Intros and Intrigue
Donnie Ashford had never been in a play before. After working to the courage he had his big break. A senior project was posted on the college bulletin board: “Help wanted: Anyone interested in a modern day play. No experience necessary, just a willingness to participate and have a good time.”
Donnie clutched the ad in his hands. “No more hiding. I want to take the stage. I will be an actor!”
He clutches the ad in his grip as tight as he can while shaking it into the air as a declaration, but not never getting jabbed in the back by one of the on campus theatre guild members. “Hey, you big bully! I spent all night making that flyer!”
Donnie blushed when he slowly pulled the ad down and looked at the now wadded up mess in his hands. He let out a nervous laugh as he flattened it out on a nearby table and gave it back to them. “Sorry about that…”
The guild member took the misshapen paper and stormed off in a huff, grumbling under their breath. “Big…dumb…no respect!”
Brushing off the awkward moment with the guild member Donnie makes his way to the campus stage where the student director, Michelle Denning, was scribbling notes on her pad furiously. “It needs…more action! No…romance? Hmm…maybe a splash of comedy…oh yes! Dad jokes! Lots of Dad jokes!”
Confused by Michelle’s conversation with herself, Donnie carefully approaches her.
“Excuse me,” He greeted calmly.
Michelle unintentionally throws her work into the air after appearing spooked. “It was just an idea! Don’t fire me!” She stands awkwardly staring as a couple papers slowly drift to the floor. “Oh, my apologies. I thought you were the Theatre professor again telling me to quit wasting department funding on nonsense.”
Donnie attempts to say something, but is still quite perplexed by her unusual behavior. “Um…right. Would uh, you like some help getting your papers back together?”
Michelle gives a defeated looked and sighs. “Yes…again, sorry about the reaction. I am running off of 2 hours of sleep and 5 cups of coffee. I’m a bit, ah!” She randomly screams, scaring Donnie and causing her papers to fall back to the floor. “Sorry again, nervous twitch when I get into my emotions. Let me start over.” She takes a moment to perform a breathing exercise to calm her nerves before striking an overdramatic pose. “Greetings, New Comer! I am Michelle Denning! This is my Senior Project! Would you be interested in joining a wonderfully constructed cavalcade of students from various backgrounds as we dive into the unknown of a fresh script with off the wall ideas!?”
Donnie’s eyes light up as he feels the intense pride of her work. “Yes! More than anything!”
She grabs him by the arm and yanks him back stage. “Excellent! We have so much to do, so little time to do it in, limited budget, ah!” Stops nervously halfway to the stage. “Sorry again…”
“It’s fine,” Donnie replies with an understanding smile.
She takes a breath of relief. “Thank goodness. I know I tend to scare people off with my little quirks. Now, where were we…hmm…props! We need to get you props!
She resumed guiding Donnie to the back of the stage where they come across and large pantry of props and costumes. From swords, guns, glasses, and costumes of various time periods, the kangaroo island players had anything and everything ready to put on the show of the century.
Off in the corner, Layla Bridget was fiddling with her long, auburn hair in one of the full body mirrors and playing a scene in her mind. “Why no, Mr. Beauregard, I have in fact never seen a stallion with such a fine mane before.”
Donnie raised an eyebrow at her flirtatious acting before catching his eyes on a large red coat and metal swords. “Wow, look at this! This reminds of…Treasure Island! Oh, I would love to be a pirate!”
Michelle’s eyes grew to the size of her face with excitement landed on her like a cartoon anvil. “Pirates! Yes! Pirates! Ah!” She nearly tackles Donnie into the backroom floor, causing Layla to jump from her antics. “You are brilliant! I knew I needed something for this story! Pirates! Yes! Thank you…you…” Her cheeks immediately turned several shades of red. “I am so sorry, I didn’t even bother to ask your name and here I am attacking you in the backroom.”
Donnie laughs so much from the whole situation that he was in tears. “It’s fine, Michelle. My name is Donnie and I’m already having a great time.”
Peace washes over Michelle’s face as she composes herself with another breathing exercise. “I’m good now. Now…ah yes, Pirates! Put on that coat, grabbed the sword…hmm.” She rummages through a giant box of hats until she comes across an large pirate hat with an exaggerated feather sticking out of it. “And where this! Now, go out there, use your imagination, and have fun! I’ll try an contain my outbursts.”
“I can do it. Now, what is my scene?”
Michelle taps a pencil to her mouth as she ponders his question for a moment before a lightbulb goes off in her head. “The KISS Acronym! Keep It Simple Stupid!” Donnie raises a finger to ask before she raises a hand to silence him for a moment. “Tut tut, give me a second to think. Simple…simple…sword fight! Alright, Donnie, you are about to challenge a rival captain for control over the buried treasure! From there…just have fun with it.”
Donnie takes the stage. His confidence is shaky as he steps out into the spotlights. Various members of the theatre guild are lounging around doing various activities as they watch everything play out. Donnie takes the stage, pulls out the sword from its sheathe, and takes a dramatic pose. “Avast you nave! This here be my treasure!” He attempts to speak like a pirate. “I’ve searched the seven seas for many of years and I will not be bested by the likes of ye, for I am Captain Long Feather!”
Michelle claps as she bounces up and down from excitement. “Yes, Donnie! Yes! Ah!” She quietly sits down and sips on her sixth cup of coffee.
