gooseberryhigh | WINTER PLAY PERFORMANCE

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WINTER PLAY PERFORMANCE

WINTER PLAY PERFORMANCE:
The Hunger

During Friday evening, the long-delayed and oft-disastrous original Drama Club production has its opening night performance. (And also, God willing, their only performance.) As classmates, teachers and government agents fill the auditorium, cast and crew rush around backstage to get the final preparations done. The costumes have been pressed and cleaned of fake bloodstains from a dozen terrible rehearsals. Everyone has been recast at least twice in the past month, and may still be trying to bone up on their lines. The auditorium is probably not haunted. Club President Micah St. Clair is full of compliments for everyone, and also about 15 minutes before showtime, randomly decides to cut a scene out of the play for time, and forgets to tell half of the cast about it.

The stage is split in three locations: the graveyard, the manor's main hall, and the bedrooms. The graveyard and main hall are on the stage proper, and visually separated to make it look as though you walk through the graveyard to reach the front door of the manor. A walkway system has been built above and behind the graveyard/hall to represent the bedrooms. Actors can take the stairs up from the main hall to the bedrooms. Each "room" can be illuminated or darkened separately depending on if action is happening at the location.

FINAL FINAL CAST

Verity Pennelegion	Jade Otterwell
Thomas Killigrew	Rupert Wick
Amity Carrington	Ariadne Flint
Felicity Pennelegion	Isabelle Sargent
Linton Worsley	Kurt Wolfhart
Jessie Dainty	Olivia Sanchez
Lyonette Pennelegion	Noel Finnigan-Thomas
Midas Carrington	Cameron Carney
Bernard Prentice	Yancey Montgomery
Sinclair	Spencer Sweet
Madame Calyptra	Riley Stamper
Dorinda Pennelegion	Zachary Zheng
Eugene Pennelegion	Pandora Lacey

Non-Speaking Roles	Gabriela Flores
(Trees, Ghosts, Demons)	Jefferson Key
	Lucas Kowalski
	Violet McGonagall
	Susana Velasquez

CREW

Director	Micah St. Clair
Stage Manager	Todd Skynner
Property Master	Cassius Holcomb
Costumes/Makeup	Cole Moss
Set Design	Estella Morales-Tran
Production Assistant	Calvin Evercreech
Other Crew	Reece Downing
	Ennis Harper
	Regan Hobbs
	Chloe Shepherd
	Solomon Webb

ACT 1

It's a dark and stormy night. The story begins with Verity's arrival to her ancestral home to pay her respects to her dead father. She meets Jessie, the manor's the sole remaining servant, and a pair of bachelors, Linton and Thomas, who are friends of Verity's younger sister. Thomas flirts with Verity, but is rebuffed as she ignores him to ask Jessie to fetch her sisters. We are quickly introduced to Verity's family: little sister Felicity, who immediately hugs her; brother-in-law Midas, who leers at Jessie as she excuses herself; and older sister Amity, who gives Verity a chilly reception and seems more preoccupied with trying to convince her young son, Eugene, to go back to bed. Verity's mother, Lyonette, comes in with Bernard, her physician's old physician, and tells everyone she gathered them for an important reason.

(Cameron Carney pours wine for the characters in the scene. Unfortunately, there was a mixup (or sabotage?) with the props and some real wine is served, resulting in Cameron, Rupert Wick and Olivia Sanchez getting tipsy for the first act.)

A large table is carried into the main hall. ([Crew Member D], dressed head-to-toe in black, accidentally stomps on the toes of [Cast Member E] as they're helping to carry the table in.) Lyonette introduces everyone to Madame Calyptra, a famous spiritualist who will leading them in a seance. Midas explains to Verity that Lyonette is a crackpot who's convinced that the house is haunted by her dearly departed husband because of strange noises and broken china. On the other side of the room, Thomas complains to Linton about Muggle superstitions, and we learn that he's a wizard and Linton forced him to come because Linton and Felicity are eloping now that her controlling father is dead.

