The Many Misadventures of Romeo and Juliet on stage
Ch. 1 This casting sucks a**
Ch. 1 This casting sucks a**
With high pitched, loud chatter in the air, the theater was filled with life as people converged around the stage. However life filled the room was, the room was divided between two groups. On one half, the miscreants with some of the best drama actors in the school and on the other, the best of the school that could act and make the most comical shows. Together, they were assembled on both sides of the theater, divided into their own social groups.
In the front, five people entered the stage from the back curtains. Three people approached the front while the other two flanked the sides. One of the two that flanked the sides was an older woman with long black hair pulled back into a long braid behind her. A smile graced her lips and a gentle aura surrounded her as she moved gracefully across the large stage with practiced strides. The other flanked the other half of the stage was a younger man. He moved in a methodical manner, taking his time checking over the things on stage. To a normal person looking at him, one would think he couldn't see, being his eyes were closed constantly, however there were times when those sapphire eyes revealed themselves behind closed lids. A constant grin was set on his lips, making his countenance a bit more unsettling if you weren't used to him. His silvery hair glinted in the lighting, making the aura around him all the odder.
The three making their way to the front of the room were the main directors. The oldest on the far right was a very old gentleman who'd been an actor for many years himself before taking on a job as one of the heads. He was the former head of the department before someone else took over the program. Now his main job was visual effects and the helping of blocking scenes. His whitened hair was in a mass disarray as it always was. When once asked why his hair was always so bent out and odd, he replied that so many years of wearing wigs, dying, and all around chemicals added to his hair made it the way it was, so he generally left it to his own devices. He also commented he'd grown so used to it, if it changed, he wouldn't know what to do.
The gentleman on the far left was a man in his thirties. With very dark brown skin and dark brown hair pulled into dreadlocks, he contrasted against a lot of the people in the room and even odder still, he was blind. He wore dark sun glasses over his unseeing eyes. Walking by his side was a large dog that looked almost fox-like in appearance; the dog was named Sajin, sometimes called Jin, after his life partner who was a major in costume production in the nation. He functioned in the theater as director over the line reading and emotion deliverance in speeches and dialogue through the play. He was very versed in hearing what others couldn't when talking to a person and could always tell when lines were faked with emotion. He hated nothing more than fake emotion and was notorious for throwing play books at actors while onstage during rehearsals if they didn't deliver their lines with the correct amount of emotion or faked it.
The man walking in the middle of the two had become the recent head director of the department. His chocolate brown hair was slicked back out of his face with one defiant curl that hung in the middle of his forehead and brow. His eyes were lightly detached and he generally had a very... fake personality. Known to his students, he had a very large God complex and an ego the size of all the oceans in the world combined. He was a very large perfectionist and tended to hate when people did things that weren't in his plan or hindered him from doing what he wanted. He oversaw all of the plays the department did and was the main director that put on all the shows.
As all three men neared the edge of the stage, both sides of the room quieted down. Everyone took seats on either side of the theater as the three men descended and sat down on the end of the stage. The brown haired man in the middle smiled out at everyone. “Welcome back for this second semester of our theater unit. As most of you are all aware, I am Sousuke Aizen, the head director of the department. To my left is Baraggan Luisenbarn, the former head director and our visual aid head that does all of our blocking. To my right is Kaname Tousen, our emotional deliverance and dialogue head. Back behind us flanking left stage is Miss Retsu Unohana, our curtains and backstage coordinator for cues onto the stage. Flanking right stage is Gin Ichimaru, our head of lights and sound. Our head of the costume department and his assistant will be joining us in a little bit.”
He paused in his speech, looking out at the students filling up the audience. “This will be the second play of the year, as you all know. Since last semester point, we did a comedy, we will of course be doing a tragedy this semester. Last semester's rendition of a Midsummer Night's Dream went swimmingly, so we all converged and decided to do another of Shakespeare's classics. And no, before you all start getting excited, we are NOT doing Hamlet.”
A collective groan filled the right half of the theater. The students had wanted to do Hamlet so badly for a while now but Aizen had held it off, wanting to use it as the last play for the year at the start of spring. Besides, he had mused with the other directors at the meeting to discuss the play for this semester, if they wanted to do Hamlet, they had to do the other famous romance tragedy first to earn the right to do the full out tragedy of Hamlet.
Aizen smiled out at his students once again. He knew the reaction to the play for this semester was going to be a very loud uproar chorus of protests due to the fact the casting had already been picked. “I am holding off on doing Hamlet for the time being. And if you wish to do Hamlet, make me proud with this play. If you can make this play as good as a Midsummer Night's Dream, I'll let you all do Hamlet.” Cheers and whistles rang out through most of the theater. “You all haven't even heard what this semester's play is yet.”
Everyone quieted down once again and Aizen smiled again. “This semester we have a slightly different set up from our normal way of doing things. The casting has all already been selected by the directors. We've seen all of you at work and know what everyone is capable of doing. Some of my best will be in small roles and some of my less experienced will be in large roles. We've selected each character based on how all of us believe that person will do in that type of role. It is an... experiment, if you will. We'll be mixing both sides instead of using mainly only one side of our theater.”
