#24 - Meet Jean!

This is a story about Jean, a high school freshman who’s about as normal as can be. She has good friends, kind parents, and even a friendly dog. Her favorite subject is history. Jean especially enjoys learning about [redacted]; she thinks being a teacher is one of the most heroic things you can be.

Lately, Jean’s been having some problems. Her friend Sarah has grown distant ever since [redacted]. The two of them used to do everything together, but now Sarah insists [redacted], even though Jean saw with her own eyes that [redacted]. This is made more complicated by Jean’s realization that she is actually [redacted]. She used to find solace in [redacted], something her family brought over from [redacted], but this hasn’t been helping lately.

One day Jean meets a mysterious boy named Jake. Jake has moved from [redacted] and lives completely differently from Jean. [Redacted]. When Jake shows Jean [redacted], it challenges her belief that [redacted]. Jean struggles with this until she recognizes that [redacted] all along.

Jean’s favorite teacher is [redacted]. When Jean makes the difficult decision to [redacted], [redacted] promises to [redacted]. Jean isn’t sure she can trust [redacted] due to [redacted]. As a compromise, she [redacted]. Nobody is happy about this.

Jean has been told her whole life [redacted]. Can Jean learn to be true to herself while still [redacted]? Or will she become [redacted]?

I’m back at it this winter in my second melodrama at the Pocket Sandwich Theatre! This time around I’ll be playing Jane in the slasher send-up “Camp Death”, one of a pair of hapless lovers who just want a quiet place to make out in peace. Check this space for tickets - as of this publication you have two more weeks to join in the spooky fun!

Wind Breaker Day at Anime Yankii

The good folks at Anime Yankii are hosting nearly the entire main cast of Wind Breaker for an afternoon in anticipation of the second season premiere! I’ll be there with the Bofurin Boys to chat, sign merch, and show off some…gasp…custom prints! If you find yourself in Lewisville on March 8th, this is definitely the place to be. Come say hi!

Recent Gigs

Since my last update, I have provided additional voices for the following projects:

• Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective, Episode 1

• The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Episodes 4 & 7

Featured Role: Belinda, Headhunted to Another World

Belinda, executive assistant to the Archmage of Storms Sylphid, is perhaps one of the most interesting characters I’ve seen in an isekai. For the benefit of the dub-only viewers, I’m not going to dig into her whole deal just yet — instead I’ll focus on first impressions.

Functionally, Belinda is fun because she’s one of the most normal fixtures of the fantasy world our protagonist has found himself in — a stoic office administrator with a talent for deflection. Her presentation is immaculate, she gets right to the point, and she takes no bullshit — clearly very good at her job. Apart from screening visitors to Sylphid’s office, we don’t know what her duties entail, but given that this story takes place in a kingdom at war, I’m willing to bet that if Uchimura didn’t skedaddle after their first conversation she’d have let loose on him with some kind of spell. What a babe.

This role represents a lot of firsts for me - I’m so grateful for Lee George for taking a chance on me, and I look forward to a few weeks from now when we can REALLY dive into what makes Belinda tick.

Consume!

Miranda July’s writing delights me because any 20-page excerpt from her books feels wildly different from the proceeding ones while contributing to a perfectly logical whole. Like The First Bad Man before it, All Fours is a deep-dive into the whitewater rapids of human sexuality through the lens of a repressed woman yearning for indefinable needs. As the protagonist stumbles through the highs and lows of perimenopause couched by life-defining encounters, we’re forced to confront our own perceptions of desire, fate, and safety. You will feel SOMETHING while you’re reading this book. Pay attention to just what those feelings are once you do.

Performance of the Week

I’m surprised I haven’t used this space to sing Ricco Fajardo’s praises before. Every once in a while an actor hits the scene who excels across genres, slipping chameleon-like into a range of stories while keeping a firm grip on his unique voice and honed technique. Ricco’s one of these actors, but for my money he really shines when he is given the opportunity to play an absolute freak.

In “The Elusive Samurai”, Fajardo entertains and concerns in equal measure as a priest/god living out of time and determined to see the deposed prince Tokiyuki take his rightful place as Shogun, no matter how much of a maniac he needs to be to do so. I rarely hear an actor seem so confident in the rightness of their decisions — Ricco’s true strength is the ability to not only say “yes” to given circumstances, but to also say “yes” to the most extreme logical conclusions of any story he’s involved in. Hearing Ricco, you forget that you’re watching a dubbed performance.

Morning Star

As a writer, you understand the necessity of subtext.

You yourself love writing bombastic scenes where everyone says what they mean and resolves problems quickly, because melodrama is fun and more interesting things can happen when the obvious is put on paper and out of the way. And you are forever wary of subtext’s sibling, obfuscation — an obstacle to clarity, a shade drawn unnecessarily, product without meaning.

You stare at the page and you think about Jean. You look around and you picture your furniture, your journals, your books, your memories, in boxes and then gone completely.

A high-pitched peep comes from your ankles, and you remember that you aren’t just living for yourself anymore, and it’s not hard to extrapolate from there to a whole cadre of human animals who would notice and comment upon your absence. Your pipe dream of constant globe-hopping, of making temporary homes in other peoples’ couch cushions, is cracking apart with every mechanical failure, every barked order, and yes, with every returned stroke from a cat who acts like every time you touch her is the first time.

You think about the word “freedom”. You hold it in your hand like a burning coal. And you feel the heat sear your skin.

Hollis Beck is a performer and writer who crafts narratives about queer identity, found families, and people who try very hard. More information can be found on her website.