Chapter 20: Summer Challenge

RONDA, PATRICIA, AND TONI drove straight through on Saturday and Anna and I welcomed them in the time-honored way. I danced for an hour with Toni before she was even willing to hug Anna. Then I got my opportunity to hug and hold Ronda and Patricia.

“I’m so happy our family is all back together,” Ronda said. “I thought this term would never end.”

“Maybe we can just play house for the next few weeks and have fun,” Anna suggested.

“Um ... Daddy has to work,” Patricia said. “And it’s only fair that his wives help. We have our next theatre shoot this week. It’s dress rehearsals for Much Ado About Nothing and the shoots are from noon until four each day so the stage can be reset for performances at night.”

“We’ve got these, like, every other week all summer, don’t we?” I said. “There are seven plays in three venues, plus our three performance art shows. Which reminds me, I need to talk to Leanne about when models are arriving and when we’ll be rehearsing.”

“Okay. Well, I’ve been in school until yesterday and feel like I haven’t had any time to speak of with my lover. Does anyone object to Nate screwing me into the mattress tonight?”

“I think we’d all like to help,” Anna said. “I miss you guys so much when we’re not together.”

Even with the work we had to do the next week, it was great to be together as a family again. Toni was happy to go to her ‘summer school’ and meet some of her friends. It made no difference if she knew them or not. They were instantly her friends.

Patricia and I managed the shoot of Much Ado. It was a little bit strange to me. I didn’t think Shakespeare actually wrote a play set in the 1890s, but that was how the director and designers staged it. They said it depended on a lot of Edwardian costumes and Art Nouveau set decoration. I have to say the Keystone Cops routines were pretty funny. They’d probably steal the show.

Hero and Claudio, supposedly the romantic leads, were both kind of nobodies in my opinion. It was Beatrice and Benedick who steal the show with clever circumlocution around whether or not they were even interested in each other.

And oh, was she beautiful! In a mature way. I thought it was interesting that where Damien had chosen to play all his tragic characters as much younger—preferably teens—the cast of Much Ado seemed older than what you would think of their characters being.

We still enjoyed photographing all of them. This show had many more women in it, as not only Hero and Beatrice, but waiting ladies and women of the court. The director, though, wanted to spend as little time as possible on photographs and only yielded to the big boss who told him he had to cooperate.

After the first day, we recruited Ronda and Anna to come to the theatre with us and help keep us organized. I wouldn’t have been surprised to find that some of the women in this show were a little jealous of the beauties I had working with me.

Ronda and Patricia also got to see both The Duchess of Malfi and Macbeth that week. They were suitably impressed. This time, however, it was Ronda who spent her time naked in the darkroom with me when it came to getting the film developed and proofs made. We made good use of our time, even though as Anna and I discovered, actually having sex while processing this many Cibachromes was less than satisfying. When we finished a day’s work, though, we were keyed up enough to rush to bed before dinner.

I thought I’d get to take the family out to brunch on Sunday, but Shawna had just gotten to town and we had to rehearse the newest paint job.

“It’s nice to see you, Shawna,” I said when we met at the theatre. We were rehearsing on stage at the Third Stage. This theatre was an open space with movable audience seating for about seventy-five people.

“Hey, Nate. You ready to put your hands all over my luscious body?”

“Oh, baby. I’ve been dreaming about having my hands all over your luscious body,” I laughed.

“Good. That’s where my dream has them. Now get me naked and start painting.”

During the course of our rehearsal, Damien, Kathleen, and John all came in to observe. It didn’t bother Shawna, so we just kept going. Judy had bothered her more. When Shawna got to Stratford and discovered Judy and Leanne were rooming together—and sometimes sleeping together—she was a bit jealous. But it had been a real revelation when she found out Judy was participating in the performance, and Shawna would be wearing what Judy created.

I think Judy had ways of making Shawna stop considering her a rival that included a judicious application of her tongue. She still wanted me to apply things to her, as well.

Damien and Kathleen had collaborated on a script that would have pieces read during the performance. John was planning to move some set pieces into place while we were painting, showing the performance coming together. And three drummers would be improvising on congas through the entire performance. It was going to be pretty cool.

