The Amateur Revival Ch. 01

This story is a work of fiction. Some real places and institutions are mentioned or alluded to, but they are used fictitiously. Insofar as the author knows, no real person affiliated with any of those places or institutions has done anything akin to what is described in this story. Any similarities between any character in this story and any real person are coincidental and unintended. I encourage comments on this story, both favorable and unfavorable. Thank you for reading.

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Carol Dwyer was wearing a sweater, heavy slacks, and boots as she sat in my living room late on a January afternoon. I had met Carol years ago when she handled the closing of my purchase of my house and some surrounding woodland outside of town. Back then, Carol had been a successful small-town lawyer married to a university professor with a young daughter. She had also been quite beautiful with shoulder length blonde hair and a face and figure that reminded me of Diana Rigg in the old Avengers re-runs.

Several circumstances had led me to retire from being a trial lawyer in a big city on one of the Great Lakes. I let a huge case to take over my life totally for a few years. That caused my wife to leave me. Not uncharacteristically though, her timing was bad. About a year after our divorce became final, the case settled for nine figures. I received a quarter of my firm's high eight figure fee. I had enough money to retire and live comfortably, but it had come at a great psychological cost. I needed to redo my life.

I moved to a small college town called Cambridge (I think consciously named after the famous English university city) roughly 200 miles from the city where I had practiced. The only things in Cambridge were a well-regarded, smaller, state university and the businesses that served its students, faculty, and staff. Instead of being ringed by malls and traffic-choked suburbs, Cambridge was surrounded by woods, lakes, and streams. While Cambridge was small, the university ensured that there was plenty going on.

My devotion to my lawsuit above all else had erased all bodily evidence that I had once been a college wrestler. I was determined to get back into some sort of shape. I ran the forest trails and kayaked the streams and lakes. My house in the woods outside of town had a full basement which I converted into a weight room.

Carol had learned from closing my purchase of my house that I was also a lawyer. She had called on me a few weeks' after I moved to Cambridge to recruit me for the local bar association. We hit it off and she often used me as a sounding board for questions that came up in her practice. I think I gave her good suggestions and, of course, my advice was free. Over time, I became friends with Carol and her husband Tom.

Now in her late forties, the woman sitting my living room that January afternoon was visibly older and heavier than the 30-year-old who had handled my closing. However, Carol was still a beautiful woman. She had gone through her own life crisis much more recently. Her daughter Kim, a theater and dance major, had gone to the university because of the substantial tuition discount she received as the child of a faculty member. In spring of Kim's freshman year, a blood vessel had burst in her father's brain. Tom died in the helicopter carrying him to the hospital.

Widowed and with her daughter out of the house (albeit living only a couple of miles away), Carol had needed something besides work to occupy her time. Influenced, I assume, by her daughter, Carol had joined a group rehabilitating the theater in the old high school building, which had been vacant for decades. That effort succeeded wonderfully, and Carol's group produced plays and staged other events in the theater. That was, in a way, why Carol had come to see me that afternoon.

"Will," Carol said, "you know Kim is a theater major?" I nodded. "She decided to produce and direct show as her senior project. Her professors are on board; in fact, one has agreed to help her. The show is a bit edgy I guess you'd say, so they don't want to do it on campus. There's some fear that one of those right-wingers in the state legislature might use that as ammunition to cut the university's budget. They want to use the old school theater. The city owns that now and you know how liberal the council is." Carol paused.

This was interesting, but I was missing something. "I hope it goes well for Kim," I said, "but how do I come into this?"

"Well," Carol said, "a part of the concept is to cast the show with people who are not trained actors. Kim wants a diverse cast instead of just using students. Given the nature of the show, they're concerned about who'd show up if they had open auditions, so they are casting the show by invitation.""

"So," I said with a chuckle, "you're recruiting me to be the token old white guy?"

Carol smiled. "I wouldn't say it that way but, yes, Kim asked me to ask you if you'd be in the show. You're very fit for your age; well, really, for any age. That's important for this show."

This was sounding odd. "What is the show that they're afraid to hold open auditions?" I asked.

