Page 86 of You Spin Me

Our Saturday matineeaudience is much more enthusiastic than usual, so when I get a message from the stage manager that friends are waiting for me, I have an inkling I know who they might be. When I find a whole carload of Shakespeare Boston actors in the lobby, I’m totallyverklempt. “You guys, it was so sweet of you to drive all the way up here.”

Trying to hug everyone at once turns my tears into a giggle fest. Eventually I learn that half theHamletcast had to attend some sort of academic conference, so the younger cast members—meaning all my friends—got the day off. Since I need to eat in the hour before the next show and they have to refuel for the drive back to Boston, we decamp to the coffee shop down the street.

When I shiver on the walk over, Randall puts an arm around me. “It’s colder here than down in Boston.”

“Tell me about it. The actor housing heat is useless. I had to bring up extra blankets.”

Will steps in on my other side. “Ah, ‘the icy fang and churlish chiding of the winter’s wind.’” After a slight pause he adds, “Duke Senior,As You Like It.”

An answering quote to pop into my brain from a poem that’s haunted me for years. “‘Call it winter, which being full of care, makes summer’s welcome thrice more wished, more rare.’ Sonnet fifty-six.”

“Nice one,” Will allows. “And so appropriate. We need you back this summer, you know.”

“That’s not exactly under my control.”

“We do have some news about the season,” Randall says. “But let’s get inside. It’s too damn cold to yammer out here, no matter how poetic you two make it sound.”

By the time we’ve ordered and taken over a couple of couches in the back corner, the others are primed to gossip.

“There’s some sort of history between Mira and Nick,” Mike tells me. “They were going at it during a preseason production meeting.”

“You mean like kissing?” I try to picture that happening in one of those meetings. They’re usually so boring that I struggle to stay awake.

“No, no.” He shakes his head, laughing. “Like fighting. Disagreeing. Sniping at each other about anything and everything.”

“There is some history, but even Ben doesn’t know what it is,” Will adds. Ben and Mira were college besties and have remained friends since. She’s the one who brought him to Shakespeare Boston last summer. “He thinks it happened when Mira was studying in London her junior year.”

Randall sits back, putting his feet up on the coffee table. “Whatever it is, those two in the same room?” He makes a blowing up noise and mimes an explosion.

“I guess I’m missing a lot,” I pout.

“Which is why you better get your butt to the summer season auditions,” Will says, elbowing me. “The shows areThe TempestandComedy of Errors.”

I slump back into the couch cushions and blow errant curls out of my face. “I’m too old for Miranda.”

Will sits forward. “That’s the cool thing—and one source of the battle between Mira and Nick. She wants the casting forTempestto be totally out there. So you can audition for anyone.Imight even audition for Miranda.”

“What the heck is her concept?” I ask.

Mike throws up his hands. “Who knows? But she’s had success with crazy casting before, so she’ll probably get her way. I think I’m going to try for Trinculo. And maybe Ariel.” He nods at me. “Of course, you’d be a great Ariel. But that might be too obvious.”

“Not feeling terribly sprightly at the moment,” I grumble, realizing that this means I’ll have to actually reread the play now. “But I’ll do my best. When are they?”

“Next Saturday,” Will says.

“Ugh,” I whine. “I have two shows that day.”

“I thought you closed this weekend,” Will says.

“It’s selling well, so they extended.”

Randall points at me. “We open the following Wednesday, so I hope you have that free.”

“Okay, okay.” They’re right; I am being a baby about this. “I miss you guys. And it’s been a nice little visit with contemporary theater, but I miss Mr. Shakespeare too.”

After the evening show,my new actor friends help me brainstorm audition possibilities over a glass of wine back at the actor house. No more whiskey for this girl. Then I have a great idea. “You guys should audition! I mean, they don’t usually bring actors in from out of town, so I’m not sure if they’d offer housing…”

“But it would be nice to get out of New York for the summer,” Earl finishes my sentence. “What are the plays?”

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