TeniPuri Theater

This quiz bowl will consist of a total of ten questions, chosen and asked by members of the Fudomine tennis team. Each of the four participants on the two teams should sound their buzzer to answer a question. If the question is answered incorrectly, we will pass to the next question.

Captains, please present your teams.

:: Greets guests in entrance foyer of "cottage" ::

Tezuka ... you've brought minions.

You're going to dinner with Atobe tonight, Tezuka?

Where is everybody? Kaidoh and Taka and Ochibi and Yuuta-kun and Kamio-san and Dan-kun?

Yuuta-kun, I wanted your advice. Do you have a moment?

Inui looked down the page of calculations in his notebook. Before the first two rehearsals, he'd estimated the play's probability of success at 85%. This had allowed for the play's content as both a classic and a comedy appealing to a wide audience, the demanding nature of the language appealing to the school board and the range of parts available appealing to the actors. An initial 12% deduction had come from Inui's estimate for the lack of enthusiasm the actors of Demetrius and Lysander would have for propositioning their male teammates and the actors of Hermia and Helena for portraying the female roles. The latter had been eased slightly by Fuji taking the part of Hermia with seemingly no hesitation at performing as a love-struck woman. Additionally, Inui deducted 5% for the carnage that seemed to follow his team members for no logically predictable reason. That left him with an 100 - 12 +2 -5 = 85% chance of a successful play.

After the first two rehearsals, Inui had adjusted his calculation. Kaidoh's reported stage fright had to accounted for (although Inui was confident his advice had helped his kouhai) and the 5% carnage factor had to be increased to allow for Eiji's access to ladders. The presence of Horio, either on stage or locked up, also affected the play's success (in either direction) and, for reasons Inui was not entirely sure of, his Remem-beer appeared to stop lines altogether, rather than help them be retained. -5% for unconscious actors. However, all this was more than off-set by Echizen and Fuji's unrivaled performance the day before. Admittedly, it had resembled a competitive tennis match but that added to its appeal for at least the current audience. Yes, it had been excellent data. Factoring that in brought the chance of success up to 93%.

But now there were problems. Inui looked up and cast his gaze around the theatre. Closest to him, sitting centrally in the third row, was Oishi who was directing Momo and Taka's efforts to try and hang the stage curtain straight again. Progress was hindered by the fact that Oishi's view was partially blocked by Atobe, who had taken a central seat in the front row and was sipping iced water from a glass a maid had just brought him. It seemed Atobe had brought along a collection of staff to this rehearsal. Inui adjusted his glasses and made a note of it. He was a little unsure about the maid's bust size, but for all other data reguarding her and Atobe's other servants he was confident in his calculations. Kabaji loomed on Atobe's right as a silent and very broad pillar, blocking Momo's view of Oishi's hand signals.

Behind Taka and Momo, Gakuto was taking advantage of the near empty set to backflip repeatedly from one end of the stage to the other. He was imitated by Dan, who kept falling on his head. Eiji sat in sulky silence, slumped in a chair beside Oishi as he watched the stage. Opposite the theatre from Inui, Tezuka stood with Fuji, Yuuta and Mizuki. Mizuki seemed to be sulking about something. Inui turned to look towards the back of the theatre. Echizen stood near the door, drinking from a can of ponta. Inui couldn't actually see the can's label but his data assured him the probability of it being that certain grape beverage was 100%. In the opposite corner, Akutsu leaned against the wall, combing gell through his hair. He wasn't watching the stage. It appeared that Fudomine had not yet arrived.

Inui looked back down at his notebook. Factoring in the different fractions now in this play reduced the chance of a successful performance to ... was it possible to have a minus number? Inui tilted his head slightly to one side. The data needed to be changed. It was time for a new juice.

I have a fan site. That is strange.

http://www.ibu-shinji.com/

Welcome, everyone. Today we need to decide on casting choices for the remaining parts in the play.

Since this will now be a joint arts production with our neighbouring schools, people will be dropping in and out of the session today to express interest in the free roles.

So far, we have actors for Hermia (Fuji), Helena (Echizen), Lysander (Tezuka) and Demetrius (Taka) and also Bottom (Momo) and Quince (Kaidoh). Tachibana has volenteered to take the part Egeus. The other major parts we need to cast today are for Oberon, Titania and Puck. Additionally, there are a number of fairies, villagers and the parts of Theseus and Hippolyta who have a handful of longer speeches.

In short, there is probably a part for everyone who would like to be involved, so please volunteer for roles!

As you are aware, the senior students were called to a meeting today with Seishun Gakuen's principal. However, the outcome of this meeting affects the entire team.

Since all Kantou region middle schools are required to complete the arts requisite, it has been decided to introduce the possibility of combining with students from other schools. This is seen as a way to increase inter-school relations and allow students to tackle more challenging ventures. While not compulsory, senior students in particular are encouraged to participate in a joint submission.

Since we have a suitable play with a large number of parts, we should consider allowing members of other schools to perform alongside us.

