I recently finished performing in a children's play, based on the books "The House On East 88th Street" and "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile." I was excited to audition for this play in particular, because I remember being a big fan of the books when I was a kid. I was also interested in the role, because I had never worked with this theater in particular, and had auditioned there in the past.
Well, sometimes your gut is right. This was by far one of my favorite experiences in theater yet, and it was a much needed refreshment after coming straight off a show that I wasn't so nuts about. Maybe I'll talk about that show another time.
"Lyle" was, to put it mildly, an absolute blast from beginning to end. It was the longest running show I've ever been in, with 3 weeks of rehearsals followed by 6 weekends of performances. In the end, after snow-days cancelled a number of rehearsals, it ended up being a total of 4 rehearsals plus tech-week before we opened.
This alone was awesome. Add to that the team of professionals I had the pleasure of working with (both on and offstage), and you have what was an almost perfect experience. My biggest problem with theater is, believe it or not, the types of people that you run into. People that think they know everything. People that think they are God's gift. People that think they are Broadway stars, despite their working in a theater that has "community players" in the title. These people are so many, and so pretentious, that they can actually have the affect of making a person consider giving up theater altogether. It is usually to spite these people that I persist. This cast had not a single bad apple. It was instead a fellowship of artists in every regard, helping each other toward one collaborative goal. That, to me, is what it's all about.
It was also fun, simply for the text itself. The play was written (or adapted) by Kevin Kling. Kling is a well known monologist, story teller, author, and actor. He has been featured on NPR, and also has a series of albums available both on iTunes and through his website. Since first learning of him (through this production) I've become a big fan, and have listened to a number of his recordings. His adaptation of the "Lyle Crocodile" books was another great pleasure, since the style was more PG than G rated, and made the show fun for adult audience members, as well as children.
Some people can't handle that though, and it never seems to be the kids that the PG rating is protecting.
A costar and I played various New Yorkers in our production. We didn't have names, we were just 1 and 2. In the first scene, we were Moving Men 1 and 2. Later, we were Firemen 1 and 2. Later, we were Zoo Crocodiles 1 and 2. We were the only speaking characters with costume changes, and those costume changes were rapid. Essentially, our jobs were to recreate the characters of New York City. The play does this, by giving the two of us these sort of "tough guy" attitudes, which we would display by calling each other "jerks" all the time (even when our characters were being nice to each other). Think of Bugs Bunny calling someone a "maroon". It was along those lines. It was a running gag that we all enjoyed, and often enforced further when backstage.
After every performance, the cast of "Lyle" would parade to the lobby of the theater and there greet the exiting audience members, and sign children's programs to give them the full theater experience. Hey, what actor doesn't enjoy signing an autograph? Besides, as far as the kids were concerned, we really were stars.
Often, parents smiled and said "thank you" as we signed their kids' books and programs. Some kids were more outgoing than others, and some even told us their favorite parts of the play. It was obvious from the first performance that people were really enjoying the play.
One day, after heading back to the dressing area (which was just one big dressing area behind the stage), the actor playing Lyle came back with an interesting comment an audience member had given him. I'll do my best to recreate the jist of the conversation they'd apparently had.
LYLE CROCODILE: (to one of the kids) Hi! Did you have fun?
KID: Yeah.
LYLE CROCODILE: Alright! (signs autograph)
KID'S MOM (HEREAFTER REFFERED TO AS MOM): Are you aware of all the j-e-r-k's in the play?
LYLE CROCODILE: I'm...i'm sorry?
MOM (HEREAFTER REFFERED TO AS THE JERKLADY): Are you aware of all the j-e-r-k's?
LYLE CROCODILE: What?
JERKLADY: The j-e-r-k's.
LYLE CROCODILE (Now just playing dumb and fully aware of what she's talking about) I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean.
JERKLADY: The j-e-r-k's. If you say it as a word.
LYLE CROCODILE: (pause) Oh...Ohhh, yeah. Okay. Right.
JERKLADY: Well, isn't there anything you can do about that?
Hope that gives you an idea. I really wish I could get the stony pretention across in her sentences. Supposedly, it was that straight-faced, disgusted, condescending kind of attitude.
Now, we can argue back and forth about what's appropriate and inappropriate for kid's to listen to, but in the end it'd be irrelevant to this conversation. What astounds me is the idea that a grown woman, old enough to have and understanding of words and the levels of harshness from one to the next, could actually not be able to say the word "jerk" even as she spoke against it. It's a word. It's a word. Words are only as powerful as you make them, good or bad. Even a so called "bad" word needs intent behind it to make it "bad." What kind of halfwit gives the word "jerk" such power that she can't even use it in a sentence? Even a sentence like "Well, I didn't like that they said the word 'jerk'."
Even if you do have a problem with the word "jerk" in our play, that's the perfect opportunity for a dialogue between you and your kids. We've provided you with a great excuse to re-enforce your simple minded ideas that there are good words and bad words in the English language.
Worst of all, who are you to ask someone to take the word out of the play? Okay, I know she probably doesn't realize that actors can't change the words of a playwright, so I'm not saying this from a theater artist's perspective. What I'm saying is how dare you try to censor another person? If you have a problem with what someone is saying, you have a right to disagree, you have a right to walk out, and you have a right to complain or speak out against it. I may be disagreeing with her disagreement, but in the end I know she had every right to do so. What you can't do is seek to silence the opposition. You can't ask people to change their words, or stop saying what they're saying. This play used the word "jerk" to comically display the stereotypical New York attitude. We were cartoon characters. If you feel the need to protect your child from our dangerous cartoon characters, then do as you will. Don't ask us to stop. That's my opinion. That's all. It's also funny, that in six weekends of full houses we had exactly one complaint. Just one.
You all know me though. I'm not at peace until somebody is complaining about something. The jerklady wasn't a big deal by anyone's standards. She was a blip on the screen. I just had nothing else to complain about with this production. Yep. It was that damn good.
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