Stage Theater (MANDATORY!)

Long fingers ran along the length of one shelf backstage. This area was a lot larger than most expected of a school. Normal high schools used hallways and other rooms, like nearby classrooms to make up for the lack of any backstage. However, the auditorium at Harriman had a nicely, spacious backstage. He'd used it to store away the majority of the plays he, and the school, owned. About five book shelves lined one wall, each filled to the brim with manuscripts. Even with that, there was still tons of room for actors to switch costumes and move from one side of the stage to the other, without ever fearing being seen by the audience. It made him so happy, he could dance. Which he did, to prove how happy he was. Luckily for the entire world, he was alone. MacKenzie may have been a skilled dancer (not as skilled as those who devoted their lives to dancing, but good enough for musicals) but the dance he'd just performed hadn't even been worth a smile of approval. It had been uncoordinated and...just plain strange.

Hopefully all of his students knew he expected them to be on time. Or near enough to be pleasing. He was teaching several classes this year, more than he usually taught, which would keep him busy. He looked forward, however, to seeing the young eager faces of his students. Would those happy expressions fall when he explained that they had to come up with a play on their own? This class was an unusual class, as it was. The students were required to do everything. They could ask him for help, or for advice, or just for a listening ear, but the most he'd be doing in the play would be helping backstage or helping the actors out...Maybe even giving a few pointers to the elected director.

Oh yes, that was key. They had to elect a director, nobody could just push forward and say they were going to direct. MacKenzie frowned on that sort of thing. Only he was allowed to do it, after all. Taking a seat on the edge of the stage, he waited for his students to arrive.

Jay made her way to the Theater wing Auditorium, whistling while she walked. Her big black-hole purse was slung over her right shoulder and held tightly by the straps with her right hand. She called the large, but somehow still managing to be cute, earth-toned thing a black-hole purse because it could hold practically anything she wanted to shove into it. Books, pencils, changes of clothing, sixth graders... she was pretty sure she could almost fit a lamp in there, like some sort of teenage Mary Poppins. What was in it right now was a couple of notebooks, a red and yellow pencil bag filled with pens of every imaginable color, a pack of wintergreen gum, and three or four tubes of different flavored chap stick. She hadn't had time yet this year to make her purse properly messy, so there was quite a good deal of room left in it. This meant that it would rattle a bit annoyingly when she walked, as she was now walking towards her Stage Theater class, so she had to hold it in place with her hand.

This small annoyance wasn't stopping her from whistling, though. She was intensely proud of herself for being so punctual to her class, something that was sometimes difficult for her. Today, though, she could walk right into the room and give Mr. Butler a wide smile with no guilt at being late gnawing at her tummy. She swung open the door and did just that, but ended up beaming at an apparently empty room. She stood for a moment, wondering if she'd gotten the room wrong, then heard a rustle from backstage. Her smile was renewed and she jog-skipped backstage, finding Mr. Butler standing by the bookshelves of plays. "Hello Mr. Butler. How was your summer?" She lowered her unusually light purse onto the floor and put her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.

Nikki was a bit nervous at attending the first of the Stage Theater classes. She was on time but this was the first year she had really taken theater at this school. She had done some summer drama courses at home, but this was the first she'd taken at Harriman. Mr. Butler had been kind enough not to make her start in the beginning Drama courses based on her audition. That had been thrilling. She would bet any amount of money that none of the other girls had ever gotten a kiss from Mr. Butler. She felt special. She shouldn't though, she was going to have to work extra hard to be able to pass this class. She was in the class with kids that had been taking these classes for their entire Harriman career. But she could do it. She was good at whatever she put her mind to.

She opened the door and entered the large auditorium. She looked around and didn't see anyone. Had she come at the wrong time? The wrong day? Then she heard Jay's voice from backstage and knew where everyone was. She jogged down and climbed up the stairs to the stage. She followed the voices to the back stage where Jay and Mr. Butler were. "Hi, there you are. Hope I'm not late."