Lights, Camera, Action!

Chapter 2

The next two weeks went by quickly, and before I knew it, it was time for the first meeting at the theatre. I looked out the car window and saw the huge brick building in front of me. In the daylight, I could see the gardeners tending to the rosebushes and shrubs, surrounding a pathway up the stairs into the main entrance with two large, old doors. Above these doors, large, faded white letters spelled out 'JUNIPER GROVE THEATRE.' The building was old, and some have said it's haunted, but I walked straight through those doors like it was my second home, because honestly, it was.

"Hannah!"  I heard someone to my right shout at me.

My eyes darted over to one of the tables in the lobby, and sure enough, my friend Beth was waving frantically at me. I smiled and hurried over to her. 

"Beth! How are you?" I asked excitedly, hugging her tightly. 

"I'm doing great! So glad to be back for the summer. What about you? How was the school year?" 

I sat down next to her to continue our catch up, and soon a few of our other friends joined us. We all hurriedly tried to share our greetings before the start of the day, but eventually a throat clearing got our attention. We looked up to see Doug Steele, one of the directors, in the front of the room smiling at us. Standing next to him was his wife and co-director, Abigail. She was usually in charge of the music for all of the plays and musicals here at the theatre, while Doug focused more on the lines and tech. The two loved each other like crazy, and they've been married for almost 40 years now. They had been directing musicals at this theatre for longer than I had been alive, so it was fair to say that they knew what they were doing.

"On behalf of my wife and I, welcome back to Juniper Grove. I can honestly say that I'm very happy to see you all again." Doug said, smiling at all of us. "I see some old and new faces and I love it."

I looked around. There definitely were some new faces, but I recognized most of the people there. I was hopeful that more and more people would be drawn to our theatre over the years since some of my friends would be moving on from here soon.

Doug continued: "As most of you know, our musical this year is 'The Little Mermaid.' Last summer we didn't get a very large variety of people in here. This year we're hoping to see more children attend." 

I nodded in agreement. Last year, we put on "Grease," but we seemed to attract an older crowd. Kids these days aren't watching it anymore I guess.

Doug paused while a few people laughed to themselves, then continued. "I'd also like to introduce a few new staff members that we've just hired this year.  Henry, could you please stand up?"

A middle-aged man with slightly graying hair stood up and held up his hand for a split second before nodding once and sitting back down. "Henry is going to be joining our team as a custodian this summer. Everyone, please give him a round of applause." 

We all clapped, and I wondered how in the world we had room in the budget to hire more staff this summer. I had helped Doug with the bookkeeping at the end of last summer, and it was not promising.

"Next, I'd like to introduce our wonderful artist Lynne, who will be assisting with preparing the sets, artwork, and props.

Everyone clapped again as Lynne took her seat.

"And finally, I'd like to introduce Carter."

A tall guy in his 20s with a large camera in his hand stood up. He had wavy blonde hair with wisps of hair coming down over his forehead and ears. Bright blue eyes scanned the crowd as he smiled at all of us, holding his hand up for a few seconds in a wave. I admitted to myself that he was attractive, and I could tell my friends thought so too. I even thought I heard Beth giggle next to me. 

"Carter is going to be a photographer and videographer for a documentary that we're going to be showing on television this fall about our theatre and its programs."

Everyone clapped, and it seemed to me that some of my female friends clapped and cheered a bit more than the past two workers. Another custodian is one thing, but could we really afford a professional cameraman?

Doug went on and on for awhile about the schedule, how we were going to be paid out, and what our daily activities were going to be. After an hour or so, he finally gave us a ten-minute break. I took a drink from my water bottle and turned to my friend.

"So Olivia, how's grad school?" I asked. Olivia was going to Veterinary school and was hoping to work locally at the farms with large animals, particularly horses and cows. She was one of the very few people here who was going into a completely different field of work. But I was so proud of her, and I really couldn't wait for her to finally graduate after all those years of tough work.

"It's going great! I think I should even be able to graduate a little bit earlier than anticipated! What about you? How's college?"

"It's going pretty goo --"

"Excuse me?"

We all looked up towards the soft but  deep voice. The photographer named Carter was standing next to our table, holding his large camera at his side again.

"Yes, Carter is it?" My friend Ivy asked, wearing a flirtatious smile. Ivy was definitely a flirt, and usually guys fell head over heels as soon as they saw her sexy smile.

Carter smiled at her, but looked around at all of us. "Can I take a picture? For the first day and all." 

They all nodded in agreement and leaned in together, but I was a little hesitant about my picture being taken all summer. Carter met my eyes and smiled at me, then jerked his head to the side, indicating that I should get in the picture with them. I sighed, leaned in next to Beth, and smiled. 

Click!

"Thanks, ladies!" Carter said. He looked at us and gave one more quick smile, then walked over to the next table.

"Oh my god!" Ivy whispered. "He is so hot." 

"Ugh, definitely." Olivia confirmed. They both looked up and at each other, not waiting even a second before shouting "Dibs!"

Soon enough, the break was over, and everyone returned to their seats. Doug announced that the auditions would be in 3 days, and that the actors and actresses would need to prepare a solo to perform. Some of the actresses in the front of the room whispered next to each other, and my friends smiled as well. Most of my friends here at the theatre were actors or dancers, so unfortunately they wouldn't be joining me in the orchestra or stage crew. But that was fine, it wasn't like we wouldn't get to spend time together.

After another hour, Doug dismissed us for the rest of the day. Beth and I started putting our notes in our bags when Doug approached me directly. 

"Hey Doug," I greeted. He smiled warmly.

"Hey Hannah. Good to see you. I'm going to put you on piano this year, okay?" 

"Sounds good, you know I'm happy with anything," I joked.

"Great, thanks a bunch! See you in a few days. I'll have you help out with the auditions."

Doug walked back over to Abigail, and Beth smiled at me. "Piano, huh? I was really hoping to see you play something more unique, like a harp, or a lute or something."

I laughed and walked with her out in the parking lot. We walked over to our cars, then parted ways. I clicked my seat belt and adjusted the rear-view mirror, but something caught my eye. It was Carter. He was packing his camera bag into the backseat of his car, his blonde hair falling slightly over his face.

I shook my head in an attempt to clear it, remembering my friends had "dibs."

So instead of looking at him anymore, I backed out of the parking space and headed for home. 

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1/3/17

Thanks for reading!