This past Tuesday, April 14, Goshen Monologues held its second performance.
65 women performed stories about bodies, relationships, sexual assault, womanhood and sexuality. The stories were collected from anonymous submissions from Goshen College women and then turned into a script for the performance.
The pieces, though performed by actors, focused on the stories that were being told. Performers wore black and grey clothing and did not bow after the performance.
In an interview with Ariel Ropp, communication specialist for Goshen College, Anna Van der Zwaag, a senior molecular biology/biochemistry major from Worthington, Ohio and a member of the Goshen Monologues steering committee, said, “This is different than acting—each monologue is not a character that needs to [be] assumed. The performers are the medium through which the words can be expressed. They are a canvas.”
Many of the performers in the monologues had little to no acting experience. Even though they have had no formal training, many performers felt connected to the pieces they were performing, making it easier to channel the words.
“I felt very at home in that piece. It was a piece that I felt I could have written even. It was so real to me,” said sophomore Sarah Hofkamp in the documentary “Goshen Monologues: the Storytellers.”
Van der Zwagg believes that the purpose of the Goshen Monologues is to make peace through stories.
“Just as these stories tell the truths of our lives and of the lives of women in our community, they also tell stories of women around the world [and across time]. They tell the stories of our mothers and grandmothers, just as they might tell the stories of our daughters and granddaughters. We tell these stories to preserve this sacred bond between generations and cultures,” Van der Zwagg said to Ropp.
