Read Online Curtain Up by Lisa Fiedler - Free Book Online

me since he’d movedinto the neighborhood two years earlier. Maxine Hernandez, who’d been in Susan’s class this past year, immediately told us (and made a note on her paperwork) that she was no longer answering to the name Maxine and she preferred to be called Maxie. That was fine with me. I didn’t care what she called herself as long as she was willing to bring her trademark style and artistic talent to our hair and makeup department. The fifth person to make his appearance was Deon Becker, Austin’s next-door neighbor and tech-savvy best bud.
    Deon got dropped off at the curb by his mom, who rolled down the car window and shouted across the clubhouse lawn, “Austin, honey, your mother asked me to remind you to drink plenty of water so you don’t dehydrate!”
    â€œThank you, Mrs. Becker,” Austin replied. He nodded politely, but I could tell he was completely embarrassed by his mother’s excessive worry, which made me feel a little better about the whole pajama thing.
    â€œWe’ll set up some chairs,” said Austin, giving Deon a nudge toward the cabinet under the stage where they were stored.
    Travis Coleman, Elle Tanner, and Gracie Demetrius arrived together in a car pool driven by Gracie’s big brother, Nick. They would be in fifth grade next year, so they were a year younger than Susan and the others.
    Madeline Walinski and Jane Bailey (who were both going into sixth) showed up next, walking the few blocks from their street. Madeline was chewing bubble gum, which was a habit of hers. I’d ask her to get rid of it before we started. Gum chewing during a rehearsal was the very definition of unprofessional.
    Teddy Crawford and Spencer O’Day were last. They were also in Susan’s class, which made sense, I suppose, since her Twitter followers were mostly kids her own age. According to Susan, they, along with Maddie and Jane, topped the elementary school A-list. Rumor had it that Spencer was head over heels for Madeline, and Maddie was on the verge of admitting she liked him back.
    Teddy was actually a professional actor; he’d had a recurring role on a soap opera when he was a baby, before his family moved here from New York City. He’d also done a macaroni and cheese commercial when he’d been in kindergarten. Having Teddy in our theater would give us what I considered street cred. And Maddie and Jane were both cheerleaders, which meant they could probably rock some pretty complicated dance moves.
    Teddy offered to help Austin and Deon set up the folding chairs. Under Austin’s direction they arranged thirteen chairs (one for everyone who’d come to audition) facing the stage,just like a real audience.
    When everyone had taken a seat, I took a deep breath and made my way to what, in a Broadway theater, would be the orchestra pit. Austin joined me there.
    My heart was thudding in my chest like a conga drum.
    â€œHi, everyone,” I said in as confident a voice as I could muster. “Welcome to the first meeting of the Random Farms Kids’ Theater. I’m Anya Wallach, and this is my musical director, Austin Weatherly. The purpose of this theater is to put on an extremely cool show.”
    â€œJust one?” asked Gracie.
    â€œWell, anything can happen,” I conceded, “but for now we’re just going to focus on this theatrical revue, giving it all we’ve got.”
    Gracie seemed satisfied with my answer. Of course, I was hoping we’d be such a huge success that we’d be able to keep the theater alive for the rest of the summer—and with any luck, our second show would be Austin’s original musical. But even hoping for that would be getting ahead of myself, so I just went on talking.
    â€œThe revue will be a one-hour performance with singing, dance numbers, and dramatic scenes and skits. Austin, our in-house playwright, has compiled a script that will allow us to work in lots of different