[Reluctant] The show must go on!

[mockme]

This is actually based on a true story. I don't know the details, but this is how I believe they happened.

Back in the late ninties in a Northern Midwest University, there was an actress named Erin.

She was heavily involved in the theater department and if she wasn't on stage for the shows, she would work tech on them.

The professors did everything to work witht the students to get them prepared for the shows they had every year. It was a challenge and a privilege to get cast in the shows each year. You don't just turn down a role.

It just doesn't happen.

Now Erin isn't a plain jane type of girl, nor is she a knock out. She's a pretty 7 with a bit on the chubby side. Not by much though.

And she was cast that way. She had a tendency not to get the staring roles, but always the sister of the star.
If she got cast at all.

She starred in some of the student produced theater shows. But the real action is where the professors direct the shows on the main stage 3 tines a year.

Two of the shows for the season had passed and she had yet to be cast in anything for the year. Which wasn't uncommon as she was a junior and had yet to be cast in anything except for being an extra in the background in one play.

Her midwestern middleclass parents were paying for her classes and she knew it was really a privalage that she was going there. Its was tough for her to not get cast in any shows that they weren't seeing a return in their investment.

The notes on the play were released along with the charactor studies on the upcoming play.

Erin thought she was a shoe in for the lead actress.
She thought this was going to be everything she wanted in a character.
She thought it was hers indeed.

She set her mind on this character. She started memorizing all of her lines and doing charactor development.
She was two weeks out and had the lead charactors lines all memorized.

She went in for auditions and she felt she nailed it.
The three on the casting board all mentioned she had done an excellent job.

They told her while some of thes role had already been cast, it is making them reconsider some things.
And they started to interview her about her, and what she thought of the school. And if she liked it there.

Then the director asked her if she knows the whole play? She replyed "of course". She had read the play a hundred times if not more dissecting the play back and forth trying to find any leverage she would have in it to get the role.

She could tell she wasn't getting the main part she wanted. She could feel the disappointment and feel the tears well up in her eyes. She really wanted to make it on the main stage this year and make her parents proud of her, as well as herself. She really wanted this.

As her eyes welled up with tears, almost overflowing she tried to keep it together.

They then offered her the role of the younger sister that lived with her. She was elated. She knew the role, but before thinking about it, she said yes. A million times over, yes.

It was only later that she realized that the second act there was nudity in the scene. It was just a walk through being topless. She knew that the school had done nude scenes before and will do them again. So there wasn't a chance the part would be modified.

She figured she had eight weeks to worry about it.

The rehearsals went pretty status quo. Nothing too exciting. And no one discussed the nuidty at all. 3 weeks out, the director said we are going to be running everything the way it is supposed to be during tech week. So kisses will be real, more or less clothes, and all lights will be working.

Those words were engrained in her head. "More or less clothes"
Very few people had ever seen her naked. Her dorm mates never did.
A boyfriend in college earlier in her freshmen year who took her virginity. But other than that, no one in her family, no one.

She started to get panicky. Maybe she shouldn't do it.
But she had to. She had to show her parents she's a good actress and that she was very capable of being on the main stage. And that with her senior year in college, it could be a great stepping stone.

Now, to get over the barrier of being topless on stage.

The role called for her to walk out of her "bedroom" talking to her sister, topless, with pajama pants on, with a handfull of clothes headed to the bathroom on the other side of the stage. Stopping in the middle, having a quick conversation which involved the topic of her being topless, and then exiting.

The lead up to the time was growing shorter. She was still trying to figure out how she was going to do this without making it "her" on stage and not the charactor.

10 days out for the opening night, the director asked Erin if she was ready.
Erin in her usual fashion took offense to it and not thinking about the topless part. She said "of course, aren't I giving you what you need?"
The director assured her it was. But just she needs to come to grips with the nudity.
It hit her like a piano falling from the sky. This was reality.

She admitted she was nervous about it.
He told her to get some sleep tonight and we will discuss it tomorrow.

She got there the following day, and she saw on the door "closed set".
Oh shit. Her heart dropped. She knew what that meant. She was going to have to muster up some courage to do it.

She walked in and saw her other 4 actors completely naked on stage.
There was the four of them, 3 women and a man, and the director, who was fully clothed.

He assured her there was no one else in the building.

Baby steps.

She put down her books and asked what they are wanting to do.
The director knew all four had done nudity before in one level or another.

And they sat around discussing it for a few minutes before they started rehearsal.
The guy was gay, so he really wasn't interested. But he said he always enjoys a good pair of titties.

So what they thought they would do, is run the show just as they were, and let Erin decide if she wanted to do her part in it.
No back of the house people. No lighting people. No make up people.
Just them.

They ran the first act, and she felt out of sorts with the nudity all around. And she was fully clothed.
The second act was cruising, and she started losing her train of thought over the upcoming scene.
She started flubbing lines where she had never had an issue.

The director told her to stop.

She thought she was in trouble.

He sounded pissed.

Let's go back to the previous scene. And Erin, take off your shirt. You can leave your bra on till next scene.

The barking of the commands took it out of her hands and actually made it easier.

She took off the shirt, and her chubby body was out there.

Her cleavage that she hid under sweatshirts and baggy cloths was on full display.

She did the scene over, next scene, she popped her bra off and walked out there and did the scene and walked off. She said she had immediatly put her bra back on as everyone clapped.

They all got redressed and ran it from the top. This time she was aware of it, but not nearly as bad.
She was aware her tits were showing from the hot lights of the theater shining on them. She's a fair skinned lady with lots of irish in her.

So she doesn't tan. She freckles and burns.

She finally warned her parents in a long email. They already had her tickets and she just wanted to warn them.
Her brother did not make the trip. They asked her if she would prefer her to stay at home. And she said "of course not"

Slowly and slowly she was letting more people see her boobs. The last person was the makeup artist that had to help her make up her body so she didn't look even more white under the lights. She asked the make up person do her back and she handled her own boobs. But she still didn't change in front of anyone. She was still very modest and shy.

The first night went without a hitch, second night was the scary night. The parents were coming. She kind of knew where they were in the crowd, so she would break charactor for split seconds to find them. She finally found them on the right side about 20 rows back.

She did a quick calculation in her head, that if she modified the walking pattern and how she sat during the scene, she could save themselves a little bit of embarassment.

She was off stage and she was getting ready and getting undressed and prepped, then the moment hit her, her father was about to see his little girls tits. It took every ounce of courage to stand up, point them out, lower her clothes she was holding and walk out on that stage. She did it and she said she followed her normal flight path.

Giving everyone the show they paid for.

Her parents still talk about the show. They don't bring up the nudity.
But they loved it.

Now Erin stars in community theater shows and is an accountant.

But she knows that was a defining moment in her life.

And if she were to eiminate that those three weeks, the number of men who have seen her tits in real life are below ten.


And yes, her brother did see her naked one night, by accident. Totally different boring story.

Here's Erins chubby tits 13 years later.

[JennMN]

Was there any backlash against this since it was a college play? I know nudity is done in professional and community productions sometimes, but not so much with college. I posted something in the nonfiction section about what my friend went through when she was asked to do a nude scene in a college, and it wasn't a good overall situation for anybody involved.

[mockme]

Every couple years they do shows there that have nudity.

Its a college known for its theatrics. And I guess they are use to it.