Curse of the Naked Actor

Curse of the Naked Actor 1

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This story is intended for adults only. It contains depictions of forced nudity, spanking, and sexual activity of preteen and young teen children for the purpose of punishment. None of the behaviors in this story should be attempted in real life, as that would be harmful and/or illegal. If you are not of legal age in your community to read or view such material, please leave now.

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Curse of the Naked Actor
[Alpenhorn 2018]

Chapter 1: The Naked Actor

[July 6]
‘Two minutes!’ called Mr Thompkins. It was almost time for me to go on.

I went to my place, behind the set. I could look through some spaces in the backdrop. I saw the audience on three sides of the stage. It was a small house, only about 150 seats. Well, the audience has not left en masse during the intermission, so the play was not a total flop.

Right in front of me, through the backdrop, I could see the set: the kitchen of the farmhouse where my family lived. Dad (the actor portraying him) was on the far side, at the stove frying some eggs. Mom was lying on the kitchen table sleeping. Dad was talking loudly to her. A live lamb romped inside a small pen set up in the middle of the kitchen.

Mary, the assistant director and stage hand, used her spray bottle of water to get my hair wet. (My character, Wesley, has just bathed.) I remove my dressing gown and hung it on the peg. I took a deep breath ... in ... out.

I swung the door open. I went through into the light. I began to walk forward ... one step at a time ... slowly ... staring straight ahead ... as if in a trance.

I couldn’t see the audience very well. But I could hear them. Their reaction showed that they are surprised. Oh, yes. Very surprised. But surprise was the point, according to Mr Thompkins.

The public information about the play had said “Adults Only”. There was some adult language and situations in the first act. But they did not expect to see a naked boy!

I began to feel a little queasy. I hoped I wouldn’t faint.

It was the public debut of my penis. Everyone would be staring at it. Not just at me, but at that important part of me.

Careful, now. It should not stand up. So I thought about my actions, and what came next. I tried not to think about being naked. I tried not to think about everyone looking.

[*]
I was not an exhibitionist. In fact, I was rather modest---my mother said excessively modest. So how (you may ask) did I end up naked on stage? Let me tell you.

Ever since I was “2nd Daisy” in our preschool show, I knew I wanted to be an actor. I participated in all school shows. I went to drama camps in the summers. I read the trade web sites. I dreamed of my career in the theatre---maybe even movies.

So when Vancouver Play House, the regional theatre group, announced auditions to find two kids (a boy and a girl) for one of their productions, I was eager.

I won’t go into the details of the auditions. They were long and tedious.

[April 28]
I was called back for the fourth time.

‘You are our first choice for the male role,’ Mr Thompkins said. I could hardly sit still when I heard that.

‘We really intended to get someone older, though,’ he went on. ‘Younger kids like you tend to be less reliable. They are more likely to quit. They are more likely to make special demands.’

‘You can count on me, Sir,’ I said. ‘I really want to do this. I guarantee that I will not quit. I know what is involved in acting in regional theatre.’

‘That is good to hear.’

‘But there is the question of school,’ I continued.

‘Yes. You and the girl will both be in school. So we will arrange the rehearsal schedule accordingly. And our performances will be during your summer vacation.’

I had been planning to go to a drama camp again this summer. But if I got this semi-professional part, it would be so much better!

They offered me the part. They gave me a document with details---about 15 pages of details. I was to decide if I wanted the part, and if so have a parent sign it.

‘One more thing,’ Mr Thompkins said as I was leaving. ‘You are a bit pudgy. If you can lose five kilos [ten pounds] that would be good. Do more exercise; eat fewer sweets; something like that.’

At home, I told my Mom, ‘I really really really want to do this. Please agree!’

She took the document to read.

[April 29]
The next day she questioned me. ‘Are you sure about this? There are a lot of requirements for you.’

‘Yes yes yes. I am sure.’

‘Once you agree, we don’t want you backing out.’

‘I know. I won’t back out.’

So she signed. I returned one copy to the Box Office at the Play House. The other copy I put on the shelf in my room.

While school was still in session, we had rehearsals only on Saturdays. Then in June, we rehearsed four days a week. The goal was to open in early July, and have about three performances a week. Vancouver Play House would have other plays running, too.

[May 12]
At our first meeting of the actors with the production staff, we were all introduced to each other. Actors making up the family: Dad, Mom, Sis, and me. Also actors with smaller roles.

Sis was played by Missy Plotzkin. She was really pretty. (Be still my heart.) Unfortunately, she ignored me whenever she could. Still, I was always aware of where she was in the room. And how good she smelled.

Mr Thompkins was the director of the production.

“Curse of the Starving Class” by Sam Shepard was the play. Mr Thompkins gave us a summary from Wikipedia:
The play focuses on the disturbed Tate family---the drunken father, burned-out mother, rebellious teenage daughter, and idealistic son---as they struggle for control of the rundown family farm in a futile search for freedom, security, and ultimately meaning in their lives.

He went on: ‘How old are the kids in the Tate family? It doesn’t say directly. The daughter is having her first period, so she would be maybe 12. The son is a bit older, maybe 13 or 14. When “Curse of the Starving Class” premiered in London, and then Off-Broadway in New York, they used 20-something actors to play the kids.’ He looked over at me and at Missy. ‘But the Vancouver Play House production decided to do it with actors of the proper age.’ Lucky me.

