Misfit Theater Company (Wattys Winner 2018)

23. Approvals Week (Part Two)

The lights come back on in the theater, so I can see now that everyone looks confused. Based on their responses, including Patti's—she checks her watch and whispers to Moth, "We still have twenty minutes," as Mrs. Permala comes down to the stage—I can only assume that this isn't normally how approval rehearsals go.

Mrs. Permala walks all the way down to the stage before saying anything, but the entire theater is completely silent, like we've all just been yelled at and we're waiting for our punishment. The only thing I hear is the jingling of Mrs. Permala's bangles around her wrists and the swish of her wind breaker pants.

Finally, her white tennis shoes hit the stage and she approaches us with a hushed tone. "I cannot approve your scene," she whispers.

"Why not?" Patti says, much louder than she should. I immediately feel all the heat in my body blast into my cheeks. This can't be real, I think, but then I stop myself. Of course this is real. This is exactly what Moth, Thatcher, and I knew would happen.

"I edited the play like crazy," Patti adds.

"It wasn't enough. And I am not sure the content of the play would remain the same with the necessary edits. I'm sorry, my darling thespians, but you may not perform this scene. In fact, I'm not even sure how this script made its way into the library. We get a lot of donations, and clearly there are some we miss during our screenings of donations."

The rumblings from the audience start again, only this time, much louder. I hear snippets of it from the stage.

"They can't do it."

"I don't blame her."

"That wasn't too raunchy."

"That was really inappropriate."

"What will they do now?"

The last question echoes in my mind—what will we do now?—until I hear another snippet of conversation, spoken a little too loudly for it to have been private, and I recognize the voice immediately.

"They're such misfits that their play doesn't even belong on stage," Gina says.

My eyes start to water, but apparently no one else in my group heard it. Patti is still wrestling with the concept of not doing this play while Moth and Thatcher troubleshoot with Mrs. Permala.

"Could we pick a new play right now?" Thatcher asks.

"Or what if we rewrite parts of this script?" Moth proposes.

"You know that I do not permit any writing of scripts, not even portions," Mrs. Permala says.

"All my hard work," Patti mumbles to herself. She looks like she's on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"You may go to the library and choose and new script with the time we have remaining in class," Mrs. Permala tells us. "But if you do not have a new direction that I can read and approve this evening, I will choose a script for you. We must all stay on track in order to perform."

"Understood," Thatcher says, and then darts up the stairs toward the library.

Moth and I quickly follow, but Mrs. Permala stays with Patti to help her work through this. It's up to the three of us to find a new script, so we have to be determined. We can't stop now. We only have sixteen minutes left to pick our own play.

The library is a blur. I frantically flip through scripts in the comedy section, but can't find any with the right number of characters or the right vibe. And the ones I'm curious about, I don't have any time to actually read and understand. This is not the best time for my brain to be acting up.