Lyonette, Amity, Verity, Felicity, Midas, Thomas, Linton and Bernard all sit around the table and join hands with Madame Calyptra, who leads them in summoning the spirit of Lucian Pennelegion. Jessie stands to the side, comforting a cranky Eugene. Beside her is senile old Grandma Dorinda, who sits in her rocking chair. The stage darkens, and evil demons descend on the family, and they all reach for Felicity, who screams.

Now looking crazed, Felicity climbs onto the table and tears at her clothes [Director's note: she's wearing a shift underneath, it's totallyschool appropriate!!!!] and she calls out the sins of everyone around the table. Felicity is obviously possessed, and the evil demons stop anyone else from pulling her off the table. Madame Calyptra is horrified; this is not what she expected to happen. Only Grandma Dorinda seems unshaken; she rises from her chair and calls out to her granddaughter. "Where are his booooones?" Felicity laughs maniacally. "Ask them! These cowards, these killers, these avaricious deceivers! They know what they've done!" She raises her hand and points to Lyonette and Bernard.

"Felicity!" Jessie rushes the table now, fighting hard against the evil demons that try to pull her away. (In the chaos, Riley Stamper accidentally knocks a tall candelabra over, and lights fire to Isabelle Sargent's costume. Ariadne Flint casts Aguamenti to put out the flames. Miraculously, no one breaks character.) Jessie talks to the possessed girl about their close bond, and begs Felicity to return to her. Felicity faints on the table. The demons disappear.

ACT 2

Act 2 is where the bulk of the rewrites happened, and it shows, being the most chaotic and least coherent part of the play. Plot-holes abound. A rough outline:

