An empty stage is, in my experience, one of the saddest sights you can see. For a place which has housed so many incredible performances to be devoid of all life is criminal.

I sit, legs stretched in front of me, in centre stage. I am in costume; an Arabian Belly dancer type of outfit with lots of veils. It's an emerald green colour, one of my favourites. Tomorrow night, I will be stood on this stage, in front of a packed house. Tomorrow I will be: The Slave of the Ring in Aladdin.

I look round; people are stood chatting, awaiting instruction while others are warming up, doing vocal exercises and stretching their muscles. It's just what a stage should look like just before a dress rehearsal. We're going to spend the entire evening working here, getting everything right, before opening night tomorrow. I am beyond nervous.

"Excuse me! Can everyone listen for the health and safety talk!" Jenna Hartley, our stage manager and assistant director was trying to draw the attention of the cast. We gathered round. The safety talk is the same every year, 'this door in case of fire.... meet here... blah blah blah', so I phased out, instead looking around to admire the costumes our wardrobe staff had put together.

Wishy Washy's costume was brilliant; a bright, cheerful chinese robe. The chorus all had similar chinese robes, while the two handmaidens had beautiful chinese dresses. Widow Twankey's costume was by far the best, and there would be many more just as incredible for the actor playing her. Gerald was an old theatre actor, who adored being dressed up as the dames of panto. Widow Twankey was his favourite role. So Shi, played by Isabella Hurst had a beautiful light pink chinese dress, and an absoloutely gorgeous wig. But who I really couldn't take my eyes off was Aladdin.

'Aladdin', our director and choreographer has the most incredible blue eyes you have ever seen. I would willingly drown in them. As we sit here 'listening' to the health and safety speech, I can see her resting her hand slightly on her hip, leaning her weight to her right. She's in her Aladdin costume; a just above the knee red chinese shirt, with black hotpants underneath, black leather boots to the knee and a hat that matches the shirt. She's also got shimma tights on, curtesy of her dance classes. To me, she's beautiful. Her blue eyes, her dazzling smile, her light brown hair... all of it makes her perfect to me, despite the fact others view her as nothing beautiful.

The speech finished, and I was snapped out of my adoration as 'Aladdin' walked up to the front to tell us what we were doing today.

"As most of you know, my name is Cara. This evening we're going to do a full run through, if we come to a problem we fix it and move on. By the end of it we should have a clear view on how everything is going to run tomorrow and for the rest of the shows. All clear?"

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Author guidance for This exercise

Name: Helena Seabridge
21
Appearance: Long black curled hair to mid way down her back, one green and brown eye, one green and blue, long eyelashes, fairly pale skin, 5"10, curvy.
Personality: Cheerful, loves to sing, dance and act, but has a little bit of a stage fright issue and is not confident unless she is dancing or in a group.
Character/Position: Slave of the Ring
Stargazer

Name: Cara Adams
Age: 22
Appearance: Bright blue eyes, big smile, pale-ish skin, light brown hair. 5"6, slim.
Personality: Happy, loves everything to do with theatre, seems slightly harsh when directing but only because of wanting the show to be the best it can be. Proud and confident.
Position: Director and Choreographer/Aladdin
LuneXian

Name: Isabella "Bella" Hurst
Appearance: Straight blonde hair that is waistlength, colored starlight under the lights. Arched, exotic eyes of deep chocolate, and a sassy, pursed smile.
Personality: Highly focussed and disiplined, she is fearless and daring - a showman on stage. She is a classically trained ballerina who turned some of her attention on theatre after sufffering a now-mostly-healed ankle injury. While a little competitive, she is acts mainly as a friend to everyone with a sophisticated, diplomatic air.
Character/Position: So Shi (Princess)
ZillaGirl

Name: Maria Wright
Appearance: Shoulder length, chocolate coloured hair and dark brown eyes. Average height (5'6" ish), slim. Slightly tanned skin.
Personality: Has always dreamed of being a big time star and has learnt a lot from rejection. Things are finally starting to pick up and she refuses to let her chance slip away. She's ruthless and won't let anyone get in her way.
Character/Position: Chorus
mollie1994


Name: Evelyn (Eve) Simpson.
Appearance: Shoulder blade length, wavy ginger hair. Light brown eyes. Under average height (around 5'4"), average weight. A few freckles around her nose.
Personality: Normally cheery and bright once you get to know her, but can have random mood swings that send her mood plummeting. She has always wanted to be in "a good musical, like The Sound of Music, or Singin' in the Rain".

AutumnMay


Jenna Hartley
21
Appearance: Short black hair, navy square glasses which cover her deep blue eyes, dark pink lips which stand out against her pale complexion. She's only 5ft2 but wears heels which make her taller.
Personality: She's well organised, can command respect easily, has a loud voice. She's likeable but never quite fits into the group of actresses and dancers.
Role: Stage manager/assistant director.

James Hartley
21
Appearance: Black hair, deep blue eyes, tanned skin after spending many vacations down south, deep pink lips like his sister's. He's 6ft and quite a fanciable icon.
Personality: Much more popular than his twin sister, is quiet in strange situations, easily flirts with girls, is organised but not as much as Jenna. He's empathetic and easily makes new friends.
Role: Lighting & Sound station

Craig Jones
Age: 24
Appearance: Short and shiny wavy hair, Italian brown and Egyptian-like colored skin (due to his parents' heritage) with hazel brown eyes. He is quite slim, has an angular bone structure which is perfect for the role he plays and has a height of about 5.8 ft.
Personality: He is very kind and open to everyone in the cast and crew. He seems as if he is carefree, but he has a certain enigma when it comes to his personal issues; he never opens up to anyone about it.
Role: Abanazar

Name: Grace Stylus
Age: 22
Appearance: She has wavy black curls usually tied into a bun to avoid her hair falling in front of her face when she is doing her job and has radiant green eyes. She always wears make-up to show her talent, she does dress appropriately at all times except when it comes to Craig; she is more revealing.
Personality: Jubilant, she enjoys everything as if it was the first time she had seen or done anything, although she does look as if she has a lot of experience in her life. Her attitude is towards the crew is polite even though she might hate some of them
Position: Make-up artist.

updated Oct 11 '11 by Stargazer