am happy with my decision.

The first show I did in Richmond was a production of the Vagina Monologues at the Firehouse Theatre on Broad Street. The work was unpaid, but that was fine with me, considering the proceeds went to help fund the VDay Project, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. If you have not yet seen the Vagina Monologues, I highly suggest attending a performance. The show is entertaining and educational, and all performance proceeds go to charity. The production I was in helped provide additional funds to the Richmond Women's Shelter. In fact, the Firehouse Theatre presents the show every year, so if you get a chance and are in Richmond next February, check it out!

However, if you happen to be in Florida, you will have to see the show with a new title. Apparently, some Floridians were so insulted by the medical term used to describe a woman's most popular private part, they decided to change the name used in the title of the play. A woman was "offended" when she drove by the theatre and had to explain to her niece (yes, a FEMALE) what a vagina was.

I'm not kidding you. A WOMAN was OFFENDED that she had to explain to a YOUNGER WOMAN what was in her own underwear.

THE HORROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the theatre, to "avoid controversy", has come up with a new title, which is in no way offensive at all.

::snark and sarcasm galore coming up::

The theatre has renamed the title of the show "The Hoohaa Monologues".

The HOOHAAA Monologues.

My own body part has become a comical little joke in the state of Florida because a woman didn't want to explain to another woman what her private parts are called. You know, you really can't make this shit up, folks. This is one of those times I sincerely wish that this was a joke, but sadly, it isn't.

No vaginas please, we're Floridian
Thursday, February 8, 2007

What a load of hoohaa. A theatre in Florida has had to change the title of a charity production of The Vagina Monologues on its marquee, after a woman complained that it was offensive.

The new name? They've decided on 'The Hoohaa Monologues'.

Atlantic Theatres in Atlantic Beach, Florida, received a complaint from a woman who'd seen the advertised title as she drove past with her niece. She said that it had made her niece ask her what a vagina was.

The theatre's Bryce Pfanenstiel commented: 'I'm on the phone and asked “What did you tell her?” She's like, “I'm offended I had to answer the question.”'

So the theatre, anxious to avoid controversy, decided that the childish slang word 'hoohaa' was the most appropriate thing to replace 'vagina'.

Some have welcomed the change to 'The Hoohaa Monologues', while others have expressed some confusion. 'It sounds like a country band,' one passer by commented to local TV station WJXT.

The production was being staged by a group of law students, with all proceeds going to charity. The director of the play has asked that the title be changed back.

The Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler's award-winning international hit play, is an attempt to celebrate the vagina as an object of empowerment, rather than of shame. There's some way to go with that one, clearly.

So there we have it, everyone. Women, please stop referring to your vagina as a vagina, because someone might hear you and take offense at having to admit to herself that she has....GULP...

A VAGINA!!!!!