The Boards - Tuesday 4-07

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

Geoffrey is inside, starting to wonder if maybe his mystical toss-from-the-car might have meant for him to go the opposite direction on the causeway.

The sign is still up, though.


Next to the sign was another, written only on paper.
Casting for Titus Andronicus. Knock.

...there seems to be some movement inside, anyway..

[ooc: trying this again (thank you RL); tag as you can if you're interested in working with Geoffrey][as it's Geoffrey... language warning]

Comments

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

Amber was going to try this again, as a student this time instead of a weetiny kid. Entering the establishment a tad warily, she called out, "Hello?"

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

"Back here!" came the shout from behind one of the rather MacGuyver'd curtains on either side of the stage.

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

Slowly making her way back to that shout, Amber noticed Mr. Tennant and smiled awkwardly. "Mr. Tennant? Hey, it's Amber Atkins. I'd like to talk to you about the play?"

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

That had him perking up.

"Oh? Well, it's nice to see an actress for once." And despite how that might have sounded out of anyone else, there was nothing in the least bit sleezy. Skeezy, perhaps, because the man does forget to eat and sleep and other such things as he figured out his vision for the play, but not sleezy.

"Did you come with anything prepared? What's your experience? Do you know anything about the play?"

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

Yah, Amber figured this might be hard. "Well, no, not exactly? I performed on stage before, but not so much actin' as singin' and dancin'. But I think I could act, or try at least," she shrugged. "I don't know anythin' about the play but I read fast."

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

He nodded to that. He'd had worse material to deal with before. And at least, if she was a singer and a dancer, she would probably be willing to put herself out there. After all, if you were willing to get up on a stage and do something like that...

"All right," he said. He reached behind what used to be the bar and he pulled out a text. He tossed it towards her a second later.

"The marked page (http://www.monologuearchive.com/s/shakespeare_020.html), that, there. Read that over a few times and see what you can get out of that. Then I want you to stand up there," and he pointed at his stage, his empty space, "and I want you to deliver it."

He waved her off before she could have even thought of answering yet.

"Don't worry about memorizing. I just want to hear what you get out of it."

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh. Nerves instantly crept up on Amber as she moved off to look over the page marked for her to read, alternating glances at him.

She didn't expect to have to do this. Maybe read lines with someone like they do on TV. But this? Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Carefully she focused her attention on what she was reading and realized half-way through that it was a woman's submissiveness in it's purest form. Okay, it was wordy, flowery, but there it was. Delicately phrased. She wondered what to think about that.

Amber made her way to the stage to stand still in the space he indicated. "Mr. Tennant?" she said tentatively. "I'm not sure I can deliver this and be honest about what I might say."

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

He smiled.

"Is that so? And why is that?"

Whatever he'd been when she'd walked in, he was something slightly different now. More alive. More focused.

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

Amber swallowed, glanced down at the paper, then back at him. "'Cause I don't really believe it. I mean, yah, I suppose a woman is supposed to respect her husband and all but to be totally submissive like this indicates?" Her cheeks flushed faintly. "I wouldn't think I would like to be at his beck and call, and be labeled as havin' a soft condition... and... be so... subservient in all... ways."

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

"And do you think, necessarily, that she believed it?"

Because this was a stumbling block everyone had to go over and he thought, considering who he was thinking of casting her as, it might be a very interesting production if they managed to get past it.

"Do you think she meant every word she was saying?"

He didn't ask if she was familiar with the play yet. They'd get there.

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

Looking back down at the paper again, she twisted her lips and replied, her thoughts on what she read basically her own. "I think maybe, just below the surface of her words, there lies a sarcastic air that might be meant and read only by those who see it. If a woman," she licked her dry lips, "... well, nevermind on that. Perhaps I don't know what I'm talkin' about."

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

"No," he said, quite firmly. "You have a right to your opinion. And I'm glad that you looked at it and thought about it before you started spouting out lines like a parrot. That's more important than anything else, when it comes right down to it."

"Tell me. You know what you're talking about and you know you know what you're talking about. You just think I'm going to tell you you're wrong."

He sat down, slowly.

"I'm not, you know. Going to tell you you're wrong. I want to hear what you have to say."

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

His firm tone startled her but Amber considered thoughtfully that she just might appreciate it. And he was right; she did think he would tell her she was wrong and she wasn't sure she wanted to face that. Not when she was interested in trying out for his play.

"I think that a woman doesn't necessarily have to like what she is doin' to respect her husband, but on the other hand she can enjoy it immensely and seemingly act like she doesn't, just for spite."

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

He gave her a crooked grin.

"So... do you think you can say those lines and mean them... even if the lines don't mean what they seem to mean?"

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

Amber thought about that. "Yah, I do believe I can."

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

"You want to give it a shot then?"

And he gestured to the stage.

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

Amber stood on the stage and nodded. "I can."

