The Cast List

Chapter 4

"All right, shut up," said Larry from the door.

The quiet chatter ceased immediately. He had that kind of effect on a room. I viewed him as a Snape figure--quiet, intimidating, almost evil. You could tell that he did not want to be impressed and it was rare that he ever was.

"I'm Larry," he said simply, grabbing a chair and sitting down in the middle of the stage. "I don't care what your all's names are; I'm calling you by your character name. Get used to it."

There were some glances exchanged among the cast.

"Oh, and don't do that," he said in a matter-of-fact voice. At our confusion, he rolled his eyes and explained exasperatedly, "Don't exchange glances or whatever. It's annoying."

Many of us resisted the urge to do just that--not out of spite but out of habit.

"Better. Now, everybody grab a script and sit down in a circle by me. Personally, I don't care where you sit, but TA has this stupid mantra saying that we must 'include everyone.'" He rolled his eyes. He waited. Crickets. "That was funny. A joke." Scattered laughter. "Whatever. Page one."

"Wait, wait, I'm sorry!" squealed a voice from the theater entrance.

Larry looked up, extremely annoyed. "What," he said harshly, not bothering to upward inflect. I looked around and a smirk crossed my face: it was Devin, coming in late to TA, probably here because she was positive she was Julia.

"Uh...I'm Devin Lourdes?" she said.

"Oh, right, yeah," said Larry, smoothing his hair and smiling warmly at her. I furrowed my brows in confusion. Why was he suddenly being nice to her? "Come on in, Dev. Sit down right here." He pointed to the seat next to him. "We're just doing a read."

"Oh, okay." She beamed at the rest of us. "So who's Rory?"

"Uh, Nathan," said Larry, looking at the script, hiding his annoyance at the delay. Nathan indicated himself. Devin appraised him.

"So I get to make out with him?" She licked her lips, liking what she saw.

"Uh, no," said Larry. "Anne and Rory have no romance or sex in their relationship."

"What?"

"You're playing Anne."

Devin's jaw dropped but she caught herself. "Oh, yes, of course. I'm sorry, been a long day. So who's Julia?"

"I am," I said before Larry got the chance to. I couldn't resist the temptation. I got my reward: her jaw tightened, she inhaled sharply, and gave me a murderous glare. All of this happened very quickly. She was far too talented and dignified to let anyone else see her frustration. In response, I bit my lip to keep from smirking evilly.

Devin sat down in the empty chair next to Larry. She hissed something to him that I didn't quite catch, but I did hear the word "mother." And then I got it. Devin's mother was just like her daughter--a slut who thought she could get anything she wanted. The former Mrs. Lourdes was dating Larry. Of course. That's why he was being nice to her. I almost laughed out loud, but I clapped a hand over my mouth before I had the chance to make a sound. Nathan glanced over at me and our eyes met. We made contact for maybe a second, but I could tell that we were thinking the same thing: Mrs. Lourdes was dating Larry, so that's why Devin was getting special treatment.

But, I thought to myself, I got the part and she didn't. So Larry's romantic affiliation hadn't completely blinded him.

I supressed a smirk and sat back to begin the first read. It all went very smoothly for a first read and I got the impression that this was going to be one of TA's best productions. We were all talented actors and we worked quite well together. The cast was almost entirely seniors, except for a few juniors, probably because Larry wanted this to be the very best it could be. Sure, it'd be nice to include some of the younger students, but they were never as experienced or talented as the older ones.