Duke student Priyanka Chaurasia founded the project “Me Too Monologues” in 2009, which uses material submitted solely by students.
Duke junior and “Me Too” director Kari Barclay was responsible for bringing the production to UNC and six other universities across the country. Although the project originally centered on race, the theme of identity was introduced to broaden the project’s scope.
“People’s identities are so intersectional, so it wouldn’t be enough to talk about Asian-American identity. We had to start talking about what it means to be an Asian-American woman, or what it means to be African-American and gay,” Barclay said. “We wanted to capture the different facets of identity that each person has and how they intersect with each other.”
UNC sophomore and KTC producing director Emma Gutt acted as the initial proxy in bringing “Me Too” to Chapel Hill, and she also helped secure grant money for the production through the Kenan-Biddle Partnership.
“The grant allows Duke students and UNC students to attend the different shows and kind of see what’s different and similar, which is awesome,” she said.
Gutt also said the event is unique compared to projects that UNC’s theater groups normally produce.
“It’s something that comes from the audience. It comes from the people on campus.”
LAB! is also involved in the production of “Me Too,” but the organization has plans to produce a separate project based on student submissions. The project will revolve around students’ experiences with love and is tentatively called “The Love Project.”
