Performance (Sansang)

Chapter One

Another day, another script to learn. A typical day for San and nothing had changed that much since he had graduated high school. Of course, there were breaks in between each theatre performance that he had done since then, but San could never contain himself whenever there were auditions for another performance. His passion always got him the roles in the performances and the one he was currently in was no different. He was in the play adaptation of Cry-Baby and he had gotten the role of Baldwin. As much as he didn't need the script at this point in time, he still had it in his hand.

"Sannie," Namjoon said, with a big smile on his face, "There's my favourite theatre performer."

"You say that to everyone," San responded, with his own big smile.

"Well," the theatre director replied, "There are a lot of good theatre performers here and it's hard to choose an absolute favourite. Anyway, that's not why I'm here."

"Nothing bad happened right?" the younger asked.

"No no," Namjoon answered, "Nothing bad happened. I am just letting you know that the playwright is planning on coming to watch a rehearsal this week. He was pretty vague about when he was coming but he said that he was coming at some point this week. I think he more or less wants to check on everything and make sure everything is running smoothly. He's possibly coming with someone, again, he was somewhat vague about it. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about, but I thought to give you a heads up."

"Right," San said, "Something to look forward to." The theatre director gave San a thumbs up as he walked away to say the same thing to the other theatre performers. San looked through the script in his hand, more or less just giving it one more look over before he went onto the stage with the other theatre performers. Many of them he had become close with over the last few weeks or at least since the beginning of rehearsals. Once he gave the script the one more look over, he placed it on a nearby table and went to one of the entryways to the stage along with many of the other theatre performers. All of them just as eager as San to do the rehearsal, especially now that they were practicing with the background and will soon be doing dress rehearsals. That was the part San was looking forward to the most. The dress rehearsals. It was in a weeks' time and he was excited for it.

***

Yeosang sat cross legged on his bed, watching videos on YouTube. He mainly watched videos about the behind the scenes of theatre performances. Unlike his father, Yeosang liked and preferred the actual production of the performance rather than writing the script for it and he gave his father numerous hints that eventually caught on. But, his father always said something on the lines of that being a play wright was more fun and rewarding.

"Yeosang," his father said, leaning against the door frame, "Do you have any plans on Wednesday?" Yeosang paused the video that he was watching and looked at his father.

"No, why?" he asked.

"Because," Mr Kang answered, "I'm going to watch a rehearsal for Cry-Baby and I would like you to come and watch with me. Just for this one performance."

"Why don't you ask Yookyung to go with you?" Yeosang questioned.

"Because your sister is working then," his father said, "And don't bother asking your mother to go for you. She already has plans. You are the only one who doesn't have plans for the day."

"Am I forced into coming?" Yeosang asked.

"No," Mr Kang responded, "But I would really prefer if you did come." Somewhat feeling backed into a corner, Yeosang felt obligated to say yes. With his obligated yes, his fathered thanked his son with a big smile on his face and walked away to a different part of the house. Yeosang took in a deep breath and sighed. Sure, his father was a famous playwright and all, but that was what his father wanted him to be as well. Yeosang hated the idea. He wanted to be a part of the production side of theatre performances, maybe even a part of the performance itself. So far, it's just the expectation from his father to become a play wright just like him. One day. Maybe one day he would get through to his father and eventually be a part of the production side of things rather than the play wright of one. He just hoped that day would actually come, instead of just dreaming of it.

***

The entire rehearsal went by smoothly. No one messed up their lines and every single change of scene backgrounds and props went by without issue. The show was going to be a success and everyone who was apart of it knew that it would be. San walked off the stage with a few of the other performers that were apart of the scene. Everyone had a big smile on their face. The rehearsals had come so far since the announcement of the cast members and learning the script for it. San couldn't wait for the day that he and everyone else would be performing it and seeing the audience reaction to it. For now, he had the playwright coming to watch to look forward to.

"You all did amazing," Namjoon said, "You don't need me to tell you that. You should know by now. Take a break everyone and we'll meet up again in ... I say twenty, maybe twenty five minutes. Do what you need to do during that break." As soon as they were allowed to, the performers walked in any direction that they wanted to go in. San had decided to get something to eat along with Chaeyoung, who was playing the part of Allison. They had decided to go to Jihwaja Seoul as it wouldn't be that busy at the moment, or at least they hoped that it wouldn't be that busy. The two of them walked the few minutes that it took to get to Jihwaja Seoul and like they had hoped, it wasn't that busy. Already knowing what they wanted, San ordered for the both of them and sat down at a table afterwards. San and Chaeyoung liked coming to this place during their breaks from rehearsals. It was a good place to relax and eat at the same time.

"So, are you excited for the playwright to come and watch?" Chaeyoung asked, "Who do you think he is bringing with him?"

"I think," San answered, "He is bringing his wife. Or maybe one of his kids."

"Ooo," she responded, "I think he would bring both of his kids and maybe his wife as well. Or maybe someone he is working with. You know another play wright or something."

"So many possibilities," he replied, "Yet, we'll never know until the day he comes. Whenever that may be."

"We'll just have to wait and see," Chaeyong said. The two of them went quiet as their orders had come out. They thanked the waiter and began to eat what they had ordered. They silently ate and watched the occasional other person walk into the restaurant. There were no other theatre performers. Usually other performancers brought their own lunches and snacks or went to another restaurant that was nearby. It was no surprise by how many restaurant places or overall eating places there were around the theatre. It was always that common and out of every theatre place that he had performed in, he liked performing in the National Theater of Korea. It always had the best restaurants to eat nearby.

"You know," Chaeyoung said, "Next time, we should bring the entire cast here. I think they will like it here. Maybe after we do today's rehearsals. Or maybe tomorrow after we try on our outfits. It would fun to have them."

"We'll have to convince them," San responded, "It wouldn't be that hard. They're not that hard to convince."