Roberta’s Theatre: Setting the stage
Date: 2025-07-07 05:02
(Roberta’s Theatre: Setting the stage)
[Mon Jul 7 2025]
Inside a Shadow–Draped Drama Studio/span>/spanThe drama studio occupies a spacious rectangular room with high ceilings
supported by exposed wooden beams that have darkened with age. Black painted
walls absorb most of the light from the overhead theatrical fixtures,
creating pools of shadow in the corners where old props and costume racks
gather dust. The polished hardwood floor bears scuff marks from decades of
rehearsals, with tape lines marking various stage configurations. Along one
wall, a bank of mirrors reflects the room’s depths, though some panels have
developed a clouded, mottled quality that distorts reflections in unsettling
ways. Folding chairs stack against the far wall near a small raised platform
that serves as a practice stage, while heavy black curtains hang from ceiling
tracks, ready to partition the space or block the tall windows that face the
campus quad. The air carries a persistent mustiness beneath the sharper
scents of paint and sawdust, and certain floorboards creak in a rhythmic
pattern even when no one walks across them. A door in the northwest corner
leads to Plymouth House, its frame slightly warped so that it never quite
closes properly, allowing drafts to whisper through the gap./span>/spanIt is about 60F(15C) degrees. The mist is heaviest At Thornberry and Lake/span>/spanLuka looks over his shoulder as Hester and Eloa walks into the room. Hester he’d seen before but still gets a double blink from the man before he decides he should be polite enough to hide his reaction. “Eloa.” Luka greets the woman with a wolfish wink before looking to Hester and trying to keep his tone polite “We met before briefly, I’m Luka Fairfang, if I didn’t mention” Luka offers the girl
Let’s be honest, Hester doesn’t really match Merrek’s freak. She’s practically the Pillsbury Doughgirl next to the gigantic man, but it’s mostly the vast array of weaponry on him that keeps her from venturing too deep into the classroom. Shrinking into her chin rolls, she stays close to the door, thinking twice about staying. “Uhh.. hello.. I’m just Hester,” mumbles the blob of a student to Luka and Eloa.
A single echoing foot fall, and Roberta manifests as if from thin air. It shouldn’t be possible, but of course, that is the nature of Haven and its mists, the supernatural and the lives found hidden within the shadows.
“It is. And sometimes, the floors move, the shadows come to life, the very walls themselves disgorge the husks of their victims. It’s quite delightful.”
The slight cant of the head, and Roberta turns, the mirrors around the room reflecting the vampire over and over and over again, the reflections distorted, floating into the inevitable madness veiled behind the gilded mask of civility. Roberta’s gaze passes over Luka, Merrek, Hester and Eloa. “Take a seat and we’ll begin.”
Gesturing, Roberta takes a seat of her own, slipping in with inhuman ophidion grace. “Before, we went over character, motivation and character.” she begins. “We’ll continue that, though we’ll give a few minutes to see if anyone else shows.”
Ducking her way around Hester since she’s standing at the door, Eloa gives her a wan smile before jumping a little as Roberta appears. “Oh.” She looks a little shocked and then goes to pick a seat close to Roberta and as far away from Luka as she can.
Roberta coughs into a hand with breath she doesn’t need. “Character, motivation and side character, I should say. Redundency is all too easy and I’ve been eating god.”
For what it’s worth, the literal shotgun is shoved most of the way into Merrek’s jeans alongside another barrel, and the … big metal pry bar is just, leaned up on his chair. He’s not really aggressive. At the moment. Eyes slip from Hester to the screen of his phone, where that line’s hacked up. Then back to Hester. He says nothing further, but there’s a quirky eyebrow that just won’t slacken.
Hester clutches her own invisible pearls when Roberta suddenly speaks, “G-gah!” It’s a less graceful reaction than Eloa’s, but on the bright side there are no casualties. She lumbers toward a folding chair and laboriously lowers into one, making the legs on the thing widen just a little more with a perilous creak.
Justine walks in quietly, settling on a chair in the back row.
“Ola justine.” Eloa smiles, waving at the newcomer as she pats the seat next to her.
“Hester, then. Pleased to meet you little lady.” Luka tells Hester with a friendly pat to the shoulder before his head snaps to the corner of the room Roberta had appeared from, a smirk spreading across his face as she makes her dramatic entrance “The shadows come to life, huh?” Luka teases the woman “Seems to me like that might have just happened” Ge heads over to the seats, leaning back in one and tucking his hands behind his head as he gets ready to watch what was happening.
