Awesome! I'm in! on Cascade Hall

Daniel Nash II

December 02, 2010 2:56 PM

Organizing a short play - need cast, crew, and playwright by Daniel Nash II

Upon hearing about the concert's new format, Daniel had immediately decided on two things. First, there was no possible way he was going to do a solo act. He was an actor. Actors kind of needed someone else to act off of unless they were doing a monologue, and Daniel was of the opinion that monologues were designed with two purposes in mind: for exposition that couldn't be fit into the play otherwise, or to verbalize a mental struggle that realistically would neither be spoken aloud nor even necessarily show much on a character's face. Therefore, he wasn't doing one.

His second conclusion was that he needed to get his name out there more than James Anthony's so not only did he need to perform, but he needed to lead a decently sized group performance, to show he had all of the skills and organization demonstrated by the prefects of four years ago.

The Aladren prefecture might be out of his grasp, but by Merlin he was going to make every effort to show up James for the Head Boyship.

Therefore, his act had to be every bit as involved as the one Aladren had put on at the last concert. Which meant his step one was to find a playwright. Well, truthfully, Daniel was already largely counting on Grayson Wright for this, but Gray had not yet been informed or given a chance to talk his way out of it yet. Or volunteer - maybe he would actually want to do it; this was Sonora, after all, stranger things had happened.

So, no, actually his step one was to find a cast so the playwright knew how many people he would need to write parts for when Daniel elicited his help.

He decided the easiest way to do this (and to give Grayson both warning it was coming and a chance to volunteer all on his own) was to hold an audition and crew sign-ups. Calling it an audition gave it two things Daniel needed it to have: (a) the right to shunt away people who were utterly useless on stage into the crew, and (b) a clear understanding that Daniel was in charge of it.

So he convince the other three Heads of Houses to put up announcements in their common room bulletin boards (he put up Aladren's himself) that read:

Concert Mini-Play Auditions!

Held by Daniel Nash II in the Cascade Hall this Saturday at 3pm

All people interested in holding a part in a short play at the midsummer concert should attend. Anyone wishing to become an actor, stage crew (including prop makers and set artists), and writers are strongly encouraged to attend.

So here he was, on Saturday afternoon. He'd put up a decently sized banner to attract attention ("CONCERT AUDITIONS HERE!") and now he was just waiting to see who turned up.

"Hey," he greeted each person as they arrived, "I'm Daniel. Where you interested in a stage part, working backstage, or helping with the writing?" If he didn't know their name, he prompted for that as well. He jotted down the appropriate name and role on the clipboard held in front of him.

If they said they wanted to act, he told them to take a seat and the auditions would commence shortly. These, he did ask a few additional questions, like whether they wanted a lead or a support role, and if they were interested in singing or dancing at all. (Daniel, personally, was against a musical, but if the majority wanted singing and dancing, he'd make do.)

If the new arrival wanted to write or stage crew, he just took down their information, thanked them, and told them he'd be in touch. They could either stay or go as they saw fit.

OOC: First part's just a sign-up sort of thing; you're just verbally telling Daniel what you're up for. In a few days, I'll put up a spot for acting auditions.

Subthreads:

Awesome! I'm in! by Jose Hernandez

Back for another party by Gray Wright with Jera Valson

Being involved by Eliza Bennett with Kate Bauer

Offering some backstage aid by Neal Padrig with Nicodemus Sawyer

Acting Auditions by Daniel Nash II with Jose Hernandez

1 Daniel Nash II Organizing a short play - need cast, crew, and playwright 130 Daniel Nash II 1 5

Jose Hernandez

December 02, 2010 4:10 PM

Awesome! I'm in! by Jose Hernandez

Jose was already signed up for his solo act, but he didn't have anything planned yet for a group one. If he'd thought about it (which he hadn't; most of his thoughts lately were for how he could possibly pull off a tightrope routine after only two months of experience), he probably would have guessed he'd pull something together with some of the other Pecaris, possibly Mel and Starbuck and Delilah and Jude and maybe Tawny and whoever else they could drag in. When he saw the audition sheet hanging up on his common room bulletin board, though, everything made sense.

Of course Daniel Nash would try to get a group together that he could act with.

And Jose, well, Jose had already decided against acting simply because he didn't want to go up against Daniel. But if he could act with Daniel, then, blammo! Easy win on the group category. Daniel was a professional actor, and, well, Jose had gotten paid to act before, too (albeit in much smaller productions than Hollywood television), so that kind of made him a professional actor, too.

So here he was. Auditions.