Madame Calyptra calls the family cursed, and says she can't stay a minute longer, even with the thunderstorm outside. Amity takes charge and tells her husband to escort the psychic, and for Jessie to take Eugene to his room. Midas calls Amity a nag behind her back, and flirts with Madame Calyptra as he walks her under a umbrella, through the graveyard between the manor and the main road. Menacing trees loom over them. Midas is about to kiss Calyptra in the graveyard when the Monster emerges from the darkness and disembowels Calyptra. She screams hysterically, trying to hold her guts in. As the Monster turns on Midas, the stage goes dark.
Thomas and Linton help carry an unconscious Felicity to her room. Bernard checks her vitals and says there's nothing he can do for her, and leaves. Amity and Verity argue over who should stay with Felicity, with Amity throwing in Verity's face: "It's eight years too late for you to act like a caring sister." Amity shuts herself in Felicity's room. Linton suggests they all get drunk and Thomas convinces Verity to join them. (There is an excised scene where Linton and Thomas regale Verity with their schoolboy antics and also inexplicably make out, but it didn't move the plot forward whatsoever. The scene was still in the script until opening night, though, causing some confusion as the actors continue acting when they're supposed to exit. The director orders [Crew Member J] to bang the thunder sheet wildly while [Non-speaking Cast Member K], dressed as a tree, runs onto the stage waving their massive branch arms and chases the actors off.)
Jessie leaves Eugene in the care of Grandma Dorinda, who tells him the legend of the man-eating monster who comes out during storms. There's lots of cackling. Jessie sneaks back to Felicity's room. Amity is gone and Felicity is lying motionless in her bed. Jessie monologues about how she loves Felicity and how Felicity doesn't need to marry in order to be free. Jessie kisses her, and Felicity wakes up. Felicity asks after Linton.
A distressed Lyonette retreats to her room. Bernard joins her. It's revealed that they fell in love and Lyonette convinced Bernard to poison Lucian Pennelegion in his final days. As they argue, Lyonette believes sees ghosts in the room with them. Bernard, concerned, turns his back to get her a sedative. Goaded on by the ghosts to "avenge" her husband's murder, Lyonette stabs Bernard with a letter-opener and leaves. Bernard is bleeding but not dead... until the Monster enters the room. Bernard screams "I'm being eaten aliiiiiive!" as the Monster gnaws off his limbs.
Jessie and Felicity join Linton, Thomas and Verity in the main hall. Verity reveals she is a ship captain and can officiate a wedding. Linton urges Felicity to marry him now, but she suddenly has cold feet. Jessie tries to cover for Felicity by saying the circumstances aren't romantic enough for a wedding. Thomas thinks Verity looks ill. Verity tells him she's fine. Thomas is insistent and grabs her hand, and when she pulls away, she loses her glove. Felicity screams. "Why do you have a hook hand!" "A vicious monster ate my flesh hand," Verity explains. "Like a shark?" Linton asks. Midas staggers into the scene, covered in blood and raving about a creature. "It ate the psychic's guts like slurping up spaghetti!"
The young people leave Midas on a couch and run off to find Lyonette, Amity and Eugene. Thomas and Verity find Bernard's dead body in the master bedroom. There's a woman's scream from outside the window. "Amity!" Verity grabs her father's hunting rifle off the wall and says she's hunting the beast. Thomas runs after her.
Linton, Felicity and Jessie go to Eugene's room. He's gone. They try to wake up Grandma Dorinda, sitting in the corner, but she doesn't respond. A heart attack? As Felicity cries over her dearly departed grandmother, the Monster creeps up behind the three and attacks. In the fracas, Felicity runs to protect Jessie, leaving Linton open. The Monster slices Linton's throat open, and drags his body away. "I suppose the wedding's off," says Jessie. "Shall we elope instead?" Felicity asks. The girls hold hands and just leave the play entirely.
Midas, still on his couch, is drinking straight from the decanter when Verity and Thomas pass him on their way out of the manor. He doesn't seem concerned about the fate of his wife and son. Verity is angry and says she'll save them herself. ("How can you fire a rifle with a hook hand?" "Just watch me.") After she and Thomas leave, the Monster approaches Midas. Now very drunk, Midas looks at it and says, "Darling? Is that you?" He approaches the Monster, but a trap door opens underneath him, and he falls through.

The stage goes dark. We hear Midas scream. "No! No! It can't be! Noooo!"

ACT 3

Verity and Thomas run into the backyard graveyard, where they find Lyonette (still haunted by taunting ghosts and one extra menacing tree) trying to dig up her dead husband's grave. She says the monster is Verity's father, and poison wasn't enough to kill him. "I should have been braver and killed him myself," Lyonette says. "Now we must burn his bones to stop him!" Thomas points out it doesn't make sense for Lucian to be the Monster andburied in the grave. The script doesn't follow up on this, because it's a bad script and also because the Monster appears! Verity fires on the Monster but misses, then Thomas gets in the way of her gun while trying to protect her. He tries to hit the Monster with spells, so the Monster turns and gruesomely decapitates Lyonette instead. [Director's note: Or gruesomely kills her some other way if we can't figure out how to make decapitation work????] Sinclair emerges from the trees and shoots the Monster, who runs away.

Sinclair is revealed to be the old butler-in-training to the Pennelegions. He left upon learning a horrible secret: the family is cursed, the eldest Pennelegion male turns into a monster on full moon nights. When Verity was 17, she was attacked by a monstrous creature who bit off her hand and would've killed her if Sinclair hadn't stepped in with a red-hot poker. Upon death, the monster transformed into a human: Zacharias Pennelegion, Verity's grandfather and Lucian's father. Knowing he would be hanged for murdering his employer, Sinclair fled the manor with a traumatized Verity. They found a doctor who bound Verity's wounds, and she refused to ever return home again.

