open | for never was a story of more woe

[catsudon]

WHO: OPEN to ALL !
WHERE: Recollé Community Center
WHEN: Forward dated to Friday, April 7th thru Sunday, April 9th
WHAT: The Recollé Community Arts Theatre fundraising production of Romeo & Juliet is performed at last! Nothing burns down. Much.
WARNINGS: none, contact me @catsudon if this needs to be changed!

Opening Performance, Friday, April 7th:

The very first performance goes on without a hitch — if you ignore the entire primary cast is missing. The whole of the opening performance is being given by the Understudies to the primary cast-members, with a sparse chorus and rabble made up entirely of the performers throwing on alternate costumes when not on stage in a named role.

As it turns out, the Director is also missing. He took the entire primary cast out to a pre-show early dinner on his dollar, promising to throw an excellent closing celebration in order to make it up to the cast and crew he couldn't afford to treat this first time around. The main cast will have been treated to an all you can eat freshly made on the spot buffet, herded back together in order to make it back to the Community Center with hours to spare.

What actually ends up happening is more like: while in the buffet, one of the bus tires is stolen. The bus is actually propped up on cinderblocks on the back right. A traffic accident (no fatalities, but blocking all lanes) keeps the next bus from reaching them in time, leaving the cast to decide on walking back to the community center or waiting for the accident to clear up. Those who walk back will make it to the theatre in time for the final act; those who stay waiting for the bus will be treated to a chocobo breaking free from a carriage and running amok eating flowers from the center divider in the road.

For the Understudies, this is their chance to shine! Not only will they be filling in as the primary cast, they're also being asked to help be both chorus and background cast in scenes they're not already starring in. See how often you can spy the same faces in different costumes!

For the primary cast, don't worry! The second show of the night will all be on you to pull off without a hitch. At least your Understudies helped pave the way...?

The Performances on Saturday, April 8th:

Of the three performances offered on Saturday, the cast has been give a tip off that there will be big arts program donators in the audience for the second or third showing, and they're to be on Top Game to hopefully show the merit of engaging the whole community in the arts. At intermissions for both these shows, the actors are encouraged to mingle with the audience in the front lobby area leading into the theatre proper. The biggest challenge? Stay In Character no matter what.

Meaning stay in character even as your friends, family, or even enemies try to troll you into breaking form. The Director will wander around and compliment those who stay in character, giving them organic fortune cookies or peppermint patties or coupons for buy-one-get-one-free at the smoothie shoppe down the street depending on what he pulls out of his hat. Literally.

Cast photographs for the local paper will be taken after the second show, announced last minute as the curtain falls and people head on stage to take a bow. All crewmembers will be asked to cooperate and sign releases for their photographs to be used in the paper and in advertising for the arts program in the future; for some of those who are on Retrospec, however, they may find their phones singing notifications to them in all these lovely songs.

How the heck do you turn off these notifications?! Since when did you need reminders to brush your hamster's teeth?! You don't even have one!!

The Performances on Sunday, April 9th:

The first show of the day ends up having to evacuate halfway through Act One when popcorn burns in the microwave of one of the smaller rooms in the Community Center. (Why is there always that person with the goldarn popcorn?!) Everyone has to stay outside the building until the fire department arrives and checks the building to pronounce it as safe to re-enter: in the meantime, the audience, cast, and crew are all caught out in the basketball courts and parking lot.

The Director has a simple suggestion given to all cast members: ad lib. Ask audience members to locate a Capulet or Montague; get into complicated and ridiculous stage-fights with each other and running over the playground; ask around to find Romeo or Juliet, who are attempting to evade the rest of the cast; get the audience to cheer on actors as they fight In Character, either with prop swords or in sudden WWE-style matches; the show will go on in whatever form until everyone can be back on stage.

The subsequent shows carry on without a hitch, culminating in plenty of applause and an open invitation to cast, crew, and their plus ones to mingle with the arts sponsors at the cast party held out in the attached park, where there's an all you can eat taco truck and open (non-alcoholic) bar for everyone to enjoy. Don't be surprised that while the food's free, everyone's required to recite at least one line from the play before they're fed or watered!

Please also enjoy the photobooth being run by the Director for laughs! Photos won't print, but they will email, and there's a variety of silly props, wigs, stage jewelry, oversized glasses, and an unexplained disco stuffed penguin all on hand for fun photography times with friends — or strangers! Make memories in honour of the Bard, a Good Time, or Now I'm Free Of This Rehearsal Heck. All cast, crew, and associated helpers will go home with at a string of beads that recalls of Mardi Gras past... except that the letters pressed on beads will all spell out a Shakespearean insult.

Congratulations, everyone! You did it! We all made it through!

Comments

[ghostories]

Oho?