"Jose Hernandez," Jose said, even though he already knew who Daniel was and suspected Daniel knew him just as well if not better since he was already a Quidditch Captain and not just an Assistant like Daniel was. "I'd like to act."

At the further questions, he just shook his head, "I'd like more than a couple lines, but I don't need to be the lead lead, just kind of a secondary lead, or something. . . I can sing and dance, but I don't really want to."

Then he went to take his seat to wait for the actual audition and to scope out his competition.

1 Jose Hernandez Awesome! I'm in! 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Gray Wright

December 02, 2010 10:41 PM

Back for another party by Gray Wright

For four years, Gray had been assuming that he was going to have to take one for the team and put his writing - usually either a private or academic affair - out on display in the school variety concert again. It was, therefore, with shock and disappointment and not a little annoyance that he heard about the format change. He'd spent four years working out ideas and being worried about measuring up to public scrutiny and how to go about being funnier than Laurie this time and what he would do if Teppenpaw actually got a decent playwright instead of whatever poor aficionado of the song-and-dance routine they had hauled out of Hell's back corner last time. He'd even - admittedly partially because Anne had gotten her hands on a notebook once and bullied him into doing it, and also a bit because he wanted the pocket money, but anyway - sold off a few short stories to get himself used to the idea of having people exposed to his stuff again. They couldn't change the rules after all that.

Except, of course, that they could, and there was nothing he could do about it but try to sneak out before they got the ballots passed out and made him vote on something. He didn't do decisions. They were not his thing. They made him more anxious than he'd been over his midterm for Crosby, and that had been so much of a horror show that his grade might not completely recover from the shock until finals. So that was that, and, after grumbling about it to Thomas for a while and demanding to know why his roommate hadn't taken advantage of being the good-looking and articulate one to wheedle this out of Jera last year, he had pretty much dismissed the concert from his mind. The only talent he had besides writing was falling off stuff, and he wasn't going to make another public demonstration of that.

Then, one day, he glanced at the bulletin board in passing and was surprised to see that Daniel Nash - he'd been Gilbert and Adoniram last time; Gray had been particularly proud of that part - apparently shared his objection to the rule change. Though he no longer really wanted to, Gray thought he might as well offer his services. If Crotalus had managed to live down the last time it let its hair down already, he couldn't think of too many other people who would happily put the product of their stupidity on public display, and he'd had service to House and school ingrained into him almost from the day Anne moved in. If someone else turned up, he'd quit.

Or if Daniel got too bossy. Gray had put up with Anne telling him what to do four years ago, because she was Anne and to be feared and he had been well aware that the real power lay with her then-roommate and then-new boyfriend, but Daniel wasn't Anne, and Gray had more of a connection to the Head Boy and Head Girl than he did. There were now limits to what he was willing to put up with. He was still working on the 'dissolute' bit, and he wasn't quite destitute either, but he was the artist on this thing.

"I, uh, write," Gray said when Daniel asked, already a bit weirded by the younger guy's manner. "Might have official or unofficial help from the friend-people, but trust me, that's probably a good thing." He was, in fact, relying on assistance from his friend-people. Without Lucie, he was sure he would run low on inspiration before the end of it, and without Thomas and Jera, he'd either write something so weird it concerned the faculty or flunk out of his classes because he got so involved in the project that he forgot about them. They weren't, for the most part, as engaging as he'd hoped when he signed up, and with something amusing to do...

He nodded when Daniel said he'd 'be in touch.' Now that was a good line. Maybe he'd write something about shady types. "Let me know if you have a specific part type in mind," he said, then - mostly to put off going over his Muggle Studies assignment - decided to hang around and see, in general, what he had to work with. He had quite a lot of rough scripts lying around in various folders, books, and boxes in his room, at least one of which had enough parts to include everyone in Aladren House, but he was almost certain to have to tweak something anyway.

16 Gray Wright Back for another party 113 Gray Wright 0 5

Eliza Bennett

December 13, 2010 7:10 PM

Being involved by Eliza Bennett

Like most first years who valued their pride, Eliza didn’t really go around deliberately interacting with students much older than she was. Her personal theory was that the confidence everyone faked at her age became real sometime around thirteen or fourteen, and that anyone past that mark but not yet thirty would automatically recognize anyone younger than fourteen as the miserable faker he or she was. Past thirty, you basically became a parent and lost all touch with the realities of underage life, but from fourteen into the twenties, people were still close enough to it to have not forgotten how things worked.