At noon, we cleared the stage and used a dressing room in the little theatre space to wash Shawna thoroughly. She was pretty happy to have three people paying special attention to her under the water and expressed her pleasure in squeals several times.

Anna, of course, was over at the theatre Friday morning and both Monday and Tuesday taking orders and getting the marketing prints distributed. In the meantime, Patricia, Ronda, and I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the Avon Theatre photographing An Italian Straw Hat.

Photographing at the Avon was different than at the Festival Theatre or the Third Stage. The Avon was a proscenium stage, so everything was from the front straight on. The Festival Theatre was a thrust stage, so you could view the action from three sides. The Avon stage was also elevated and I couldn’t effectively shoot from the audience floor. When the director paused the action for photos, I had to run on to stage and set up to get the shot where it was. It took a lot longer than just being on the audience level and shooting.

Tuesday night, we all got dressed up, including Toni, and went to see the opening of Much Ado. Toni was good as gold and laughed at appropriate places in the play. She loved the bumbling Keystone Cops. It was that level of humor, I guess. We didn’t go out or to the party after the show. I worked Thursday and Friday processing photos and making proofs that Anna could take to the marketing staff.

I was beginning to see orders of black and white prints coming in from the actors and crew. I wasn’t taking any studio appointments and we were working as if we were in a production assembly line. We were still making a bunch of money.

Our Saturday rehearsal with Shawna really surprised me. I guess even when we did our class performance, we were pretty free-wheeling. We did a lot of talking and joking, even engaging with the audience at times. This wasn’t just Leanne and me painting a model, though. Even though it was pretty much improvisational, this was an official part of the Festival and Damien was directing it. He and Kathleen had written the script. He and John had worked out the setting. He and the drummers had worked out the music.

I couldn’t agree more with the concept and script. It was just surprising to be pushed around on stage, almost like I push my models around. We did a technical walk-through without the paint and without stripping Shawna to get the lighting and setting right. Then we went through the various poses in the script and Damien had me check the camera angles and where I’d be putting the tripod. He made sure I had room to work around the camera as a crew came in and started setting up chairs.

The black box of the Third Stage was taking shape as an actual theatre and we were going to be performing there. Then we did an actual dress rehearsal. Judy had costumes for Leanne and me, as well as herself. I guess we were kind of pirates, but of no particular rank. Shawna had some semblance of native clothes from Africa that we tore off her as we painted. As we worked—and Damien was right there with us giving us suggestions—it really turned into a kind of bizarre dance among the four of us. And while we were dancing together and painting Shawna, John and two guys on his crew moved set pieces around behind us. He’d said they were left over from the shipwreck in The Tempest. Between the barrels and nets and ropes, and the lighting, the whole thing had a very nautical feel.

The whole scene was played out as a story of the capture of an African brought to the New World as a slave. Eventually, the slave revolted and the chains ceased to be shackles and were draped around her as armor and weapons. Damien had titled the piece, ‘The chains of slavery become the weapons of revolution.’

When we’d finished the rehearsal, Damien called us together to give us notes, encouraging Shawna to show more anger in her face than despair, suggesting an adjustment to our costumes. Asking John to move barrels and ropes into different positions during the performance, especially after Shawna was painted and I was ready to take pictures.

“God, you’re beautiful!” he said to Shawna. “Have you considered acting?”

Shawna laughed. “I’m an advertising graphics major in college who just hooked up with these crazy people for fun. And to get laid. I couldn’t act.”

“I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you’ve been acting all morning,” Damien laughed. “Okay, everyone. Reset to the beginning. Shawna, get cleaned up and as soon as we’ve had a bite to eat, we’ll run it again.”

What? Again? Damn!

I have to say, the second rehearsal was a lot smoother. The music seemed to be right on target. The lighting was phenomenal. And showering twice with Shawna was fun.

Sunday afternoon, I was surprised to find nearly seventy people in the audience when we were ready for the curtain to go up.

