Roberta’s Theatre: Supernaturals and the stage
Date: 2025-07-23 05:03
(Roberta’s Theatre: Supernaturals and the stage)
[Wed Jul 23 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 Foxglove and Sidney/span>/span“True.. well,” Hester mumbles, glancing at her phone to mention just as well: “Shay can’t make it, maybe Eloa can’t make it either. The usual extras can’t make it.. Lola never replies to me unless Professor Alejandro tells her to, so I’ve stopped bothering,” she lists out, closed-eyed, the number of other bodies more liable or otherwise to arrive.
Hester retracts as Eloa walks in, “Oh, she made it.”
“Sorry for being late.” Eloa calls out softly as she slips into the studio. She seems to be relieved that someone isn’t there and settles down on a seat, giving Hester a soft hmm? At the comment towards her.
“Okay then.” Roberta decides once the clock finishes tolling its inevitable decline from night into day. “Let’s begin.”
Roberta doesn’t stand. Instead, she raises her voice, points at a student chewing gum– who promptly discards it, and begins the lesson.
Obscured gaze sweeping over the crowd of students, including Lucien, Hester and Eloa, who gets a finger flickered wave as she enters, the albino addresses the class, elbow cupped in her other hand, her palm up and gesturing as she speaks. “Last week we briefly covered some of the uses of supernatural powers in theatre. We went over what was dangerous, what wasn’t, and what wasn’t worth trying at all.”
“This week, I want us to look at it from another angle. I want to talk about what supernatural liniages we think might be better performers than others.”
Lucien draws his attention back to Roberta, sitting up a little as he starts to focus.
Fingers snap– impressive in opera gloves– And the mirrored reflections of the vampire (@me still hasn’t bothered to obscure the mirrors) continues. “So, let’s as per usual, make this a conversation. What heritages do we think are objectively worse performers, and why?”
Not seeming to remember where she knows Lucien from, Eloa looks liek she’s rushed over from the gym as she crosses her ankles in her gym attire while listening to Roberta, “Well Miss Roberta mentions angels are good because they can draw on the crowd and the crowd always wants the show to be good. Vampires probably good for playing dead people because they can … be very still but maybe not as good for being … expressive as one would need for acting if the part they are playing is more… emotional?”
Lucien tilts his head as he lifts his hand “I don’t know about objectiviely… I think angelborn blood is kind of a two-edged sword. Empathy helps with performance, yes, but there’s also a danger of performing to the whims of the crowd rather than the director’s vision.”
Hester just gives Eloa a faint shrug and turns to Roberta immediately when she commences the discussion. She even pulls her legs back in, using her belly as a shelf for her folded arms. “Ehm, on the contrary – I think I was mentioning how Angelbloods would be -not- so good, ’cause desires and stuff are complicated. It can get pretty unpredictable, hinging the success of ehm, a show on an angelblo–” And Lucien says similar things, to which she nods heartily.
Pointing to the three who answer, Roberta likewise does so for some of the other, less engaged students before answering all three points, each rejoindered with a raised finger and a grin that flashes fangs.
“I did indeed say that.” Roberta refrains Eloa. She motions to Hester and Lucien, adding, “They do have a very good point though. Now, the important thing is intent when dealing with angels. So when your crowd expects something, they may respond to that and perform better. But the double edge sword comes in as Lucien and Hester suggest. Which means that it -could- go either way. However, proximity matters. The closer someone is to an angel– the more they want something, the more the angel is likely to respond. It’s why you’ll find that pure angels are more loyal when they willingly serve close to their masters.”
Going on, Roberta adds, “As for the second, vampires, yes, we can play dead very well.” Another grin, too wide, too fae and very sharp toothed. “But you might be surprised- There’s a reason the Montrose group like vampire performers. We’re ageless, and can show that. But also, something that goes without saying most of the time.” Roberta raises a single finger. “We are -dead-. That means that we don’t have nervous responces. So outside of the aware community, you’ll find that vampires are actually better at aping humans than even humans. We’re predators who only show you what we want you to see– Our vulnerability, deliberately shown. Our strength? We need to work on that– We need to present the mask for you all to see. Our motions and responces, our smiles, expressions of all stripes. All of them are staged, so vampires tend to be some of the best performers.”
