The Skyline College Theater Club is directing a student-run production of “The Vagina Monologues” this summer from July 18-21. “The Vagina Monologues” is a play that explores issues that include, but are not limited to: sexual consent, sex work, women’s body image, and genital mutilation. The cast for the play consists all of identifying women.

Lyn P. Azucena is the public representative for the theater club. Azucena presented the idea of “The Vagina Monologues” to the theater club officers early last spring because she saw what they had done in the past and wanted to take a break from the “same old thing”.

“Though ‘The Vagina Monologues’ premiered off-broadway back in 1996, the subject matter it deals with is still very current and fresh,” Azucena said. “I would say that this matters now more than ever, especially such as the #MeToo movement. I want to direct something that mattered now and that would leave an impact on our audience long after they’ve watched the show.”

Azucena said that theater companies usually rehearse for about two months, so condensed summer semesters should not hinder rehearsal time. She is confident in the actors because of their hard work and dedication to the show.

“It’s important because the issues in the show are still things that happen today,” Azucena said. “Some of the issues ‘The Vagina Monologues’ tackles are rape, genital mutilation and women caught in war. Not a lot of people are aware that these issues are still in fact issues because they rarely happen on our side of the world, so the show is a great way to bring awareness to these issues.”

Dave Gammad is the secretary and the social media manager for the Theater Club. He is in charge of all promotional activities and records for all meetings, as well as ideas for next meetings.

“This play is mostly aimed towards women and their stories with their bodies,” Gammad said. “Men can also learn from this show to understand women and their bodies.”

The Skyline Theater Club has been producing student-run productions since the summer of 2015.

“Because the productions are student led, there is a lot of freedom,” Gammad said. “It’s a super collaborative process as the students interpret their scenes and are given either a lot of direction or little, depending on how well they take the direction of our show.”

The Theatre Club’s adviser does periodically come to rehearsals but gives creative control to the students.

Ethnic studies major, Ana Serra, was unaware of the summer productions but is looking forward to watching this play and felt that Skyline College “needs” this production.

“I feel like art is one of the best ways to educate people about current issues, especially in the kind of administration we are living in right now where a lot of sexism, homophobia, misogyny, all sorts of things–racism, and a lot of hatred arising, so educating people through art, they would be able to convey a lot of messages that they would not be able to convey in the classroom.

History major, Luke Lazaro, said he would be interested in watching the play since it will be produced on campus.

“We don’t have enough discussions on campus and when we do, it’s hard to advertise because (Skyline College) is a commuter school so people just come in and go home,” Lazaro said.

There will be promotional trailers for the upcoming shows. More information about the Theater Club is displayed on their Instagram page, @skylinetheaterclub.