A Short Stuff Contest Submission
Playwright's Note:
"This short play is based off of this song that I love called Lineage. I couldn’t tell you exactly why I decided to listen to it tonight but I found myself wanting to hear it, and I was immediately struck with inspiration. This desire to hear this song also came mere hours after having a long talk with my sister and my mother about body image. I realized in this conversation that my sister and I are half of our mother and she makes up half of each of us. If I would not call half of my mother ugly to her face, how could I say it to all of myself in the mirror? How can I watch my mother complain about her cellulite and varicose veins at 60, when I, at 19, have identical thighs? How could I listen to my sister complain about her eyes and the shape of her face when she resembles my parents in all the best ways that she could? Then it hit me that I, like my sister, like my mother, like my grandmother, am a culmination of generations of love. I am the product of my parents who fell in love and tried so hard to have children; who spent a fortune on treatments on small salaries just for the chance to be able to see themselves in a round, toothless face. I am the product of millions of people in generations before me who got married and started families and loved each other. I am made of love, I come from a long line of lovers and I will continue that line of love for generations to come. So how could I say such a thing as I hate you in the mirror? I don't know but I've been able to and I’m sure I’ll be able to yet. I wrote this about women because the song is about women but I also think that this impacts anyone who might see it. I wrote this with the hope that someone might see it and think about all the features of themselves that they don't like. Instead of looking at them with disgust, maybe we can start to look at them and see the people who came before us who fell in love and passed these features on to us. So when I look at my wide set eyes and my soft nose and my fine hair and my wide hips that are covered in varicose veins and cellulite, and when I think about how my stomach sticks out and how my nails are round, I think about my Abuela and about my Grandma Marilyn and how they had these features. And I think about my father and mother who have fine hair and wide hips and round nails and wide set eyes and I think about how much I love them. I think about how one day I hope that my children will learn to love their features, too. I hope that we can all start to look at ourselves differently because I certainly am."
I always love when plays bring music into the plot and act as another character within it. That is exactly what I felt the music added to this play. The plot was not only driven by the dialogue but also the music/lyrics which I think would be really interesting to see live.
I actually got emotional at the end becuase the content really resignated with me. I think most women go through some sort of self hatred for their physical body at some points in their lives. This piece showed the frustration and spite we feel toward ourself but then effectively flipped it into something loving, accepting, and strong.
Just the authors note in itself was so touching before even opening the play. As a young woman, this play hit very close to home and surprised me with how moved I was reading it. I love the way it is written layered with the multiple women over the passage of time, the simplicity of the dialogue holding so much weight in its ending pages. Wonderful to picture onstage, and a very healing read. Wonderful job