The Home Show: Reference Monologue

I got to be a part of a fantastic immersive theatre production over the Thanksgiving weekend called The Home Show. It gave me a chance to reflect on how my queerness has shaped my understanding of what home means.

The show was written and directed by Kathleen Coudle-King, Artistic Director for the Empire Arts Center in Grand Forks, as part of a grant project. It featured a series of vignettes that Kathy wrote after extensive interviews and research about the idea of home. When she asked me to be a part of the production, she let me create my own monologue so that it could be as authentic as possible to my experience. We also both thought it would be fun to present it as if it were one of my livestreams from Facebook or YouTube. The monologue had specific beats that I tried to hit throughout, but was very improvisational in nature. However, I thought it would be fun to share the original script that I created and share some "behind the scenes" details about how it all came together.

Here is the original script that I was working from:

[enter]

[checks items on makeup table]

[open phone, do a little scrolling]

[set phone down to fiddle with lights, mirror, check over makeup products]

[Open up phone to set up livestream, push button to go live, and begin]

Hello Champagne Dreamers, welcome back to my channel!  And if you’re new here, I’m not sure how you found me, but go ahead and hit that subscribe button, become part of the fam. My name is Janessa Jaye Champagne, and I am North Dakota’s Trash Queen of Glam, Geek, and Gore!

[VERSION A]  Today we’re doing a fun, colorful eye look and we’re going to talk a little bit about the idea of home – where is it, what does it mean, is it a place or is it something…different.  I’ll do my best to keep an eye on the chat, so be sure to say hello and let me know you’re here!

[VERSION B]  Sorry we got cut off earlier – technology is the devil! But we’re back to keep playing around with this look, and we’re going to talk a little bit about the idea of home – where is it, what does it mean, is it a place or is it something…different.  I’ll do my best to keep an eye on the chat, so be sure to say hello and let me know you’re here!

As we get started – how is everyone doing? I know the world is on fire, and we’re all going through it.  I hope you’re staying safe and sane, and keeping it together girl! That’s part of why I wanted to talk about home in the stream today.

I used to think that home meant safety. Of course, home is family and warmth and protection, all of that stuff, but as a kid I mostly thought about how it represented safety from the mean kids that picked on me.  I played alone a lot as a child, and I had a big imagination.  I loved putting myself into my favorite shows and movies – not as one of the characters, but as me, hanging out with these characters I loved.

Michelle says, “I’m so sorry you experienced that!” Thank you Michelle, that’s very sweet.  I promise it’s not as sad as I make it sound! I’m a drama queen!

It’s not exactly that I didn’t like playing with other kids, and I had some friends, but I never really figured out all of those rules that the other kids just seemed to know.  Looking at me now: a loud-mouthed, 40-something drag queen on the internet, I’m sure most of you would be surprised to know that I never quite cracked the code on how I was supposed to “do” gender.

I didn’t get all of these rules and restrictions: these are girls toys and these are boys toys.  Girls wear this and boys wear that.  I wanted to play with it all!  GI Joe would ride into battle on the back of My Little Pony, and then afterwords He-Man and She-Ra would lead a campfire singalong with Strawberry Shortcake, Conan, and Herself the Elf!

That’s right, Grace, I had all of those classic 80s toys!  Home was where I got to explore all of that, because I could go into my room, shut the door, and just play however I wanted.  It didn’t take me long to figure out that I wasn’t doing it right, and that I shouldn’t let other people see that I didn’t understand what was appropriate.

In kindergarten, we had this big closet full of dress up clothes and costume pieces. One time I put together a green prairie dress, a red fireman’s helmet, and a shiny silver sword.  Tacky, I know, but I was 6! What did I know about fashion?! The other kids made fun of me for at least a week – and that’s an eternity in kindergarten time!

I was always doing it wrong, giving those other brats that I went to school with more ammunition.  One time, for show and tell, I packed all of my My Little Ponies into this little blue suitcase that I had picked up at a rummage sale with my grandmother - we loved to go rummaging! - and brought them to share with the class. That really set them off! They made fun of me, of my ponies - they even made fun of my little blue suitcase! This was one of the few times that an adult actually stepped in. My kindergarten teacher, Mrs. McSpadden, got really sharp with a couple of the meaner girls in class.  “What’s so funny about horses? Your family has horses on their farm Kari – would you like it if we all laughed at you?”  I remember that moment so clearly because it really didn’t happen all that much.  Our teachers didn’t notice a lot, and if they did, they didn’t say anything.

I learned pretty quickly that it was better to come home and do my exploring, my imagining, my experimenting there. It was safer.  My family didn’t really understand why I did the things I did or liked the things I liked, but they mostly left me alone to do it. 

What was that CJ? Yeah, that’s right: it felt safer to explore when I was at home.  But as I think about it, I don’t think it was that home represented safety so much as it represented…I don’t know, maybe a kind of freedom?  My grandparents were farmers and lived on the edge of town, and when the weather was good I would go out to my grandfather’s shed and climb all over the equipment: up the ladder to the cab of the combine, over the top of the silver tank he used to haul water, all over and around the tractors – I was always on some wild adventure, investigating a new mystery or looking for fantastic treasure.

