Stage Debut
Adam was so excited. Straight out of acting school and he had landed himself a part in a big play. It was only for one night, but Adam was so excited, he had to tell everyone he knew. He rang all the friends and family he could think of; telling them they had to come and see him on stage. When asked what the show was about Adam did not really know if he was honest. He had not read the script yet. All he could tell them was that he was going to be one of two male leads in the show, and the direction he had at the audition was to act all shy and timid, which he must have done well because he got the part.
Adam got a call from the director a few days later inviting him to his studio to go through his character, meet his co-stars, and pick up his script. Parking his car outside the studio, Adam had butterflies in his stomach. This was his first real acting gig and he was nervous that he was going to mess it up. Adam looked at himself in his rear mirror, trying to give himself a well needed confidence boost. Looking back at himself, Adam was a very good looking blonde 20-year-old, a slim body that his tight-fitting clothes allowed him to show off.
You've got this
, he told himself,
your looks and body make up most of the acting anyway
.
Leaving his car and entering the studio, it did not take Adam to find the director who introduced himself as Paul. Adam was then led into another room with a small stage in the centre. There he was introduced to his co-stars of the play, Myles and Joyce. Myles a towering mass of muscle, jet black hair, and a chiselled chin. From looking at him Adam knew he was around 20 like him but standing next to Myles with his godlike muscle body and looks Adam felt like a small child. Joyce too was stunning, in her 20s with long brown hair and an incredibly shaped body. Paul even made a joke about how he could not have found three better looking people to play his characters.
Running through the story, Adam learnt that the play was about a love triangle. Adam and Myles were to play two footballers and best mates who fall in love with the same girl, Joyce. In the course of the play Adam's character would start dating Joyce but unknown to him Myles is sleeping with Joyce behind his back. Adam's character was meant to be quite shy and meek, in contrast to Myles' character who was meant to be outgoing and loud. In terms of direction and learning the script Paul told the cast that he was pretty laid back for the most part and that he was quite happy if they liked to ad lib scenes as long as it felt true to their characters and the play as a whole. Adam was glad of being allowed to ad lib scenes, he was always pretty good at it in school and it meant he had less work to do, less time studying a script to death, more time meeting up with friends and looking for his next acting gig. Paul gave each of his actors a script and arranged dates for them to come in and rehearse together.
Over the next few days, Adam came in when told and practiced his scenes. For the most part, his scenes were with Myles either in a pub with imaginary drinks or in the changing room after a football game. It came as a shock to Adam when Paul asked him to take off his shirt one rehearsal, "yeah, I think it looks odd that each scene either has you in a football kit or fully changed. I think we need more scenes with you in the middle of changing. So that's right, we'll have you both shirtless." Adam did not mind that too much, after all he had a pretty good slim hairless body. Well, he felt good about it until Myles removed his shirt to reveal a torso and stomach of outstandingly defined muscle.
It doesn't matter,
Adam told himself,
not everyone is after guys with huge muscles. Bet I'll have most of the eyes on me anyway.
Even though Adam ad libbed most of his scenes with both Joyce and Myles, he felt it was going pretty well. Paul seemed happy with his performance in rehearsals so far, and Adam's co-stars had not mentioned anything to him. If Adam was honest, he was not really sure if his co-stars were ad libbing themselves as he didn't bother to look at the script much. Adam got on well with them both, he even went for a couple of drinks with them after some rehearsals. Both were newly out of acting school like Adam and were incredibly happy with landing themselves a gig so quickly. Overall, Adam was really happy with himself, that was until he found out about the shower scene.
The topic came up over a few drinks with Myles and Joyce. "So, are you nervous about tomorrow's rehearsal?" asked Myles.
"Why would I be nervous? Oh god, its not the last one tomorrow is it? I thought we had at least another two weeks before the show started!" replied Adam.
Both Myles and Joyce laughed. "Don't be silly we still have plenty of rehearsal time left. No, I meant we have got to do the shower scene tomorrow," answered Myles.
"Shower scene?"
"Ah I knew you hadn't bothered to read the script Adam! You are always bloody ad libbing! Yeah, you and Myles have to do a scene in the showers after a football game. It is the scene when you both come to the realisation that you are both into me." Joyce jumped in.
"I'm confused. There are no showers on the stage. Are you sure that we are not just doing another topless scene?" asked Adam worriedly.
"It's called acting, Adam. You should really try it sometime," Joyce laughed with a naughty wink.
"We have to stand front of stage and pretend to shower." Myles added.
"What? I didn't know this! What are we wearing? Shorts or something?"
"Nah, bro. We have to go fully nude." answered Myles with a smile on his face.
Adam was stunned into silence. He had no clue what to say. He knew nothing about any nude scene. They were meant to tell you these things when you auditioned for the job. Adam would have to have words with Paul tomorrow. "Yeah, I'm pretty nervous myself," Myles continued, "I've never done a nude scene before. How about you Adam?"
"No. Never." Adam answered.
At the beginning of the next day's rehearsal, Adam took Paul to one side to speak to him privately. Concerned, Paul asked, "What's up Adam? Everything okay?"
"I just wanted to talk about today's scene..."
"Oh, the shower scene! You aren't worried about that are you? You'll do great Adam! You have been brilliant so far!"