CAC Showcase: The Stage

[Lucy Montague]

ID #126658​

Lucy was nervous. Not as many had signed up as she'd thought would, and in a way she was a bit disappointed. In another way, she was determined to make the best of things. Quality was what was important, after all, and she had faith in the talents who had signed up. She forced a smile on her face. The backstage help (namely Oswald) had helped set up the stage and a few backdrops for interest. Lucy was grateful for the help, though her nerves were the loudest part of her. She'd practiced so hard, worked so hard, what if it fell apart? Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that she was Lucy Montague and she could do anything - including this.

She stepped onto the stage with a smile. "Tēnā koutou katoa!*" she said brightly, in an approximation of correct pronounciation. "Welcome to this year's Conglomerated Arts Club showcase! My name is Lucy and I'm the music maestro at the club. It's a small lineup this year, but no doubt we'll still amaze you with our hard work and talent." Lucy felt a bit arrogant for saying so when it included herself, but she pushed down the negative thoughts. "Big thank you to our behind-the-scenes team and for our refreshments volunteer! First up tonight is me with caprice no. 24 by Paganini."

Lucy gave a small bow, and then took out her violin from its case. She positioned herself, raising the violin to her shoulder and picking up the bow. It was a difficult piece, but she'd been working hard on it. She began the piece, bow on the string and her fingers moving on autopilot. The sound of her playing filled the great hall, the acoustics helping immensely with the sound. It got more complicated as she went along, but she managed it. A bit too franticly, perhaps, but it fitted the tone of the piece. It was a dramatic and beautiful piece, in Lucy's opinion, if maybe a little harsh on the ears in places, but that was part of it's charm, in a weird way. She kept playing with barely a mistake, struggling at some of the higher spots, but finishing strongly on a double-stop. She paused, waiting for the applause she hoped would come.

Out of Character:

This thread is for acts only. Please use the audience thread to react to the show.

*Hello to everyone in te reo Māori, a commonly understood phrase
Piece Lucy was playing (not as well as this but for example)

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy left the stagely briefly to put away her violin before emerging back on stage. "Thanks everyone! Now for our next act, another musical one for your hearts and souls. Please welcome to the stage Mania and Angelo!"

Out of Character:

@Mania Athanasiou and @Angelo Dela Cruz the stage is yours for the next 24 hours.

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

Mania was quite excited and nervous at the same time for the showcase. She'd made sure to practice with Angelo plenty before the big day. She'd never sang in front of more than her family which was already like at least over five people, but it was completely different from this. She'd spent some time making sure her outfit was all cute, turning her old very boring jeans into much cuter ones with stars, she may or may not have asked to do the same to Angelo's. "Okay you ready it's our time to go, I think?" She asked turning to Angelo when they were called out onto the stage. "Is my hair okay? Do I look okay? You look great, we are fine. We practiced." Nia had put her hair up in two pigtails with braids and creating sort of bows out of her hair, but she'd done it herself so there was always a chance it was well looking not so good.

 

[Angelo Dela Cruz]

Compared to Mania, Angelo was used to playing in front of people. He had played plenty of songs before in the classroom in his old school and had entered talent shows every now and then if they needed a representative for school events. So this was no different for him. It was actually pretty refreshing. All the bustle of getting ready for the show and practices. Mania had even gone through all the effort of doing some stitching on his jeans which he thought was pretty cool so all he had to do was put on a shirt and make sure his hair looked neat so he wouldn't mess up Mania's background during her performance.

He couldn't help but grin at his partner as he slung the guitar on his back, put both hands on her shoulders. "You look great. You sing great. You'll do great," before promptly turning her around to frog march her off to the stage, stopping just before they were in view. "Come on, you're gonna rock it out there."​

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

Mania blinked a few times before slowly grinning to Angelo who was marching them onto the stage before stopping just out of view. "Okay, we'll be fine." She said confirming it. This was all going to be okay, if nothing she could just pretend it was her family, right? That it was her siblings, mum's uninterested face and dad... It couldn't get much worse than that, right?