“Mixing both sides?” The young blonde woman on the front row frowned lightly at this. She had dark tanned skin and bright emerald eyes. She was one of the larger actors in dramas and was a superb actress, as she'd demonstrated numerous times. “Are you sure that's a good idea, Aizen-san? Both sides tend not to get along a lot of the time.”
Aizen nodded lightly. “I'm sure what I'm doing.” He smiled benignly. “We all convened and decided on the best people for the roles. Besides, this play calls for two sides that hate each other. So the play we shall be doing is-” Everyone sitting in the theater seats sent each other confused looks for a moment before in unison they all simultaneously figured out the play they would be doing, saying it in unison.
“Romeo and Juliet.”
“Right.” Aizen smiled lightly. “And the casting has already been chosen. We'll be reading off the names of who is playing who and who will have small lines. Please, do pay attention as we read off the names. And to my leading actors, deal with your roles. Especially our Romeo and Juliet.”
Baraggan took out a piece of paper and unfolded it, reading through the list of the more minor roles, telling who will be in the background. As he started reading off the more active roles, a devilish grin crossed his lips in amusement as he began to read off names. “Zomarri will be our Prince of Verona and Aaroniero our chorus. Szayel, who has already agreed to do costumes and a small role, shall be the apothecary.” A few snickers rang out through the right half of the theater, all knowing Szayel to be quiet the scientist, so the role fit him very well. “Our two Friars are Yammy and Ikkaku. Yammy, you get Laurence's part, so you get to hide fugitives and conduct secret weddings in your church.”
Yammy grinned widely from his place on the front row where he was kicked back in his seat, legs crossed. “Sounds fun t' me. At least I got an interesting part this time. Do I also get to see the dead bodies first?”
“Yes.”
“Sweet. I'm into this role already!”
Baraggan smiled and shook his head lightly before continuing. “Alright, the Capulets, plus Paris and his page, played by the shinigami section. Paris himself is Shuuhei and his page will be played by Yumichika.”
“Oh darn it. I'm going to be one of the ones dying.” Shuuhei sighed, resting his head on the back of his seat, one foot propped up on the seat in front of him. “Do I have to flirt with Juliet? Because you know I'm not interested in women.” While he might have seemed like a womanizer to everyone due to him constantly being surrounded by females, but the truth was that he was indeed very gay and dating one of his good friends, at that.
Baraggan gave a simple, guarded smile as he stared down at the paper again. “Oh, it won't be an issue. Trust me.” At the confused looks sent his way, he continued through his list. “As our two in the beginning, Sampson and Gregory, who both die right away, Keigo and Mizuiro.” As Keigo whined at that it was unfair that he had to die, Baraggan continued still. “As our Nurse and Peter, Miss Rukia and Izuru. And Tybalt is Renji.”
Rukia punched her fist in the air in triumph. “YES!” Thank god. She had hoped to get to play that sarcastic, troublesome nurse. Oh now she wanted to know who was the Juliet she got to annoy.
Renji let his head drop backwards and his the back of the chair he was sitting in. “WHY?!” He was trying to keep from dying in this play, dammit. There went THAT plan out the window. Ah well, he'd deal, he supposed.
Baraggan continued still. “And our heads of the Capulets are our dear Miss Orihime and Uryu, who was roped into playing a larger role while he will still be sewing costumes. Luckily enough, he knows the lines rather well and can still pull this off, even while he will be cussing us all out by the end of this.” He paused before looking over at the shinigami section. “Kurosaki. Get over here for a second. Got a question for you.”
Ichigo lifted his head looking up at the former head of the department with a glazed over gaze, having been dozing through the reading mostly. He groaned when he realized he had to move and got up, slowly trudging up to the front with a large yawn, standing in front of the older man with a raised eyebrow. “Yes? What did you need from me?” He was still tired from the night before from very little sleep and since their theater class was the first class of the day, he was still trying to wake up. (Or at least catch a few z's before his other classes for the day. Whichever worked.)
“I have to ask, mainly because I wasn't aware of this before casting, you are gay, are you not, boy?”
Ichigo tipped his head to the side at the odd question. “I don't exactly advertise it, but yes, I am gay. Why do you ask?” He didn't like a lot of people being aware that he was interested in men. I mean, don't get him wrong, he wasn't ashamed of his sexuality and fully embraced it, however a lot of other people didn't. He got enough insults and people coming after him to fight him because of his bright, tangerine colored hair. He didn't need them coming after him because he was a 'f**' too.
Baraggan only waved his hand idly, brushing it off. “Just curious. It had come up in conversation while we were casting and I didn't believe Gin when he said that you were. I just had to see for myself if it was true. That was all I needed. You can go sit back down now. However, try to stay awake. And also, as you sit back down, either tell someone to, or go slap Grimmjow upside the head and wake him up, please.”
