Candlelight City
Page 28
Suzie thought about walking over to see him, but already a line was forming in front of her, of people wanting to offer their praise and congratulations. She started to fall into a rhythm. Hugging. Shaking hands. Smiling and nodding and saying “Thank you! Thank you!” again and again.
Emma and Maddy were two of the first backstage, with clothes still disheveled and buttons still undone. Emma came with Arturo, but after congratulating Suzie, Arturo left to find his brother. Maddy and Alfred went with him, but Emma remained by Suzie’s side and took on the task of helping Suzie deal with the endless flowers that were presented to her. Emma became part of the routine; Suzie would accept the flowers, say her thanks and hand the flowers to Emma to carefully place in a rapidly growing arrangement on the table.
A lot of the people who offered their congratulations had worked on the show, and Suzie was glad to have the chance to offer her own congratulations back to them. However, a few of her guests surprised her.
Brad’s Uncle Al and Aunt Lisel stopped in to give their stern approval of her performance. Suzie had the feeling they weren’t the type to offer compliments out of politeness. If she had been bad, they would have spoken honestly about it, so their approval meant a lot to her.
Charlie, the police officer she’d met while pretending to be a prostitute, appeared with Bonita on his arm. “Best performance of ‘Candlelight City’ I’ve ever seen,” he said. He presented Bonita to her. “Have you met Ana? She teaches Hispanic Studies at Jefferson University.”
“No, I don’t believe we’ve met,” Suzie said, smiling and shaking Bonita’s hand. Bonita grinned mischievously.
Gabe and Amanda appeared and congratulated her. Gabe had his arm around Amanda, and Suzie wondered if they had always been a couple, or if her interview had started them on that path. She was surprised to see them, because she couldn’t remember ever mentioning the play during her interview.
A line of admirers came through, one by one, and Suzie accepted their compliments graciously, but she kept wondering how long it would be before she saw Brad. She wished they could share this experience together. Every time she thought of leaving the green room to find him, someone else would approach her, showering her with praise, and she would return to smiling and saying “Thank you! Thank you!” again and again.
Just as she was on the verge of sending Emma off to search for him, Brad walked in. He was with Mr. Belfast and another man. “There she is!” he said when he noticed Suzie. All three moved in Suzie’s direction, but Brad reached her first.
He hugged her and kissed her cheek. “Amazing. The show and everything. Just amazing.”
“I want to celebrate with you,” Suzie whispered.
“We will,” Brad promised. “But first, you need to meet Mr. Endberg.” He stepped to the side, and Mr. Belfast stood in front of her with the stranger.
Mr. Belfast gazed at her a moment, unable to suppress the look of pride that beamed from his face when he regarded her. “I suppose you’ve just had a long line of people telling you how fantastic your performance was,” he said. “Well, here’s one more, and this one is the most important of them all. Suzie, I’d like you to meet my old friend Josh Endberg. Josh is a movie producer.”
Josh Endberg was tall and thin. His head was clean-shaven, and he had a wide and confident smile. His dark suit had a sheen to it that made it look expensive. “Hello, Mr. Endberg. It’s a pleasure,” said Suzie, taking his hand.
“The pleasure’s mine, Suzie.” His smile gleamed at her.
Mr. Belfast said, “It just so happens that Josh is producing a film version of ‘Candlelight City’ for one of the studios.”
“Big studio, but not too big a budget.” Endberg had a quick way of talking. “We’re aiming for the art house crowd. We’ve got a quality director, a quality script. We hope to shoot in the fall, and have it done in time for Cannes next year.”
“Wow!” Suzie was impressed. “I can’t wait to see it.”
Endberg chuckled. “Well, here’s the thing. We’re casting right now, and we’ve had some big names ask about the Jenna Algood role. It’s a solid role, and we could easily cast an A-lister. But the director wants to cast more of an unknown. Someone the audience is meeting for the first time.”
Suzie nodded, wondering which actresses were interested in the role. She considered whom she would cast as Jenna, but couldn’t think of anyone that seemed right.
Endberg continued. “When I told Bobby here that I was working on a film adaptation of ‘Candlelight City’, he laughed and told me he was putting together a production of ‘Candlelight City’ himself. He said he thought it was going to be something special, one of the best shows he’d ever directed. He invited me to come see it, and I have to admit he’s right. The show was amazing. And you really blew me away, Suzie.”
“Thank you so much!” Suzie was stunned. Had she really been that good?
“In fact…” Endberg’s eyes twinkled. “I think you could be our unknown girl. I want you to come down to Los Angeles and meet our director. If he approves…
I want to cast you as Jenna in our movie. I want to put you on the big screen.”
Suzie was so surprised that she didn’t know what to say. She half-expected that they would start laughing and reveal it was a big joke. She looked between Mr. Belfast and Brad, but they were both beaming at her. “I really haven’t had much experience as an actress…” she started.
Endberg shrugged. “That can be a positive a lot of the time. We’re not looking for someone who can act like Jenna. We want someone who will BE Jenna. After watching your performance… I just know I’m going to compare anyone else I cast to you.”
“I… I can barely believe it!” Suzie felt like the room was spinning.
Endberg leaned forward. “Look, Suzie. I’ll be straight with you. I’m not offering you this because I want to do a grand thing for a nice girl. I really think I’m doing right by the movie in offering you the part, and I think the movie will be a success with you in it.”
Brad spoke up. “It’s a great opportunity, Suzie. And you’ll be in Hollywood, while I’m at UCLA….”
“We can be together!” she breathed. Then she remembered, “Oh! But Stanford! I’m supposed to go to Stanford in the fall!”
Mr. Belfast said, “Stanford will let you defer for a year. That’s not a problem.”
“I’m not asking for your name on a contract just yet,” Endberg said. “I just want to be able to tell my director that I’ve found a girl, and she’s interested in the part. So what do you say? Are you interested?”
Suzie thought about spending a year in Los Angeles with Brad. She thought about participating in the creation of a real movie, one that would potentially be seen by millions of people. She thought about having the opportunity to play Jenna again. She thought about putting off studying engineering at Stanford to have another adventure.
“Yes,” she said. “Please tell the director I’m interested, and that I hope to meet him very soon.”
THE END