"You found a new hand," Sinclair observes, of Verity's sharp steel hook hand. Sinclair explains that he's been living in the woods around the manor, watching for when the curse took hold in Lucian Pennelegion. "Your father only had daughters. The curse was supposed to die with him," says Sinclair. "Except for Amity's son," Thomas points out. "Isn't he technically the oldest male with Pennelegion blood?" Eugene is the Monster!

Verity takes this news coldly. She's willing to kill a child to protect her sisters. Thomas tries to change her mind, but Sinclair sides with Verity. They return to the manor, and find Amity sitting on the couch, crying and covered in blood. Thomas and Sinclair proceed to the bedrooms to find Eugene/Monster, while Verity holds her sister in her arms as Amity tells her of how she used to be happy and in love. She had dreams and ambitions, but she gave it up for her husband, thinking he was worth it the sacrifice. "Now I'm so empty, Verity," Amity sobs. "He's gone, and nothing can fill me, even though I keep eating." Verity pauses. "Eat?"

(The main hall goes dark, and Eugene's bedroom lights up. Or that's what's supposed to happen, except there's an awkward pause of several seconds when Ennis Harper, operating the lights from above the stage, is shocked by a pale boy crawling across the ceiling. The boy smiles unnaturally wide at them, and skitters away into the darkness.)

Thomas, with his wand out, finds Eugene sitting beside Grandma Dorinda's rocking chair. Thomas wants to ask questions but Sinclair bursts into the room, ready to kill Eugene and end the curse once and for all, but Grandma (who was not dead, only deeply asleep) grabs Thomas' wand and hexes Sinclair so hard that he's thrown across the room and cracks his head against the wall. Thomas demands to know what is going on. Grandma tells him that the family curse afflicts everyone in the Pennelegion bloodline, and only manifests when their true love is unfaithful. Lucian became a monster and had to be killed when Lyonette fell in love with Bernard, and now Amity is suffering because of her husband.

Thomas runs back to the main hall. Verity stands alone in the middle of the room, her arms wrapped around herself. "Verity, we must get out of here. This place is mad, and you're still in danger." She holds her hand out to him. "I know. You've been so brave, Thomas. Thank you." He takes her hand and pulls her close. "I only want to protect you. Since the first moment I saw you..." They lean in for a kiss. Verity stabs Thomas in the stomach with her hook hand. "And I only want to protect my sister," she says. The trap door opens behind him, and Verity pushes him through. Thomas' pained screams echo throughout the house, although with Midas yelling (also from under the stage) "oh God why is this happening!" as he watches his wife consume another victim. Grandma Dorinda calls down: "What do we do about this old butler?" Verity: "Save him for dinner!" The end.

» Before the Performance: It's the big night! Are you nervous? Do you just want this to be over? Did you lose track of a candelabra????

» The Stage: Cast and crew do their best to keep this bloated, nonsensical production from going off the rails.

» The Audience: For everyone who was trapped into watching this overlong disaster. Is it, like, really weird that there's Aurors sitting in the auditorium with you?

» After Party: Come congratulate your friends on a job well done! Cast, crew and their friends are invited to a little party to celebrate a successful winter play.

» OOC - Questions/Discussion

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Noel is a Serious actor and remains in-character even as he goes through his warm ups. "Red leather, yellow leather," he recites over and over in increasingly manic tones as he anxiously paces the dressing room, empty wine glass in his hand.

She's been rehearsing for ages even on her own and is excited for the play to begin. She's nervous as all hell, and has to take a few minutes to breathe and get in character. You can hear her muttering her lines if you're close by.

Rupert is going to make the best of this, even though someone has made a mess of the whole thing, Micah. Of course, there are stumbling blocks. Like getting tipsy during the first act (he delivers at least two lines too early and too loudly). Or completely forgetting that he wasn't supposed to make out with Kurt during the second act. Or, just, like, the play itself.

It's definitely off-putting for someone who takes theatre so seriously, but even so he delivers his lines, however ridiculous, with conviction, and his habit of sometimes overacting probably suits the absurdity of the play anyways. He still can't believe this is happening. At least he has a chance to get in a dig when he can.