Luka gets there eventually
Justine moves over to sit next to someone. “Hey, Eloa. This sounded to interesting to miss.”
Justine moves over to sit next to Eloa. “Hey, Eloa. This sounded to interesting to miss.”
Hester flinches at the shoulder-pat – miraculous that she even feels it underneath all the natural padding. Whatever the case, she affords Luka the smallest, no-lip smile at being called ‘little’. Justine’s entrance sees a polite and routine, “Morning, Miss Ward.”
Justine dips a not to Hester. “Likewise Miss Flanagan.”
Smiling over at Justine, Eloa seems a little bit more relieved about something and Eloa nods her head, “Miss Roberta class is very interesting. But is third class.”
Merrek might as well be holding up a neon sign that blares ‘STUDY AID’, knocking his knee up and down with a pitter-patter that sends his heel into the floor at a constant.
Justine leans back in her chair, crossing her legs and placing both arms on the rests, as if trying to occupy as much space as she can between Luka and Eloa.
Luka makes sure he catches the seat next to Justine, the man layering an arm over her shoulder as he flashes her a toothy and overly familiar grin “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure yet” Luka informs Justine “Luka Fairfang.” The overly touchy man introduces himself “What’s your name?”
Leaning away from Justine with a look of distaste on her face as Luka wraps his arm around her, Eloa scoots her chair slightly further and then looks over at Roberta.
“If someone would ward Hester’s chair.” Roberta requests of the room at large, a wince escaping– staged, of course, vampires only exhibit what they wish for you to see.
Nothing else is afforded Hester and the impending property damage, though a suited man– One of Roberta’s never far away minions appears, performs a warding over Hester and secretes himself away again.
Gaze sweeping, the albino steeples her fingers, machiavellian rather than comforting, and she begins after nodding to Justine.
“Performance. Framing, character and motivation.” she announces, voice rising, the many reflections mirroring Roberta’s gestures. “These are what we express through theatre.”
“And having established our protagonist– The homosexual knight who wishes the hand of the princess, we’ve begun that process.” A hand rises, a single gloved finger aimed at the ceiling. “We developed our cast. We have the king, the rival, the antagonist, the mentor– who might be the rival– But what we don’t have is our setting.”
An expansive gesture– arms spread, veiled gaze tracking over Eloa, Justine, Hester, Luka and Merrek. “So we have our basic story outline. But of course, we need to develop that further. How do we present out story? We touched on it before. We’re telling the tale of a coming to terms with self. But how do we achieve this? How do we frame and establish our scenes? What are we missing in order to have our plot take shape as more than vague ideas?”
Merrek has no idea what the fuck is happening. It’s in one ear, out the other. In a similar fashion, that line goes from his phone screen, into one nostril, and out the back of it, through a $1 bill.
Although Hester can’t help but squint in the direction of the restless heel-tapping from Merrek, she contributes to the noise pollution in here all her own. Blame her weight, blame the black sun, but her breathing is just.. audible. Perhaps annoyingly so, for some.
The mouthbreather turns her beady blues to Roberta, wincing at the request. “… thank you…” is mumbled to the mysterious suit. The screws in her seat hold fast. Clueless is the face on the tubby one, mouth agape as she tries to catch up. “Ehm.. we’re missing the setting, so.. maybe a fantasy kingdom like Ice Cream Land?” Evidently, she’s not one of the theatre kids.
“Um…” About to say something, Eloa gets very distracted by watching Merrek snort a line. She blinks for a few moments, those hazel doe like eyes just staring at the man before turning to Roberta, “Need a goal for our protagonists and antagonists?” She adds given that Hester suggested the setting in the time it took her to boogle at the man.
Luka takes Justine’s hand, flashing another wolfish grin at the girl as hands are shaken “A pleasure.” Luka informs her before looking back to Roberta, seemingly like he genuinely was here to try and take at least some of this information despite not being a student here. The arm would stay firmly around Justine’s shoulders though, the woman claimed as his side warmer for the lecture it seemed. His eyebrows raise as Hester gets quite publicly roasted in front of the whole class, trying to hide a smirk before looking back towards the lecture “There should be, like, a big belted musical number about the themes, or something” Luka barks up to Roberta, helpfully, of course
Justine shrugs her shoulders, wiggling out from under Luka’s arm, then guides the boy’s hand to the hand rest. Then she raises up hand, waiting for Roberta to notice.
If it wasn’t obvious before, it is now; Roberta is very much a diva, and everyone and thing here ispart of the entertainment– Roberta’s entertainment, the class utilised for extra credit, yes, but also to generate a certain level of chaos.
