Eve Ensler

With The Vagina Monologues, playwright/performer/activist Eve Ensler sparked an international phenomenon discussing the stuff "down there." Not only did the Obie Award-winning play go on to be translated into over 35 languages, but the experience of its success also inspired its creator to found V-Day--a global movement bringing urgent awareness toward stopping violence against women and girls. Now, back on the New York boards, Ensler is set to make her Broadway debut at the Booth Theatre on November 15th in the autobiographically-driven solo show, The Good Body. Following successful runs at the Seattle Repertory Theatre and San Francisco's ACT, where "we did a lot of rewrites," Ensler confesses, The Good Body traces the author's experiences as well as over a dozen characters drawn from her journalistic approach to storytelling of attempting to transcend the self-hatred anchored in her own body image. Two days after the presidential election, the self-defined "radical feminist" sat down with us in her dressing room to discuss the journey to Broadway, and of course, the state of the nation.

How are you feeling after the elections?
As always, I'm feeling two things. First, terrified. Just terrified about the future. But I'm also just really confused!

Any thoughts about the large numbers of women who voted for Bush?
That's what I mean. I don't understand it! We spent so much time registering women, getting women out to vote. And I think, "Oh my God. Did they all go vote Republican?!"

Did you register people yourself?
Well, we had a huge "V is for Vote" campaign with V-Day. And for two weeks I went on the road. Ohio, Colorado, Utah, Florida...

Swing states, huh?
Oh! Speeches, rallies, registering! I guess what I'm really surprised by is that so many people are voting against their own interests.

Why do you think that is?
Well, it really comes down to what's going on in this play I'm doing. [Laughs.] But seriously, it's all about low self-esteem. Because if you don't value yourself then you don't feel the right to your own life--in a fundamental way. Which, I think a lot of women don't.

Yes, you explore the unnerving, and often violent, actions women take on their own flesh in The Good Body because of their self-hating. You think it's found its way into the electoral process?
Yes. Why would a women feel George Bush would make her more secure? It's like women who live with batterers There's this fear of separating from the batterer. And because you know the perimeters of that pain--it's familiar, you know what that pain is--you can feel it, harness it and live with it. But if you separate from that pain you'd actually be an independent agent, forced to grapple with the very big, scary world! And I think George Bush is--and I'm speaking only for myself here, not for V-Day--but I think George Bush is like "Scary Daddy." And having actually had a "Scary Daddy" in my own life, which I spent a lot of years going through a process of separating, separating, separating, I was still attached to that because it was what I knew. In spite of the violence, in spite of the brutality, it was what I called love.

So to separate is terrifying because you're afraid you'll be alone?
Exactly. People trade off that connection for their integrity all the time. And since there's been so much fear generated by the Bush administration--and that's what a "Scary Daddy" does: Generate fear--a lot of people are really scared. So who're they gonna cling to?

George Bush.
"Scary Daddy"! Cause a lot of people won't even let themselves have the fantasy of having someone else in charge. It's too scary!

Well, in The Good Body you're using your own scary experiences--as well as so many other real life characters' experiences--to explore a very personal journey of gender, body image and power. Why did you choose to base the show in autobiography?
Well, in a sense, I think all writing is autobiographical. But what's really most interesting for me about living--as a human being--is how we get ourselves in service of. What this whole process with The Good Body has been about is how I could get myself--as Eve the writer, myself as the story--in service of this larger story. And it's been rigorous work.

Your director Peter Askin has a stellar record with monologuists. Has he helped you?
Huge. He's been a huge asset. He's really tough, doesn't indulge you. With Peter, when something is working, it's working. But when it's not, he tells you. And he will fight and fight to get the text right.

And as a performer?
Oh, he has pushed me. I mean, I'm an inherently insecure person because I grew up with such insecurity. So my whole life has been about proving I have a right to be here. But with this piece Peter has gotten me to stop doing that. And to trust I have the right. For me, that's been the biggest leap--to trust, be relaxed, and just tell the story.

Are you taking that trust off stage as well?
Oh yes. It's been all about letting go of that compulsion that drives those of us who got annihilated early on. I mean, do I think we ever really let go of our self-hatred? I doubt it. [Laughs.] It's kind of like malaria. There are bouts. And you deal. But for me it's about coming to realize that I don't want to be that sanitized, perfect, blonde, flat "version" of me anymore. I don't want to be there.

And now you don't have to be there. Cause you're here -- on Broadway!
It's funny, but I don't know that being on Broadway was ever a goal for me.

Really?
Really. I mean, I don't even think of myself as an actor. So I don't have a "being on Broadway actor dream." And I don't know that Broadway was even a fantasy of mine as a writer. I think more that I want the work to be significant. More that people are moved and transformed by it. But I'll tell you what I do like about being on Broadway: Being a radical feminist--and having our stories, our message, our concerns--on that stage. Not invisible. Included. It's that cultural interfacing of participants that's so interesting and important to me.

So I guess--as in your quest in the show--this is a "good" thing?
[Laughs.] I guess. Yes, it's good.

How about in the outer world? For instance, what makes a "good" politician?
Well, what makes someone a good politician is that they believe in something so profoundly it determines what they do. They don't do things just to get votes. Like [NY State Senator] Tom Duane. Tom Duane is a good politician. Because he's never been anything other than real.

Good activist?
Ghandi. The greatest activist! But, you know, I think a good activist is somebody who's outrageous. Who has a sense of humor. Who lives in ambiguity. Like ACT UP! They [the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power] were amazing, outrageous, humorous and productive. They really changed things. I also have to say that the V-Day activists are awesome. Like last year we had 2,300 events in 1,100 cities around the world. All grassroots women and men. All "Vagina Warriors" who've seen violence, witnessed violence [against women] and said: No more. Those activists just blow my mind.

Good country?
The good country--and I mean really deep, fundamental goodness--is a place where everybody's invited. Part of what I'd like to see happen in the next four years is for us to reclaim things--like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, everything. Reclaim what's at the core of those things, which is really that kind of fundamental goodness. And where we allow ourselves to be in this messy, soupy, complicated, gorgeous, sexy world together. Where we don't try to make you be one thing or the other, but we tolerate that we live in this world together.

And though you might've just described it -- what is the good life?
This is. This is the good life. Cause I really do believe in the Buddhist sort of wisdom that after the greatest period of evil, comes the greatest good. I really do believe we're on our way to this new paradigm emerging. It may be eight, ten years away--and we're going to go through some darkness before we get there--but it's coming. It's coming. There are so many of us who are holding it. And holding it completely that it will come. It will. I can feel it in my soul.