By the end of the show Rupert's exhausted - acting has never been this tiring.

Calvin is genuinely proud of Micah's strange, violent accomplishment. In retrospect, maybe he could have done a better job keeping it on course, and the thing is riddled with inconsistencies, and some of the lines are clunky... but he'll never say that out loud. After months of nitpicking every little thing to Micah, on the night of the play itself Calvin will staunchly defend all decisions the writer-director made. He's not responsible for your inability to enjoy this unique, creative production.

Wait, did Micah cut another scene? What's going on?

Edited 2018-01-20 19:48 (UTC)

Isabelle is mostly shy and quiet, so her louder and at-one-point-possessed character is definitely a stretch from her own persona. She's most nervous about the possession scene, but dives right into it - she hardly even notices as she's trying to modestly tear her dress off that part of it has caught fire. She briefly notices that it's wet at some point but trucks on with the performance.

By the time she runs off to elope with Ollie, Isabelle is exhausted and exhilarated. She put a lot of effort into this, for everyone in the cast and crew - even with the inconsistencies, the weird lines, the almost inappropriate possession scene - she's really proud of what they have done and tells Micah he's a brilliant playwright when the show's all done.

Cole isn't actually watching the performance so much as he's watching the actors to make sure that every hair stays in place and that the costumes are only getting as ripped and bloodied as they're supposed to and that every explosion of gore is acting as expected. From a costuming perspective, there's a lot going on in this performance! Apart from the unexpected fire, though, everything is going like he'd expected and there isn't much work for him to do between scenes or acts. Still, he remains remarkably alert. Especially for him.

Despite his focused perspective on the whole thing, he thinks everyone's doing great!

Every time Ari got uncast and recast as Amity, her performance lost a little more nuance and gained a little more kitsch. Under Micah's expert tutelage the final product is... Raimi-esque. She loves this play and this part wholeheartedly, but somewhere along the way it's stopped being a serious acting pursuit for her and more of a free license to be silly and over the top with her friends.

Of all the parts she's played in this trainwreck production, Amity is by far her favorite. She's in a uniquely good mood tonight, and she allows Todd to dump an entire bucket of fake blood on her head before her Act Three appearance instead of the previously agreed upon liberal splattering. She leaves a trail of fake blood all over the stage.

Spencer's a perfect vessel for exposition, and effortlessly nails the lines. Although... with all the edits, sometimes he's not sure which draft of the play he's actually reciting. He has so many versions of this script rolling around in his head, so many different parts memorized, his memory's gone from useful to kiiiind of confused?

But it's hard not to have fun with this production, even if his part is brief and he spends the last half of his time on stage unconscious. Sinclair's dashing and mysterious, and then he's dinner.

Zach has very few lines in this production, but damn, is he working. Every time he's on stage, he gives 100% to the melodrama, and he's clearly loving every minute of it. When Grandma Dorinda awakens from her slumber to hex Sinclair (sorry, Spencer!), Zach gives the biggest, most over-the-top startle. His evil grandma wailing? The definition of chewing scenery.

This is so fun!!! Micah is a GENIUS.

Riley always overacts. It's her thing. How else are you supposed to get attention? And playing Madame Calyptra gives her the opportunity to go very over the top. She has draped herself in every sparkly scarf she could find backstage, and speaks in a mystical European gypsy accent.

Whenever she forgets a line, she just fucking makes it up on the spot, and when she sets Felicity on fire she honestly kind of just assumes this was on purpose. Like, she did it and yet she cannot say for sure that it wasn't written into the script.

And she doesn't skimp on the death dramatics. Even for this play, she does too much. She needs more blood, you guys, she didn't get nearly enough attention.

This is easily the best MVSC Production Jeffy has ever been a part of. Jeffy is a very enthusiastic tree. Look at him wave his branches!!!!!!