As it turned out, I was 12 and Missy was 14.

We had our first read-through. We sat around a large table. Mary, the production assistant, handed out the scripts. We each read our own parts out loud. Mr Thompkins read the stage directions.

We paused frequently to discuss details.

In some scenes, I (or at least Wesley, my character) talked to Missy (or at least Sis, her character). Even though we were just reading, it was almost like a real conversation between me and Missy!

Here is the first unusual bit in the script. Wesley is in the kitchen with Mom and Sis. Sis has made a chart for her 4-H Club presentation, “How to Cut Up a Chicken”. She goes to another room. Wesley lays the chart on the floor.

‘It’s just bones,’ I read my line.

Mom and Sis are shouting at each other. The actresses shouted as they read the script.

Then Mr Thompkins read stage directions: ‘Wesley unzips his fly, takes out his pecker and starts pissing all over the chart on the floor.’

‘What?’ I gasp.

Mary, the assistant director explained. ‘We have a bladder we fill with water. You wear it under your clothes. There is a tube going down into your pants. So you unzip your jeans, pull out the tube, and let it flow.’

‘Okay. I guess,’ I said.

‘You will need to practice, but it’s not hard to do.’

Some time later in the script: Dad gives up his drunken ways and tries to become more responsible. He explains to Wesley how he did it. Dad got up at 6:30 in he morning, when everyone else was asleep. He walked around the farm, trying to feel that he was the farmer, not a drunk; to feel that he belonged there.

The actor continued to read, explaining the remedy further: ‘So I came back in the house, and the first thing I did was I took all my old clothes off and walked around here naked. Just walked through the whole damn house in my birthday suit. Tried to get the feeling of it really being me in my own house. It was like peeling off a whole person. A whole stranger.’

Here is the important part (for me). It’s later when Wesley tries to use the same remedy on himself.

We turned the page in the script. Mr Thompkins read the stage directions: ‘Wesley wanders on stage from stage left, completely naked, his hair wet. He looks dazed...’

I cried out, ‘Wait! What?’

Mr Thompkins re-reads it: ‘Wesley wanders on stage from stage left, completely naked...’

‘I will go on stage naked?’

Sis was smirking. The others were acting as though nothing was unusual.

‘There’s some trick again, right?’ I ventured.

‘No tricks. You’ll be naked.’

I gasped. I tried to catch my breath. ‘But what? The lights will be so low that no one can see?’

‘No. Full lighting.’

I was hyperventilating.

‘Let’s take a break for lunch,’ Mr Thompkins said. ‘While our Wesley calms himself down.’

So that’s why they wanted me to lose weight! Clothing will hide a slightly pudgy belly. But I would be without clothing!

After lunch we went on with the reading. I was hoping for Sis to have a nude scene, too! But there was no such scene. (But she does get blown up in a car explosion.)

I was a bit dazed after that session. I thought I should quit the production. How could I do a nude scene?

But after everything I went through to convince them to cast me, how could I quit? Impossible.

When I got home I confronted my mother. ‘I have to do a nude scene in the play!’

‘I know,’ she said calmly.

‘How do you know?’

‘It’s in that permission document.’

I ran to my room and checked. Sure enough.

‘Is that even legal?’ I tried another tack.

‘We have more leeway on that here than they do south of the border in the U.S.’

‘But why didn’t you tell me?’ I demanded.

‘I did ask you---again and again---if you really wanted to do the play. If you really wanted me to sign.’

She had me there. Of course I guess I should have read that stupid permission document myself.

‘Besides, you know that I think you are overly modest,’ she went on. ‘I was hoping you intentionally did this to force yourself to overcome that scourge.’

‘Well, I didn’t,’ I retorted. ‘Should I quit the play?’

‘Only you can make that decision,’ she replied.

I found the Wikipedia description of “Curse of the Starving Class”. It does mention Wesley’s nude scene. It seems that when they made it into a Hollywood movie, they took that out of the script. Instead the dad has a nude scene, which makes no sense really.

I stayed awake most of the night thinking. I would quit the play. It is what my modesty demanded. My whole body was crying out for it. But I had promised to do the play. Not to drop out. They were all depending on me keeping my word. Maybe I could break a leg or something.

Which would win? My modesty or my decency? My sense of shame, or my sense of responsibility?

So. That is how I ended up naked on stage.

[July 6]
I walked in completely naked. Dazed. With wet hair. I went and looked at Mom lying on the table. I turned and walked toward Dad. He kept frying eggs on the stove, talking to Mom, his back to me. So he did not notice me. I turned again and walked around the lamb pen. By now everyone in the audience had seen every side of my naked body. A slow display like that should make the audience uncomfortable, according to Mr Thompkins.

I felt all the eyes on me, even though I did not look at the audience. I felt my penis getting ready to stand up---on the verge, the cusp, of erection. I leaned down and picked up the lamb. As I carried it offstage, I held it low enough to hide what was happening.

Fortunately, only the backstage crew saw my erection. And only very briefly, as I handed the lamb to our animal handler, and quickly put my dressing gown back on.

I got through our first performance of the play. But would I be so fortunate in the next 17 performances? Or would the “Curse of the Naked Actor” strike?

next:
Chapter 2: Ferbaloe

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