Theatrical Kiss (Backstage Kisses Rewrite)

Act One Scene One

Act One Scene One

Enter Bo, Stage Left

        

“Take five everybody!” A collective sigh of release can be heard throughout the theater as students relax from their roles on stage back into their own skins once more.  Bo watches from above without envy, for he had long ago accepted that he was not meant for the stage. No, he is much happier up on the catwalk tinkering with the lighting, making sure that the actors on the stage below him are always in the spotlight.

            Vicky, the director, storms off the stage into her office via stage left. Bo assumes that she’s three seconds away from a breakdown and doesn’t want her precious cast to be any more disheartened than they already are. Less than two weeks until opening night and the sets are barely half finished, the costumes haven’t arrived, the dancers haven’t learned their steps, and the leading lady just quit the day before. It is safe to assume their esteemed director has her work cut out for her.

            Bo isn’t worried. After three years of working the lighting for the summer theatre camp, little fazes him. In his mind, he’s seen it all, and so he knows without a doubt a new lead will be chosen—likely already has been,—the sets will be done with time to spare, the costumes will arrive within the week, and the dancers will learn the complicated routines. Actors and directors, however, love their drama, and so they panic.

            Bo watches with envy as one of the leading males strides across the stage with the confidence of a born star. One of the leading ladies breaks away from the gaggle of chatting females to run towards him with a grin, and is picked up by the waist and spun in a wide circle. Bo watches with a smile as their laughter reaches his ears.

            He turns away from the scene to climb down the steps of the ladder that extends from stage left to the catwalk stretching across the air over the stage. Angelica is waiting for him, having left her twin brother to chat with the giggling girls she’d abandoned center stage.

            “I got the part!” She cries, throwing her arms around his neck the exact moment his feet hit the ground. He laughs and spins her around the same way her brother had, only with much less finesse. He’s proud of her: The first newbie to make leading lady in the ten years the theatre camp had been running. After Lydia quit, Bo had assumed that his best friend would be the most likely replacement, and he’d been right.

            “Good for you Angel.” He grins and pats her head, careful not to squish the meticulous mahogany curls. He teasingly tugs at one of the pink ribbons threaded amongst the ringlets, and she swats his hand without losing her smile.  “You did great out there today.” Bo tells her as they began walking backstage.

            Going backstage is like entering an entire new universe—a very chaotic and noisy universe. Everyone is constantly moving from one place to the next; props and old costumes are strewn everywhere except their proper homes; people chatter incessantly, calling across the room to this person or that person; a few girls who were unfortunate enough to have Vicky’s wrath bestowed upon them cry quietly—or in one girl’s case, not-so-quietly—in the corner; the stage crew bark instructions across the room to actors and other crew members, all the while yelling into their headsets; and, at the back of the room in front of a long line of identical mirrors, sit Maid Marion’s ladies-in-waiting, touching up their impeccable makeup and redoing their already perfectly coifed hair.

            “Do you really think so?” Angel asks beside him. Her voice has the slightly breathless quality of someone taking in the backstage chaos for the first time. As someone familiar with the busyness of backstage life, Bo sometimes forgets how confusing and overwhelming it can be to a newbie. He grins down at his friend, who gazes around in wonderment.