Greetings, my name is Sonia and occasionally, Sunshine, as that was what my hippie dope smoker parents had every intention of naming me. But then I think some reverberating voice from above struck fear into their hearts and they refrained. For more about hippie dope smokers, see my blog. If you really want to know more “stuff” about how I have four kids and take ridiculous sojourns with my readers back to the 80s, come on by anytime, especially if you ever used Dippity Doo.

I’m honored to be guest posting for PunditMom, I’ve been a fan/stalker for a long time. She makes me think as I tend to write the ridiculous and frivolous and occasionally something deeper, and for The Soccer Mom Vote where I contribute as one of their few Libertarians.

That’s right, boys and girls. I’m a political bisexual. And I don’t even have a Mohawk or nose piercing.

Anyhoo, I hail from the great state of Iowa, and while I realize it’s ridiculously unfair, we get a lot of attention during elections because of our caucus placement. We’re not all farmers here, but we all depend on farmers (yes, even you…where do you think your groceries come from?) and even though my hubby is not in agriculture, it affects pretty much every job in our fair state. So, the disproportionate amount of time the politicians are here kissing our babies…well, we’ll take what we can get, they largely ignore us the rest of the time.

And I could go on and on about Iowa, politics, and the like because I like to inform people that stereotypes aren’t always what they seem. Sometimes, people seem surprised to know I’m from Iowa and I have a college degree (even farmers have college degrees, there is a science to that job, along with a certain level of masochism…it’s tough work, but I digress…), I’m well-traveled, occasionally glib (not the Tom Cruise-Matt Lauer kind of glib, the good kind), live in a happy 2-story Colonial with a big yard, and my children have all their teeth.

But, I’m not above playing the hick card when it serves my evil purposes. I told a travel story on my blog some time ago about using the hick card to catch a ride to the airport. Worked like a charm.

And despite having a reputation here for great education, people who don’t get out much assume a lot of states in “flyover” territory are sad, pathetic places with nothing to do except sit on the front porch and whittle. Sometimes, I have to set the record straight.

I’ll tell you the brief story of how a night at the theatre turned into one of those “I can’t believe this” moments.

I have a degree in Theatre. And though my existence is not the Plan A I had in mind way back when, I do get acting and modeling work in teensy weensy increments. However, Plan A was to move to New York City with all my other college buddies and do the starving actor thing. Many of them, about sixtyish, went to NYC. I remained behind with a guy I never planned to meet or fall for or have a family with, but life isn’t always about the stuff you wrote down in your Trapper Keeper now is it?

Despite this, I would venture to NYC to be volleyed about between college buddies, for as many visits as I could muster. To see them, to get the vibe of the city I think of as the “home sweet home” of my alternate universe self. And in the schlepping all over, we’d squeeze in lots of theatre. Of course. It was like college homework, only BETTER.

One of my first visits I went to Jekyll and Hyde with college pals Chip and Angie. Angie was writing theatre reviews for a small bohemian publication and it had not opened too much prior and was one of the few things they hadn’t seen yet, so off we went.

Now, my apologies to any of you who saw this show on Broadway and were mesmerized. We hated it. We hated it big time. David Hasshelhoff was the lead at one point in the run…need I say more? I know, I know, he’s HUGE in Germany. So is Alf. It was so bad, Angie left at intermission, she couldn’t stand to sit there for one more painful second.

Our perspectives may have been a bit skewed as we’d all had to take musical theatre and voice as part of our overall training, but by no means were we “musical” actors. So, it is hard in the course of thinking of our acting training and a professor we had who was very Method, to embrace the difficulty of doing a scene and finding some random reason to burst into song. Don’t get me wrong…I’m a whore for musicals, I love them. I own many, many movie musicals on DVD that I watch ad nauseum. (The Unsinkable Molly Brown probably my favorite cheesy musical)

But, Jekyll and Hyde had every over-the-top, cheesy, ridiculous musical element all shoved into one tidy package. There were moments so overly dramatic, Chip and I (sans Angie at this point) were having difficulty keeping a straight face. On my other side happened to be a couple I’d been friendly with throughout the night. They were two impeccably dressed men who, from the brief chit chat prior to the opening curtain, I gathered saw an awful lot of theatre. And they were suddenly realizing as well that their ticket money would have been better spent elsewhere. However, while Chip and I were stifling our giggles at the cheesy monstrosity of the show, they were just pissed off.

The final bows begin. The show, mercifully, is over. People begin applauding and standing for an ovation. Chip and I remain firmly in our seats. We clap politely but, the show did not deserve a standing ovation. That’s not just something you do because of the peer pressure. It should amaze you so much you feel yourself rising from your seat from enthusiasm! My new friends over to my right have keesters firmly planted in their seats as well and are disgusted at all the clueless theatre minions shouting, “Bravo!” with all their lung power.

The guy closest to me leans into us and says, “All these people must be from Iowa.”

*sigh*

With much fervor and gusto, Chip and I protest, “NO! Nonononononononono. We’re from Iowa! We thought it sucked too…really.” We offer up some other hopelessly ridiculed “hick” state as bait for their next disgruntled theatre experience retort and are happy to see that, while not the least apologetic for basically dissing us, the speaker seemed pleasantly surprised to know that maybe even some people from Iowa would know something about good theatre. And bad.

But I’m not above playing the hick card when it suits me. I like to keep all my options open.

Note: David Hasselhoff was not harmed in this blog post.

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