A Midsummer Night's Scream

age as well as Gloria Bunting had.
    An extraordinarily good-looking and well-dressed young man had come into the room while Imry finished speaking. He spotted the elderly pair and came over to introduce himself. “I’m Denny Roth,“ he said, patting them on the shoulders patronizingly. “You’ve probably heard of me. I’ve been in several independent films. One of them won several awards at Sundance.“
    Jake was still sitting near Jane and Shelley and made a small snorting noise and winked at them again. “As an extra, wasn’t it, Denny?“
    Denny ignored this and took a seat next to the director. Jake introduced Jane and Shelley. “Mrs. Jeffry and Mrs. Nowack are going to make sure that we get fed and watered. Be extra nice to them if you know what’s good for you.“
    Steven Imry clearly didn’t like someone else making the rules and introductions. He stood in front of the head chair and said, “Starting now, we’re going to use your characters’ names at all times, as I said before. I’ve—“
    Gloria cut him off. “I’m Ms. Gloria Bunting and don’t you forget it, young man.“
    “Gloria is right,“ her husband agreed. “That’s simply not how it works in a real theater, Professor. You might wish to be trendy, but it’s not professional.“
    It seemed as if Imry hadn’t recognized that he had offended the actress and her husband. Or maybe he didn’t care. “It’s a technique I’ve used before with great success. It gets everyone into the spirit of the play sooner. You’ll address me as
    Professor Imry. Tonight is simply a first reading. No gestures, no movements. We’ll get to those tomorrow. I just want to hear you emote.“
    There were a few muttered groans, but Jane couldn’t tell who they came from. The older actors simply shook their heads. Shelley muttered almost silently, “Emote?“
    Jane had also cringed at the use of “emote.“ She smiled at Shelley. The longer they’d been friends, the more they thought alike—most of the time. But not always. For instance, they disagreed violently about how books you owned should be treated.
    She put this thought aside as the reading started. Jane was surprised at the different ways each actor read. John Bunting, now designated by the director as Mr. Walter Weston, slurred his words, but seemed to have already memorized the script. That surprised her. But on reflection, it shouldn’t have. It was probably how he had earned his living from his youth. He looked a great deal older than his wife. He obviously dyed his thinning hair. He’d run to fat and had the bloodshot eyes and the big red nose of a heavy drinker.
    His wife, Gloria, who played Mrs. Edina Weston in the script, was letter perfect and didn’t even open the script to follow it. She took on a sort of Katharine Hepburn accent when she was speaking.
    Joani-with-an-i wasn’t nearly as well prepared and had to follow each of her lines with her long-nailed, red-painted forefinger.
    Professor Imry was appalled. “You should have had this from memory by now, Angeline. I expect you to have it down by tomorrow’s first rehearsal,“ he warned. “At this stage, you could be replaced.“
    She nodded sullenly, but her attitude was a bit fearful as well.
    Denny Roth, who had the role of Todd Weston, the handsome, wayward son who had brought Angeline home to his family as his betrothed, had the script memorized by now as well, but read as if he were already bored with it, apparently changing some of Professor Imry’s wording.
    Imry chastised him. “Read it as if you mean it, and don’t improvise.“
    “It’s not my voice the way you’ve written it. I sound too old. My character’s vocabulary and sentence patterns should be his own, not yours.“
    Jane had just noticed that there were several extra scripts on the table next to her chair at the back of the room. She took one and handed another to Shelley.
    Imry’s face turned bright red. “This is my script. And I’m the director. You will read it the way it’s written and is being directed.“
    “I’m not as easily replaced as Joani, you know,“ Denny said. “You don’t seem to know my character as well as you should. Where did I go to high school? My parents are rich. They’d send me to the best private schools. I’d know better grammar than you’ve let me use in this script. It’s absurd that the script tells me to say ‘Angeline and me are getting married.’ The correct way is ‘Angeline and I are