"A Mile in My Shoes"

We all have our phobias/preconceived notions of people that are different than us. In the hilarious take on conquering fears, "A Mile in My Shoes" is a comedy series that forces people to live in their fear until they understand their prejudice was not valid. Imagine "Big" and “Freaky Friday” with a twist on the lesson learned.

The story begins on a rainy day in a coffee shop in Kansas City, where Madame Tortoline walks into the crowded shop and slips on the wet floor. Everyone in the shop begins laughing and mocking her. Embarrassed and angry for the lack of compassion, Madame Tortoline places a curse on the laughing customers that will cause them to become their biggest fear by walking a mile in their shoes. The story grows by following the unsuspecting customers as they become and understand children, African Americans, and homosexuals. Through comedy, each of the customers learn that the prejudices they have held are not what make up the people that are different than them. Each episode covers a different character.

Main characters include:

Madame Tortoline, a practicing voodoo queen who just wanted a cup of coffee on a rainy day.

Jean, a successful business executive that is terrified of children and finds herself in a juvenile predicament.

Robert, a grocery store clerk who grew up in a predominately white neighborhood, finds himself learning the adversity of living in an African American community.

Justin, a rough and tough carpenter, finds himself in a flamboyant experience that questions his sexuality.

The pilot episode, "I Just Wanted Some Coffee," begins in an overcrowded coffee shop on a rainy day in Kansas City. Madame Tortoline is mocked by customers after a slip on the wet floor. She places a curse on the unsuspecting customers, and they experience a ringing in their ears and begin to take on the characteristics of those that they fear.

Jean continues to work at her corporate position and begins to respond to adversity from a toddler’s perspective, causing her coworkers to question her sanity. At one point she throws a full temper tantrum in response to one of her daily challenges.

In parallel, Madame Tortoline is seen watching the entire day unfold for Jean while finally enjoying her coffee from the coffee shop.

The climax of the episode comes when Jean is sitting in a restaurant after her catastrophic day at work and comes across a table where a mom is trying to calm her toddler. Jean confronts the child and has a back and forth talk about why eating vegetables is important, while the child is throwing food at her. Instead of replying with her normally callous response, joins in the food fight and realizes that being a child can be fun too. She feels a lightness from the interaction with the child and experiences another ringing in her ears and the child like “curse” is removed.

"A Mile in My Shoes" is a comedy of prejudices and people realizing we really are not that different from each other. By utilizing comedy to touch on preconceived notions people have about each other, there is an opportunity for people to begin to have conversations with each other instead of holding onto these notions that are probably inaccurate to deal with.

The humor is taking what a person perceives as reality of someone that is different than them and forces them to live that perception with the outcome of realizing that these ideas were not valid. It helps to show how hilarious our notions can be when applied in the real world.

“A Mile in My Shoes” not only is a comedy series, but also explores phobias that people have about each other and utilizes laughter to change people’s mindset on how they perceive people that are different than them.

The pilot episode sets the plot for the entire series. Each following episode will follow a different customer’s phobia as they progress through the series. Additional phobias will be added as the season progresses to enlighten the audience as well as the customers.

“A Mile in My Shoes” will provide comedic relief to serious challenges the world faces as they progress through the realization that we are all just people doing the best we can. And if we could all remember that we are all just people, it will free up resources to tackle some of the bigger problems our world faces.