The Vagina Monologues

The Vagina Monologues is a play by V, formerly known as Eve Ensler. It is a collection of short, separate pieces, each in the voice of a different woman. Their subjects include birth, pleasure, sex and trauma. The characters are invented, but the writing grew out of about 200 interviews that the playwright carried out.

Roundabout Theatre Company is staging a new Off-Broadway production to mark the play's 30th anniversary, directed by Noma Dumezweni. It belongs to Roundabout's 2026–2027 season, and the company lists the run for spring 2027 at the Laura Pels Theatre. As of October 2026, productions of the play have reached more than 140 countries. It also gave rise to V-Day, an international campaign against violence toward women and people who are gender-expansive.

There is no single plot to follow. The evening moves from piece to piece, and the tone swings between comedy and testimony. One monologue is a comic rant about gynecological tools. Another is built from accounts by Bosnian women who were held in rape camps. Other pieces turn to body image, periods, love and sex work.

The form has changed over time. V first performed every monologue alone. After the solo version came stagings for a trio of actors, and then larger ensembles in which each monologue has its own performer. New pieces have been added since the first production, and the script was revised in 2008, so the text on stage can differ from one production to the next.

The play opened on October 3, 1996, at HERE Arts Center, which sits in the off-off-Broadway tier of New York theater. The limited run there was extended once, and the play then moved to the Westside Theatre for an Off-Broadway production.

V-Day was launched in 1998 as a global movement growing out of the play. V-Day earned its founder the Isabelle Stevenson Award, presented during the 2011 Tony Awards.

The play has won an Obie Award and has been nominated for an Olivier Award.