She was sure, then, that getting involved in the play group that was forming was a bad idea, but it was the best option she could see. She wanted to participate in the concert, so that people would begin to recognize her face and so she could make connections with more of the other students, but not only did she not think she could pull together a group of other first years and then lead it, she also didn’t think it would be smart to put herself in direct competition to the older students. Not only would she look stupid, but they would resent her for even trying, and she didn’t even want to think about what it would do if she didn’t end up looking stupid. So her options were effectively limited to joining a senior group, and since she couldn’t sing to save her life, that meant the play.

Just because she wasn’t an Aladren didn’t mean she couldn’t be logical. She hoped.

Working under the assumption that she was being logical, though, she got up early on the morning of auditions, spent as much time as possible working on her outfit and make-up in an attempt to look older, and took a sip of one of the potions Mother had sent along with her for occasions like this to increase her chances of not acting like an idiot before going down to the place mentioned on the sign in the common room.

After all that preparation, the lack of a huge crowd of competitors was actually disappointing, at least on one level. On another, she was very sensibly pleased that she was more likely to get what she wanted than she otherwise would have been, and recognized that the main downside of this situation was fewer networking opportunities than she’d been counting on. She really should have tried to persuade her roommates to join in, too – it would have been a bonding opportunity for her and them, and she was reasonably sure she was enough of the ditz of the group for them not to realize why she was doing it. Still, she was already here, and she knew there was no way she really had time to run in two groups; it was going to be a challenge to do one and still keep her grades up. She wasn’t stupid, but neither did schoolwork come very easily to her.

“Hi,” she said when greeted, doing her very best not to look remotely intimidated by a fifth year. She thought she did an okay job. “I’m Eliza Bennett. I’ve never really done it before – “ well, not officially – “but I thought I’d try to act.”

0 Eliza Bennett Being involved 174 Eliza Bennett 0 5

Neal Padrig

December 14, 2010 1:33 PM

Offering some backstage aid by Neal Padrig

Initially, the concert seemed like it’d be fun. Watching people doing something they enjoyed doing for a crowd couldn’t be boring, and he was excited to bring something different to the stage for himself. Then an inevitable issue arose: what sort of talents did Neal have, anyways? He laughed at the thought, but the more he tried to think of something he could the more lost he felt. It was like he was dumped in the Labyrinth and every path he tried to navigate just brought him back to the starting line. In short, he had no clue what he could perform.

Thinking he was just getting too excited about things and not thinking anything through rationally enough, the messy-headed Pecari slumped down in a cozy chair in the Common Room and pulled out a Quill and Parchment. He was going to list some things he was good at, he decided, and work from there. After two hours of doodling spider webs all over the place and only having four strengths listed (reading, DADA, Charms, and staying awake) he decided he wasn’t being all that productive.

Maybe instead of finding a talent he already had, he should try to find something he could work at, like an instrument or something, and just practice until he was decent enough to perform. It was better than going up on stage with a book at any rate.

Deciding to get a bite to eat before he ransacked the books in the library for ideas, Neal noticed Daniel sitting with a banner and his jaw dropped slightly. It might as well been a sign made just for him.

Neal bolted over before he got sidetracked by something else, as he tended to do, and placed his hands on the table. He knew the older Aladren from facing off against his team in Quidditch and from Soccer last year, so it wasn’t like they were strangers. If anything, Neal thought of them as positive acquaintances. “Hey, Daniel,” he greeted back when the older student was finished speaking. “I, uh, can’t really act or anything.” Very true and very obvious, considering he didn’t think he had the looks for being on stage (messy hair, pale skin, chronically bloodshot eyes). Not to mention the monotone he spoke with that’d bore anyone listening to him for long stretches of time out of their minds. “But I can do backstage stuff. So sign me up!”

Daniel seemed fine with him leaving then, so Neal nodded and (forgetting the whole reason he came to Cascade Hall) went to the library to see if he could find any other talent anyways. And if he didn’t, at least he was doing something in the show.

0 Neal Padrig Offering some backstage aid 0 Neal Padrig 0 5

Kate Bauer

December 14, 2010 11:32 PM

Killing two birds with one stone. by Kate Bauer

The concert wasn’t something Kate had given a lot of thought to. Talent wasn’t really something she had a lot of, at least not in any area that would really work well in a variety show. She thought she would go, clap for the presentations of those either very skilled or just bold enough to try anyway, vote on stuff if she had to, and have a good time and decompress after the stress of exams. That was definitely enough stress to be getting on with; if she didn’t at least pull out an E in half her classes, her mother would spend all summer making comments about it.

