Growing up
on the East Coast in small-town New Jersey, the closest I got to the Midwest
was watching “Footloose” repeatedly. (Yes, the film is apparently set in a
fictional town in the Midwest). It
wasn’t until I was an adult in the “big city” that I was exposed to a vast
assortment of people from all over the globe. I began to encounter
Midwesterners more and more, and truth be told, I kind of developed a “thing”
for them. And now that I have been cast in a new play, “Farce This!”, where I
get to play a Soccer mom from the Midwest, well, the time has come to highlight
some of the things I’m trying to channel in creating my character.
I should
start off by saying that much of my experiences have been shaped from the time I spent
in Minnesota as well as the Minnesotan man I dated for over three years. But I
have also worked side by side with several people from Wisconsin as well as
having a close friend who grew up on a cattle farm in Nebraska. And I continue
to meet more Midwesterners, including my castmate as well as the playwright (both of whom are from Iowa), so my opinions are not based solely
on one person, or one place.
First let’s
talk about the mannerisms. People from the Midwest tend to be polite, and they smile…
a lot. Secretly, they may want to
curse you out and punch you in the face, but you’d never know it. On the
outside, it’s all about proper manners and kind words. Midwesterners are also
much less frantic and fast-paced than we New Yorkers. You walk down the streets
of even a city like Minneapolis, and no one seems to be in a rush. People would never shove you out of the way because they have somewhere they had to be five minutes ago. People
actually WANT to help you and they SMILE (there goes that smile word again) as
they do it. And there’s something about the way they talk in general… I feel
such a gentleness in their voices that reminds me of an episode of “The Donna
Reed Show”. Note to self: I need to
sound less like a fast-paced diner waitress and start channeling Donna ASAP.
And of course I must discuss their
activities. Can anyone say football? You think it’s big on the East Coast? It’s
a way of life in the Midwest. These
people go to games in the middle of a snowstorm! They are hard-core! And
there’s also the state fairs. When I was a kid, the only state fair I knew of
was the movie musical that starred Pat Boone. Well, it is a BIG deal in the
Midwest. I happened to be in Minnesota during their annual state fair and it
was all the rage on every radio and television station. Their slogan is “The
Great Minnesota Get-Together”, so state fairs are big time. There are performers, livestock competitions, rides, food
contests (I’d enter the pie contest… I make a mean strawberry apple pie with a
lattice top!), not to mention all kinds of treats you can eat on a stick. I
don’t even know if New Jersey has a state fair… or if anyone bothers going if
they do. My play is set at a fair, sort of.
In actuality, the setting is a bake sale to raise funds for my
children’s school. Bake sale? I can’t
remember the last time any of my East Coast friends told me about a bake sale
they were involved in for their kids. And I know
my mom never participated in one either. She barely knows how to turn on the
oven!
Speaking of
the oven… oh how I love the food of the Midwest! Have you ever had cheese curds? Astorians
will relate when I say they remind me of Saganaki, a greek dish which is
essentially fried cheese. I love cheese. I love fried food. The result?
Yumminess on a plate. Then there’s “hot dish”. I don’t know what the hell is in
there; I think it’s more a case of what’s NOT in there. I think they just throw
leftovers from their fridge into a rectangular pan and bake it. It somehow
always tastes delicious. And I can’t forget about my beloved beer cheese soup.
When my Minnesotan boyfriend told me about this, I was astounded. They take
beer AND cheese and combine it into something I can dip a loaf of bread into???
Is that too good to be true? Fortunately, it isn’t. Trust me when I say, it
ain’t just wine that goes well with cheese! Maybe there’s room for some cheese
curds on my bake sale table in the show? Or at the very least maybe I can get
some in the dressing room backstage?
I must also
mention the effort people put into seeing one another. One night, my Minnesotan
man and I drove ONE AND A HALF HOURS each way, just to have dinner with his
friends. This apparently is NOTHING to Midwesterners. Everyone is so spread
out; you don’t have much of a choice if you want to have a social life. I’m up
in arms if I have to go anywhere that doesn’t involve me walking down the block
to the nearest bar. Here’s me: “Are you kidding? I have to take the train all
the way into Manhattan and then transfer to TWO more trains until I get to
Brooklyn? Forget it, I’m staying home!” In my defense, that whole trip takes
the SAME one and a half hours as the drive I did in Minnesota. It just feels
like a bigger ordeal in NYC than it does in the Midwest. I somehow need to
adapt this willingness to travel anywhere in order to fully embody a
Midwesterner. I AM traveling into the West Village today for rehearsal all the way from Queens… does that
count?
Suffice it
to say, I love these people. They are who I’d like to be at moments when my
feisty nature gets the better of me. I’m ready to dive into this character and
see exactly how much life can imitate my art. I don’t know if I’ll ever be as cool
as Donna, but I will certainly try! Perhaps I’ll see you at the show: https://www.facebook.com/events/1315251741903289/, and you
can tell me what YOU think.
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