WEBVTT
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(Thunder)
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(Creaking)
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(Hand squeaking on window)
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(Rain pattering)
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About 5 years ago now,
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a very distinguished,
handsome woman walked
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into Mu Lan Tea House,
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came straight to my counter.
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She said:
\"Are you going to play?\"
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I said: \"Play what?\"
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She said: \"This year, we want
to have a spotlight show
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\"on The Vagina Monologues,
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\"and telling the story
about comfort women.\"
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\"Oh yeah, I know that story!\"
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The blood just went
straight to my head.
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I remembered when
I was 10 years old,
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my brother put me on
the stage to do a show.
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When I got on the stage,
I saw all the people, I froze.
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(Applause)
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I forgot every word of it.
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Fortunately, there was people
in the back of the stage
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feeding the lines.
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So I ask:
\"Will there be line feeders?\"
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She said: \"No\".
And then she left.
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A few days later,
I got the script.
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What powerful writing!
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I just thought somebody
will have to do it.
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Then I thought
it would be better
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to have more than one voice,
not just me.
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So I was thinking:
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\"Who in Halifax, over 70,
can speak English?
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\"Oh yeah! Mary!
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\"She is a bit older than me,
but we can do it.\"
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(Telephone ringing)
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So I phone Mary.
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I said:
\"Mary, you know what?
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\"We should do
Vagina Monologues.\"
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She said:
\"Vagina Monologues?
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\"I\'ve never done
theatre before!\"
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But then I said:
\"Mary, we have to tell the world
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\"about comfort women.
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\"Somebody has to do it.
You\'re it.\"
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So I show her the script.
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She said: \"All right.\"
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But we only have 3 rehearsals.
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(Both talking, indistinct)
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Almost daily,
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Mary and myself would secretly
practice in the tea house.
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Mary couldn\'t stop crying.
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She would cry,
reading or not reading.
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She would cry all the time.
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Then the more she cried,
I\'d just get more angry.
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I would remember
the lines such as:
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\"They do it
when we were bleeding.
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\"They do it when we were so
young, before we were bleeding.
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\"50 soldiers a day,
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\"sometimes a shipload of them.
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\"Japanese government, say sorry!
Say sorry! Say sorry to me!
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\"Say it to me! Say sorry!
Say sorry!\"
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I would be reading like this
every morning when I wake up.
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My husband, my poor husband,
would just say:
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\"When is this going to end?\"
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But he was very supportive.
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Toward the end,
if I forget a line,
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he would pump the line for me.
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So we really worked
very, very hard.
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Funny enough, when we went
and did the show,
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none of us forgot any lines.
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At the end,
the whole theatre was crying.
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(Rain pattering)
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We were so happy
it\'s been videotaped,
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and we will have a chance
to watch other people\'s show.
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Everybody comes to my place and
we make a lot of food and tea.
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We\'re having a party.
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But Mary, Mary doesn\'t know
how to cook small amounts.
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She always cooks huge amounts.
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So we are sitting comfortably,
and then the music came,
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but it\'s kind of strange music.
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And then the priest came out.
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(♪ Priest chanting ♪)
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\"Oh my God!
The tapes got swapped!\"
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We got the Catholic
priest\'s ordination,
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and the church got
our Vagina Monologues!
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We were totally disappointed.
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Before we realized,
we started all laughing...
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(Women laughing)
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because we thought:
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\"Oh, well, maybe somebody
in the congregation
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\"will enjoy our show.\"
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Closed Captions: Vision Globale
