It’s Not April 1st, and This Didn’t Appear In “The Onion”

Play’s Controversial Title Leads To Complaints, Change

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. — A modified marquee in Atlantic Beach has been drawing some attention. “Hoohaa” replaced a word in the title of a play after a driver complained about finding the previous wording offensive. The marquis for Atlantic Theaters advertises a number of plays including, the Masquerade Ball, Band Jam, and now The Hoohaa Monologues. Some said hoohaa is a strange word and that its definition depends on its context, while others said it sounds like a country band.

However, it’s not a band at all. In fact, most people know hoohah by a different name — vagina.

“We got a complaint about this play The Vagina Monologues,” said Bryce Pfanenstiel, of the Atlantic Theater. The Hoohah Monologues is a replacement title for The Vagina Monologues — a well-known play about that part of the female body. “We decided we would just use child slang for it. That’s how we decided on Hoohah Monologues,” Pfanenstiel said. They did this after a driver who saw it complained to the theater, saying she was upset that her niece saw it. “I’m on the phone and asked ‘What did you tell her?’ She’s like, ‘I’m offended I had to answer the question,'” Pfanenstiel said. Some parents said they applaud the title change. The theater said they’re trying not to offend anyone, but the publicity doesn’t hurt. “We hope people understand we’re trying to do the right thing. But as far as doing it for attention, we’re a comedy club, we do all kinds of shenanigans,” Pfanenstiel said. The play is being brought to the theater by a group of law school students and all of the proceeds are going to various charity organizations. The director of the play said she was going ask the theater and comedy club to return the title back to its original name.

Via Cynthia Baines, who observed: “Who knew? Vagina is a bad word. It’s good to know that the citizens of the beaches are now safe from having to tell their children the real names for their own body parts.”