“As you will discover this season, this Third Stage space is one in which we’ll be exploring and pushing the bounds of theatrical expression,” Damien said at the beginning. “Today’s performance art began as a collaboration of four Chicago artists who came to our attention through the local photography studio, Attic Allure. In fact, the performance was contrived to tell a story in photographs. So, during the performance, you see two cameras that our photographer and performer Nate Hart will be using to capture the scenes that are painted by makeup artist Leanne Kim. Costumer Judy Delap will be working to enhance the image, and they will be working on model Shawna Casper. Watch and listen as they present the story and record the pictures.”

There was a minute of drumming in a very African rhythm. The four of us took a deep breath and Leanne and I headed onto stage to set things up. John brought us a chair and I shook out a barber’s apron. Judy was just sweeping the floor. Shawna entered, looking like an average young woman off the street coming in for a hair appointment. We seated her in the chair and I put the apron around her neck.

From there the scene took a dark turn. Judy scrambled to chain Shawna’s arms behind her and chain her feet together. Of course, the whole performance depended on Shawna’s ability to get out of the shackles, so nothing was really fastened to anything, but Judy made a lot of racket with a hammer, pounding on the chains. Leanne stepped up and began spraying Shawna’s long hair with blue hair color, some of which got on Shawna’s back and forehead.

I used yellow paint to mask her eyes and lips. We whipped off the bib and tore her clothes off. Judy had made breakaway seams so a couple of tugs and Shawna’s blouse and skirt came away, leaving her naked. I stood her up and Judy moved take the chair. That was when the scene started changing and the crew gradually transformed our beauty shop into a slave ship. We tattooed a slave number down one of Shawna’s arms, using the yellow paint. I thought the master stroke was dipping my hands in white paint and leaving white man handprints on her ass, breast, and across her pussy.

We pushed Shawna to her hands and knees and used her as a table as we sat around it drinking.

Then there was a storm with the lights and we were tossed one direction and another. Shawna rolled toward the audience, coming up on her knees to discover the chains had fallen away.

This was the point I left the scene completely as if washed overboard and began taking pictures. I’d carefully wiped all the paint off my hands so I didn’t get any on the cameras. Shawna crept toward Leanne and wrapped a chain around her neck, mimicking strangling her. While that was in progress, Leanne reached behind her to drip red paint down Shawna’s chest like blood. Leanne dropped to the floor, seemingly dead.

Then Shawna swung in slow motion and whipped a chain across Judy. Judy dropped to the floor like Leanne had.

The drumbeats picked up the rhythm and Shawna moved from pose to pose as Damien read the words of the script he’d prepared and I took pictures. As she moved, she wrapped the chains around herself, using them as a skirt and blouse as she bore the marks of her slavery into her freedom.

The performance was just under an hour. I think people got their dollar’s worth out of it. And I got some incredible photos.

We got a lot of applause and hung around to meet the audience. Judy had a robe to pull over Shawna so she wasn’t just standing talking to people naked. Anna was at the back of the theatre with a display of our makeup art prints, featuring both Shawna and Min. She took orders for prints.

This time, when we took Shawna to shower, my cock found its way into her pussy and we both worked off a lot of pent-up emotional energy. Shawna didn’t even notice that Judy and Leanne were hot into it with each other.

Damien and Kathleen had the four of us, my girlfriends and Toni, the musicians, and the stage crew over to their house that evening for dinner. Their house was beautiful, but it barely held a party the size of ours. Prominently displayed on the walls were photographs I’d taken of Kathleen and the super photo of Olivia we’d worked on last summer.

“I didn’t think Olivia would ever give that photo up,” I said.

“You wouldn’t believe what I gave her for it. I plan to hang her as Lady Macbeth right next to it. And the picture of today’s performance just over there,” Damien said.

Honestly, there were too many pictures on Damien’s walls anyway. I guess, though, that when you’re really an up-and-coming director, you collect photos from your shows and you want to show them off, not just have them stuck in a portfolio.

“I think Shawna is pretty charged up over today’s performance,” I said, pointing at her. She was surrounded by the tech crew and musicians and seemed to be enjoying the attention.

“She is beautiful. Mmm. I shouldn’t be thinking the kind of thoughts I am.”

