Tony Award-nominated actress Daphne Rubin-Vega recently discussed what it means to star in the off-Broadway hit "Los Monólogos de la Vagina," a Spanish version of Eva Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues," running in the Westside Theater in New York City.

Rubin-Vega gained fame on Broadway as the first actress to play Mimi in "Rent." "Los Monólogos de la Vagina," which she joined on June 3, is her first attempt at doing a whole performance in Spanish.

"I am not a surfer, but [theater] is like surfing, it's like catching a wave. Each audience is a wave. You catch them, and you ride them all the way ... to have that journey," Rubin-Vega said in a interview with Latina magazine. "I think this experience will inform so much about my life and my identity as a Latin woman that I am not even aware of right now."

Although he show will be performed completely in Spanish, it still breaks social norms like the original version, testing the strength of the actors.

"Subconsciously, just saying vagina in front of my elders, and my youngers, and my peers -- people I don't know, but mostly women," Rubin-Vega responded when asked what she is most excited about.

The 44-year-old actress does not expect that many men will come see her show, which she will leave after a three-week-long run next week according to Playbill.

"Is it bad if I say I don't care? I don't care," Rubin-Vega said. "Whoever is here will need to be here, and I guarantee if I'm on that stage with those women, it's going to be a ride. Yeah, [but] men are totally welcomed."

The actress named "Coochi Snorcher" and "The Flood" as some of the most powerful monologues in the show but pointed out that despite opportunities to perform such influential pieces, it is not easy being a Latina actress these days "because you are still going to be somebody's friend and somebody's maid."

"One of the best shows on TV with Latinas that really takes advantage of dramatizing Latinas is 'Devious Maids,'" Rubin-Vega continued. "It's all good, pero mira eso [but look at that]! That's really what I'm going in for most of the time. There is a new sheriff or a domestic worker, or the mother of a criminal. Pero [but] it depends on the role. That enthusiasm, if I'm going to play a junky stripper with AIDS, I'm going to play the best junky stripper with AIDS that I possibly can. So if I have to roll a cigar, I'm going to be the best cigar roller."

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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