What better Valentine's Day entertainment than a documentary on the Off Broadway phenomenon The Vagina Monologues? The HBO "America Undercover" special will air on Feb. 14 (check listings).
The show will feature the (now rare) sight of author Eve Ensler performing her play solo, as well as interviewing new women on the topic of their most private part.
In early, benefit presentations of Monologues, Ensler corralled a host of stars to act the work, a collection of interviews with women discussing their attitude towards and experiences with the title body part. But when the show opened at the Westside Theatre Oct. 3, 1999, it was Ensler herself who headlined.
After several months, she relinquished the production to an ever-changing series of acting trios, often drawing on the star actresses who performed the piece in previous one-night-only benefits. Ensler later went on to act in mountings of Monologues in Chicago and San Francisco. A Los Angeles outing at the Canon Theatre ended on Dec. 2, 2001, after a run of more than a year.
Ensler is currently giving her last performances in the play, playing a brief two-week run in Washington, D.C. The show will play D.C.'s National Theatre through Feb. 3. —By Robert Simonson