A she stepped onto the center of the stage, glancing at Angelo behind her. She'd be fine, they'd be fine. "Hi, okay so we are going to sing an old song called Stay With Me by Sam Smith." Mania spoke before giving a thumbs up for Angelo to start playing. As the music filled the space Nia focused on remembering the lyrics she'd been practicing for a few weeks and knew by heart, it was a little disorienting trying to make out the guitar when her heart was thundering so loudly. As she began to sing it was at first a little hesitant, she kept glancing towards her friend for emotional support, trying to to think of the other students. Eventually as she got the hang of the song and lyrics she closed her eyes and let the music do what it always did, lead her, and the lyrics just came out. It wasn't her in the space with plenty people watching anymore. No, it was Mania alone in her room, door closed, music playing and her singing by herself. It was nice even, she was vaguely aware that Angelo was there playing with her and backing her up vocally, like they'd practiced, that people were watching. As the song ended Mania opened her eyes again fully. She'd done it. She'd sang in front of more than just her family. With a huge grin she turned towards Angelo, as if to say 'WE DID IT!!' In her excitement the Gryffindor forgot if she was supposed to do a little bow or not so she just stood there awkwardly staring at her friend in excitement.



Music reference, please note that the video is recorded in a studio setting so Mania does not sound as good as in this, she's taken lessons in her childhood for some years but is still very much not a professional, nor in a studio

 

[Angelo Dela Cruz]

"We'll be great," Angelo said with a grin as he followed Mania out, smiling at the audience in front of them and even giving a wave at their friends watching. He pulled on his guitar, bringing it to his front before he took a seat on a chair that was set a few steps behind Mania, a bit off to her right. He looked up at Mania as she got to the center and gave her a wink as he did the last of his preparations, a few soft strums as Mania spoke to the crowd to make sure his guitar was in tune—he knew it was, he'd just tuned it a couple of minutes before. And then he waited for her signal.

Playing came easily as soon as Mania gave the signal. He was familiar with the song before they'd even decided on it, and they'd practiced countless times since deciding on the act. He was smiling at Mania the whole time, though, mouthing the lyrics off at her until she was confident enough to continue facing the crowd. He played softly and gently, making sure he never overpowered her. And he backed her up, on the vocals—his lower voice harmonizing with hers just as they practiced. He kept his gaze on the crowd once Mania had found her harmony, his gaze looking for someone in the audience. It was obvious when he found them, because he smiled brighter as he played.

As he finished the last note, the guitar falling into silence, Angelo didn't hesitate in putting the instrument down and rushing up to Mania, wrapping his arms around her waist and twirling her around in laughter because he was so proud of her. And then he put her down so they could stand right beside each other and take their bow.​

Reference was also found for Angelo. Which is about the right age too

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

Mania was a bit surprised when Angelo got up and spun her around but it was nice, a sign of support and that he was happy they'd done it. She was happy they'd done it. She mouthed a quick 'thank you' to her friend before turning to the crowd. "Thank you!" She said loudly before grabbing Angelo's hand and they took their bow together then they walked off the stage, Mania more or less jumping and skipping the way excitedly even doing a little spin behind the curtains. She was doing her best not to let the excitement out in a squeal.

Donesies also GM approved for Angelo <3

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy clapped as she entered before lifting her wand to amplify her voice. "Wow! That was remarkable, wasn't it? Give it up for Mania and Angelo once more, folks!" She paused for the applause. "Next we have a poetry recital. Everyone welcome to the stage, Miranda!"

Out of Character:

@Miranda Dawes the stage is yours for the next 24 hours!

 

[Miranda Dawes]

please forgive my girl absolutely imploding on stage with angst and dreadful teenage poetry and its okay to laugh at it or be uncomfortable in reactions tbh, i wrote this myself and it's not good

Miranda felt sick. To be honest, she'd been feeling sick most of the year. It wasn't really a physical sickness, more of an existential dread, but it manifested in general lethargy and withdrawal. She needed to kickstart herself and after that poetry sharing situation had been inspired to write something of her own. She would've put it in the paper, but the opportunity to perform in the arts show came up and before she'd even realised what she was doing she'd signed up. This was something separate from her work on the paper, after all. But she was going to keep regretting it the whole time, even as she walked up to the stage on shaking legs. Too far into it to back out now. She wasn't a performer, she was a writer (and wasn't even really a poet, more of a reporter), but here she was.

