My Day as Becky Shaw, or Everything I learned in Gender Studies Class

This past weekend, I got together with fellow cast member Max Hartman to run lines for the show. Max and I actually only have a few exchanges in the play, so we spent most of the time trading off and reading the other roles for each other. Along with giving me a chance to demonstrate my impeccable Jenny Ledel, Leah Spillman, and Cindy Beall impressions, the exercise gave me the opportunity to look at the show from several different perspectives. It also gave me a much clearer picture of how the women in the play view my character.

This led Max and I to start discussing the play as a whole. One of the things we talked about was how easy it can be to fall into “types” with a play like Becky Shaw (and countless other plays, as well). As far as the two guy characters go, one could give a quick read and come to a conclusion like “Oh, he’s the tough one and he’s the wuss,” or something more snotty like, “While one character’s innate maleness leads him to embody the qualities more typically attributed to his gender; the other strives to embrace both the masculine and feminine inherent in all of us.”

Both of those statements are complete bullshit. The beauty of Becky Shaw is that it actually plays with the idea of type, and despite what one might think about the characters at the beginning, those thoughts can get flipped and turned around multiple times throughout the course of the play. While on the surface, the two men and three women might fall into the typical “roles” we’ve all taught ourselves to recognize, each is complex and original and something really hard to figure out. This is what makes the show both difficult and a lot of fun to work on.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch football, leave the toilet seat up, and get hot women to like me by wearing the right body spray.

 

 

Image © Leland Bobbé
More photos from the 'Half-Drag' series can be found at
http://lelandbobbe.com/#/18/0