Sing for Their Supper - 50

 

"DJ, you're scared and hungry and lost. Ricky, you know that and see him as a prime candidate to join Fagin's gang. Stop circling each other like dogs looking for a fight," Tuck said.

 

DJ looked startled, then laughed. "I guess we were, weren't we?"

 

"Yep. Now try again."

 

It was the beginning of the third week of rehearsals. No scripts were allowed on stage now, although Vin prompted them from the piano if one of them got totally lost.

 

Gloria was due to be there the next day to continue working on the choreography, having warned them it would be more difficult.

 

In the scene shop, Norm and his crew were putting the finishing touches on the bridge-slash-up-and-down stairs of Brownlow's house. They'd moved things around to clear one wall and hung the first of the backdrops on it, after Norm had roughly outlined what he wanted. Now two young men he'd coerced into working for him for the experience were painting the scene.

 

Mace had shown up in the shop a couple of times when he'd had free time. When he did, Norm had put him to work helping to build the bridge. Norm had the feeling, from watching Mace, that the young man would have been just as happy working with him as being on stage, something he filed away for future reference when they moved on to whatever show would come next—if one did. He was fairly certain that would happen.

 

Peg and her girls were in the costume shop, slaving away—as one of the girls had put it—making the costumes for the workhouse boys and Fagin's gang. The costumes Peg had borrowed from the theater—coats for Andy, and some dresses for Fran that Peg had chosen at the last minute—hung on a rack at one end of the room, waiting to be fitted to the actors. Peg was putting the finishing touches on Fagin's coat so it could be used for rehearsals starting the next morning.

 

Brent was in the ticket office, which had become his temporary office at the theater, thinking about how to publicize the show, now that things were pulling together enough that he could do so. The opening date hadn't been finalized yet. The moment it was, he had to be ready.

 

There would be programs that needed printing, ads for the newspaper, and stories he needed to write about how the theater had come about and who was involved with it.

 

Therein lay his first major problem. As he'd said to Tuck the previous evening, "The kids are the story, but I don't think we should use their pictures."

 

"We absolutely cannot," Tuck had replied adamantly. "The last thing they need is to be worrying that they'll be found by their families, since you can bet that they don't want to be. Some of their stories…" He shook his head sadly.

 

They'll stay anonymous until opening night. Then what? Brent wondered. If there are reviewers that night, with photographers, how do I make it clear they're not to use names or pictures on the reviews? Be honest about why and hope they get it?

 

"That starts with the press releases I send to the entertainment editors," he said aloud as he turned on the computer. "I don't want them to be all 'look at what we're doing for homeless teens'. This has to be about what they're doing for themselves with our help."

 

He spent the next hour coming up with, then tossing, one idea after another. Eventually, he ended up with what he hoped would work.

 

 

 

Children of the street. Homeless adults. You've walked by them. You might even have tossed a few coins in their cups. But have you ever thought about why they're there? Have you ever wondered about their hopes and dreams? Has it ever occurred to you that they want to escape living on the streets and make a better life for themselves?

 

Nine homeless teens and adults are doing exactly that at the new Vale Lake Theater. Nine singers, dancers and musicians, ranging in age from sixteen to fifty, have combined their talents, under the direction of well-known actor Tucker Williams, to bring the musical Oliver! to the stage.

 

Why Oliver!? The story is a reflection of their personal lives on the street. Based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, it follows one young boy as he moves from his miserable existence in a workhouse to the streets of London, in search of someone who will love him. Along the way, he forges friendships with others facing the same plight—just as the cast of Oliver! at Vale Lake Theater is doing.

 

With the help of two noted local actors, Fran and Andy Rogers, scene designer Norm Howell, costumer Peg Quinlan, and choreographer Gloria Ford, Tucker Williams and his cast have turned Oliver! into a personal anthem of endurance and the will to survive despite the odds.

 

As a footnote, it had been decided not to list the names of the actors, or release their pictures, as they have left their old lives behind to escape untenable personal situations.

 

 

 

"And I hope to hell that's not too hokey," Brent murmured as he hit Save, emailed a copy to himself to show Tuck that evening, then shut off the computer.

 

*****

 

"Looks good to me," Tuck told Brent. "Maybe, change untenable to intolerable. Not all newspaper readers are as erudite as you."

 

"Well, damn." Brent made the change, saved then printed out a copy of the press release. "What are the plans for tomorrow," he asked his husband.

 

Tuck put a finger to Brent's lips. "From now until breakfast, we are not going to talk theater. I need some downtime with the man in my life."

 

Without missing a beat, Brent asked, "When will you be back?"

 

That rated him a swat on the ass, a kiss that curled his toes, and the suggestion from Tuck that they go to bed, "Before I have my wicked way with you in the middle of the living room floor."

 

They went, Tuck succeeded in being very wicked—then they slept.