"Have you ever heard of a show called Oh! Calcutta!" Carol replied. "It was very controversial when it opened in New York at the end of the 1960s."

"Is that the show where the cast comes onstage in the opening scene wearing robes and they take the robes off and stand onstage naked?" I asked. I had heard of Oh! Calcutta! I'd even seen it done by a touring company once many years before.

Carol looked slightly uncomfortable. "Yes," she said, "that's the show. It was really a series of skits. Some of them were quite juvenile at the time and others have not aged well. Kim and a couple of her friends have written several new skits that will replace many of the original ones while staying consistent with the concept of the show. The man who is credited with writing the show is dead. Kim reached out to the current copyright owner and got permission to stage her adaptation for six performances."

"I was in elementary school when that show opened, I think," I said. "If I recall correctly, the 'concept' was to show the cast off naked as much as possible."

Carol chuckled nervously. "Yeah, that's a fair summary of the concept from what I know," she replied.

"So," I said, "you're asking me to go naked onstage, where anyone can walk in and see me, with a bunch of naked strangers, for six performances and god knows how many rehearsals?"

Carol shifted in the chair. "Well," she said hesitantly, "not everyone onstage with you will be a stranger."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Carol's silence provided my answer. "You're going to be naked in this show?" I asked somewhat incredulously.

"Kim's my daughter," Carol replied defensively, "she needs this to succeed. She said she didn't want all young people. She wants at least one couple in the cast who are 'a bit older.' I couldn't turn her down." Growing more assertive, Carol added, "I thought about it after Kim asked me. It is scary, but it's an exciting sort of scary. The idea that I'll be up there completely nude, and my friends and neighbors and clients will see all of me. It, well, it really seems kind of erotic. It's time to expand my envelope."

That was the first time I'd heard Carol Dwyer utter the word "erotic" in the years I'd known her. It sounded great the way she said it. Another question immediately came to mind. "Why me?" I asked.

"Well, I can't do it with Tom," Carol said. "I need a man I trust and am comfortable with paired with me as the 'older couple.' I suggested you to Kim. She thought it was a great idea. What she said exactly was, 'I'll bet Will looks better naked than most men half his age.' It is going to be stressful for me. Kim's absorbed with producing and directing and she won't be onstage. I need someone I can lean on up there with me."

Carol was playing to my ego. It is, I think, inherently flattering when a beautiful woman about fifteen years your junior tells you she wants you to get naked with her. The more fundamental message that Carol really wanted me to do this with her opened, at least in my imagination, possibilities.

Carol didn't know it, but she had pushed a button. I had seen Oh! Calcutta! I also had a paperback book that had come out in the later 1970s that contained the script, such as it was, and some still photos of the New York production. While I thought most of the show was crap to watch, I also thought being in the cast would be a blast. Carol was offering me a once-in-a-lifetime chance to have that experience. That I would be paired naked with her only made it better.

Another part of my brain said, "There's something wrong here. This doesn't happen in real life." I needed to think about this, assess whether there was a downside I was missing at that moment.

Carol had gotten an excited look on her face as she explained her feelings about being in the show. Her face fell when I didn't immediately say anything in response. Finally, I said, "wow, this is a big surprise. May I take a little time to think about it?"

Carol's face brightened some. "Of course," she replied. "Actually, I was afraid you were going to say no immediately."

"I'd never immediately say no to an opportunity to be naked with a beautiful woman," I replied. "If I decide not to be in the show, I promise I will come see it."

"I'm flattered that you'd pay money to see me naked," Carol said with a smile, "but I'd much rather have you up there naked with me. Kim understands this is a step off the cliff for the entire cast. The show will be performed the first two weekends in May, but she wants the cast to start meeting next month before starting rehearsals in March. She thinks it will take longer since she's not using trained actors, and she's probably right. So, would you please get back to me by next Monday?"

I agreed to give Carol my yes or no within the next four days. She got up. I followed her to the door and opened it for her. Carol stepped out on my front porch and stood for a moment with her back to me. She turned to face me. She smiled. She ran a hand down the side of her hip. "When else will you get the opportunity to spend a lot of time with me naked?" Carol asked. "Please?" Carol looked exceptionally beautiful and very sexy.