That was her mother’s way. No confrontations. Just a pervasive air of disappointment, a pointed effort to praise Rachel’s grades in front of guests when they all knew she usually wouldn’t, a few remarks about what a better time Kate was going to have next year…She’d be crazier than her dead cultist grandma before she got to escape to her father’s. Where he’d be disappointed, too, but his dysfunction would be pretending that he was just glad she’d passed everything. Kate supposed it was possible he was as utterly without ambition for the three of them as he said he was, since that was how she felt about it, but she just didn’t think it was all that likely. Adults with kids were not supposed to work that way.

After some seriously fruitless studying for her Transfiguration exam, she went down to the Cascade Hall in search of a snack and wanted to smack herself when she walked through the doors and read the big sign. That Daniel person was running his play auditions in here; since there was at least a semblance of formality implied by the sign and the posters in Houses other than his own, she wasn’t sure she’d even be able to get food now. She’d totally forgotten about all this happening today.

She was somehow not entirely surprised to see Eliza Bennett talking to the fifth year in charge. They had never spoken – Kate’s stance on pretty, perfect, confident types like Eliza was to envy them from a great distance – but Crotalus Girls were notorious drama queens. And, when they had numbers, notorious havers of multiple friends. Kate had never understood why Teppenpaw was the House with ‘friendly’ in the catalogue description, but Crotali were the ones who traveled in tight-knit packs. Even Rachel, the only Crotalus girl in her year, had managed to form a sort of pack with the Aladren girls of her year. Someone must have screwed something up when they formulated those descriptions.

Of course…There was no reason why she shouldn’t be friends with them, was there? As far as they were likely to know, she was just like them. She had been warned a hundred times never to challenge Jordan Adair in any way – Rachel seemed to prefer that she just stay as far away from the girl as possible – but Jordan wasn’t here, Eliza was. And she was possibly the most normal-seeming of that crowd. Maybe Momma would even approve if Kate got to know her.

It wasn’t like she really had anything to lose. It might even be fun. She liked working with groups anyway. It was theoretically why she was in Teppenpaw. She went over just as Eliza finished saying her piece to Daniel.

“Me, too,” she said. “Not a big part or anything, though. I’m Kate Bauer, from Teppenpaw.” She smiled at her yearmate. “Hi, Eliza,” she said, hoping it wasn’t too weird that she knew the other girl’s name.

16 Kate Bauer Killing two birds with one stone. 170 Kate Bauer 0 5

Nicodemus Sawyer

December 15, 2010 11:06 AM

Me, too, I guess by Nicodemus Sawyer

Nic was less than sold on the whole concert idea. He was not a team player, so group acts were out. He was not feeling any particular need to make a fool of himself by trying to prove he had some kind of talent, so an individual act was out.

It wasn't that he didn't have talents. They just didn't translate to the stage very well. Like, looming dangerously. With his height, Nic was great at looming, but how would that would be exciting to watch? Looming consists solely of standing tall, glaring a little, and crossing your arms. Preferably in shadows. Not a great stage act.

Another of his talents was drawing. Again, not something you do for an audience. Who wants to sit in an uncomfortable seat for ten minutes while some guy draws? Then there was skateboarding, but a flat stage was hardly the right arena for that kind of skill and his board was back home in Miami anyway.

On the other hand, the only thing worse than performing in a talent show was being forced to watch one, so when the announcement for Daniel Nash's play auditions appeared on the Crotalus bulletin board, it had a two words on it that gave him hope of getting out of the audience.

Namely, set artists.

Okay, yes, backstage crew was for dorks who couldn't make it as performers, but they did get to wear all black, sneak silently across the stage in the dark, and nobody had to know who they were. He could work with that. Plus, he would get to do some artistic work, and maybe even some looming in the dark.

So the twelve year old showed up for the auditions, and went over to the guy who seemed to be in charge, and answered the questions directed at him.

"Nic Sawyer. I can make sets."

1 Nicodemus Sawyer Me, too, I guess 165 Nicodemus Sawyer 0 5

Daniel Nash II

December 15, 2010 11:55 AM

Acting Auditions by Daniel Nash II

Daniel was mildly disappointed by the turn out he was getting, but he had three things going for him. First, Gray Wright showed up and volunteered with no need for arm-twisting or bribery. Second, Jose Hernadez showed up so there was at least one other person with some acting experience (word was that the Pecari came from a family of stage performers and probably understood what was needed for a live act even better than Daniel did - the kid was definitely going to be named the second-in-command). Third, he had Neal and Nic as a crew men, and two younger girls who could fill out the cast so they weren't limited to just him and Jose talking at each other.

