In education, we use the term 'scaffolding' as a metaphor for providing students with temporary supports before they are able to work at something independently. It is a way of increasing their understanding gradually until they no longer need assistance in a particular area.
When I was 11 years old, our class went along to see a production of West Side Story, performed by 16 and 17 year old students from a private, all girls college. As it turned out, it was a different type of scaffolding - the wooden planks and metal posts kind - which had a pretty huge impact on my understandings about myself. The auditorium at this school was huge, and so was the stage, but to represent apartment blocks they had scaffolding on either side of the stage and some of the scenes were performed in these 'apartments'.
A very brief overview of the play is there are two rival gangs, the Sharks and the Jets. Tony is connected to the Jets and he falls for Maria whose brother is the leader of the Sharks. As you can imagine, much drama ensues. The thing I would like to emphasize the most here, though, is that the particular version of West Side Story I saw was all female. Girls played girls, girls played boys and, therefore, the characters of Tony and Maria were both played by girls.
I can only imagine my eyes were wide for the entire performance. When people ask when did you first realise you were gay? I inevitably start talking about this play. In a movie about my life, the scene in which 11 year old me is watching this play would include a high speed flashback of all the other big gay clues which culminated in me talking to myself for the duration of the play and wondering what exactly it all meant.
The highlight of the entire performance was when Tony took his beloved Maria up the [scaffolding] stairs to his apartment and laid her on his bed...where 'Tony' was a gorgeous girl with her dark hair slicked back. I can't even begin to explain the stomach flip and I still recall fighting to keep both the blush and the enormous grin from my face. I wanted to look around at the other kids seated beside me to see if they were seeing what I was seeing but even without knowing exactly what it meant, I knew not to talk about it. It was 1993 and for the longest time the mixed message I took from the production was if I wanted to feel that way again, I had to become someone's boyfriend.
Earlier this year, I took my 11 year old students to see a play at the local high school and some of the male roles were, again, played by females. These girls were playing gangsters and were dressed in suits and ties and were wearing fedoras and I found myself wondering if any of my students who were sitting there watching were having the very same conversation with themselves that I had at the same age.
It is interesting to consider some of the things that impact how we see ourselves and the ways in which our understandings about our world can change so dramatically in such a short space of time. All I can say is that the 1993 production of West Side Story made the best use of scaffolding ever and set the wheels, which were already in motion in my mind, to full speed.
