Jawbreaker by Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond
Arissa M.
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I performed the monologue “Jawbreaker” from the musical Ride the Cyclone. In Uranium City, Saskatchewan, the Saint Cassian High School Chamber Choir rides the roller coaster The Cyclone at the local fall fair. The roller coaster malfunctions, leading them to their deaths. In a stroke of fate, a carnival novelty, Karnak, gives one of them another chance to live. However, they only have an hour to decide who among them will live. This launches the choir on a journey as they learn more about themselves and each other.
Constance is the last member of the choir to share her story. Her family has lived in Uranium for generations, and they are very proud of it. She is ashamed of her family because of their pride and love for Uranium; as a result, she tries to distance herself from them as much as possible. However, her perspective changes after her death in the roller coaster accident. In “Jawbreaker,” she realizes how wonderful her life was and expresses her gratitude for the life she lived. When working on this monologue, I wanted to focus on the journey that Constance takes to find joy in her life. After memorizing the monologue, I noted some elements of her story that I wanted to emphasize, such as her change from hopelessness in her life to her gratitude in her death. Recently, I learned to “know, not show” when acting, and I applied that by examining the text and clarifying the subtext in all of the sentences. While I was performing the monologue, I focused on saying every word intentionally and making discoveries when the monologue calls for it. I used bodily awareness to make sure that this was true; I did some body scan meditations and stretched before practicing and recording this monologue.
I chose this monologue because meaning spoke to me. Having gratitude for all of the good moments in life is one of the hardest things to do. It is easy to forget how wonderful life is, especially when it gets tough. “Jawbreaker” encourages us all to be more grateful about the good things in our lives, even if it is just “crawling back into bed in the morning” or “smelling Jiffy markers”. Finding joy in our lives makes us more at home with ourselves and our community and motivates us to do good things and be better people.
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Theater has impacted my life through its ability to tell meaningful stories and create community. Acting allows me to tell stories that are meaningful to me and that can change the world. Theater connects me to the character I am playing and my community through the power of storytelling.