“Oh, Honey, if you want to invite Shawna to spend the night, I’m sure Nate and Anna could find some way to entertain me for a night,” Kathleen said.

Damien pointed at her, momentarily at a loss for words.

“Don’t make offers until you’ve checked with your prospective hosts,” he finally mumbled. He headed over to the buffet to get some more food.

“Would it be a problem to sandwich my naked body between the two of you for a night?” Kathleen giggled.

“Oh, it wouldn’t be a problem,” Anna said before I could respond. “You should know, though, that we don’t do much alone. I think all four of us might be a little too much for you to handle.”

“My God! I’d die happy, though!” Kathleen said. “So, with all that in mind, I’ve looked at Leanne’s sketches for the next show. Min is coming, right? I’m so looking forward to directing this one.”

“You’re going to direct?” I gasped.

“Don’t be so surprised. All actors think they’d be great directors. Yes, I get the next one. Damien can go on all he wants about Shawna, but Min is the one I’d run off with,” Kathleen said.

“I doubt she’d be excited about that unless you grew another appendage,” I said. “She’s fine with women, but prefers that a man be involved.”

“Well, you could join us. I like a man involved, too.”

“I haven’t even looked at the sketch for the next performance yet. I don’t know when Min is arriving.”

“The tenth,” Anna said. “She’s staying with us, so if Kathleen wanted to spend a night, it could be arranged.”

“I thought she’d be staying with Leanne,” I said.

“I think Shawna might still be here if she can find something to do. She’s a little bit jealous and while she came to grips with Judy being Leanne’s roommate, she considers Min to be an ex. That makes her a threat. Min will be with us,” Ronda said. “Um ... Little Miss is getting tired and a bit cranky. I think Patricia and I will head home.”

“If you’ll excuse us, Kathleen, I think that’s a good idea for all our family. I have a lot of printing to do tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait to see it. Talk to you soon!”

We gathered up our tyke and she rode on my back all the way home. By the time we got there, she was fast asleep.

I had time to get some work done over the next week. I couldn’t believe how the orders had stacked up. Actors and crew seemed to all want a picture of whatever production they were in. The orders were all for 8x10 black and white, but I could turn good prints out on those in a lot less time than the color images the marketing department wanted.

I had stopped during rehearsals to get some good color transparencies of our show with Shawna. It wasn’t on my order list from the Festival, but I printed up one of the 12x15 prints for it anyway. We’d be exhibiting that one with our other makeup and costume art for sale when we did our performance with Min.

Anna was wrapping up photos or sending the larger ones to the frame shop to be matted, then wrapping them up to deliver. Ronda and Patricia were taking care of business in the store, which seemed to be busier this year than it was last year. We’d kept Melinda on nearly full time so far this summer. I hoped we were making enough money to keep everyone paid. I was using up film and processing chemicals as fast as Dave could keep me supplied. And we’d been running frequent overnight processing requests for slides as well.

I heard the shop door bells ring Saturday morning as I was laying out a couple of new prints to dry and a minute later, Ronda came into the studio with an attractive young woman.

“Nate, this is Haley Donovan. She’d like to talk to you about a photo,” Ronda said.

“Hello, Haley. Have a seat. Tell me what you have in mind.”

“Wow! You really have some wonderful photos!” she said as she sat at the table and looked up at the gallery.

“Thank you.”

“I want a really beautiful photo, you know?” she said.

“I try to bring out the best in all my models. You are a lovely woman and I don’t think we’ll have any problems getting a beautiful photo.”

“Well, you know what you did to that model on Sunday?”

“Were you there for our performance?”

“Yeah. I’ve been pacing back and forth in my room all week. I live in London. I want something like that, but not so dramatic. Something pretty. Like that one,” she said pointing at the picture of Min’s tracery.

“Uh ... You’d like to have a body painting and then photograph it?”

“Yeah!”

“I’ll have to give Leanne a call and see when she would be available. She works over at the theatre.”

I could see her face fall.

“I um ... thought something simple, like just painting flowers on me, wouldn’t require a lot of people and set up. I don’t want to do a performance.”

“Oh. I see. Would you like me to paint you and then photograph you?”

“Is that, like, not acceptable?”