Roberta pauses then, adding in conclusion to that, “Assuming we’re young enough to care. You all know of the Hollow, I’m sure. The moment that kicks in, we tend to no longer care about pretending any more.”
“The demonborns who get like.. moany when there is pain in the crowd or suffering probably make bad actors?” Eloa starts cycling through them, it’s not like there’s that many races, “Would think godblood might be disadvantaged too.. imagine you doing your best to perform and some asshole in crowd is wishing this could all be over faster so that they can go home with their date or something.” The latina comments softly after listening to Roberta.
“Yeah, ehm, imagine if the story is like- the protagonist’s lover is supposed to get kidnapped by the Frankenstein monster, and everyone in the audience is like ‘NO, don’t get kidnapped!’ or ‘KICK HIM IN THE NUTS’ and then the actress just starts beating up the guy instead of ehm, letting the story play out as it should,” Hester feels the need to expound on her earlier point with example, only able to relax once it’s been expressed.
Roberta’s further explanations are heeded with attentive nods and furrowed brows from the nerd. “Ooohh. That’s why you’re super renowned and stuff,” she figures, finding some sense in rumours about Roberta. “Hollow? Is that when you start.. acting like Mr. Ambrose Vasquez?” But as Eloa brings that up, she wonders, “Oh, do godbloods feel compelled like angelbloods do to fulfill wishes?”
Lucien shrugs softly “I mean… all good performers find the parts of themselves that most help them get into a role. I imagine it’s less about certain bloodlines being inherently better and more abou having different ways into it…”
As a point strikes, Roberta asks in an aside, “How do you think we can get angel performers to stay on the directorial track, as it were? This is almost a trick question, as it’s pretty much the same way historical angels were controlled.”
Another gesture to Eloa. “A good one, but maybe not for the reasons you’ve listed– Oh it happens. Some demons just get really into it. Near orgasmic, which can be pretty hilarious if not appropriate for a performance. It’s the disconnect more than anything. Demons tend to fall into the apathetic or disjointed from humanity scope psychologically. So they can often not care enough about what they’re doing.”
“Demigods are an interesting one though.” Another grin. “They tend to be the divas. The starlets and the front men who like to do as little as possible for the most observable gain– Marlon Brando is a good example of a godchild in theatre. He’d often not bother reading the script, demanding cards to read from, but look at his library of work.”
Roberta answers Hester’s question directly, a nod to Lucien. “Hollow is what we also name Acedia, where we get bored with the world and lose our consistant drive to interact.”
To Lucien, she gives a single clap of the hands. “An exceptional point that’s almost so obvious it should go without saying. Blood is not a weakness, but a bonus. And if you cant manipulate the situation to your benefit, you just shouldn’t have it– Which is almost the point of the class. There are benefits and detractors, but blood is an aid, not an enemy. Some are inherantly better at one thing, others at another.”
Rubbing her cheek, Eloa nods her head as she listens to Roberta get to the point of the class which is to say really.. everyone can act! Just like everyone can cook. She starts to twirl a lock of her hair, “Eloa still thinks it’s dangerous to have performances on full moon with werewolves but..” There’s a shrug, “If people are okay with the risk.”
Hester instinctually tugs on the bandages that choke her, giving them an adjustment. “Ehm.. with collars, right? Some kind of neutralization collar or something..?” the mouthbreather tries to invoke reviewed passages from supernatural history books and other class notes beyond. There’s a bitter snort at talk of demons. “Guess that’s why a certain deliveryboy acts the way he does..” As the conversation moves on, her expression lifts and more real-world queries get thrown into the fray. “Ohh, is Arachne Fairchild-Montrose a godblood, then?”@line
“Acedia? Oh, I thought that was just some sort of reagent my Gran would talk about…” she mumbles, with an intrigued look between Lucien and Roberta for the moral lesson that comes out. Aside, however, she muses to Eloa with a wry chuckle, “Ehm, I think if a director wants to put on a show with werewolf actors, the last thing they’d do is schedule it on a full moon.”
