Fresh out of college, I was living in New York City—in my opinion the Mecca for all creative people—and I was sitting in my apartment on Riverside Drive, inspired yet overwhelmed. I was having—what I call—a “Billie Dawn” moment.
Born Yesterday, the play by Garson Kanin, is one of my all time favorites. In fact, while in college—as a scholarship recipient thespian studying theater—I often used Billie Dawn monologues for auditions. I was always fascinated by the quiet complexity of Billie’s character. She was so apparently clueless yet actually she was a quiet storm of intelligence. Plus she was funny! Looking back now, I realize how much I was able to identify with Billie. I’ve always been book smart, yes, but I’ve also grown to embrace my inner ditz :) (My sister used to call me the “Black Barbie” at times. Okay, maybe she still does… but only occasionally. Ha! Ha!)
I learned to embrace this complexity, regardless. People often underestimate a woman who may be slow on common sense but—like Billie—can ultimately run the distance intellectually. It was therefore exciting when—I think it was my junior year in college—auditions were announced for the campus production of Born Yesterday. I wanted so incredibly to be cast as Billie.
As condition of my talent scholarship, however, I had to audition for every play being cast. Instead, I got the part of Whitney in A Piece of My Heart by Shirley Lauro. (Ironically, Whitney—a girl of privilege and graduate of Vassar turned Vietnam nurse—was in some ways an underestimated character as well.) Though I thoroughly and insatiably enjoyed the experience of performing in A Piece of My Heart and I immersed myself in Whitney’s character, I often thought about Billie Dawn and what it would’ve been like to have portrayed her.
Also during this time, in my creative writing courses, we were often given the assignment of sketching characters. And so one day I decided to develop the bone structure of a character using Billie as inspiration. Shawni Baldwin eventually became her name. I decided to make her a supermodel. Though unfair, what other profession would evoke such immediate low expectations for intelligence? What a perfect canvas for me to then sketch a woman of unexpected complexities. I developed the character to use someday...
The Inspiration behind Blame It on Eve by Philana Marie Boles
IN HER OWN WORDS