Mike Robida is a writer, filmmaker, actor and film critic from South Berwick, ME. You can read about his film Vanilla here. It was chosen for the 2013 New England Film Festival. He will be joining us onstage for his firstV-Day this year, and we are delighted to have him as part of our cast!

Q – How long have you been involved in theater?

“I’ve been involved in various theatrical productions, off and on, since grade school. But I didn’t really take a vested interest in theatre until the 11th grade when I transferred to Marshwood High School and got a taste of what real theatrical production value was like.”

Q – What are some of your favorite recent roles/productions?

“The last play I was in was Abe Burrows’ ‘Cactus Flower’ for the Surrey Little Theatre in British Columbia. I played an unshaven, slacker, writer-type- a role I’d been rehearsing for since puberty.”

Q – Have you performed in the Vagina Monologues before?

“I didn’t even know that there were male roles in the Vagina Monologues until after my girlfriend was cast.”

Q – What made you want to be involved in V-Day this year?

“‘The Vagina Monologues’ contains a lot of important material that should be embraced by both genders. But I think that the material can also be a little intimidating for men. There’s a sort of stigma that surrounds ‘The Vagina Monologues’, labeling it as the kind of play that angry women go to see so that they can be in a room full of other angry women so they can all be angry and seethe and hate men together. This, of course, isn’t the case at all. And I hope that my presence in the cast (as well as the other male cast members) will help alleviate some of the anxieties that male audience members might have walking in.”

Q – Who is the most influential woman in your life?

“It’s impossible to narrow down a single, most important woman in my life. My mom, my sister, my girlfriend, my grandmothers, my aunts, my cousins, my friends… I am surrounded by a great number of women who encourage and inspire me every day.”