Watch out for the words in Constellation Stage's 'Webster's B!+@#' Jan. 25-Feb. 11
Words depend on the people who use them. "Webster's B!+@#" is a drama with comedy about letters + people = words. It's about the people who put words into the dictionary and how we use those (sometimes scurrilous) words. It's also about gender and office politics. This Constellation Stage & Screen production runs certain days Jan. 25-Feb. 11 at the Ted Jones Playhouse.
Swearing by editor gets the play started
In this play, staff at present-day Webster's Dictionary get a surprise when their editor-in-chief utters profanity. Suddenly they're roiling in social media's influence on obscenity and gender. Ambition clobbers office politics, as morals mess with the dictionary business. What's to become of the English language? Besides, what makes a word obscene, and who the #@%! decides?
Florida school district reacts to certain words
Words have power; we know that. CBSnews.com recently reported that according to a list published by the nonprofit PEN America, Florida's Escambia County school district has put five dictionaries, eight encyclopedias and "The Guinness Book of World Records" on its roster of more than 1,600 books that might be banned soon.
Founded a little over 100 years ago, PEN America is the largest of the 100+ international centers composing the PEN International network. PEN America connects human rights and literature in order to maintain people's rights to free expression.
Chicago-based Daniella Wheelock is directing "Webster's B!+@#" and said Webster's, the book, is a descriptive — not a prescriptive — dictionary. In other words, Webster's Dictionary leaves room for a word's meaning to change with time and popular usage. It lets trends massage a word's meaning. So what happens when words evolve more quickly than the dictionary can keep up?
Words' meanings change with office politics, gender
Because "Webster's B!+@#" deals with how people act in the office, the habits of different generations are bringing changes.
"Words are inherently defined by the people who use them," Wheelock said, "not those who wrote them."
As a millennial, she said, "I cannot imagine what it would be like to be in a workplace in the '80s. What women had to go through in the past."
A character in "Webster's B!+@#" ponders the modern workplace, saying she had hoped it had gotten better but realizes it hasn't; "it's just different."
Wheelock was just forming her career when COVID-19 hit. "Coming back into an office after freelancing, things have changed so much even in the last five years." She said many features of today's office environment are difficult to figure out and to advocate for.
Throughout Wheelock's entire life, she has watched her mother go to work.
Gen Z brings new coping skills and a ubiquitous smartphone
"Trends in the workplace are fascinating to watch. Gen Z (born 1997-2012) and I are close in age. Gen Z, however, has developed different coping skills. Gen Z (people will) stand up for a lot of things. It's exciting seeing new generations coming into the workplace."
According to businessinsider.com, some defining events in the lives of Gen Z are COVID-19, the #MeToo movement, George Floyd and racial justice protests, overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Trump election and the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. Most Gen Z-ers have never experienced life without a smartphone.
Wheelock directs and (mostly) produces at Constellation, trying to ensure that each show meets Constellation's standards. She sees that everything, such as carpenters and artisans are in place, schedules are coordinated and employees "are in the right rooms with the right people."
And, she keeps "people fed and happy. "
Diane Kondrat and past Broadway actor Henry Woronicz, playing leads, acted together in Cardinal Stage Company's first production, said Wheelock. Woronicz has been a visiting professor in Indiana University's department of theatre and drama.
If you go
WHAT: "Webster's B!+@#," a drama with comedy by Jacqueline Bircher. Woodward/Newman Award-winner 2023/24. Recommended for age 16-plus.
WHEN: Jan. 25-Feb. 11. Check website, seeconstellation.org/mainstage/websters, for dates and times.
WHERE: Ted Jones Playhouse, 107 W. Ninth St.
TICKETS: Tickets are $30-$38 for adults and $23 for students. Thursdays are "pay what you will." Available on the website, box office at 122 S. Walnut St. or by calling 812-336-9300.