He might have liked more people to be involved, but this way was probably going to be more manageable in the long run and would probably give them a better overall result.

If they needed an older girl lead, he was sure he could bribe Holly into it. She hadn't been horrible in Pecari's last play and Saul Pierce had only needed to promise her a shiny tiara to get her to take a part. Daniel would have to make sure Jose got any part that might need to kiss her though. Prodigy child actor or not, there was no way Daniel was going anywhere near flirting with his sister in front of the whole school.

For now though, he had four actors and actresses (three, not counting himself which is how he should be counting, because he was running things and was guaranteeing himself a part without an audition). "Okay, Jose, Eliza, and Kate," he said, as much to remember their names as to get their attention. "We'll start now."

More people might show up - he expected it really; actors and artistic types weren't exactly known for their punctuality - but he had enough to work with for right now.

Daniel shuffled through the papers attached to his clipboard and found the one titled 'One Lead Two Support - Lead'. He handed that piece of paper to Jose. The fourth year boy was practically a shoo-in, but it would be good for the inexperienced girls to have someone with a little talent to work with. He handed copies of the same script to the girls as well, but theirs had fewer lines highlighted and theirs was titled 'One Lead Two Support - Support'.

It wasn't a long scene. Jose had four lines, each of the girls had two. It wasn't a very exciting scene, either, just three friends talking in a parking lot, but it would at least give him an idea of how they interacted with each other, what kind of flourishes and non-verbal gestures they added, and how woodenly they talked when the words they spoke weren't their own. It would also tell him if they were prone to over acting, which would probably be the worst thing they could do.

"Take a few minutes to read over your part a few times, maybe say the lines out loud to get a feel for them," Daniel recommended. "You don't have to memorize them, but if you can, try. I won't take points away for looking at the script, but I will give bonus ones if you can avoid it."

Points, in this case, were entirely arbitrary and completely purposeless since Daniel (a) had no authority to grant actual House points, and (b) was planning on accepting all three actors unless they proved completely wretched, but he thought a bit of a challenge like that might encourage them to work harder at the audition. People liked getting credit for their efforts.

He gave them three minutes to prep themselves and possibly discuss amongst themselves how they wanted to play it. "Ready?" he asked when their time was up. "Jose, you've got the first line. Action."

---
Script looks something like this:
One Lead Two Support
Reaper, Season 1, Episode 4 (modified)

[Highlighted for Jose] Andi: Hey, Sam, Ben.
[Highlighted for Eliza] Sam: What is Ted doing?
[Highlighted for Jose] Andi: I put a note on his windshield. Says 'sorry, I hit your car.'
[Highlighted for Kate] Ben: You hit Ted's car?
[Highlighted for Jose] Andi: Nope.
[Highlighted for Eliza] Sam: Who did?
[Highlighted for Jose] Andi: No one. But he's been looking for the damage for over ten minutes now.
[Highlighted for Kate] Ben: You're evil.

1 Daniel Nash II Acting Auditions 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Jose Hernandez

December 15, 2010 12:14 PM

Acting by Jose Hernandez

Jose looked over his script, chuckled a little over his part, which was good, because he was really better at doing upbeat rather than depressing, and set to memorizing the four short lines. He looked over the girls to see how they were doing, then took out a piece of parchment, pulled a chair out from under one of the nearby tables, and labeled it 'Ted'.

Then he went and took a position on the other side of the girls and a little to the right, so they weren't directly between him and the chair. He started snickering into his hand and stealing looks over at Ted until Daniel told him to start, even though he already had.

That was okay. He smirked at Ted one more time, pretended to just notice the girls and wandered over to them. "Hey, Sam, Ben," he greeted casually, before sending another sidelong and amused look over at Ted.

1 Jose Hernandez Acting 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Charlotte Abbott

December 16, 2010 11:31 AM

Sorry I'm late? by Charlotte Abbott

Charlotte had seen Daniel's notices about the concert, and that he would be putting on some sort of play, but she hadn't inititally thought she would be involved because she might already have reached her maximum allowance of being in two shows before she even thought about it. Since their first year and the Midsummer Concert four years ago, Charlie and Lita said that in the next one they would dance together. They'd both auditioned for the solo act last time but, being first years, hadn't been very hopeful and neither of them had been successful. This year they didn't even have to audition - they could do their joint dance and a solo dance each and be within the requirements.

