Over the past four years, Sarah Krevsky '08 has been an elderly New Yorker, a teenage lesbian and a Bosnian villager-not to mention an actress, a leader and the head of what she describes as "a community, an experience and a sisterhood." But Krevsky says that what keeps her coming back to The Vagina Monologues every year is simply that "every year, the cast is so amazing," yet "each year gets better and better!"As the head coordinator and the only 2008 cast member to have participated in The Vagina Monologues for all four of her years at Brandeis, Krevsky has passions for both the show and the community that are hard to match. Her involvement began in high school, when she saw a production at Vassar. "I thought, 'I have to do this; it's so cool!'" Krevsky said, and when she auditioned for Brandeis' Vagina Monologues as a first-year, she "stayed up all night waiting for the e-mail" to find out if she'd made it.

That first year, she was worried: What would her family think? What would her friends think? Krevsky said that members of the cast share that fear every year. "There are provocative things in the show," Krevsky admitted. "Vagina isn't a word that's said in public very much."

Krevsky doesn't worry about her friends' and family's reactions anymore. "Now I worry about my friends not being able to make it," she says. "My family loves it. My mom has come every year."

Krevsky's family members aren't the only ones who love The Vagina Monologues at Brandeis. Friday night's performance was packed, with audience members standing in the aisles to see a show that was everything The Vagina Monologues should be: funny, moving and at least a little uncomfortable. Despite technical snafus with lighting and sound, the actors gave it their all, and an enthusiastic audience lapped it up.

This year also marked the first Brandeis performance in four years of "Crooked Braid," a monologue about the cycle of domestic violence inflicted on American Indian wo-men. Director Yael Mazor '08 said she included it because "we wanted to give Brandeis something new, wanted to push ourselves as far as we could go. We were blessed to have Kaye Reyes '10, whose wrenching performance was one of the standouts of the evening."

Reyes spoke in the postshow talkback about the difficulties of preparing for such a painful role. "I'm a very happy person," she said, but "every time after reading the monologue, I'd be totally exhausted."

Other actresses with similarly tragic roles echoed Reyes' struggle. "I could feel the pain in the monologue-I just wanted to do it justice," said Vrinda Shukla '11, who told the story of a Bosnian woman gang-raped by soldiers during the war.

Krevsky agreed. "There are a lot of very graphic moments, and I find it very difficult not to internalize that," she said, revealing that her performance of "The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could" last year made such an impression on her that she can no longer put on the dress that she chose as her costume for the monologue. However many times she's tried, "I haven't worn it since," she says.

Asked what she will do next year without a production of The Vagina Monologues in her life, Krevsky laughed and fluttered her hands. "I have no idea!" she exclaimed.

As much as Krevsky will miss The Vagina Monologues at Brandeis, it's clear that the sisterhood she helped create will miss her just as much. "Sarah Krevsky is the most responsible, organized student leader I know," and "a role model for all the girls," Mazor said. "She puts her heart and soul into everything she does.