As Donnie is about to continue the scene, Layla comes from the back room with an absurdly colored purple pirate jacket and her own sword. “Oh, so you want my treasure do you?” She asked angrily with her stage hairbrush in her hand. “And what makes you think I will just…hand it over to the likes of you? You are nothing but a sea dog, Captain Long Feather. For I, Captain Rochella Lampre have conquered vessels and your pitiful little skipper that you call a ship is but a stepping stone.”
Michelle nearly passes out from excitement overload. “Yes! Ah! Ah! You two are perfect! Keep going! Yes!”
While we continued our improv on stage, the majority of the department nods their head in approval while Jacob Bishop, the groups sarcastic guru, bounces his head back and forth playing out the scene in his head. “Am I the only one catching some romantic tension here? Clearly these two captains are into each other and are using the treasure as an excuse to see each other again.”
Michelle’s director ears are set on fire as she jumps onto her chair and faces Jacob. “Write that down! Write that down or so help me I will pluck your mustache hairs one by one until you do!”
“Goatee, not mustache. Everything is connected.”
As he finished his sentence, she jumped on top of him with a pair of unusually sharp tweezers and gets in his face. “That wasn’t a threat Jackey…that was a promise. Now, pick which hair goes first unless you are ready to listen.”
Realizing how serious she is, he immediately reaches for a notebook and starts writing furiously. She playfully pats him on the head before returning to her seat while the guy next to him hoping to see something different quietly pumped his fist.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, is Scott Arsgard is trying to hold his breath sitting with his friend, Mary Dearing. “The pirates I get, but why did you have to bring your cabbages from the grocery store!? I’m positive one of them has already gone bad.”
Mary flips her hair. “A good actress is ready at any given moment. You never know what sort of adventures await us in the great theatre hall.”
Scott trying to keep it together shake his head. “Fine, whatever, but do something with that rotten cabbage will you?”
Mary rolls her eyes and fishes for the one cabbage bagged separately that has clearly been sitting on the shelf for too long. “Fine, but you own me another rotten cabbage.” She tosses it on the ground while her pet corgi pounced from underneath the seats and started attacking it with loud, growls and yips.
Scott was taken aback and looked at her with great confusion. “What do you mean, “Another rotten cabbage!? You mean you intentionally bought rotten food? What for?”
Mary starts tearing off small pieces of another cabbage and eating it. “Reasons…may or may not have to do with critique of the performances we are being forced to sit and watch until our fearless leader figures out what she wants to make a play about.”
Michelle, clearly distracted by the commotion behind her stands back on her chair and shakes a fist. “Mary! How many times have we told you, keep the produce in your fridge! The building almost failed inspection because of a mouse found upstairs. And why did you have to bring Jo Jo along?”
Scott stands up. “Thank you!”
Mary pouts as she pretends to be offended. “Why wouldn’t I bring my wittle muffin with me. He’s my Jo Jo bear and he goes where I go!”
Michelle rubs the bridge of her nose as the muscleman of the group, Bruno Armenian, is lifting his exercise weight in his hand. “I am quite confused what any of this has to do with the play. You said you needed a well built strongman. How are people supposed to see my muscles if I’m stuck in a pirate’s suit?” He asked as he flexes his toned muscles.
“It’s called creative redirection, Bruno. You’ve been here long enough to know that. Now, please, can we all get on the same page here. Everybody on stage!” The remainder of the guild takes to the stage as they all stare awkwardly at each other, waiting for their directions.
Jacob rocks back and forth on his feet while the rest of the group waits for Michelle to compose herself. “So, nice weather we’re having up hear. Cool stage, is that mahogany flooring?” Annoyed by his comment, Bruno shoves him off the stage and pretends like nothing happened.
“Alright, people,” Michelle began to explain. “I know I’ve been on the fence about what I wanted from you all. But I think our new friend Donnie here has come up with a great solution. We are doing a Pirate play.” Bruno opens his mouth to protest before Michelle gives him a death stare. “We…are doing…a pirate play…am I understood…Mr. Armenian?” Bruno shakes his head nervously as Jo Jo takes the stage gnawing on the rotten cabbage.
“What’s the play going to be called?” Donnie asked.
Michelle tapped her pencil against her mouth and pondered for a moment while pacing back and forth and occasionally sipping on coffee. “I think…KISS Michelle, let the acronym flow. Hmm…got it! The play will be called: Deus Ex Machina!” Half the group looks conflicted as the other half looks absolutely perplexed as Donnie raises his hand. “Question?”
“What does that mean in English for those of us who haven’t taken a theatre class before?”
“Latin for: god from the machine. To put it simply, a story with a forced happy ending from an unexpected place. Here’s the story. Captain Long Feather and Captain Rochella Lampre grew up together, but were forced apart because of rival family politics. Unhappy with their living situation, they both leave their families behind and also unknowing to both, became Pirate Captains! After a fierce conflict and a grand adventure in between, they discovered their long lost relationship and admit their love to each other as they continue to search for the lost treasure of Davy Jones! So…what do you think?”
Donnie and Layla look at each other with unspoken agreement and take to the stage together holding hands in dramatic fashion. “Let’s do it!” They answer in unison.
Michelle’s face beams with joy to the point she passes out either from excitement or caffeine overdose from her coffee. Donnie and Layla immediately jump off the stage to help while the rest laugh at their antics.
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About
James is a Christian Fiction writer who puts his faith first and foremost in all his inspiration. After a decade of retail life, he seeks to join the writing world by creating a safe reading selection for teen/young adult readers. He is the author of a 10-book series called the Grace Series and the Fantasy series Clash of Light and Dark.
James follows the teachings of the King James Bible and believes every day is another chance to learn from the Creator and spend every day taking steps closer to becoming more Christ-like.
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