"Flag Dinners" or Family-isms

   In my 'Tween book, Meanie Bea', Beatrice's younger and only brother names family dinners after flags.  No joke!  You see, Edmund LOVES flags.  I didn't even know there were people who studied flags.  I mean they are pretty cool and all that, but study flags for a living? 

    Boy, was I wrong! People who study the history, symbols and uses for flags are called vexiollogists. (I know, I had never heard of that, either). And...people who love flags just for the sheer fun of it are vexillophiles.  That would be Edmund. Although Edmund is a fictional character, I bet he would own several tee shirts with flags printed on them.

   Knowing Edmund's fervor for flags and that he is a ten year old boy (ten year old boys don't care too much about how many times in a row they wear their favorites shirt), the shirts would be thread bare, frayed on the sleeves and really faded.  That is a boy's dream.

    But back to Flag Dinners.  Edmund names family dinners after flags because he thinks it's funny and it sort of distracts him and Beatrice from whatever food their mother prepares.  Beatrice's mom is a great lady, but not much of a cook.  On top of that, she is a vegan which the kids haven't fully accepted.  Beatrice and Edmund are subjected to strange meals all the time. 

    My mom used to make strange meals, too.  I remember my mother feeding us black eye peas (yuck), brussel sprouts--the frozen kind (double yuck) , baked fish, beets and corn. In Edmund's world, that's a black/white/red /yellow/green flag or the flag of Zimbabwe.  Now isn't saying, "It's a Zimbabwe dinner" more fun than listing the food?  I think so, too. 

    The phrase "flag dinner" is what I call a "family-ism".  You know, those are phrase or words your family uses for things.  For instance, some families have their own word for the paper covered wire ties that come with black garbage bags. You use them to tie up the bag?  We call them "twistie ties".  What do you call yours? 

    There are lots of them. My family calls a poor theatrical production a "knee squeezer". A  knee squeezer is a performance of a musical or play that isn't very good.  We coined the phrase many years ago when my daughter and I were attending a play that was really weak.  It was a small theater and many people sitting around us knew us well.  We knew we couldn't leave in the middle of the performance because everyone would see us cut out early, so we began squeezing each other's knees when the play was dragging or someone would overact.  You get the idea.  So, now whenever we see a movie, play or musical that we don't care for, we just say, "Boy, what a knee squeezer" and everyone understands.

    How about you?  Here are some others.  Let's see if you can figure out what they mean:

Eraser noogies
It's soaking
Farewell party
No smokin' on the tram

     Let's talk about Shakespeare next time.  He's Michiko's favorite playwright. 

Kabukiza Theater re-opens and Michiko attends!

 
   Okay, that statement isn't really true. The beloved Kabukiza Theater has re-opened after a huge renovation but Michiko didn't really attend.  She is a fictional character from my book, Meanie Bea'. However, if she could, Michiko would be there along with the thousands of other lovers of Kabuki Theater. I bet she would be first in line!

    I don't know if you know this, but Kabuki Theater is a really old style of theater in Japan. It dates back to 1600s.  In the beginning, women played the roles.  Apparently, it was very popular (kind of like Shakespeare and his plays) and people of all walks of life attended. But many of the women who performed in the Kabuki were...shall we say, "ladies of the night" and the government thought that it was inappropriate for them to be such a public sensation. The men took over the roles and that's how it has been performed since then. Figures...

   The stories dramatized through Kabuki were very elaborate (like fairy tales or myths) and included male and female characters. The men portrayed everything from dragons to women's roles.  You should see them! They are amazing.

   So this "Michiko girl" as Beatrice first calls her.  What's the deal with her?  Whenever Michiko is in a play, she tries to put Kabuki theater into the show. You might say she is obsessed with it! Why is she so crazy about it?  Michiko wants to keep the family business alive. Michiko's uncle is a celebrated Onegata actor in the Kabuki.  Traditionally, when someone performs Kabuki Theater they have inherited their part from a family member.  Usually, Kabuki is passed from one family generation to the next. Except in Michiko's family, there is no male in which to pass the art form.  (It is at this point that Michiko would stand up and say, "I will play the part! I want to be a Kabuki actor!")

   Things are a little more complicated than that, however.  Michiko and her mother argue a lot in the book. It isn't for the usual reasons, though (like staying up late on a school night or going to the mall with friends). They argue about BIG things. Michiko's mother thinks performing in theater is frivolous and a waste of Michiko's time. She wants Michiko to study violin and be a scientist. (Study violin and become a scientist? That doesn't sound like something Michiko would want to do at all!) Michiko has two challenges:  wanting to perform in a theater that doesn't include women and trying to follow her own dreams and not her mother's.

   Before you think you know all about my book, I must inform you:  Meanie Bea' isn't just about Kabuki Theater.  In fact, it is only one part of my book. Next I'll tell you about Flag Dinners.  Yes, you read that right. :)

Who is this Meanie Bea'?

           So, I mentioned that I would explain about Meanie Bea' who is the title character of my book Meanie Bea' (I know that's repetitive but I do want you to read my book someday). I have taught and directed students of every age, but primarily my experience is with middle graders.
After thirty plus years of teaching them, they still fascinate me. Even though times have changed since I was thirteen years old (and boy, have they changed...) I can see myself in them when I was their age. 

          Primarily, a middle grade student has absolutely no idea what they are thinking, feeling or doing! That doesn't mean they are just stumbling around in the world (although that happens, too when they are growing taller very quickly during this time). They are sort of floating around like a balloon that gets loose from the rest and bobs around in the air.  Have you ever watched other people as they observe a wayward balloon?  Everyone looks up at the escaped orb to see if it will pop. Usually, it doesn't but fades away from us into the skies.  Middle graders are like that--they are full of ideas and thoughts, but if they don't stay tethered to something or someone (like a sport, a hobby or their parents), they drift away from us, too.  And if you think about it, we watch them too, thinking "Man, that kid is going to do something stupid some day.  Look what they are doing now..." And we're right.

