Characters 3.2: RENA (ESFJ)
ESTJ
Systematic, organized, relies upon facts and policies. Uses resources efficiently. Develops logical conclusions. Concrete, straightforward; requires clear specifications. Expects measurement by fair, explicit standards. Conscientious. Does not bring personal issues into the mix. Realistic. Focuses on concrete results. Enjoys action, and interaction with a variety of personalities. Takes charge easily, a role accepted by others.
ESTJ
Systematic, organized, relies upon facts and policies. Uses resources efficiently. Develops logical conclusions. Concrete, straightforward; requires clear specifications. Expects measurement by fair, explicit standards. Conscientious. Does not bring personal issues into the mix. Realistic. Focuses on concrete results. Enjoys action, and interaction with a variety of personalities. Takes charge easily, a role accepted by others.
ESFJ
Warm relationships lead to improvement of life for everyone. Prefers the real, tangible, practical. Strongly prefers to know the agenda well ahead of time so that she can prepare properly—partly to maintain harmony and partly to deal with her own efficiency, and process orientation, and also to make certain that her social agenda is being served. Rena reliably does the homework. Expectations must be clear, everything must be done in a cooperative environment—otherwise, how can anything possibly get done? Things run better if I organize them, for myself and for others, too. I have my standards, and I prefer everyone adhere to them so that we can be efficient and productive. Research is a natural preoccupation. Rena unearths and studies details and the connections between them—uncovering clues, developing and proving theories, solving mysteries, collaborating. She finds strands related to social action. With each interaction, Rena gains confidence and trust. Stress is just an obstacle; it must be overcome so that relationships can continue to flourish.
Potential Areas of Conflict
Tough time getting past small slights—the earlier insecurity remains a handicap. High-handed, but believes she is doing so for the best reasons. Still, this kind of precision and standards-adherence becomes exhausting, so discouragement is part of the mix. Short-term thinking comes easily, but long-term, and out-of-the-box thinking is an honest struggle. May feel overwhelmed, may shut down, but Rena has learned to get past most of it. Sometimes compromises in order to keep things moving, with bad results, but she’s learning not to do that. Difficult for Rena to generalize—learning in one domain may be difficult to transfer to another. Often moves too quickly. Takes things personally.
Brief description: Rena begins without much confidence, then rebuilds the bookstore, and herself. In the process, she becomes socially aware and gains an activist voice. Rena easily manages a wide range of details, including information about authors, books, and the people who read them. Deep interpersonal relationships; clear on priorities of heart and mind, especially as those priorities apply to the rights of others. Extraordinarily self-sufficient. Gets discouraged, but challenge and relationships always results in a bounce-back with superior results. Wants to be a player on a successful team, but this is a newer revelation for her. Often saves the day. When her head and her heart are in conflict, Rena’s heart wins every time.
Purpose: Rena is rebuilding and now manages our amazingly cool digital bookstore. A natural matchmaker, she connects people with books, books with people, and ideas with everyone. She’s also the embodiment of growth and evolution, a cheerleader for others at the cafe, including visitors, experts and guests. She can be coaxed into joining a musical number, and she’s curious enough to do the occasional interview, but she rarely invites herself into the cafe’s doings. More and more, as Rena becomes socially aware, she involves herself in causes (she shares this characteristic with True Blue). Ideas found in the bookstore and cafe, are beginning to shape her future. She sees this change within herself, and wants others to share this important transformation.
Gender/Heritage: Wonderful smile. Doesn’t tell the others very much about life before the bookstore and cafe (always in that order). The name Rena means “rebirth,” but its African-Hausa roots means despised, disregarded, refused (clearly, this is related to her newfound social activism). The name Rena is related to Irene, Andrea, Marina, Rebecca, Rene and other names. It’s also an anagram of “near,” meaningful because Rena comes close to the cafe, but is usually a step away in her own space.
Physical Description: Depends upon the performer. Combines a phoenix with a loving connector. We like the reference pictures, but we’ll like the human who fits this role even more.
Psychological: As a girl, Rena knew she was smart, couldn’t tell anyone. Grew up in a repressed society where girls were actively discouraged from learning. Most girls married young, kept their dreams small. That wasn’t natural for Rena so she learned in secret, under threat of being found out, harmed (physically, emotionally, socially). As she grew, she gained confidence, inspired others to learn and grow, but lacked a place for herself. Rena badgered her parents to allow her to leave the repressive environment, study elsewhere in a place where she would not be noticed. They said no. Rena left anyway. She got a job working at a crumby bookstore. Not much better than home, but she could read whatever she wanted to read. One day, the inevitable happened. The boss lost his footing on a shaky pile of old books, slipped, died. Rena started over. Reinvented the bookstore, reinvented herself.
Fears: Rena is afraid she'll somehow be sent back to the place where girls can't think and be smart, or that the place she is now in will somehow morph into that. The outside world seems irrational at times and she thinks it could infiltrate her new world.
Social: Wonderful combination of smart and giving, always encouraging others to pursue their dreams, to learn. More and more, Rena insists upon being on the front lines, especially when there's a social cause that requires her help.
Key Relationships: Adores Squark. Together, they’re a powerful combination, and they constantly sing, dance, and celebrate the spiritual magic of learning. Overall, Rena loves to be a helpful, meaningful part of other peoples’ lives. Koshka watches and listens carefully. In time, they develop a relationship.
Place in Cafe: Functionally, Rena runs the bookstore. Rena makes no attempt to hide her deep personal connection with friends, colleagues, family, readers, and participants (she is our strongest connection between the cafe and the growing participant community).
0-to-60: Rena hates it when people shoot off their mouths, don’t do their homework, don’t consider impact on others. When she’s on ramp, she’s fun to watch— Rena is one of those “watch for it… watch for it… here it comes!” exploding people. Mostly, she’s listening, then you can read it on her face, then she’s not sure whether to say something, then it pours out in vivid, rushing colors. Takes things personally but rarely opens up. That early insecurity allows her to just listen and control what she has to say, so we see a lot of telling reaction shots. And watch her hands. She tends to strangle whatever she happens to be holding (except a book), hides it before anyone notices.
Accessory Characters: Mouse in the bookstore. They have history; the mouse was there when Rena and the bookstore were in dire straits. The mouse was her only friend at the time, and it’s comforting to see her mouse friend from time to time. (We may use a Folkmanis mouse puppet or finger puppet).