It was too cold to run or kayak so I went to the basement tried to lift. After I'd loaded the bar unevenly for the third time, I realized the conversation with Carol had me distracted. I certainly didn't have the body I'd had in college; but I thought that I probably looked, maybe not good, but ok naked. What was the downside for me? Unlike Carol, I didn't have any local clients. I worked part-time as a mediator to make pocket money. My mediations were in cities, not in Cambridge. I volunteered for a few things in town. I really didn't care if I was branded a pervert and kicked out of those. It wasn't like I was ever going to run for office.

The other thing I thought about was that I didn't have any attachments. I'd been divorced for years. There was no girlfriend to get pissed-off. That brought my thoughts back to Carol. She still looked great, and she'd always been an enjoyable person to be around. The fact that she had asked me to join her in something this inherently sexual must signal some interest. I mentally slapped myself. Carol was a friend, nothing more. She'd asked me to get naked onstage with her because I was safe. Women don't fuck safe; especially when safe is fifteen years older than they are.

Carol had stopped by on a Thursday afternoon. I wasn't very productive Friday. I kept imaging what it would be like to be standing onstage, looking out at an auditorium of people, with nothing covering my dick and balls. Carol was right. Imaging it was scary, but in an exciting way. I also imagined Carol standing next to me wearing nothing but a smile. That mental image brought some stiffness to my dick. Shit! If I agreed to do this, could I get through it without getting a boner onstage? Even in Cambridge, I expected that a public hard-on would get you arrested.

I'd like to say that I considered the pros and cons of being in the Oh! Calcutta! revival carefully. That would be bull. I'd subconsciously decided I'd do it the moment Carol asked. I realized I'd never forgive myself for turning this down.

I called Carol around 3:00 p.m. that Saturday afternoon. "I'm in" I told her.

"The opportunity to give me a naked hug was too much to resist, wasn't it?" Carol teased. "I'm having dinner with Kim and her boyfriend Luke at the Cellar at six. Do you want to join us?"

It was my turn to tease. "Is this a date?" I asked.

"No," Carol replied, "just two people who are going to go naked onstage having dinner together."

I'd seen Kim when she was a child when I visited Carol and Tom. I hadn't seen her for several years. The 21-year-old woman I met that evening was a stunner. Kim was a younger, slimmer version of her mother. I fear I stared a moment too long. When I caught myself and shifted my eyes, I saw Carol grinning at me.

It was Kim who said, "excuse me if I seem to be staring. I'm trying to visualize how you'll look onstage naked." That was a complete role reversal. A beautiful woman imaging how I look naked? After a few more seconds, Kim said, "Will, thank you very much for agreeing to be in the show. I'm not sure Mom would do it if you said no." I looked again at Carol. She smiled slightly and looked down at the table.

Kim introduced me to her boyfriend, Luke Navallo. Luke was about my height but very slim. He conveyed the impression of being in great shape. There was a fluidity and economy of effort as he came around the table to shake hands. "Luke played tennis for the University," Kim announced with evident pride.

"I wasn't good enough to go pro," Luke added, "so now I'm in B-school working on my MBA."

"Luke's helping with the show," Kim added.

"I have no artistic talents," Luke added quickly. "I'm just doing the bookkeeping and handling the box office. One of Kim's goals is to at least break even. I did a projection for Kim of what she can reasonably expect the show to bring in. I do what I can to keep total costs below that number."

"Luke is my more objective set of eyes and ears," Kim said, adding, "but Luke is correct that I'll get a better grade for the project if we don't lose money. I didn't realize all the costs. We even have to buy insurance for the time we use the theater."

"This show is your senior project?" I asked Kim.

"Yes," she replied. "I need at least a passing grade on it to graduate."

"Did you select what the project would be?" I asked.

"Yes. I had to get it approved by my faculty advisor, but it was my idea," Kim answered.

"Why did you decide to revive "Oh! Calcutta!?" I asked.