Ichigo gave a half salute and walked back down the middle isle to his seat. He didn't quite believe that was the only reason Baraggan called him up there, but decided to let it go for now and not dwell on it too terribly much. As he passed by one sleeping classmate of his, he paused by his seat. His own sepia colored eyes were still drooping shut but still narrowed in annoyance down at the blue haired teen stretched out in the seat closest to the aisle, feet propped up on the chair in front of him, head laid backwards on the chair back behind him. His arms were crossed over his chest and his eyes were closed, hiding eyes the same sky blue color as his hair. Ichigo reached out, taking the opportunity to break the peacefulness, and whacked the other teen upside the head with the back of his hand.
Grimmjow bolted up, almost falling out of his seat and hurting himself as he attempted to right himself in his seat. He rubbed his aching head and rubbed the shoulder he'd jammed into the chair as he had sprung up. He glared over at the tangerine haired teen to the left of him in the aisle. “The ******** was that for, a*****e?”
“They're reading off casting, idjit, for Romeo and Juliet. If you'd stay awake for five seconds, you'd know that, now wouldn't you?” Ichigo quipped back sharply, rolling his eyes at the blue haired idiot. At the low growl he received in response, he sneered. “Besides, Baraggan said to either wake you up, or have someone else do it. Be glad I didn't have Ulquiorra do it. He hits harder than I do.” With that, he sauntered back over to his own seat, collapsing down into it.
Baraggan smirked lightly, catching eyes with Aizen for a brief second and both sharing amusement for what seemed like a private joke between them. The older man then went back to his piece of paper. “Now onto the Montague house. Abraham and Balthasar are Ilforte and Shawlong respectively. Benvolio is Ulquiorra and Mercutio will be Nnoitra.”
“THE ********. DAMMIT. THE HELL DO I HAVE TO DIE?!” Nnoitra was up and out of his seat, ranting and raving.
Ulquiorra resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead staring up at Baraggan with an expressionless face. “Benvolio? Which Romeo do I have to put up with and cheer up?”
“I'm getting there! Our heads of the Montague household shall be Starrk and Tia.”
“Joy,” was the intonation from both 'heads of the Montague house'. Tia Harribel sighed softly. This was going to be a very interesting play, that was for sure. This was also going to take a lot of rehearsal time to get ready for this. She had a feeling though that this wasn't going to be very normal. She had picked a few things Baraggan had mentioned and hinted at throughout the casting introduction. Shuuhei wouldn't have problems flirting with Juliet, which inclined her to believe they'd chosen a male to test and play Juliet. She wouldn't out it past any of them either. She knew how Aizen and Gin loved to push buttons and test people. She, however, wondered who were the leading roles. And why did all of the males on stage have those knowing, patronizing smiles on their faces?
“Alright then. Now, onto our lead roles-” He scowled lightly as Grimmjow has dozed off yet again in his chair. He threw a pen at his forehead, smacking the teen square in the face, inducing a loud cussing fest in several languages as the blue haired teen jolted up again. “Jeaggerjaques, stay the ******** awake. Sleep on your own time, not mine. And also. C'mere.” He scowled as he looked on the shinigami side and noticed Ichigo had fallen asleep again as well. “KUROSAKI. You too, get yer a** up again.”
When the orange haired teen didn't move, Grimmjow took the liberty of returning the earlier favor and smacking him upside the head. Ichigo shot up, glaring up at the blue haired teen before socking him hard on the chest in irritation. Grimmjow brought his fist down on the other's head in retaliation. “Get UP here, you two. Flirt on your own time.” Snickers rang through the theater as the two sauntered up to the front and stood in front of Baraggan, both with matching scowls on their faces, grumbling all the while about grouchy old men. While they weren't paying attention to Aizen or Tousen, Tousen launched two playbooks at their heads simultaneously, hitting the mark with both of them.
Grimmjow rubbed his head as he frowned at the playbook. “Ya' didn't say either o' our names when ya called roll.” Neither of them had been called, he knew that. Yet why were they both receiving the first playbooks. And why were Baraggan and Aizen trading amused glances every few seconds? Something in the pit of his stomach knew something was off.
Baraggan only smile back at the two with that knowing, arrogant smile. “Oh, I know.” Both teens stared at him in confusion, before staring at each other, down at their playbooks, at each other again. He could see the slow realization dawning on their faces. Both simultaneously looked back at the old man with looks of incredulity. “You've GOT to be shitting us!”
Aizen looked over at them with a patronizing smile before looking back out at the theater and its inhabitants. “Everyone, meet our Romeo-” He gestured down at Grimmjow. “And our Juliet.” He gestured at Ichigo then. Everyone stood stock still for all of five seconds, waiting for the 'Just kidding', but upon hearing none, hysterical fits of laughter and catcalls filled the theater.
The two leading actors' jaws dropped before they looked at each other, narrowing their eyes simultaneously, opening their mouths and uttering their identical thoughts towards the situation. “********. Me.”
