Fandom High School

Once again, Annie had made the room up to be a theater, but this time it was much more ornate, with plush velvet curtains and seats that you'd think would be more comfortable given how much you might pay to sit in them.

Annie, herself, was in full Starlight regalia. It wasn't because it was the last day of class, or anything that ceremonial -- it was mostly that she only had portalled in with only a few hours between an early morning meeting to go over some details regarding a new television show Vought wanted to produce, and a photoshoot for merchandise that would be featured exclusively at Target this afternoon.

"Good morning," she said with a smile, standing in the middle of the stage. "And welcome to our little talent show. Thanks for being an amazing class all semester -- it was my pleasure to teach you all, and you're a really gifted group of kids. I'm excited to see what you've got!"

With that, she clapped her hands together once, and made her way out to the audience to watch what they'd come up with.

If Annie looked like this was the first time she'd been outside since Sunday...well, that was possible. She had tried to look as normal for class as she could, because whatever was going on (listening to radio was for other people this week!) was absolutely not something she was willing to let affect her class. Like, let's be appropriate, okay?

That being said, today had required a change of plans. "Hey," Annie greeted the class, having made the classroom up into a full theater again. "So, I was gonna teach you all partnered dances for prom --" not you, Jules, she'd had an alternate plan for you, "-- but it seems like maybe this isn't a great time to, like...get you all close to each other." Not to mention that she didn't trust herself around the partner she'd planned to bring in to demonstrate with, and his brother was in this class.

"So instead, I'm gonna break the news about your final." Annie clasped her hands together with a little smile. "We're doing a talent show. It'll be during class, but if you can find people who want to drag themselves out of bed," phrasing, Annie, this week, "for a morning talent show, you're totally welcome to invite guests. Your assignment is going to be a three-minute act, and you can do literally anything you want out there, but you have to entertain us for three minutes doing it. Dance. Sing. Juggle. Ride a unicycle. Get creative! So today, you can break off alone and find somewhere to brainstorm -- feel free to use any props or costumes or makeup, and let me know if you need help!"

She would just be over here drinking a lot of ice water this whole class period, don't mind her.

Annie had received an extremely interesting email from Vought on her way to class today, and she was now incredibly grateful that she'd chosen to teach something she knew how to do very well today, because there was no way she'd be able to focus.

"Hey, everyone." The classroom had been modified to look like a dance studio, with a cubby near the mirrors holding shoes of pretty much every size. They were pretty specific shoes, though, and eagle-eyed students might notice that Annie, she of the perpetual sneaker, was wearing heels today. "I figured you guys might want to try some movement today, and so we're going to be dancing."

She hit a button on a remote, and Pharell's 'Happy' started playing as Annie smiled for a moment before counting off and falling into quick, practiced, clicky tap steps.

When the first chorus had completed, she quickly paused it, a little out of breath. "Tap dance is one of those things that looks super impressive, even if you're just doing simple steps. Today, we're going to work on these steps, just in the chorus."

This time, she went through the steps much slower, naming each specific move, then went through the routine once more with just counting.

"Pick out some shoes," she concluded, gesturing to the cubbies. "If you're feeling ambitious, the heels are fun, but don't feel like you have to." These were just the shoes she had, though it belatedly occurred to Annie that she could have programmed shoes in for herself. "And let me know if you need help or want further demonstrations -- and for that matter, if you'd rather just freestyle, that's totally fine, but I'd love it if you at least tried a brush or a buffalo."

"Good morning, everyone! Hope you had fun in Japan if you went," Annie greeted the class, with her right hand notably behind her back. "So, I promised you something before we went on break, and we're sticking to it: an incredibly important part of being onstage is the ability to do ridiculous things without cracking up." She paused. "Or argument. It's important to laugh at yourself and be silly."

So, to that end, she pulled out her hand from behind her back, and in a not great show of ventriloquism, said from the corner of her mouth, "So we're gonna make puppets!"

"Puppet theater," Annie's puppet informed them, "has been a popular form of entertainment for years. There's literally dozens of different types of puppets -- the main, unifying concept is that it's a small figure you control with your hand. This little gal is -- spoilers -- my hand in a sock, but there's also marionettes, puppets that use sticks, puppets that use wands, and basically, if you can move your puppet around, congrats, you made a puppet."