"It's less a revival than an updated version," Kim said. "The original had some excellent elements, like the opening and the dance sequences; but a lot of it was just yuk. Why did I settle on Oh! Calcutta! instead of something like Death of a Salesman? Well, the show is about naked people. No matter how prudish a person is, we all find naked bodies interesting. There's the challenge of directing a cast that will be naked most of the time they're onstage. There's also the challenge of making it sexy without being pornographic or juvenile. The idea is to do something classier than a peep show. I'm also interested in how the cast deals with their nudity and how they interact with each other."

Kim took a sip of her wine and continued. "You could argue that we've pre-determined the interactions of the cast because we've only invited male-female pairs who already have a relationship with each other. They have not given a definitive answer yet, but I anticipate we'll have one married couple in the cast." I sensed the impact on Kim of having a lawyer for her mother and a professor for a father. "I thought it was best to recruit couples," Kim went on, "because I wanted people with no prior experience appearing nude in public. I thought it will diminish the fear if everyone has someone they know well onstage naked with them. However, I don't believe any of the couples know any of the other couples, so the dynamic of working naked with naked strangers will still be present."

"You've certainly thought this through," I said as a sort of throw away line. I swiftly regretted it.

"Have you?" Kim asked. "Why do you want to appear onstage in front of a live audience completely naked?" Their faces showed that Carol and Luke were amused at Kim putting me on the spot.

I tried to turn it into a bit of a joke. "Your mother asked," I replied. "When a beautiful woman asks you to get naked with her, you don't say no even if it is in front of an audience."

"I'm sure that was a factor," Kim retorted, "but I doubt it is the only factor. Most men, particularly those of your age and station in life, don't expose their penis and testicles to complete strangers. I'm betting you get a thrill imaging what it will be like to have an auditorium full of people looking at your dick?"

"Kim," Carol said gently.

Luke apparently also thought Kim had gone far enough. "We hope the auditorium will be full," he interjected.

Kim smiled. "Ok," she said. "I'll drop it. I'll warn you, though, that part of preparing for this show is going to be all of the cast exploring their motivations and expectations."

Because the City required insurance to be in force for each day of rehearsal as well as the performance days, we would only be rehearsing in the theater starting in April. That was not remotely sufficient for Kim. She found a room we could use on campus and called the cast together for meetings starting in mid-February.

The cast was an obvious effort at diversity. In addition to Carol and me, there was an African American couple, LaTonya, and her boyfriend Derrick. LaTonya was a physical therapist at the regional hospital and was a yoga instructor on the side. Derrick was an engineer who worked for the University Architect. LaTonya and Derrick were in their early thirties. The married couple was Sarah and Aaron. They were in their early forties. Sarah worked in the office of the University Archivist. Aaron was an assistant professor of English Literature. The babies of the cast were Maria and Antonio. Both were in their early twenties and grad students in the Music School. Maria was studying voice. Antonio was studying composition. Maria and Antonio were dating. I appreciated early in our first meeting that, diversity notwithstanding, the entire cast was physically attractive; except for me.

The first meeting was just a meeting. Kim gave us her vision for the project and the schedule. She handed out copies of the script. Kim accompanied that with the explanation that "I met with the County Prosecutor to find out, basically, what we can get away with. I've distilled what he told me into some rules." She passed out another single sheet. "Despite his job, the Prosecutor is pretty reasonable," she added. I expected that was because liberal Cambridge had the majority of the county's voters. Our public officials were a lot more liberal than was usual for primarily rural midwestern county.

Kim kept her promise from dinner by probing in our first meeting why each of us had agreed to be in the show. Some of the answers were "because you asked" or, in my case, "because Carol asked." I liked Maria's answer best. She had said, "I want to be a singer. If I pursue a performing career, I'm going to encounter situations onstage when I'm vulnerable and afraid. I think this is a way to start learning how to handle that."

It took eight of us almost an hour to explain our reasons for appearing in the show. When we were done, Kim said, "I am not calling any of you liars, but I'm sure there is a deeper reason why each of you is here. You all want to be seen naked. There is a sexual thrill in being exposed. That's not perverted. It's natural, and I promise you will have fun exposing yourselves to the crew, and the friends and neighbors who come to see the show. The trick we are going to perfect is to show the audience how much fun you are having. We want everyone leaving the performances to wish it had been them onstage instead of you."