Then she prepared herself. Truthfully, there wasn't much to prepare since she was reading, still, when she began to read (http://www.monologuearchive.com/s/shakespeare_020.html), she read slowly, with meaning, stressing certain words over others as she saw fit; putting feeling into almost every single word. Or so she hoped.

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

Geoffrey had a smile that only got bigger as she spoke.

When she was done, he was grinning.

"Yes... yes, I definitely think you can."

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

Amber grinned, wide.

"So what now, Mr. Tennant?"

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

"Now... I tell you to come back in a couple of days when I should have some casting for you. And you'd better have the play read through at least once by then."

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

"Yes, sir," she said and stepped down off the stage. "I will get it down pat! Thank you!" And she practically skipped out, ready to start reading right away.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

Michael knocked at the door as he walked in.

"Hi?"

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

He smiled as he saw Michael come in.

"I'm glad you came back. How've you been? Anything catastrophic out there I missed?"

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Not really catastrophic", he said with a shrug. "Just the thing where we were all little kids for the weekend. You?"

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I noticed," he said with a wince.

"I've... been here. Wondering if this is going to work. There aren't many people here, are there?"

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"I don't really know how much people come into town. The diner's always real quiet."

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

He shrugged.

"Well, I'm here. And I've got a building, and plumbing, and a couple of people coming by. It's better than it's been a lot of the time."

He scratched his chin.

"You come back with something prepared this time?"

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Yep", Michael said, rummaging in his pocket and producing a scrappy and much-scribbled piece of paper.

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

He nodded to the stage.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

Only a little reluctantly, Michael stepped up and took his place.

The passage he'd chosen wasn't predictable to anyone, though only because they didn't know him well enough.

It started, "What incensed him the most was the blatant jokes of the ones who pass it all off as a jest, pretending to understand everything and in reality not knowing their own minds."

He got into his stride after that.

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

Geoffrey, quietly, settled down to sit and listen.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

The speech continued, and Michael wasn't paying attention to Geoffrey now. He even went over the first phrase again, remembering it better.

"On the other hand what incensed him more inwardly was the blatant jokes of the cabmen and so on, who passed it all off as a jest, laughing immoderately, pretending to understand everything, the why and the wherefore, and in reality not knowing their own minds, it being a case for the two parties themselves unless it ensued that the legitimate husband happened to be a party to it owing to some anonymous letter from the usual boy Jones, who happened to come across them at the crucial moment in a loving position locked in one another's arms drawing attention to their illicit proceedings and leading up to a domestic rumpus and the erring fair one begging forgiveness of her lord and master upon her knees and promising to sever the connection and not receive his visits any more if only the aggrieved husband would overlook the matter and let bygones be bygones, with tears in her eyes, though possibly with her tongue in her fair cheek at the same time, as quite possibly there were several others. He personally, being of a sceptical bias, believed, and didn't make the smallest bones about saying so either, that man, or men in the plural, were always hanging around on the waiting list about a lady, even supposing she was the best wife in the world and they got on fairly well together for the sake of argument, when, neglecting her duties, she chose to be tired of wedded life, and was on for a little flutter in polite debauchery to press their attentions on her with improper intent, the upshot being that her affections centred on another, the cause of many liaisons between still attractive married women getting on for fair and forty and younger men, no doubt as several famous cases of feminine infatuation proved up to the hilt."

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

Geoffrey was grinning by the end.

"Yes. Yes I've definitely got a place for you."

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

That got a hesitant smile.

"Okay."

[ktarian-wildman.livejournal.com]

After debating over whether or not she should try out Naomi decided to have a go at auditioning. So she ended up knocking on the door.

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

"Come in! Unless you're a creditor. In that case, he's dead."

[ktarian-wildman.livejournal.com]

Since Naomi wasn't a creditor she entered the building, "hello?" she said, "I'm interested in auditioning for the play,"

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

He grinned around a corner.

"Do you have anything prepared? Experience? Was there anyone in particular you were looking to play?"

[ktarian-wildman.livejournal.com]

"I don't have anything prepared at the moment," Naomi replied, "but there isn't anyone in particular I was looking to play and the only real theater experience I have is doing tech work for the musical that was put on here last summer,"

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

"I see," he said thoughtfully.

He pointed to the stage and to the text that sat on it (http://www.monologuearchive.com/s/shakespeare_020.html).

"There's a marked page. Take a look through the monologue and try that on for size."

[ktarian-wildman.livejournal.com]

Naomi carefully read through the monologue and once she felt ready, she began to deliver it. It wasn't that difficult for her to say it and she made sure she delivered it with the right emotion to get the meaning of the monologue across.

[suit-of-sables.livejournal.com]

"Are you familiar with the play?" he asked quietly once he was done. "The one that monologue is from."

[ktarian-wildman.livejournal.com]

Naomi nodded, "I'm familiar with it, I've read quite a few of Shakespeare's plays,"