Home was where I got to be creative. My grandmother had been a teacher, and we were always doing crafts or painting ceramics or making homemade playdough. But even when I was by myself, I was creating: I was creating scenarios where all of the toys got to be a part of the story, regardless of whether or not they were all the same size or what their lore was all about.  And I got to create stories where I was not only the main character, but I was always RIGHT. I always had exactly the right skill to tackle the obstacle, I knew the right clue to solve the mystery, and I wasn’t always doing all of those wrong things that kids made fun of me for.

Home is about being able to create, and it’s about not hiding those weird, quirky parts of yourself away.  I’ve spent almost 25 years creating this new persona, putting on makeup like armor to go out into the world and be not only myself but every glamorous queer thing that I could dream of being. 

Aww Jo, that’s lovely. If you aren’t watching the chat, Jo just said that she thinks my confidence is amazing. I appreciate that, and I wish I was always as confident as I seem on these livestreams. I’m not going to lie: It’s still hard some days. The mean kids just grew up to be older, meaner, and nowadays, even louder.  But I’m also louder, and mouthier. All that time I spent shut up in my room creating, I learned how to create a version of myself that could open the door and go outside into the world to be myself, and you can like it or you can go the fuck away because I’m here to stay.

My home isn’t just my room, or my house, or my block.  It took me a long time to figure this out, but I belong in this town, this state, this world – and I dare anyone to look me in the eye and tell me I don’t belong.  Not from behind the safety of a keyboard, but right up close and personal in my face. My creativity, my queerness is a beautiful thing. Sometimes it means that I sacrifice some safety for authenticity, and I hate that those are the choices we have to make, but it connects me to the parts of me that feel true, and real, and right. And that feels like home.

Thanks Dion, I appreciate you too, and thank you everyone for joining the livestream. I’m so glad we got to have a fun playtime today and mess around with some makeup! Don’t forget to leave a comment below and thumbs up the video, it really does help my channel out a lot.  If you’d like to chat, banter, or commiserate between uploads and lives, all of my social media will be linked down in the description box below.  I love and appreciate all of you, and I hope you are all living your most authentic, creative lives.  Take care of yourselves and each other.  And until I see you again, bye!

[takes phone out of stand, do a little scrolling, check a few things]

[close the phone, set it face down on the table]

[deep breath in with a long exhale]

[exit]

The monologue was different each time I performed it, but the core message about home as freedom and creativity was there for each performance. I performed the monologue twice during each show - the audience was split into different "apartments" so I would do it for one half of the audience early in the show, then for the other half of the audience later on. The other vignette that was going at the same time as mine was a little bit longer, and so on the first performance I had to vamp a little and kill some time before they could switch to the next vignette. During the second performance, however, I took that time to take off my makeup so that the people who saw the second version of the monologue also got a chance to see me bare-faced, which I think added a special touch to that performance. I would take off the wig, strip down the makeup, then pick up my mirror, kiss my fingers, and touch my reflection. Not to toot my own horn, but it was a MOMENT! lol It was a chance to remind the audience that there is a real person behind the makeup and behind that screen.

I livestreamed two of the renditions on YouTube, so you can watch and see how the monologue changed from the script, and from performance to performance!

Day One: 11/29/25

Day Two: 11/30/25

Fun Facts:

The original concept was to be doing makeup while I talked, and I did end up incorporating a little bit of that. However, the segment was only 15 minutes max, and I can't do a full eye look in double that time! What I settled on was having an almost full face done, then in the first performance I would add some blush while chatting, and in the second performance I would add glitter. On Day 2, I decided to play with blush for both performances. The makeup is just an excuse to sit down an talk, and I've never been very good at talking and applying makeup at the same time, so I just started with that, and then focused on the conversation.

The people that I call out during the "chat" while performing are real people who are part of the community that chat on my livestreams. Dion and Grace are both fellow content creators that I have collaborated with in the past, and their callouts (as well as Jo, when I talk about confidence) were consistent throughout the performances - those are points in the monologue where I needed to remember to turn the monologue in a specific direction, so I wanted them consistent to help my Swiss cheese memory! But other the other callouts in the script and some that I improvised in the moment changed from performance to performance to include as many members of my online community as possible! Janet, Nina, CJ, Allison, Andrew, Kay-K, AnaBoo, Dawn, Michelle, Dion, Grace, Loc Maiden, and Jo all got to have a little moment during at least one of the performances. I really appreciate their presence in my online life, and I wanted to include them in this special performance!

The Makeup:

Since a big part of my channel is the makeup - let's talk about it! I recently made my first ever purchase from the TikTok shop: the Glamlite x Bratz collection! I decided to use that as the base of the look, and I did two different eye looks for day one and day two, and then used a different lip kit each day. Day one was a little more rushed, so I didn't record. I created a very berry/pink look, and used the Yasmin lip kit.

