Roman decided to check out all of the theaters he inherited when his father passed away. Because when his father first passed away he was in mourning and left the running of the theaters to the directors. Now he finally felt like he was ready to take over the theaters but first he wanted to go undercover to find any mishaps. He had gone through all but one of the theaters all the others were working perfectly no problems whatsoever. The last one was the hardest to enter it was his father pride and joy his first theater and smallest not that it mattered to him. When he entered for the job opening he was surprised to not be met at the entrance as he normally was. He shrugged it off thinking that the cast and crew must be busy this close to opening night.
"Hello I'm here for the job opening" Roman called when he saw no one in the house. A man with a burn mark on the left side of his face poked his head out from the right wing. Before Roman could get a word out the man turned his head and yelled.
"YO VEE IT'S FOR YOU" without saying anything else he went back behind the curtain and another man came out wearing an MCR hoodie. The man Vee walked up the house to Roman he looked him up and down then said
"You're hired" with that he turned around and motion Roman to follow him. Roman was too surprised to argue and followed without a word the walked onto the stage and into backstage. Roman expected to see a bunch of stagehands but was shocked to see only four including the person that yelled for Vee.
"Where are the rest of the crew and cast" Roman asked Vee
"This is the whole crew director is too cheap to hire more and the cast is never here so this is it until opening night" a man in the back pipped up.
"Ya I'm surprised that the director even opened another slot it must be that new owner" The man with the burn said.
"Oh, shut it all of you get back to work" Vee snapped out then he turned to Roman "What can you do".
"I am pretty good at blocking and costume making" Roman said flustered by all that was happening.
"Well Janus is the costume-master so you can do the blocking stay here" Vee said and without another word left Roman with the strange stagehands.
"Hi! my names Tayln they/them please I am the crew chief/stagehand" A shot rocker looking person held out their hand for a handshake".
"My names Roman it is a pleasure to meet you Tayln" Roman said kindly while shaking their hand. Another person walked forward wearing a bright orange beanie.
"Sup names Joan they/them as well I am the stage manager/stagehand" They said with a two-fingered salute. The boy with the burn mark also stepped forward.
"My name is Janus he/him I am the costume-master" Janus said. The last man in the corner with a mustache skipped forward.
"Hi! Names Remus he/him I am the prop-master" The man said while aggressively shaking Romans hands. He only let go when Vee came back with the script and handed it to Roman.
"The first act has already been blocked so don't bother with that and my names Virgil I run audio and lights" Virgil said while Roman was looking through the script. Then he turned around to the rest of the group and barked out "All right bastards let get this done this year shall we".
Roman followed Virgil and once they reached the stage he finally asked "Where is the director and cast".
Virgil scoffed and replied "Probably out getting hammered or just sitting at home" with that he got off the stage and started to walk up to the booth.
"But isn't it a week to opening night how am I supposed to block without the cast members" Roman called after Virgil slowly getting angrier at the director who was destroying his father's favorite theater.
I'm gonna give you the lights and audio for the first song of act 1 and you try your best if it doesn't work out I can give you a different job" Virgil said from the booth as he put on headphones.
"I thought that Joan was the stage-manger" Roman said confused by the dynamic. As he was saying that Joan was walking out from left wing.
"I call out cues during shows but it's Virgil that runs the show" Joan said while carrying a rather large chair. He then turned towards the booth and shouted "Yo! Vee where do you want the chair".
Virgil looked up and yelled back "As the new guy he is doing the blocking". Then he went back to whatever it was he was doing. Joan turned toward Roman and looked at him questioningly. Roman quickly flipped through the script and read the stage directions for the song.
"Put it upstage right please" He said while in his head he was planning what he was going to block then it occurred to him and he yelled up to Virgil "How are the cast going to know where to move if they aren't here". He got his answer when Joan came back with glow in the dark paint.
"We put this where they have to step and use different colors depending on person and seance". Joan explained.
"Isn't that expensive why doesn't the director get new actors and actresses that actually do their job" Roman said confused.
"Because the whole cast is friends of the director or they pay him a lot of money to get a place in the cast" Joan stated clearly annoyed by the fact.
"How often is the director and cast here" Roman asked hoping it wasn't as bad as he thought.
"Their hear during 'auditions' Joan said while using air quotes for auditions he continued "and the shows and that's about it sometimes the director comes and screams at us for not doing our jobs or some other bull-shit".
"Alright stop chit-chatting new guy you got any idea of what you're gonna do" Virgil yelled down at them. Joan quickly got off the stage and brought the rest of the set piece on stage and moved them to where Roman wanted them. At the end of the day when he finally made it home Roman was more tired than he had ever been before he was doing the jobs of three people while the other crew members were doing the work of six each. Roman was ready to murder the director but decided to let him dig a hole for himself first. He continued to work at the theater and getting to know the crew and finding them to be quite funny and very talented. While Virgil could be scary when he wanted to his insults were good natured. The night before opening night Virgil and Roman were sitting on the stage just talking.
"I used to watch shows here all the time with my father" Virgil said suddenly after a few moments of silence he continued "Every time there was a new show my father was able to gather enough money we would go see it this place was a place of magic and talent I always dreamed of performing here".
"My father also loved this place" Roman said when Virgil finished speaking "I remember he used to take me all the time before he got sick". They sat in silence for a while before they decided to leave. When Roman got home he came up with a plan he was going to fire the director but first he wanted to make sure Virgil and the rest of them got the recognition they so deserved.
He called his secretary and good friend Patton as well as his other friend and lawyer Logan and told them about his plan. He told the director that he was coming to visit and see his father's theater. The next day at work not surprisingly the director and cast were there and messing up everything the crew was working on. Roman felt bad about messing up their hard work but decided the raises and promotions would be better in the long game. The director finally noticed him but didn't recognize him and stormed up to him.
"you must be the new stagehand get to work before I fire your ass you imbecile". Virgil walked up to them ready to defend him which Roman felt happy about but decided to stop him.
"Actually, I am not a stagehand I am Roman Prince the new owner of this theater and you are no longer the director" Roman stated smugly.
The man started to sputter and when he finally seemed to gather his wits (not that there much of them) he said "Nice try boy the new owner is too busy crying for his daddy to notice anything". Roman saw red and wanted to kill the slimy man but Logan grabbed his shoulder before he could.
"Hello my name is Logan Lancaster I am Mr. Princes lawyer and I advise you to stop speaking to my client in such a manner" Logan stated while fixing his glasses.
"You think I will believe you any of you what kind of show do you think I run here" the ex-director said.
"I don't think you run any show I worked here for several weeks and I didn't see you until opening night Virgil here" He said while gesturing to Virgil who was standing there with his mouth open "runs this show and quite well I must add". The director realized he had made a mistake and tried to suck-up to him but Roman wasn't having it. Roman fired him and the actors right on the spot once all of them left he turned to the crew.
"Why the hell didn't you say anything" Janus demanded then he looked at Patton and said seductively "Are you single pretty boy OW". Virgil hit Janus upside the head and glared at him.
"Keep it in your pants Janus" Virgil said while Janus rubbed his head also glaring. Patton blushed not used to flirting. Virgil turned his glare onto Roman
"Why didn't you say anything" Virgil demanded. Roman rubbed the back of his neck.
"I went undercover at all of my theaters but this one was the only one that had trouble" Roman said and after a few moments with silent urging from Virgil continued "I like working with you guys and I also wanted to let the director dig a hole for himself". After a long talk with everyone they all had dates through no one remembers who asked whom. As promised they all got raises and more hands to help out. The End
(Sorry that's trash)