All About Eve (Destiny)
Originally published in:
Destiny
07/12/2011
By Lesogo Tlhabi
Eve Ensler, award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues, which has been translated into 48 languages, has penned a daring and insightful new work inspired by girls around the globe
In your latest work, I am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World, there are monologues relating to girls' issues from countries around the world. How did these stories come about?
I've been travelling around the world for 14 years and have been inspired by everything I've seen, touched, heard and imagined. I didn't interview anyone, but I was exposed to their situations and went from there.
This production highlights teenage girls as the future women, mothers, wives and leaders. What's the main message you're hoping to convey to audiences?
I believe girls are too often told "to please" and to be something other than what they are. It's very important for them to be inspired by other verbs like "create", "learn" and "defy". Girls are very powerful, but are often told to behave themselves. I don't want girls to behave themselves.
Like your award-winning Vagina Monologues, I am an Emotional Creature includes both stories and monologues. Why is the monologue form so captivating?
A monologue can tap deeply into someone's psyche. So many people live untold stories and lives. I love seeing the effects my work has on some of these people. It's an effective way to get a powerful message across. Many times people use either their minds or their hearts to make choices, and the outcomes are often much differentiated. It's important to fuse them and use them together, as if they were one.
You're an author, poet, playwright, activist and mother. Which role has been your most fulfilling one?
I can't choose one. They all fulfill parts of the same story which is my life. Sometimes I feel as though it's hard to be an activist and an artist at the same time, because there's usually a conflict of interests, but it's been amazing in my growth and journey. Being a mother is a wonderful thing and I'm very happy that I adopted someone special in my life - we've learnt so much about love in our lives together.