"Um, hello everyone," she started, giving an awkward wave. Miranda desperately hoped her mother was too busy to be in the audience. "I'm Miranda, and I work on the paper...I just wanted to, um, say thanks to Lucy and the arts club for putting this together. Um, both our clubs are, er, really about creative expression even if it's in kind of different ways, and, er, I wanted to show support..." Miranda was definitely stalling, dreading reading out her poem. It felt far too embarrassing and perhaps a bit too revealing. Well, definitely too revealing. But she'd committed to this and now she was going to have to get through it. "I wrote this while I was packing." She cleared her throat, and shuffled her paper as she shuffled her feet.

"I packed my whole life into a shiny new case
Pushed it in a cupboard to help you save face
When did you stop looking at me with pride?
The excuses, the lies, always having to hide
The truth, and now it's though I was never there,
A room that once was mine now exists as a spare.
A childhood of memories removed from my space
And left to be forgotten in a cupboard, in a case.

I carry my whole world with me in an old canvas bag
It weighs me down as I go, place to place I drag
It along with me until I find somewhere of my own
But now I stay in transience, nowhere to call a home
And I am worlds apart from those that are around me
I cannot sing, I cannot join your choir, your harmony
Here I'm thought of as no more than a wretched hag
So I'll keep searching for a home, me and my canvas bag.

I placed my broken heart into a small wooden box
I keep its shattered pieces sealed under many locks
She said the world is selfish, look out for number one
That caring is a weakness, once you start you're done
Maybe that's the best lesson my mother could impart
Everyone will let you down so harden up your heart
You've lost the keys, now you'll never open up the locks
I'll no longer share my heart, I'll keep it in the box."

Miranda honestly thought she was about to have a heart attack by the time she was done. She felt like she was having an out of body experience. It wasn't that she was unconfident, just that this was so raw, so unedited, so...probably not something she should have shared. But she'd done it now. Maybe, in hindsight, it would feel better to have gotten this off her chest. For now, she was just going to try getting off the stage without collapsing in a heap. "Um...thank you," she stammered out before rushing off. She made it about 2 steps down before slipping and landing on her backside with a loud thud. Maybe this was a bad dream. Hopefully it was.

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy's face swiftly changed from excitement to surprise. This was a poem, truly from the heart, and Lucy felt both a smidgen of cringe as well as an admiration. She could never be that open about herself, about her parents, about everything. Tears began to form in her eyes as she listened, but she managed to stem them before they truly spilled over. It was so raw and pure and bitter - something Lucy knew herself all too well. She collected herself as Miranda finished up, going over to try and help Miranda up. "That was something else. Be proud," Lucy said quickly and quietly so no one else could hear. She then straightened herself up and centred herself on stage. "Give it up for Miranda!" she encouraged, amplifying her voice. "To close our show out, we have a drama performance. Welcome to the stage, Kyousuke!"

 

[Kyousuke Kurosawa]

Kyousuke was dressed in full sixteenth century costume, complete with tunic and leggings. He'd been waiting for this day since he'd joined the conglomerated arts club - an opportunity to show off his acting skills on an actual stage in Hogwarts. The fact that they never did a school play was a travesty, in his opinion.

He emerged onto the stage, walking slowly but steadily, maintaining a strong posture. He looked around, as though searching for someone or something, then heaved a sigh. "Now I am alone," he said, seemingly to himself, then directly addressed the audience. "O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!" he exclaimed suddenly, before continuing:
"Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That, from her working, all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit?"
He paused again. "And all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech;
Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears."
Kyousuke spoke in an engaging voice, clear emotion, barely restrained and raw, in his voice.
"Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing! No, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by th' nose? gives me the lie i' th' throat
As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this, ha?
'Swounds, I should take it! for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal. Bloody bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!"
Kyousuke continued the monologue, the nerves of being on stage bringing a fire to his performance, a passion unreplicated in lone practice. He concluded his speech dramatically, then paused, before slipping out of character and giving a bow, waiting for applause. He exited the stage soon after, hoping at least one person in Hogwarts had taste enough to appreciate his exquisite work.