Breaking the silence around menopause, one month at a time!

Brought to you by the slightly frazzled minds of

The Menopause Monologues co-founders: 

Carrie Vanhouten, Creator; Lulu Braunstein, Producer; Lisa Anne Morrison, Director

Volume 1, Issue 1 | Sept 2025



In this issue: 

• From the Hot Seat - This month, Carrie reflects on endings and beginnings
• Center Stage - Next LA show, announcing NEW local Pop-Up shows
• HOT News FLASH - How you can help pass Menopause Care legislation in CA
• Page Turners - What we’re reading (or trying to! Where are my glasses? Where’s my attention span?) Okay, fine, what we’re scrolling.
• Behind the Curtain - Our intern, Melina goes back to college in NYC. We welcome Ladan to the team!

From the Hot Seat with Carrie

January 1st has never felt like the start of a new year to me. It has always been fall- fall is the time when I instinctively take stock, tidy up, and refocus on the year ahead. (Is it because of that ingrained memory of the start of a new school year? Gotta organize my new Trapper Keeper*! Or a primal urge to prep for a long winter? Or maybe it’s just Virgo season?) This September, I'm thinking about how menopause reminds us that endings and beginnings never happen in isolation. For me, that 20-year chapter of intense, hands-on mothering is closing- what else can I nurture and grow now? Sometimes this feels like fun and freedom, and sometimes it feels, well, terrifying. Sometimes all at the same time- sprinkled with just a dash of existential panic.  

As I sat in the wings waiting to go onstage at Theatre of NOTE last February, listening to women’s stories, I was reminded that women are always changing and growing and reinventing ourselves, and that we do so best in community with other women. In a time when we can feel alone with our growing pains, let’s remember to share with each other what we’re going through. As our Wise Woman Jayne Taini says in her monologue, “Sharing is the best medicine for women.”  

I hope you enjoy our new creation- a monthly newsletter we hope you’ll actually want to read, it’s truly a labor of love.

Yours in community, carrie



*I had this exact Trapper Keeper and I was obsessed with it.

Center Stage

Coming Up!

LA Show- November 5th-9th 2025

We're bringing The Menopause Monologues to the Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles! Last February we held our SoCal premier at the legendary Theatre of NOTE in Hollywood. We are returning to LA, this time to a more spacious theater in Atwater Village. We are excited to be including at least one brand new piece as well as a few Bay Area monologues that will be new to LA audiences. We are also thrilled to be bringing back many faves from our NOTE show; Kirsten Vangsness, Cherish Monique Duke, Julia Prud'homme and more! So much to look forward to! 

Behind the Scenes: Bay Area women- do you have a menopause story burning to be told? Want to take part in our show but in a super chill way? We will be soon creating  Pop-Up Shows!!! Yeah! That’s a thing we’re gonna do! We're actively seeking submissions for this winter's event.

HOT News FLASH

Menopause Equity Care Act in California

The Menopause Monologues is proud to support our local Assemblymember and friend Rebecca Bauer-Kahan to improve the standard of care for women in peri/menopause by backing AB 432, The Menopause Equity Care Act in California. 

We need all of our voices (including yours) to flood Governor Newsom’s inbox and get AB 432 passed. 

Here’s why it matters:

• Fewer than half of women experiencing menopause receive any form of care, and even fewer receive evidence-based treatment. The Mayo Clinic estimates that untreated menopause symptoms cost $150 billion globally and $26.6 billion in the U.S. each year in lost productivity and healthcare.
• Other states- Illinois, Rhode Island, Oregon, and more—are moving ahead with menopause protections. California should be leading, not lagging.
• Most importantly, this is about equity: today, access to menopause care too often depends on wealth or demographics. AB 432 ensures that quality, evidence-based treatment is available. In 2026, AB 432 would apply to the health insurance of approximately 22,207,000 enrollees (58.8% of all Californians), meaning tens of thousands of women could receive new prescriptions for menopause symptoms in the first year postmandate. This increase in utilization would improve the quality of life for these women.



• If you'd like to learn more- Background and Substack articles on AB 432: Turn Up the Heat

Page Turners

"All in Her Head" by Dr. Elizabeth Comen. "The history of women’s healthcare is a story in which women themselves have too often been voiceless—a narrative instead written from the perspective of men who styled themselves as authorities on the female of the species, yet uninformed by women’s own voices, thoughts, fears, pain and experiences. The result is a cultural and societal leg­acy that continues to shape the (mis)treatment and care of women." So this is how we got here.



Screentime Confessions:

Lulu follows @MichelleBriehler on YouTube for workouts designed for menopause. It is crazy how much better I feel having added this to my workouts! Top tips- Bone Health: Resistance exercises like weight training and yoga help preserve bone density and reduce fracture risk, a significant concern as estrogen levels decline. Muscle Maintenance: Strength training combats age-related muscle loss by increasing muscle mass, which is metabolically active and helps maintain a healthy metabolism. Hormonal Support: Strength training can help boost anabolic hormones, which decline during menopause and are crucial for energy, motivation, and mood. 

Carrie has been listening to "Nimrod, the podcast" The talent in the writing and acting- just so good! (We've got to get through these next three and a half years somehow. Comedy helps.) It's no surprise they are currently in London doing a staged reading of this play right now. I love that there are voices I recognize from The Menopause Monologues.

Lisa has been laughing along with GarbageMom on TikTok (hilarious perimenopause comedy). I'm looking forward to Perimenopause-A-Palooza! Or is it Cougar-Chella?

Behind the Curtain

Shout out to our summer intern Melina Nath! She’s back at Barnard College in NYC now, but she was a huge help to our team over the past few months. It was refreshing to have a nimble young brain in the room!

We are overjoyed to welcome Ladan Nafissi LaFitte to the MenoMono team in a business advisory role! A strategic leader and data-driven powerhouse, Ladan has steered big initiatives at Meta (Director), Red Ventures (Sr. VP, Business Intelligence and Research), CBS Interactive (VP and Director of Business Intelligence), and more. Like many of us, Ladan knows what it’s like to feel blindsided by the onset of perimenopause. She is passionate about storytelling and brings a treasure trove of experience to help us amplify The Menopause Monologues movement and reach as many women as possible. We’re thrilled to have her guiding our journey.

Ask us your burning menopause (or women’s health, sex, relationships- anything!) questions in our new column called "We’re Not Experts (but ask us anyway)" - a monthly-ish advice column where we try our darndest to remember what you asked us, and most likely we can’t, but we’ll have a good time trying . Your name will be kept 100% anonymous! Email themenopausemonologues@gmail.com

Until Next Month!

Keep the conversations flowing, even if your period isn’t. 

In Community,

Carrie, Lulu, and Lisa



P.S. Forward this to a friend who needs to know she's not alone in this journey.

“The Second Act”  is published monthly by The Menopause Monologues, LLC. Want to contribute, be featured, or ask a question?  Email us at themenopausemonologues@gmail.com

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A portion of proceeds from every show supports women's health and feminist organizations.