For day two, I wanted to bring in some more of the blue and purple shades, as well as the cool-toned bubblegum pink shades. For the lips I used the Cloe lip kit ( I HATE that the doll's name is spelled without an H - it bothers me to my core!).

The sweater was a fabulous clearance find at Torrid. It's a part of my regular wardrobe, but I thought that it would be perfect for the look!

The Glamlite collection did have a blush palette, but for the performance I decided to use the Blend Bunny Masterclass palette. I wasn't going to try to fiddle with cream blushes during a live show (I struggle with those at the best of times! lol), and that Masterclass palette just looks so freaking pretty on camera! For glitter, I used the glitter gels from Slayfire Cosmetics with the Kryolan mixing medium. The glitter was too fussy for me to focus on during that monologue, so for day two I just did blushes for both streams. The makeup wasn't the point of the performance, so I just went with what was easier!

The Set:

I got to create my own set space, and if there is anything I love about theater, it's the technical side! I adore dressing a set! I wanted to create a mini version of my filming desk in my office, and I wanted to include little details and Easter eggs for those who cared to look for them.

It was important that I had drinks with me - I always have something to drink when I'm streaming, because I talk so much I start to get dry! For the rehearsal I had a can of Ginger Ale, but for the performances I switched to a bottle of Snapple Zero Sugar Peach Tea. That way it had a lid, so I didn't have to worry about spills, and it wasn't carbonated so I didn't have to worry about any "pretty girl!" moments! #IYKYK

On the table, the right side had the stuff I actually used, like the Bratz lip products for touchups and the glitter, but on the left side I had some makeup products that represented important parts of my makeup journey on YouTube. I wanted to have a Juvia's Place palette on the table - that brand was the first Makeup Thunderdome that I did on my channel. The video is still available on my channel, but it's from the early, early days. If you watch it - be gentle! lol

I also included a stack of Hung Vanngo blushes and bronzers. The bronzers were gifted to me by my friend Dion, and we have done several collabs with the brand across both our channels. Dion has been a really amazing friend to me, and I love that we get to keep working together and playing in makeup. She got the final shoutout in the monologue, but I also wanted a physical presence on the table to "bring her with me" to the show!

I also brought a set of the Pride liners from Glisten Cosmetics, and I took out the Non-Binary palette and set it on top. The monologue is about my development as a queer kid, and I wanted this as a reminder that we are all always still evolving. Right now, I had settled on "uncomfortably non-binary" to describe my gender identity. It doesn't feel quite right, but it's the closest thing I've found to how I feel. I wanted that on top to represent where I am, but at some point that palette might get put back into the box and a new one might get taken out instead!

I was really trying to create a small version of my space which would be true to the choas that always surrounds me, and that includes dresses and filming tops scattered over chairs! On this chair I included three dresses and put a pair of heels on the floor. That frilly sequin dress on the top of the pile? That's the dress from my shoot with Brooklyn Ewing of Dirt Candy Productions which ended up being my 2026 calendar design!

I love a fun Easter egg moment. Even if only one person notices, then I did it for them. And if no one notices, I did it for me! lol

It just so happened that I got a delivery from Fantasy Cosmetica on the day of the final dress rehearsal (the new Artificer palette - can't wait to play with it!), and it seemed fitting to put the box with all of the packaging materials at the foot of my desk. There are always signs of my love of shopping in my space, so this felt absolutely necessary!

And just like Madeline Albright, there is always a message in the accessories! The pink and gold nameplate necklace I wore for the performance as well as the blue necklace on the side table were both gifts from my bestie, Angie. She is definitely a huge part of my YouTube journey (as well as my life journey!) so I wanted to make sure that she was there in spirit.

The pink Lux DeVille purse is one that I bring to pretty much every show. That's my "working purse." It's where I keep the makeup items I bring to the venue, extra nail glue, perfume, and usually where I stash my tips. I have a separate bag for when I'm walking around looking cute, but this one is for getting the job done!

The two pairs of earrings on the side table also had special meanings. The small pink acrylic earrings are by Femme De Bloom and you can't see them in the pic but they are Jem & the Holograms earrings. The toy line was my obsession as a kid, and though I never owned one then, I have most of the dolls from the line as well as some fashions and accessories in my adult collection! Look for content about those coming to my channel in the new year! The large pink rhinestone earrings are some I've had for years. They were done by a drag queen who had a store on ebay called Planet Glamour. She passed away, and I had gotten some of the last items she sold before she passed (not this set, but a blue set that I still have). I wanted to include this as a reminder of the people from my own community of performers and audience members who are no longer with us. When you've been doing this as long as I have, there are familiar faces that you stop seeing at some point. Accidents, suicide, cancer. That's part of why I keep at this - to remember those who aren't here anymore but were once an important part of this journey I'm on.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek behind the curtain with me. It was such a pleasure to be a part of this quirky, sweet, moving little show.

XOXO -

Miss Jaye