“The Blank Monologues,” previously called “The Vagina Monologues,” will be staging performances on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Holmes Lounge.

Since its first 1996 showing in New York City, Eve Ensler’s play has become an essential piece of the feminist movement, having been performed in 200 countries in dozens of languages. It has been performed at Washington University every year since 2000.

For the first time at the University, the show will be performed under the name “The Blank Monologues.” It will feature pieces from the original play and several monologues written by students. According to the producer, senior Sara Arfania, the name change was made to symbolize the show’s representation of the full spectrum of female identities.

“I think the show has sometimes gotten a bad rap for being very white feminism-y, and it was really important to me that we steered away from that and really tried to embrace as many identities as we possibly could,” Arfania said. “So, that’s part of the reason we changed the name because we recognized that there is no single image of womanhood.”

Senior Sabrina Odigie, the self-described “director/dramaturge” of the production, acknowledges the challenges of assembling a diverse cast at the University.

“A big thing this year is we really wanted more women of color. As a general rule of thumb, we didn’t just want one African-American actress, one Chinese actress…we wanted to be as representative of the Wash. U. community as possible—so, obviously, easier said than done,” Odigie said.

Performer senior Ebby Offord said the show has made strides to be more intersectional and elevate the stories of marginalized groups.

“A lot of the casts have been all white and usually pretty straight. A lot of the pieces in the past have been straight white women talking about their problems in their marriages or their boyfriends,” Offord said. “I think by casting women of color and doing pieces that focus on them and their identities and struggles, [we’re] putting them on the same level as these white women. And their stories [are] forcing that intersectionality.”

Every year the production donates the proceeds from the shows to a St. Louis-based charity. This year, the recipient is the Metro Trans Umbrella Group of St. Louis (MTUG), an LBGTQIA* activist organization. Odigie says MUTG was chosen to support a community currently under attack by many.

“We picked [MTUG] because, especially with what’s going on with our current president, we just really wanted to highlight advocating for this type of community and showing that there are ways to help out and be an ally, even if you don’t know a person who’s out and trans,” Odigie said.

Offord, who will be performing for the first time, plays a homeless youth with a traumatic past who has sex with an older woman.

“This piece is the one I can most personally relate to in terms of identity with the original women who it’s about. The piece is usually done by either a woman of color or a black woman, specifically,” Offord said. “I think a big reason why this piece exists is humanizing people who we as a society have dehumanized; and so, I think that’s an important part of the piece for me.”

After performing pieces from the original play her freshman and sophomore years, senior Ariel Kravitz penned her own monologue for the show.

“The Vagina Monologues has meant a lot to me over the years, and I wanted to have a level of participation that I haven’t had before,” Kravitz said. “I write nonfiction; so, when they had a call for original monologues it was a moment of: ‘Wow! This is like all of my passions coming together.’”

Kravitz’s monologue addresses issues ranging from a cancer scare to struggling with her own sexuality.

“Everything that I tell in this monologue is a true story, like my own self-hatred and hatred towards my body, and how I learned to shut that down and reclaim my relationship [with my body],” Kravitz said. “For a while, I think I really detached myself from my vagina; and so, reattaching was really impactful for me.”

Odigie hopes that that the show has something for every audience member to reflect on after it’s over.

“[They should take] whatever they need to take away from it,” Odigie said. “And that the clitoris has over 8,000 nerves.”