Yet Charlie hadn't signed her name up to either of these acts straight away. She'd always wanted to dance solo in front of a crowd that wasn't just relatives of her dance group, and here was her opportunity. On the other hand, she had also really been looking forward to doing an act with Lita. They'd been dancing together for years, surely if the fifth years did a joint performance it would steal the show. Yet there was still another hand... that was the possibility of doing something else. Maybe like Daniel's play. If they could only do two performances, Charlie couldn't very well sign up to all three.

Of course, by the time the auditions came along, Charlie decided that if she was going to do two acts, they should be two different ones. She could do her dance with Lita - a duo was almost as good as a solo - and maybe help Daniel out with his play. That was, if he needed any help. When Charlie reached the auditions, she noticed there were a few people there already, most of them younger kids, but she'd only been in first year when she'd done the Crotalus concert years ago. Jose and the others looked like they were getting ready to audition, so Charlotte walked quietly round them trying not to draw attention to herself (which was difficult because she was wearing small heels that clacked loudly on the floor and her playsuit was bright red polka-dot). She sat on a table with her feet on a chair until Daniel came over. "Sorry I'm late," she wrinkled her nose as she smiled at her friend. He seriously had to know by now how flighty and indecisive she could be. "If you've got any openings I'd love to join in." She wasn't an actor like Daniel, nor was she trained to showmanship like Jose, but she didn't think she would be too horrible on stage. She could get the lines right if nothing else.

0 Charlotte Abbott Sorry I'm late? 135 Charlotte Abbott 0 5

Jera Valson

December 16, 2010 12:14 PM

Joining in this time by Jera Valson

Jera hadn't done anything at all about the concert last time around, except watch it. This time around, that wasn't even an option: she could watch, but she would have to vote. She didn't really mind the voting, but she thought she ought to set a good example or something and maybe take part in a more active way. This merely presented her with the same question she thought a lot of students would be experiencing: what to do? She could play Quidditch fairly well (that in itself had been an accident, born from helping out Aladren when they didn't have a full team signed up - she just hadn't left the team since) but probably not by herself on stage. She could do some nifty transfigurations work, but she couldn't think of a way to perform that without looking like a seventh year showing off - definitely not the sort of thing she wanted to convey.

It didn't take long for her to reach the conclusion that she actually didn't have any talents to showcase, so if she wanted to take part it was going to have to be more of a group effort, rather like the Aladrens had done four years ago. A fifth year was trying to form a choir, but Jera didn't think she could sing all that well, and she certainly wasn't prepared to find out on stage in front of the school. A more likely-looking venture was Daniel's play attempt. She at least knew Daniel a bit from Quidditch, and there was bound to be some behind the scenes work that she could do and still contribute. It also seemed the most likely activity that Gray and Thomas might be involved in, which didn't discourage Jera any.

Sure enough, Grayson was already there when Jera arrived at Daniel's meeting. He introduced himself and seemed quite indirectly to be offering to write the script. He pretty much gave Jera an open invitation to be there, too. "I think I count as one of the friend-people," she followed on from his introduction. "But I can be a general dogsbody and help out," the Head Girl offered. "Don't put me on stage unless you're desperate though, I don't do acting, I can promise you. I could maybe be a tree." As unlikely as the scenraio was that they needed a person to be a tree because a piece of scenery - even charmed scenery - wouldn't suffice then, provided it didn't talk, she could probably accomplish that. "Or, you know, charm scenery or whatever." Maybe her transfiguration skills would come in handy after all.

0 Jera Valson Joining in this time 112 Jera Valson 0 5

Eliza Bennett

December 16, 2010 3:43 PM

Likewise by Eliza Bennett

The first issue Eliza ran into during the actual acting auditions was not one she had anticipated. She had foreseen competition, stunts, older students, other students projectile-vomiting on her, and a slew of other things, but somehow, it hadn’t occurred to her that she might not be able to be sure what her character’s gender was. It was made even more confusing by the way that the lead’s name was spelled; ‘Ben’ was definitely male, she had never heard of a female Ben, but ‘Andi’ looked like a girl’s name to her on paper.

Some of the words also confused her. She didn’t really know what it was she was supposed to be talking to Kate and Jose about, or what the heading meant. Seasons related to weather and when they were in school, didn’t they? And the only thing she knew about a car was that it could be damaged and that it was amusing to tell people theirs was damaged when it wasn’t really.