[ It should be said that she is not in any way serious about theater. But she sees that fire, and it's so tempting to play with it and see what happens. So she smirks. ]

It's not a competition, Yuri. Or are you threatened by my superior skill? I'm flattered. [ She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. ] Well, I'm not one to shine on stage. My heart's not in it, so there's no use competing with me. Nothing will come out of a half-hearted rivalry, after all.

[ When Yuuko finds Anya at the other side of the area, she keeps her eyes there, merely observing her from a distance as she speaks. Yuri brought Anya to the auditions; Yuuko remembers because he was carrying her, strongarming her into the production despite her protests. They were clearly friends, so perhaps Yuri had his reasons and saw a desire in Anya that Yuuko didn't. And maybe Yuri wanted to hone that. And what better way than setting goals for her to reach? ]

Unless you were competing with someone else?

[ But of course, Yuuko had a feeling that Yuri would invest in himself first. ]

[catsudon]

( She's right about him being competitive, but he also isn't an actor, so won't claim skill in that arena. Which leads to him giving her something of a flat look, one eyebrow quirking up as he cants his head to the side, letting his bangs slide off his forehead. )

This isn't the stage I'm after.

( unsaid: she's not even close to a rival for the stage he's been pursuing and placing himself on for years. once he's out of school proper... he shifts his attention and gaze as he notices Yuuko staring off over the area. he doesn't immediately ping to Anya, though when he does see her, his eyes linger for a different reason. it makes his answer to Yuuko more distracted, since his mind isn't really on the subject of acting or competing on that scale. )

If you're trying to ask why I did any of this, you're dancing around the point.

( ... hah. dancing. )

The extra credit's nice, but I'm here because I told someone I would be.

( Anya had taken off on her own once she found her footing, and he doesn't doubt she'll continue that trend. just as he knows, on different levels, she's no competition for him in the one arena he cares most about.

ice skating dance. )

[ghostories]

[ So his interest lies in only dance, it seems. Is he just the competitive type, then? Cute. But when Yuri gives her a straight answer to her roundabout question, she recalls he and Anya both at the auditions again, and it all clicks. ]

She couldn't make a decision on her own back then, huh?

[ No, rejecting Ryoji was a decision. Defending Yato was a decision. ]

Mm, that's not right. She can act when others are involved, but when it comes to herself... that's where she has trouble.

She's lucky to have a friend like you, then.

[catsudon]

( He bristles, a far from subtle process. Yuuko probably is one of Anya's friends. There's no way that she isn't, given the brief glimpses he's caught of the two of them at rehearsals, and Anya's own nature. But he doesn't agree with what she's saying, precisely, and that has him on the defensive: for Anya.

He makes a cutting motion with his hand, squaring off against Yuuko for little reason beyond wanting to make his point while fully facing her. )

She acts for her own sake fine when she needs to, she wasn't used to being afraid of a language barrier. I haven't seen Anya actually run away from anything like she tried running away from facing a fear of being mocked by people over something she couldn't control. She doesn't have trouble doing things for herself. She's just used to it being... ( he grapples for a word that will work for what he feels is more right: ) ... simpler.

( Anya never had to grow up dealing with the mockery of not speaking perfect English in the States. He knows what that's like. It sucks. It sucks getting dumped into that after being able to speak English perfectly all your known life.

He doesn't strictly think she's lucky to have a friend like him, but if he needs to play the asshole who drags her to where she'd said she wanted to be before life got more complicated? He'll be that guy. )

[ghostories]

[ He catches Yuuko off guard with the sudden spiel, and she, although at a loss for words at first, soon gives him a smirk of amusement in return. ]

My! I never said anything about her trouble with that. Or did you want me to praise you more? [ She giggles. ] I know. I know what she's going through. I wasn't born here, you know. But I'm jealous of Anya, really...

[ When she first moved to America, Yuuko didn't have the support Yuri gives Anya unabashedly and wholeheartedly. Sorry, Anya. Even if you look up to Yuuko as your cool, calm and collected senior, there are many qualities you possess that she wishes for herself. Maybe she should have been less independent. Less distant. Less unkind.

Being surrounded with love must be nice. ]

Anyway, I was talking about her ambitions—her dream. Did she ever tell you about that? About the stage she saw.