“If it were upto me.” Roberta bluntly responds to Eloa. “I’d have them all tranqed. Possibly overdosed.”
Then she returns to Hester’s questions. “Gods are not compelled to respond to wishes. Most in fact might choose to ignore them just because it’s beneath them.”
“If you’re employing wolf actors you’re already doing it wrong, but I’m payed to not be racist.” Roberta notes to the class, continuing to be racist anyway. “Might be you need a puppy to look cute and roll over and play dead. But that would be more on film than live. And if you do it on the full moon, you better have silver buckshot.”
Lucien shrugs again “I don’t know. Werewolves know a lot about keeping their emotions in check in difficult conditions. That can be useful. But yeah, a full moon show woudl be more of a, uh, highly violent performance art piece.”
“The answer as I suggested to control an angel performer is… Godchild directors. Strong wills and people who enjoy getting their own way. In fact, outside of the Marlon Brandos of the world, a lot of Producers and Directors are god blooded to some extent.” Roberta generalizes, before quipping to Lucien, “You’d think so, but some of the wolves in the Howler pack over at the Lodge couldn’t find their asses with an atlas, let alone control themselves.”
Clapping her hands, Roberta seems to shake herself. “Oh fie. We went off topic. A last go around then
“Can we think of any advantages or disadvantages to blood or gifts that may work for the stage?” Roberta concludes. “We’ve largely gone over what I aimed already, but let’s wrap and set you all free.”
Lucien tilts his head thoughtfully but falls silent, sitting back in his chair a little.
Snorting a little laugh at Roberta’s comment, Eloa quickly turns it into a cough. She covers her face with her hands again, rubbing a bit, “But yes. Kai is very demonblooded. Terrible at funerals.” She just comments with a shake of her head before turning back to Roberta. “Uh. Angels can light up? Like moon? And humans can think is special effect?” The woman asks as she starts to glow, looking as if she’s swallowed the moon itself as lights shimmer under her skin. “Fae can throw knife up and let it land in lucky spot… over and over again? Using fates?”
“Ohhh, that explains why Elliot just kinda.. gets insulted by them,” Hester notes on the clarified matter of wishes, steepling her fingers together. A hushed chuckle leaves her when Roberta fully aligns herself to her bias against; the fattie doesn’t appear much troubled by it. Gaze darts to Lucien when he says as much, but now she’s wrinkling her nose, “Nnnn.. nah, I don’t think that’d ehm, be able to be controlled at all. It’d probably just be a massacre– which I guess might be art if the director is a demon? And ehm. The VIP audience was also demons?” Now she sees the point, kid of. Further note of Godchilds rather than simply Godbloods brings her eyes to narrow, absorbing the point.
And now, another question gets the partially mummified ginger raising a hand, “Uhh..” Then there’s the biggest gasp as her eyes just sparkle. “Real. Live. Mermaids. For underwater shows!”
points to Eloa as she begins to glow. “Partly back to last week’s conversation, that’s a great use. Enough control and you can just call it phospherous paint.”
The albino nods to Hester’s point. “It’s why Kai is clueless, why Elliot is pompus and so many other things. It’s why Justine has a temper, why Zaiya is so sweet and cuddly and simpy, and so on and so forth. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who’s not a stereotype in this city.”
“I’m going to pass over the Arachne question for today, but we may return to it later.” she concludes. “Fae are often fantastic performers because like gods, they like to be seen. It’s a game.”
A look at the clock, and Roberta claps again, standing. “Okay everyone.” she decides, gaze drifting across the students. “Thought for the week. Double heritages can throw everything we’ve talked about out of the window. As per usual, notes written up, and email me with questions, or come find me at regular office hours.”
Roberta has not in fact given any regular office hours. “Better marks for those who show up with exposed wrists and necks, and dismissed.”