Drama: A Graphic Novel

Callie runs into Matt, who is making photocopies of the play’s audition flyer in the school’s office area. She compliments his flyer-making skills, telling him that the design crew could use them.

Callie then begins putting the flyers up. While doing so, she meets twin brothers Jesse and Justin. Justin has a bombastic, enthusiastic, and friendly personality—in contrast to his quiet, shy, and modest brother. Justin immediately introduces both himself and his brother to Callie, and says that he absolutely cannot wait to audition for the play. He also says that Jesse—who himself claims that he is not good at acting or singing—is actually highly talented in the theater arts.

Callie tells the brothers that she’s surprised she hasn’t seen them around school before this meeting, and Jesse tells her that their father is very strict about grades, so they spend most of their time studying. He also tells her that, although their father is allowing Justin to audition for the play, he will likely require Jesse to be the dutifully obedient son—who will bury himself in books when he goes to high school next year.

Justin returns to the conversation. He gives Callie a kiss on her hand after announcing his excitement for the upcoming auditions, which will take place in two weeks. When Callie tells him that she won’t be auditioning because she’s on stage crew, Justin rejoices, knowing that he’ll definitely get to spend some time with her. This remark, in Liz’s words, puts a “dumb expression” on Callie’s face—like the one she gets when she’s “been talkin’ to Greg again” (33). The two girls then make plans to watch Civil War movies for production design ideas at Callie’s house later that evening.

Later, at Callie’s house, the two girls conceptualize the ladies’ bonnets Liz will make, as well as the color scheme of the production, while Callie’s younger brother pesters them with endless questions.

The next day, Callie, Matt, and Liz raid the school’s old costume vault. Liz has Matt and Callie come with her because she’s too afraid to go in the big, dark, basement room alone. While in the vault, Callie comes upon a blue vintage gown that she loves. She confesses that marveling at costumes is one of the only things that causes her to be jealous of the stage performers—who get to wear the costumes.

Callie emerges into the hallway wearing a costume hat. She immediately bumps into Greg, and tries a “Guys and Dolls” quote in order to crack a joke about her appearance, but Greg doesn’t get it. They have an awkward interaction before he walks away—and Liz assures Callie that he’s the dork for not getting the reference.

Bonnie then accosts Matt, asking if he has seen his brother Greg. Callie tries to tell her the direction that Greg has just gone towards, but Bonnie, not knowing who Callie is, rudely tells her that she was asking Matt the question.

After school, Callie runs into Justin and Jesse. Justin tells her that they are headed to Longacre’s Books in the mall, and invites her to go along with them. Callie enthusiastically agrees, and then purposefully leads the boys on a route that goes past the baseball diamond. There, she makes sure to stop and talk to Greg and rub it in his face that she’ll be going to the mall with the brothers. Justin sees through Callie’s ruse right away and even helps her pull it off—telling Callie, “If you’re trying to make someone jealous, you can never let them get the upper hand” (47). Jesse then suggests that they take Callie to get bubble tea, as she’s never had it before.

At the mall, the brothers introduce Callie to bubble tea, and she thinks that it is strange. At the bookstore, Justin dashes off to the manga section. Jesse asks Callie what kind of books she enjoys, and they spend a lot of time looking through her favorite book—a huge volume “published in 1932 and reprinted thirty-four times” which “includes photographs of Broadway set and stage design from the nineteen-teens and twenties” (51). Telgemeier’s illustrations show Callie and Jesse becoming fully enraptured with the grand book. When Jesse tells her that she should buy the book, Callie says that its price is prohibitive—but that she visits it at the store often.

Later, outside the mall, Jesse and Justin improvise a song from “Moon Over Mississippi,” and Callie discovers that they both have beautiful singing voices. She thinks that they could even be on Broadway one day. The brothers tell her that they got the “Moon Over Mississippi” soundtrack and can both sing all the parts in the play. In fact, Jesse has been singing the part of Maybelline in order to help Justin prepare for his audition. Callie tells them that they are going to wow everyone at auditions—but Jesse is still persistent that he will only be a member of the stage crew.