Life after the Speech Bubble

Ok, I'm putting myself out there by posting this...so I hope it makes sense!


A white speech bubble appeared on the projection screen. My ears followed the special effects sound as I looked up to dark wall. The word “What?” flashed before my eyes. Before I had time to find a meaning for “What?” the audience erupted in laughter. The characteristic silence of the audience was shattered. I sat more upright in my Studio Theatre seat.

My mind traveled backward in time as I tried to remember what I read in the program that was handed to me just forty-five minutes earlier. I wasn’t sure if LeAnne Howe’s Choctalking on Other Realities was a comedy because the beginning of the performance took a serious, narrative style.

I rejoined the audience with a few giggles. I wasn’t exactly sure why everyone else was laughing because I had been lost in thought for part of the performance. I was absorbing all of the multimedia aspects of the show from sound to lighting to the video projection. Professor Howe’s words made the show, but for me, at times her speech simply complemented the other elements illuminating the theatre.

The speech bubble reminded me of returning home for Christmas break this year to my family who had continued life without me. I secretly hoped I wouldn’t miss anything going on in our suburban town or within the walls of our four-bedroom home, but not all wishes come true. Life had continued on in the Whalley house for the past four months. At each family dinner, more “inside jokes” were revealed that caused both of my sisters to finish each other’s sentences and then laugh for the next five minutes. I tried to chime in but I couldn’t place that movie phrase, or piece of dialogue in any of my memories. “Oh Lauren, this happened at Papa’s birthday party…so everyone was gathered around the table…” I tuned out my sister’s attempt to include the college girl into the conversation.

LeAnne Howe’s experience as a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma could leave many people out of the loop and unable to relate but her fiction and this performance in particular was interesting because while I didn’t grasp each detail, I especially appreciated the “running” metaphor. Her show led my mind in directions that I hadn’t anticipated and I’m grateful for that. The “What?” made me go “WHAT?!” but I needed that to jolt my attention back to the Studio Theatre.