Vagina!

I swear. I feel like writing a musical based on "The Vagina Monologues" just called "Vagina!" everytime I type that.

That said, someone wanted to know about the casts for the upcoming shows ... here it is!

THE VAGINA MONLOGUES
at The Empty Space, 706 Oak St.

8 p.m., Feb. 18, 19 and 4 p.m., Feb. 20
Starring Jackie Bennet, Barbara Gagnon and Christina Varvel

8 p.m., Feb. 25, 26 and 4 p.m., Feb. 27
Starring Colette Masala, Jeny Rendt-Scott and Sarah Taylor

8 p.m., March 3, 4 and 5
Starring Leah Espericueta, Julia Stansbury and Sister Moutique

And here's where I put in my two cents. All three casts have people that I've seen in other performances and have liked. For instance, I like Barbara Gagnon and I've seen her in quite a few shows locally. For what it's worth, she's such an engaging character that she managed to win me over during the Spotlight's production of "On The Verge" even though I wasn't very enamoured with the material. (I love the British, but I've always strugged with the British sense of humor. The play was too Monty Python's Flying Circus for me.)

Colette Masala is new to acting, but she's an exciting performer. I've dubbed her the "Angela Bassett of Bakersfield," and I really, really like Angela Bassett. Colette is just really exciting to watch and totally dedicates herself to a role. It'll be neat to see how she grows as she continues to act locally. For those who saw last year's show she had a stunning monologue as the "Little Coochi Snorcher That Could."

As for Julia, I've also liked her in a lot of things as I think she's a good actress too. She was with Barbara in "On the Verge." She was also in the production my sister worked on when she was in town over the summer "Ziggurat." I wasn't wild about the play, but I felt she gave the best performance. And Sister Moutique is new to the game, a recent transplant from Harlem, but she showed oodles of promise during the benefit show last Saturday ...

Which you can read about in Thursdays Californian ...