After last year’s production of “The Vagina Monologues,” I was hard-pressed to come up with a different vision of what Eve Ensler’s play could look like. But after volunteering and attending the four-night run of this year’s version of the hit off-Broadway show, I have to say that I was incredibly impressed.

While they had a smaller venue this year and a larger cast, between the beautiful flats that composed the backdrop to the monologues, the addition of four new pieces, a new director (Rebecca Otis), and the infusion of new women (and even men!) into the company, many of the monologues took on entirely new and different meanings and tones.

But perhaps the piece that struck me the most actually wasn’t done by vaginas at all.

When I had heard that the call had gone out this year for men as well as women to audition, I admit I was a little taken aback. This is, after all, “The Vagina Monologues.”

However, as I was sitting in the darkened theater Wednesday night, listening to the men’s personal testimonials about their lives, their upbringings, girlfriends, sexuality and their visions for a world without violence toward women and girls, I was touched. These men were standing up and saying to other men as men, “The violence has got to stop.” Scott Kercher, during his monologue, kept asking the other men the same question, “What does it mean to be a real man?” And his answer? He said that if being a real man meant hitting women and disrespecting them, than he wanted no part in it. He believed that regardless of how one is raised, no one has the right to be violent toward women. However, it is still a personal choice one has to make to respect women.

During the final monologue, all of the men in the audience were asked to stand up, place their hands over their hearts, and repeat after the men on the stage. It was an oath to uphold, honor and respect vaginas everywhere. I was sitting in the theater next to a man that I didn’t know, and he stood up and recited the vow with the other men in the audience. When he sat down, I leaned over and whispered “Thank you.” And I say, “Thank you” to all of the women and men who performed in this year’s “The Vagina Monologues.” As Lisa Anyona said during her piece, true healing can only happen when both sexes are equally involved.