Textual Poaching

Growing up in Kansas I was by no means a farm girl, and I felt like I lived a fairly normal suburban life. I was proud of my Kansas roots, and even more proud of everything Kansas City. It wasn't until I was 16 and in Germany that I realized the only thing anyone knows about Kansas is The Wizard of Oz. I remember saying to a little old German lady that I was from the states. She asked where specifically and I said Kansas. Her immediate response was, "DOROTHY LAND!" That was just the first of what has become MANY similar encounters as I have spent more and more time living away from the place my heart lives. The Wizard of Oz, is not Kansas to me, however, and I have had a hard time balancing the fight between defending the land I love and just giving up. I didn't grow up on a farm, and while I have had to leave areas for funnel clouds and wall fronts, I have never seen a tornado on the ground. Trying to explain the difference between Kansas City and the rest of the state is something that is impossible unless you have experienced it. Instead, I have embraced this part of who I am, and support Kansas city in every way I can. At the same time, I let a lot of the "Kansas culture" that I wasn't necessarily a part of come through in a lot of my public persona. I felt that recreating some of these poses in a style more accurate to who I am really synthesized what has now become two parts of my life. 

While there are many different things that could be done with this project in a theatre classroom, one that came to mind is using this project as a foundation for a playwriting unit. Delving into a culture and then finding what doesn't quite fit, or what has been modified to fit, would be a great foundation for scenes in a high school setting. Students could write, produce, design, and perform a piece all based off of there textual poaching assignments.