Mommy fight – ‘Brownie Points’ explores racial, social differences and finds common ground | Arts & Culture

The award-winning play, Brownie Points, traps five moms together during a stormy Brownie camping trip, where they confront racial, economic, marital, parenting differences, and ultimately also realize their common bonds.  

Janece Shaffer’s play is being presented at Taproot Theatre. It’s the second production after the world premiere by Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta in February 2010. It’s a natural question to ask Janece if her teen daughter had been in Brownies. Don’t writers often write what they know?

Janece laughs as she says, “We had never done Brownies. It had never been one of her desires.”  

Janece said the idea came from watching people get into disagreements that all of a sudden would “get really heated really fast and it was kind of bewildering. I knew it was hitting people in deep places. When people of different backgrounds have a moment when they’re clearly not understanding each other and get angry.

“I wanted to write a play where people actually have to talk to each other and (in Brownie Points) they do so with tons of humor and … there’s a lot of laughter in this play and honesty and truth.”

Janece describes the characters in her play. “Jamie is Jewish, a stay at home mom, and she’s very politically correct and doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feeling and is pretty lovable. Nicole is African American, a stay at home mom.

“Sue was raised in the Midwest, single – the only divorced woman, and works full time. Allie is the troupe leader, with a daughter and a special needs child, formerly an attorney and now staying home with her son. Deidre is an African American surgeon, capable and successful.

“Discussions about race are often framed by men in this country. I felt like it was useful to have the conversation framed by women, mothers who find a common bond through their children. That it would make them persevere in a way.

“In most conversations, you can get in your car and drive away or go home, so I wanted them to have to talk to each other. Also you hear the children laughing and singing in the next room, and it tells the mothers to be better – it forces them to stick it out.

“The story is (also) about so much more than race. Who stays home, who works outside the home, there’s economics, who’s married and not, who has a child with special needs? There are a dozen different themes that they bond over or break apart over.

“In my own experience, it takes time and trust to put it out there and we can only benefit from having more conversation. Day to day it’s often easier to just not deal with it.”

Janece came from her home in Atlanta for the last week of rehearsals and previews, invited by director Karen Lund. “I have loved getting to know her and we’ve spent a lot of time together this week. She gets this play, she gets me. I trust her with this play.

“I’ve wanted to come to Seattle for 20 years and I’m thrilled to be here. I got lost (the other day) and went by this hair salon and it was locked, and she opened the door and called people on the phone for me. It was lovely.

“I am so in love with Seattle. Taproot has gone above and beyond. So gracious.”

Janece also likes seeing different nuances in production from the Atlanta one. “(There are) moments I heard in my head a certain way that I never heard in Atlanta that way. I thought maybe it was just in my head and not in the world of the play. It was exciting to me that I heard those here. There’s a warmth that I love.”

Did she learn anything about herself as she worked on this play? “I had to get out of my own way in terms of approaching the subject. I didn’t want to write a play about race. I felt apologetic; I didn’t want people to feel uncomfortable. Putting words into African American women’s mouths was a very daunting idea,” Janece says.

“People (in Atlanta) responded to it and relished the chance to have the conversation.”

We look forward to finding out if Seattle relishes that same opportunity. Theater often becomes an icebreaker that helps us talk about subjects we shy away from. Brownie Points runs through June 18.