[catsudon]

( he shakes his head, believing this is a different form of light mockery. he's stated why it was he'd been there for Anya, as much as he's willing to admit to himself. adding on praise to that feels like Yuuko is telling him she doesn't believe him: or worse, she does, without giving up on her image of events.

he knows enough people like that. it rubs him wrong, but he bites back on the statement he's about to make with visible effort. there are details he finds interesting in spite of himself, perhaps more detached from his anger like the rational part of his brain has to be. Yuuko is also foreign born, like a number of those he's met since Retrospec had downloaded itself into his life. he himself knew the language struggle firsthand. he himself struggles with the wild difference in life experiences between Anya and himself. ones they'd only discussed earlier that week. or a week and a half ago? time flows by when he doesn't pay attention. it goes so slowly when he does.

so he grinds his teeth and he tries to listen, but with that resentment already playing across his nerves like a prickling fire, he's reluctant to truly speak. Anya and her dreams. Yuuko and her conversational choices. he breathes out in a scoffing huff, clucking his tongue and glaring across the area toward Anya. his eyes fix somewhere over her shoulder; he's not angry with her. nor does he feel like staring when he's trying to sort through what he thinks and what she's said before.

not so helpful for Yuuko when his end response is a truncated statement. )

People have been changing with these memories. Hers is one of the few improvements to a life I've seen.

( his bias toward ambition and motivation made it something he could support and push her forward on, as much as he could while living to claim his own dreams. his expression softens: not to a smile. he's not jealous of Anya. he's not sure he ever will be, because she gives what she gives and she gets what she gets, and she's earned so much of the good in her life.

she's unfairly caught up in the reality of the lonelinesses, too. that much he can help with. fame won't fix it; though one might think otherwise. Anya didn't have to change to make her mother any more proud of her than she already was at this point. she didn't need an alt life in order to be someone worth treasuring for everything she is and isn't. )

She wants the same... doki dokis on stage as she's had in her memories. She's chasing after a feeling. After a dream. What performer isn't?

[ghostories]

[ The anger Yuuko can sense from him is immediately forgotten the moment he utters a word. She bites back a chuckle.

And fails. ]

'Doki doki'? [ What an Anya thing to say. She didn't expect Yuri to quote her verbatim. ] I think she's changing for the better, too.

The night she got that memory, she asked me if it was okay to chase that dream. That feeling of being excited, of wanting to do well, to shine on stage. But she had her doubts. She didn't want to waste anyone's time, she said. She was so unsure... And yet until that moment, I'd never heard Anya want something for herself before.

[ She closes her eyes, recalling the days Anya spent practicing for the play and the pageant. Anya worked hard during those times, too. Even if Nobu was putting a little too much pressure on the girl... But it was for Anya's own good. It's only through hardships that people discover what they truly want. And if Anya still wants to shine on stage after all that, well, isn't it just meant to be? ]

I told her it was her decision—because I do want her to make her own decisions—but I may have forced her hand that night. Being a performer suits her; she makes others happy. But more than that, I just... wanted to see her strive toward something.

[ She can't be like aimless like Yuuko is. Cowardly like Yuuko is. ]

And I don't want to teach her to keep holding my hand to reach that dream. That's why I'm glad you push her forward in the ways I can't. I really am. Thank you, Yuri.

[catsudon]

( there's a grimace at the chuckle: he's verbatim with Anya, to capture what it is he means. or she means. or... he sighs inwardly. he still bristles at first, but he listens; listens because it's not about him, and Anya does consider Yuuko to be a friend. (Anya considers most to be her friends. most those who aren't are simply potential friends. he finds nothing about that simple at all.) but he wonders in a way if Yuuko gives herself too much and too little credit; doesn't communicate that so much as allow himself a moment to further relax the set of his shoulders, watching Anya from a distance.

how many people had she reached out to that night? many, Yuri had assumed at the time. Yuuko's words now echo his certainty about Anya's proclivities. and for his part... he does understand. to some degree or another, he understands, because that lack of drive had been offputting to him on a personal and professional level. he's not a comforting process by being soft edges or simple statements. he's all angles, and warmth, with a tendency toward fire. he knows that. it's easier to live in that high emotion. easier to keep people out of the side that knows he's wanting for people who he can rely on.

everyone has their own strengths. their own weaknesses. their own demons to wrestle with.

briefly, he wonders what Yuuko's are. )

She would have found her feet under her. She's too stubborn to give up on something she's set her heart on.

( Anya is stronger than people might see, when she also clings so tightly to fight off the loneliness. he understands better after she'd explained some of what it was for her; of what an empty house meant. it wasn't her natural state of being. it hadn't been her childhood. her parents had wanted her; her grandparents had been there, and circumstances took them further away. )

If you're in her life, you're part of her strength. But even if we were all taken out of it, she'd keep fighting. Cry, sure, because the people in her life matter... but Nastenka was always going to fight for her dream, once she realised she had one. Before then...

( he shrugs his shoulders, expression showing more of a thoughtful nature than he wants to be accused of having by most the world. )

She was existing. Now she's learning to live.

( at least in his opinion, where it's hard for him not to conflate a lack of drive or goals with sort of coasting by through life without properly engaging. )