Since she had seen just enough modern drama on occasions when her parents insisted on embracing new cultural horizons to know that it was generally pretty incomprehensible, though, she decided to assume, based on the other roles, that this Sam was a guy and that it didn’t really matter what the script was supposed to be about. It was possible to figure out that she and Kate were associates of the person who wasn’t being kind to Ted, and that Ted would be upset about all this, and…something. Her brain was fogging from trying to think it all out too much; she thought she had better just say it. Her character didn’t know what was going on, but had some evidence to suggest it was amusing. That was a part Eliza was used to playing. She only really minded when it was actually the case.

Once Jose had done his Andi thing, Eliza glanced toward the Ted chair, too. “What’s Ted doing?” she asked. It was a short enough line that she didn’t have to look at the script.

The clattering of high heels was something of a distraction, but her home life actually came as a boon there. It wasn’t polite to seem overly interested in people who arrived late to a social event and were at least trying to slip in without too much fuss.

0 Eliza Bennett Likewise 174 Eliza Bennett 0 5

Jose

December 16, 2010 4:00 PM

Still Acting by Jose

Jose was peripherally aware of Charlie Abbott's arrival, but didn't give her any attention. He'd been performing at Renaissance Faires for his entire life. He knew how to ignore people coming and going without getting distracted from his act.

So after Eliza asked what Ted was doing, he rubbed his hands together self-satisfied, if somewhat vengeful, delight and said in a very pleased tone of voice. "Oh, I just put a note on his windshield. Says 'sorry, I hit your car.'" He gave the text of the note air-quotes, and finished the line with a smile of a job well done.

He was from a muggle enough background to know exactly what a car was - his family actually owned a small fleet of mini-vans - so he had no trouble deciphering what was going on in the scene. His familiarity with television was less complete, but he at least knew what a season and an episode meant, even if he'd never heard of the show mentioned in the subtitle of the script. It did not even occur to him to wonder if the other two girls were so lucky. Certainly, Eliza handled her line well enough for no such thought to arise.

0 Jose Still Acting 0 Jose 0 5

Kate

December 16, 2010 6:31 PM

Trying to act. by Kate

When she was handed a script, Kate had a moment where she wondered what, exactly, it was she thought she was doing. It was too late to back out now, though, so she forced a smile and decided to just go with it and do her best and all that stuff, which usually meant a lot less than it sounded like it did but which made her feel better anyway.

She wasn’t very surprised to notice that neither of her costars seemed very bothered, but then again – Jose’s family was apparently in ‘the business,’ and Eliza was That Kind Of Girl. Even though Kate was pretty sure she was pureblood, and should therefore have no idea what the script they were looking at was about.

Of course, that line of thinking was as bad as assuming Muggleborns couldn’t really learn about magical society. For all she knew, Eliza was secretly a prodigy who sat around reading books about Muggle sociology and pop culture all the time. Not the same thing as living in it, but it would give something near Kate’s level of familiarity with things like cars and television seasons. Or at least the concept of them; her father found Muggle sci-fi and fantasy hilarious, so Kate had actually seen some television at her grandparents’ before. Muggleborns themselves, they had effectively given up magic in the sixties, and while electronics were still fuzzy around them sometimes, one of her childhood memories was the weekly Sunday night visits so her dad could watch reruns of Stargate: Atlantis while simultaneously appearing to be a good son.

Since she did have memories like that, though, she was able to appreciate the situation that Ben was in. The script was neither from Stargate nor Jeopardy!, so she didn’t recognize it or know anything about the characters, so she decided to assume that Ted was a jerk who deserved it. Or that her character was a jerk. Luckily, the other two remembering their dialogue helped her keep in sequence with hers.

“You hit Ted’s car?” she asked, raising her eyebrows as though she were really asking the question of someone.

OOC: Daniel, if you want to use Alison, Marissa, Sam, David, and/or, in a pinch, Rachel in some capacity, just let me know; the holiday rush effectively derailed all my posting and half-formed Concert plans, so they're just sort of floating around. I'm good either way, just putting the option on the table.

16 Kate Trying to act. 170 Kate 0 5

Daniel

December 17, 2010 12:24 PM

Inserting Charlie by Daniel

OOC: I write for Jose, too, so instead of trying to stretch his 'nope' into three paragraphs, I'm just going to give Daniel a go. BIC:

Listening to two people at once wasn't exactly one of his strong suits, but he was getting that the girls would do great, and Jose had a little too much flair for the dramatic but not so much it couldn't be worked with and possibly toned down in rehearsal if necessary.

He also gathered Charlie was interested in a part, too, so after Kate said her line, but before Jose said his, Daniel held up a hand and called, "Cut, just for a sec. You're doing great, but I'm substituting Charlie in for the chair."