Apparently fully expecting the noise polution, the various personal interactions, the albino doesn’t stop it. To the contrary, she doesn’t even bother addressing the fact that Merrek is snorting a line. Roberta is not campus security. She doesn’t care and isn’t being payed to stop it.
She also began with a cold start, which makes things hard for anyone new to follow, so very helpful of her to half-ass a recap, but that’s steamrolled as the round robin is responded to. Roberta points to Luka, Hester and Eloa. “Icecream land.” That’s now apparently what the setting is going by– It’s canon now. “Our achievable goal and a possible musical number.”
A leg crosses, the reflections doing the same– If only Roberta cared enough to cover them. Though Justine is here if everyone goes suddenly mad from direct interaction with vampiric activity in multiple. Maybe that’s why Roberta has her eyes covered.
“These are all good ideas,” she beams, an aside to Merrek interjecting her own monologue with- “You should get a silicone straw for that. Easier to store, clean and reuse.”
“More specifically though, how do we perform it? Where do we perform it? How do we stage it? Do any of you have preferences?” Though she notices Justine’s hand, waving to her to speak, which gives Hester, Eloa, Merrek and Luka the opportunity to decide on answers to the question posed.
sitting up straighter in her chair, Justine clears her throat before speaking. “I’m sorry, I realize I didn’t follow this from the beginning, but why would a homosexual knight want the princess’ hand?”, she says to Roberta. “Is ruling the kingdom his only motive?”
Luka shoots Justine a look as if she’d just spat in his face after she removes his arm, taking it back to fold it into his chest grumbling under his breath. “How do we do it?” Luka asks Roberta, scratching the side of his head “Just, like, rock the fuck out. Sing from the soul, you know?” Luka asks before looking over his shoulder towards the door “Do you think you could set up pyro on that theater down the hall without it being an issue?” Luka asks Roberta with a raised eyebrow. Listening to Justine he also looks confused “Why is the knight gay? Didn’t you get executed for that back then?”
“Fuckin’… clean?” Merrek appears bewildered, interrupting, if only for a moment, to suggest, “I’m gonna buy a fuckin’ churro with this later…” He shakes it off. “Clearly he need a mask. Gay dudes in the dark ages was hunted like witches, man. Homie hiding like a rat out there.”
“Oh.. if it’s a musical, maybe I can be a tree,” Hester already tries to find ways to save her skin, should Luka’s suggestion be taken. But her gaze bounces from him to Justine, eyes widening like she was seeing a fuse being lit. But, saying nothing, moves on to Eloa to ponder further.
For whatever reason, she doesn’t question the snortage going on with Merrek – merely taking one look at the substance, the man, and deciding not to question. Sausage fingers link over her belly. “I’m new to New Haven so I haven’t seen much spots we could use yet, but.. maybe Nemi and I can help build the props a-and the stage?” suggests the lass in a meek, Midwestern cadence. When Justine speaks, she chimes in, “Ah-ah- he wants a beard, I think? Or maybe that’s his bestie, and they’re going to have a lavender wedding and do politics together.”
“You see.” Roberta informs Justine in the tones of one who realises the impending car crash to come, and is very much staring out of the window to watch it in passing. “The knight, as decided by Madame Carrow on day one, is a female knight… somehow. Her parents wanted a son, and didn’t get one, so to be,” And here, Roberta makes air quotes, “Period appropriate, the fourth child of the noble family was given to train as a knight.”
“Am noticing more holes in this plot than my brain.” Merrek mutters to himself, scratching a hole in his neck with an elongated, oddly sharp pinky nail. It bleeds.
“I mean icecream is a very late invention so maybe it is a land current where … there’s alot of ice cream.” Eloa shrugs a little, “We can perform it down at the masque theatre. I sure they no mind. Although maybe practice here while perform there..”
Justine nods toward the center of the room. “That makes more sense, then. And ties up with Hester’s comment about the beard.”
Justine nudges Luka with her elbow, placing a slim finger across her lips. “Shh.”
Hester swells with a scandalized gasp! “It’s a lady knight, awh.. I’m so invested, what happens next??” She pauses, hands clasped against a full cheek. “Oh, we were deciding what -was- happening next..” Pushing her glasses up her broad nose, she brightly listens to Eloa and Justine. “The achievable goal is saving the princess then, right? With.. songs? Does the Knight fight with a sword or with songs? Or a song-sword?”
Luka raises a dubious eyebrow “It’s a lady knight? Isn’t she just gunna get her shit kicked in by 6’4 300 pound Guffery from the wheat fields who’s got a wooden stick and four different internal parasites?” Luka asks the room. “Aren’t knights supposed to go into combat or something? Or is this just one of those knights that goes on quests where she has to face moral quandaries and never actually needs to fight?”