        Why do we know that?  We have all been thirteen years old at some point in our life.  You can't escape it, you know?  I remember the summer of my seventh grade year when I grew taller and I was elated.  One day, I woke up skinnier! No, really. Considering I am of German/Scottish ancestry and kinda stocky (and always on some sort of diet), to have grown "skinnier" by growing an inch is nothing short of a miracle!  I thought that someone would surely notice the skinnier version of me and say something nice to me.  I pranced around, throwing my hair and trying to look very model-on the-runway-ish. Looking back at it now, I'm pretty sure no one said anything or even noticed.

      Beatrice's alter ego, Meanie Bea', controls her thoughts at many points in the book. She's that voice that says things to you like, "What is So-and-So wearing?" or "Oh my gosh, that is so embarassing!" and for certain says, "I feel so dumb." I think that probably  we all have that voice in our heads that talks to us like the Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Toon Cartoons.  I love Tas'. In the cartoons, he appears out of nowhere spinning dust and debris everywhere.  Then he speaks to Bugs Bunny in his gravelly voice and whirls away again.  Remember?

       Except the difference between Tas' and Meanie Bea' is that MB isn't a cartoon character that you can turn off on the television.  Meanie Bea' speaks in all of us except by a different name--maybe you hear your mother's voice or your own a little softer in volume.  Whatever. As you age and experience things in life,  (and I pray it's true for you as it is for me) you have learned to keep that voice quiet--most of the time.

        But middle school students are so busy bobbing around in the air, they don't even realize their own Meanie Bea' blurted something really stupid, sarcastic, hateful, manipulative or totally off the subject--way out in the solar system. For instance, you are having a really bad hair day (in my case, that was a lot of days) and your mom asks you to empty the dish washer for her.  You look at her and cry, "You just hate my hair this way, don't you?" and stomp out of the kitchen. In your world, you think she has been staring at your hair all through dinner and that makes her pic. k on you to empty the dish washer for herHuh?

        Well, that's what Meanie Bea' is about--an eighth grade girl just trying to make sense of her world and those around her. Her greatest challenge is a girl named Michiko who is a visiting student from Japan. Michiko is just as obsessed with herself as Beatrice.  The difference between the two girls?  Michiko is a fanatic about Kabuki Theater and wants desperately to perform Kabuki, some day taking the place of her ailing uncle who is a celebrated Kabuki actor. Beatrice just wants to play the leading role of Pocahontas in the school play because she thinks it will give her popularity which she craves.

        So, who wins the role of Pocahontas? You'll just have to check out my blog soon and find out. 

Please comment if you'd like.  That is what makes this blogging thing worthwhile.  Thanks!

Okay, I give in...

   I've been thinking of creating a blog for a couple of months. Primarily I thought I needed a blog because I have written a novel for middle school students and publicity is everything, right?
Right.  So, I gave in and created this blog.

  You see, I have been a drama teacher and director for thirty-five years.  35!! Holy mackarel, that's a long time. In that time, I have also directed around two hundred plays or musicals with adults and children alike. Today, I realized that what I do is important. I love theater just as much or more than thirty-six years ago. Today I was a speaker at a career day for eighth grade girls. My book just happens to be about an eighth grade girl--what is the chance of that?

   Anyway...when the girls began to visit the various women's tables, I became a little nervous. Okay, I was really nervous.  I thought, "What do I have to tell them about my career? Is it a career? Why is it important for me to share about it?" The first girl who visited my table was a friend's daughter.  Whew, that made it a simple interview.  Sarah wants to be an actress or a model or on some days--both. She's pretty, fairly tall and smart.

   I thought, "Sarah doesn't need me.  She's all ready crazy about theater." I relaxed a bit after her first of three hugs during the thirty minute session.  Then other girls arrived at my table.  They weren't as put together as Sarah. Although pretty enough, they appeared scared and unconfident throwing their very long and very straightened hair over their shoulders.

   "Do you like theater?" I said. "Do you want to be an actress?"  One girl told me she had taken LOTS of acting classes in Denver at a theater I had never heard of before.  Maybe she was exagerrating or had only wanted to take classes there and pulled its name out of the blue. Regardless, my gut told me she hadn't even stepped on a stage. 

   Then two more girls arrived to join her.  One cutie shared that she was told by their mom, "You are so dramatic you ought to be an actress." This statement in her book meant she was going to be one.  Mom said so, right? 

  Over time, I relaxed as did the girls.  I must have spoken to about forty would-be young artists, hopefully. A couple of them said odd things but that's understandable at the age of about fourteen. We girls say strange things around this time in our life.  Words just jump out of our mouths before we realize what we have said--kinda' like my main character in my book, Meanie Bea'...

  One girl, with half of her head shaved and scary thick black eye liner, studied me for a long time. Finally, she said, "My brother's friend is a professional actor in New York.  He plays female roles." I said wondering, "You mean, he's a female impersonator?" "No." She said, "He's gay. He likes to play roles for women. You know, because he's gay."

   It was then that I realized what my job is and has always been--to broaden people's minds about  theater arts. My job is not to teach or direct, but to create conversation about theater with people.  It doesn't really matter what we talk about. We just need to chat about theater with someone, because in doing so, it keeps it necessary. And because it's necessary, it's important.  That's my job and I'm sticking with it.  Next time, I'll explain to you about Meanie Bea'.