This is maybe the best night of Jade's young life. Verity is basically Jade with a weirder family, a hook hand, and 100% more grown up and badass, and that...shows. Jade may have a future in B movies. It's an effortless rather than particularly cerebral performance. She speaks with impassioned fervor (read: barely contained delight) about the monsters she's slain. Jade is set on making Micah's vision reality, and absolutely does not suffer people who would say this play is anything short of perfection.

Of course, there are some issues with the play, but Jade hangs tight. She hones her improvisational skills tonight, and when she can't quite remember a line, just sometimes subs in another from a different version. In her mind it all makes sense.

Jade finishes her performance by wiping the hook free from fake blood, smirking while delivering her final line, and dropping the bloody handkerchief on the floor. (An old-fashioned mic drop for this, the best performance ever.)

Cameron is delighted that he managed to hold onto this part long enough to make it to opening night. He really leans into the lecherous, mustache twirling trope. He doesn't exactly have all his lines memorized, considering the many changes to the play, but he's good at rolling with any swerves, filling in where need be to sort of keep things flowing as smoothly as possible.

Edited ("It ate the psychic's guts like slurping up spaghetti!") 2018-01-21 02:49 (UTC)

From pretty much the middle of the second act onward, Gwen is watching this through the fingers of her hands, which she is using to cover her face.

Sylla makes it nearly to the end of act 2 before excusing herself.

Evangeline can likely be heard saying ‘bloody hell’ out loud during the second act.

This is, hands down, the greatest play Balthazar has ever seen. Someone is taping this, right?

Casper's here both because Cameron's in the show (and supporting his roommate is important to him, shut up) and because Jade's recent ghost encounter had been enough to put him on edge. If something's going to happen, he wants to be here. He mostly forgets about all of this, however, as the melodramatic disaster unfolds on stage. What is happening? Was that fire intentional? Why is this so fucking awful? While he's determined to make it through the play, he's definitely getting a headache.

Casper & Ulysses

ulixes - 2018-01-20 22:08 (UTC) - Expand

Casper & Ulysses

casperkim - 2018-01-20 22:13 (UTC) - Expand

Ira came here to support his three roommates and other various friends involved in...this.
He's enthusiastic in his applause to them, but whoever's sitting next to him is treated to color commentary as he tries to navigate out the plot holes and artistic choices.
By the end, tellingly, even he is stunned into silence. That's probably a good thing?

Ira & Heathcliff

heathclifflacey - 2018-01-20 19:55 (UTC) - Expand

Ira & Heathcliff

ashworthless - 2018-01-20 20:14 (UTC) - Expand

Ira & Heathcliff

heathclifflacey - 2018-01-20 20:16 (UTC) - Expand

Oh my GOD. This is FANTASTIC. Addy cringes at all the blood, inevitably, but has brought roses to throw at the stage because it was spearheaded by a very talented baby bluejay and she's proud.

Mackenzie & a standing ovation, she hopes.

princeprincess - 2018-01-20 20:01 (UTC) - Expand

The Standing Ovation

heathclifflacey - 2018-01-20 20:04 (UTC) - Expand

The Standing Ovation

riledup - 2018-01-20 20:11 (UTC) - Expand

The Standing Ovation

lilipad - 2018-01-20 20:17 (UTC) - Expand

Hazel

lilwitchhazel - 2018-01-20 20:04 (UTC) - Expand

Lachlan

lachlangalbraith - 2018-01-20 20:14 (UTC) - Expand

Phoebe

opuntia - 2018-01-20 22:33 (UTC) - Expand

Rupert is seriously hoping at least one person will come tell him how impressive his acting was despite all the mishaps, because in the end this is important to him, train wreck or not. He tries to look less annoyed than usual but it's not quite working, especially because he's got his arms crossed tightly across his chest and he's refusing to drink anything. What if everything is spiked?? He's being very dramatic.