With a heave and a shove, Momo righted the stage backdrop from where it had toppled against the theater wall and pushed it into its correct position. Behind him, Kaidoh hissed with irritation as he mopped up the paint pooling on the floor. Momo dropped down off the stage and made his way over to An, who had twisted in her seat to watch the seniors head out through the back door.

"Are you going to stay?" he asked as nonchalantly as possible.

An blinked and looked up at him. "Oh. Yes," she looked again towards the door, staring at Fuji and Ryoma's departing backs. "That was really good, you know," she said. "Fuji-senpai and Echizen-kun... I had no idea they could act."

Momo felt a stab of irritation at her praise of his teammates. He also looked towards the door before scowling. "Hey, Echizen!" he called. "Where are you going? It's only the seniors at this meeting."

Ryoma turned, looking fleetingly like he'd been caught out. "Ponta," he muttered and continued towards the exit.

"Well, you better come back," Momo yelled after him, then kicked himself. He didn't want Echizen to come back, An admired him! Well, he'd have to change that. Echizen wasn't the only one who could act.

[OOC: Actually, I suspect he might be XD. Yes, that meeting can totally be to announce that they should be looking to work with other schools. Perhaps the seniors in particular are encouraged in this, hence the fact they are the only ones at this meeting?]

Ryoma stared at the script in his hand before looking back up, trying not to cringe as Eiji-sempai stumbled over yet another line. Ugh, why did Egeus have a whole big monologue right at the beginning of the play? He didn't like to think badly of Eiji-sempai, but he really wasn't going to get this right anytime soon. Sure, English was pretty hard to pronounce if you'd been speaking Japanese your whole life, and Shakespeare could be pretty impossible even if you knew Enligsh just fine. But they were never going to finish rehearsal if Oishi-sempai kept insisting that they get it right from the top before moving on.

Ryoma eyed said upperclassman, wondering just how long this would go on before he decided that getting it right probably wasn't going to happen, and that they should just move on. Then again, Ryoma didn't really mind - the less time he had to pretend he was a girl, the better. That had so not been his idea. And yet here he was, standing on the stage with a script in his hand upon which all the lines for Helena had been highlighted. This was not fair, he grumbled inwardly. Really, really not fair.

Off in the wings, Momo-sempai was goofing off or something, making a racket and Ryoma wondered why nobody had shut him up yet. It sounded like he was going to break the entire set - what they had of it so far - all on his own, and Ryoma wasn't going to stay any later than he already had to in order to fix that if it happened.

"With cunning thou hast... hast... fil.... huh?" Eiji stopped, staring at the script in his hand, before scratching his head and pulling a face. "Mou, this is so confusing! Is this really how people talked?"


[OOC: First off, pretend I don't fail so hard and had gotten to this earlier. XD Next~ I'm just going to start off from Ryoma's point of view to set up the scene, and I'll add in more people later. :D I figure they're working on the first scene, but haven't actually gotten that far, since it looks like Egeus has a whole lot of lines right at the beginning and Eiji might not do so well with them? So maybe they get stuck on that for a few minutes before being able to move on, and by the time they move on the Fudomine crowd has shown up? Let me know if that works! Also, I didn't mean to steal Eiji, but it seemed like the best way to get things started?]

Hey, Oishi-senpai, this play has loads of parts, right? We should invite the kohai to join.

[OCC: I don't want to but ... I guess we do need them and they can't be already around because at no point as 2 years tennis experience been mentioned.]

Lysanda (Tezuka):
How now my love.
Why is your cheek so pale?
How chance the roses there do fade so fast?

Hermia (Fuji):
Oh hell! To choose love by another's eyes.

Lysanda (Tezuka):
I have a widow aunt, a dowager.
From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the sharp Athenian law
Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,
Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
And in the wood, a league without the town,
There will I stay for thee.

Hermia (Fuji):
My good Lysander!
I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow,
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.


[OOC: Naturally, some serious cuts here!]

We still have a number of parts to assign, but let's run through some short scenes with the major characters. This will give us a feel for the play and the way the parts fit together. First, let's have Tezuka and Fuji in Act I. This scene depicts Hermia and Lysanda's decision to elope after Hermia's father has insisted she marry Demetrius.

Now we have a play, we need to make some casting choices, at least for the main characters. We also need a director, costume coordinator and line prompt.

Since Shakespearean English is challenging, I propose our best linguists take the roles of Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena. These characters will have long speeches throughout the play. I think this means using four out of Tezuka, Fuji, Inui, Taka and Ryoma though if anyone else would like to tackle these roles, please say.

Tezuka, would you prefer to act or direct?

Hey, Momo-sempai - somethin' you should be tellin' us?

[OOC: This popped up on my Gmail ad thing... I LOL'd so hard. XD]

S'this better, Oishi-sempai?

Everyone, we need to decide what play we're going to perform for this festival. Something with parts for everyone so we can all participate. Maybe something Tezuka would approve of a classic play that everyone can enjoy? What do people apart from Fuji suggest?

([OCC] strike = deleted)

Cat theme! NYA!!!!!

OChibi!