Misfit Theater Company 2

14. Clair de Lune (Part One)

By the end of the week, everyone has their lines memorized, including me. That is, as long as I can remember the tunes I put my lines to and repeat them without singing them. No one needs to hear that. Thatcher suggested using an instrumental song I know already, so I chose "Clair de Lune."

In A Call from Midnight, Vick Midnight often puts on instrumental songs to sit and think through a problem. He would always put on these dark songs like Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" or Mozart's "Lacrimosa," both of which I seriously considered using until I realized neither worked with my lines. But then, halfway through the first season when Tara Lyon's character Christine puts on "Clair de Lune" instead and shows him how to be more optimistic. The song has a vague romantic quality to it, but it's also whimsical in a way. It made more sense for a fairy named Puck to speak along to "Clair de Lune" than Mozart's deathbed song.

Since our lines are memorized now and our character work is done, Mrs. Permala tells us it's time to start putting the puzzle pieces together: it's time to start acting through our scenes. She splits us up into groups based on the first scenes our characters are in.

Thatcher turns to me as everyone begins moving to the areas of the stage we are meant to be in, and says, "Is it just me or do you not feel as connected this semester?"

"It isn't just you. Wait, what do you mean? Like, to the class, like last year? Or to me?"

He pauses. He looks up in thought. "The class," he finally answers. But I know how I feel: I feel disconnected from the class and from Thatcher, and these split scenes do not help.

Thatcher joins Bryson as Theseus, Taylor as Hippolyta, Paige as Hermia, Emma as Helena, Greg as Demetrius, and a kid I recognize from Sean's party but can't think of the name of as Hermia's dad downstage left.

Moth joins the other "players" including Kara, Paige's mentor, and Archie, Moth's mentor, upstage center.

Patti stands beside Mrs. Permala, tears glistening in her eyes. This is her last day until who knows when, and I'm trying not to think about it.

Meanwhile, I join Sean as Oberon, a senior girl named Rachel as Fairy, and Layla as Titania downstage right. Just the four of us. Cute.

"Get to work, my thespians," Mrs. Permala calls out.

Sean gets straight to business. "Alrighty, so let's flip to our first scene all together: Act 2, Scene 1."

I'm not at all surprised that he has somehow also managed to memorize the scenes of the play along with his lines. He's a superstar around here. Thank goodness he wasn't in the running last year for a part on A Call from Midnight, otherwise we wouldn't have left Riverside at all.

"Go ahead Puck," he says.

My mind jumbles for a moment, caught off guard by Sean's immediacy, but then my thoughts catch up: "How now, spirit! whither wander you?"

Rachel responds with her long line about wandering about the forest, which leads me into one of my two long lines in this scene.

Remember the melody of "Clair de Lune," I tell myself. I take a deep breath, and begin.

I talk about how the Fairy Queen has stolen a boy, and I imagine Layla sitting atop a fairy's throne with the little boy, and I imagine Sean as Oberon looking angry and jealous. The melody helps lead me through the words of my story, it helps me recite my words more smoothly. Thank you, Thatcher, I think.

He and I are still connected, right? We still talk every night and say we love each other. Do we just need to mix things up?

No, stop it, I think. I have to focus.

"Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, you do their work, and they shall have good luck: Are not you he?" Rachel asks in character.

"Thou speak'st aright; I am that merry wanderer of the night," I recite. The rest of my paragraph is meant to be sort of cheeky, so I stick to my melody so as to really make sure it is smooth and clear.

Sean smirks at the end of my line, just before Rachel's fairy announces that his character is to come onstage.

"Nailed it," Sean whispers to me as I finish.

"Thanks," I mouth.

Layla seems unimpressed. Well, maybe not unimpressed, just uninvolved? She's looking at the ends of her hair and sort of pouting, waiting for her lines to come.

"Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania," Sean says.

As though she had been acting like Titania all along, Layla doesn't shift her appearance at all before delivering her lines: "What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence: I have forsworn his bed and company."

Titania is saying she is over Oberon, and Layla is executing that mood perfectly with her dry, unenthused speech.

Okay, she was perfectly cast.

Our first scene actually isn't that long before Demetrius and Lysander come in, so we are finished fairly quickly. For a moment, Sean looks around, and then he suggests, "Should we move onto our next scene?"

"Let's run through that one again," Layla says.

"Sounds good. Hey, you were great by the way," he tells her.

She cracks a teeny tiny, almost invisible smile, like she can't help but show emotion. "Thanks bae, you too."

I laugh at her use of bae. It's like Moth with "dude" but stranger.

"I guess I'll start," I say before she can make some smart comment.

Layla never spoke to me again after threatening to report me to Mr. Buford, and it suddenly occurs to me that (1) that was likely how Dr. Howard figured out I was cutting class and (2) she and I aren't on good terms. Maybe enough time has passed now, though. Maybe she has forgotten. Obviously I had. It all ended up working out for me, so why dwell, right? But I got the speaking role while she only got the extra role, and I doubt she's moved on.

"How now, spirit! whither wander you?" I ask Rachel's character.

And the "Clair de Lune" plays in my mind again.