“There are so so many holes in this plot.” Roberta agrees in full with Merrek, face splitting in a too wide, too fanged, too fae grin that never the less runs with it.
Pointing to Eloa, Roberta explains to the room in large, “Ultimately, this isn’t going to be performed. It’s a mental exercise to establish groundwork for the student body to work from when we stick actual reasonable work before them.” Which implies that in spite of an obvious three part lesson plan, Roberta is doing it for more than just that. It’s student profiling, and opening it to the public is to mask that.
“Actually though…” cutting herself off at Hester’s comment, Roberta draws all the attention to Hester. “You’re right though. Maybe not about ice cream as it wasn’t invented yet, but feel free to treat yourself to a tub once you leave. But the stage is exactly what we need.”
Attention moves next to Luka, then over to Eloa. “Now, there are a series of different staging styles we could use, from aproned, to theatre in the round. Each of them have benefits and restrictions, but as we’re theoretically working on a university shitty budget, we need to keep things cost effective. Something that Luka will know about as a band leader, and finding what works for his people– But Eloa also makes a good point too. To stage, we could use the charity of others and use their stage.”
“No one ever said knight have to be human.” Eloa mutters with a glance towards Luka as he questions the strength of a girl. “She could be demonborn and far stronger than most wolves.” She smiles sweetly after that.
Hester slowly taps at her chin when Luka starts describing someone… and for some reason, it’s to Merrek whom she turns, nodding as if it made sense. It’s a conflict of disappointment and relief that sags her posture when Roberta reveals this to be a theoretical production rather than an actual one, and she spends some time picking at her dirty fingernails. “Maybe props could also be from the uh, the abandoned furniture people leave in alleys, so that we wouldn’t need to spend so much.. That’s how my Gran sometimes gets things she needs.”
Roberta says, one leg crossing over the other, “The question is, are we pulling out all the stops? Or is this impressionism, stylised and overly dramatic– The musical, or to convey the tale we expect, do we pull back and make this bare bones? We want to convey out plot, which demands we do so in a way that uses not only our performers, but our set to invoke a mood.“
“You’ve not seen enough wolves, I think” Luka tells Eloa with a grin before looking back to Roberta “I say you just skip everything that isn’t a musical number, for budget purposes, and then focus all the budget on costumes and pyro” The man proposes “If you write the lyrics well enough, people will figure out what the plot is supposed to be, and if you rock out hard enough, those that don’t figure it out won’t care”
“There’s one across fro the equestrian center, Dear.” Roberta announces, louder than needs be.
“Is drama class no singing class.” Eloa points out to Luka, “Is not much acting in howling into microphone.”
Hester freezes – like an ice cream, yay – when Roberta calls out an answer for her. “H-heh, thanks, Miss Pinn,” she feebly says, before looking towards Merrek with some surprise. “-You- eat ice cream? Ehm, does the ice machine make snow cones, too?” she hazards, biting her lip.
The exchange between Luka and Eloa is enough to whip her attention back to the fray. “Awh, yeah, musicals make it super catchy and everyone will remember your play! Like Wicked and ehm, all of the Hamilton guy’s stuff,” she does point out, pink Crocs squeaking as they idly bump each other at the toes. “But Miss Pinn’s got a point, too, with uhh.. like how Lady Gaga does artsy stuff..”
As the bell tolls– Likely to half the room’s benefit, Roberta sits back. A to do is made of the thing, the albino waiting until the clocktower strikes the hour.
“Okay, so I think we’ll call it here for now. We’ve gotten far enough for you to get extra credit and for me to get pay– I mean… For you to have learned enough.”
Masterfully covering her own mistake, Roberta’s voice raises again. “We’ve established a fair bit today. Budget, potential thrift options for set, that we need a stage.” bare bones, really. “We’ve established that maybe pyrotechnics are in need… or not.”
Standing, Roberta circles her chair, rounding it to lean on the back to regard Justine, Eloa, Luka, Hester and Merrek, along with the unnamed students who showed to (hopefully not) learn something. “Homework for those of you who I can actually punish if you fail to do it. Brief writeup on what we’ve covered in these past three classes. I want your basic outlines for the plot we’ve come up with, and then possible options for staging and set. Extra credit to who ever brings it personally to my office wearing short sleeves and with their neck exposed.”
Before anyone can question that last, hands clap, and Roberta tells the room at large, “Dismissed.”