He'd picked a small dialogue segment that he'd thought could work well with any distribution of gendered actors, but it was mildly entertaining that ever single part had been taken by someone of the opposite sex. The only girl part was played by Jose who was the only guy auditioning so far today. (Charlie had come late, so he wasn't discounting the possibility of more showing up.)

"Charlie, you don't have lines, which actually makes it harder, but Jose left a note on your car - well, your table - saying he hit it. You're trying to figure out where the damage is. You're very worried about it because you like your car better than you like people. You're their boss," he pointed at the other three, "and not very nice."

That should probably give the other three a better idea of how they should be responding to Andi's prank, too. Once she was in position, Daniel nodded to Jose. "Okay, recap." He pointed at each of the actors as he paraphrased the line they had already read. "'Hi, guys' 'What's Charlie doing?' 'I left a note saying I hit her car.' 'Did you?' Jose, action!"

Jose very professionally - impressive, really, since Daniel was pretty sure the guy didn't do cuts in his line of work - just bounced on his heels a little, smirking the smirk of the self-satisfied, and answered Kate as though there had been no interruption. "Nope."

OOC: Thanks, Kate. I think we're doing okay. We've got five actors, two writers, and two crew. Nic and Neal might want some additional help putting sets and props together if any of your folks want to help with that, but I imagine that's going to be largely implied as going on behind the scenes and not actually written. Appreciate the offer, though!

1 Daniel Inserting Charlie 130 Daniel 0 5

Eliza

December 18, 2010 12:08 AM

Welcome! by Eliza

The insertion of another player to the mix threw Eliza out of the scene, but it provided useful information. She now knew that her character was probably an adult, why the characters were amused that something unpleasant had happened to Ted, and what her relationship to Jose and Kate – or, at the moment, Andi and Ben – was. They worked together, and most likely weren’t wealthy.

Working wasn’t something Eliza had ever contemplated. She knew people did that, of course; she wasn’t stupid. That was how they got money. Her family had yet to rise to the ranks of the eternal socialites, where the extended network of relations could all live well off interests from previous investments and dowry payments, and her great-grandfather believed that somehow giving to the community was important, too, hence her uncle Victor the ex-ambassador. And, if the gossip she’d heard was right, her uncle Roger, the new future president now that Vic had been rendered politically useless by his ongoing stay at a mental institution in Springfield. Her father, the second son between Victor and Roger, was said to be not amused.

The cut ended. Concluding, based on his dialogue, that her character was not supposed to be very quick to pick up on the kind of thing that was going on, Eliza leaned back slightly, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion over her brown eyes as she folded her arms. Not really a gesture like her at all; she would have leant forward, her eyes wide, but she wasn’t a man. “So who did?” she asked.

0 Eliza Welcome! 0 Eliza 0 5

Charlie

December 23, 2010 6:02 AM

Thanks! by Charlie

She felt a little bad that her late-coming had interrupted the audition, but nobody seemed to mind very much. Plus she thought Daniel would probably be pleased to have another joiner, even if she had turned up late, so she tried not to let it bother her. She was quickly inserted into the audition scene in the place of a chair labelled Ted. Like Daniel said, she didn't have any lines, but she didn't think that made it any harder for her. The others seem to have mostly learned their small scripts, anyway, and Charlie doubted she would have been that fast at remembering them. All the had to do was inspect her 'car; and look angry.

Trying not to feel too weird about inspecting a table while other students were potentially watching her, Charlotte did her best to throw herself into character. She imagined she was Mark, a previous Manager at her parents' hotel who'd used to terrify Charlie when she was younger. He had eyebrows that seemed constantly furrowed and he was permanently stressed out. She imagined he probably had some huge, silver, shiny car that was no doubt compensating for something. Now the table was this super shiny car, and Charlie had been brought up with Muggles so knew enough about cars to imagine there was one, and where you'd look for damage caused by another driver. She furrowed her own brows and she checked the bumper, wing mirrors, bonnet, doors. She ran a hand through her hair becoming increasingly frustrated that she couldn't find anything.

She was also sort of part-listening to the others, because she hadn't seen the script so didn't know what was going on. She presumed that in the plot she was too far away to hear what the others were saying, or even to see them, or she may have tried engaging them in conversation. Or potentially not, if she didn't like them. At least if she was cast in dan iel's play she'd get to read the script and know the plot before she started acting in it, which could only help.

0 Charlie Thanks! 0 Charlie 0 5