Annie pointed with her free hand to the soooo moddable puppet-crafting supplies. "Make yourselves a puppet," she invited in her normal voice. "And then give it a name and a voice, and test out what kind of character you'd want it to be. Don't be afraid to be silly with it -- the more comfortable you are with being kind of dumb, the better shape you're in."

Today when students arrived, they would find the Danger Shop made up to look like the costume department of a relatively well-to-do theater. There were racks upon racks of brightly-colored fabric, ranging from swaths of just fabric without form to actual completely moddable costumes, including hats, pins, and any other number of accessories.

"Hey guys!" Annie poked out from behind a mannequin that she'd draped some fabric over, a couple of pins sticking out of the corner of her mouth. She removed them to continue, "We're going to play with costumes today! So, typically, you'll find that if you're cast in something or strike out on your own to do a production, you'll find that you work forward from the concept to what you'll be wearing. Today, though, I kind of want to reverse-engineer things -- I want you to go nuts and create a costume for yourself out of what you can find here, and then tell everyone what your character is based on what you've created for them out of clothes. My suggestion is to find a costume piece that you like and work backwards to create a character inspired by your outfit, though I can appreciate that might not be the easiest thing."

Considering Annie had designed several iterations of her own super-uniform, she herself was pretty used to having the vision in mind before starting on the realization thereof, but she was also utterly confident that her students were creative enough for this exercise.

Also it seemed kind of fun, but maybe that was just her.

"Morning!" Today, the Danger Shop was made up like a recording studio, with a bunch of soundproof cubicles available to the students. "So, whether you're singing or talking, clarity is really important when you're performing. I have some tongue twisters printed out for you guys to try out. It's gonna totally feel silly at first, but if you practice saying difficult sentences first, it's so much easier to absolutely nail the simpler stuff."

She gestured to the booths. "So, in the name of letting you feel free to let loose and not feel self-conscious, you can practice in these booths. And if the tongue twisters are too easy, I've got Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics for you, and you can try not only getting through those but carrying a tune at the same time. Next week, we'll go over scales and pitch, but for right now, I want you all to just focus on getting through words clearly."

And Annie herself would be off to the side, having firmly gotten that damn song stuck in her head, and now nothing was going to dislodge it all weekend, probably.

Eventually, this was a class that would need to meet in the Danger Shop - or the auditorium - but for today, students would have been directed to meet in an actual classroom, where they would find Annie standing in front of a whiteboard that proclaimed, WELCOME TO INTRO TO PERFORMING ARTS! (She had also drawn a bunch of five-point stars and asterisks around this greeting, because...well, just because she had access to the markers, honestly.)

“Good morning!” she said cheerfully when it seemed like everyone had arrived. “Welcome to Intro to Performing Arts. I’m Annie - if you want to call me, like, Ms. January or whatever because it makes you feel weird to call a teacher by her first name, that’s totally fine, but Annie is also super okay by me.” Both because she hadn’t done a thing to earn this teaching spot (so, like, she would shoot down any attempts at ‘professor,’ since it felt weird), but also because she honestly wasn’t that much older than these kids, either. “Whether you're a stage veteran or this is going to be your first time getting up in front of people - hey, welcome! My goal for this class is to sort of shoot across the bow and cover a bunch of different things, and familiarize you all with just the idea of being up in front of an audience or otherwise performing - we’ll be touching on the obvious things like singing and dancing, but we’ll do a couple weeks on things like public speaking, too, and just covering little tricks that I’ve picked up to stay comfortable with people watching you.”

Because, like, Annie was kind of nervous right now, but it would be hard to tell if you didn’t know her really well. Because she was a professional at this! And she would teach you all how to hide your nerves under a big smile, too!

“But for today, I figured I’d follow everyone else’s example and keep it easy,” she added with a bright smile. “So, let’s go around and introduce ourselves - how about your name, something you consider a talent, and it doesn’t have to be - “ she gestured vaguely to the classroom as a whole, “- a performance thing, just something you think you’re good at, and then...something you’re hoping to learn in this class.”

She paused, and added, "And just to get us in, like, the right mindset for all of this, I'd like you to stand up and try to project when it's your turn. Stand up straight, shoulders back, chin up, and try to speak from your diaphragm." She modeled what she meant, rolling her shoulders back and lifting her chin as she jabbed lightly at a spot pretty much directly between her own ribs. "It's an introductory course, so you're not going to get everything right the first time, and that's okay! But let's try to start out on the right foot, and try our best."

God, Annie.

She gestured vaguely to one student. "How about we start over here?"