The Performance Ch. 05

This is the fifth and final chapter of this story. My apology for prolonging it. While I hope that this piece stands on its own, it is a continuation of the story told in my previous works "The Performance, "The Performance CH 02," The Performance CH 03," and "The Performance CH 04." I think this chapter will make a lot more sense if you read those chapters, in sequence, first.

This story draws on some real experiences but is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real person or entity is coincidental and unintended. Thank you very much for reading my stories. Please leave comments.

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Several significant things happened after our group performance in the nude. Penny had got back on air. She contracted with a public radio station to do one show a week, aired at 11:00 p.m. on Thursdays, about "lifestyle and culture." Her shows covered everything from jazz music to the BDSM scene. Just before Thanksgiving, Penny became a published novelist. She had already published short stories in several journals. She started her first (I hope) novel while she was in Portland and finished the manuscript just before our performance. It was the story of a woman who joined a crew fighting forest fires who eventually became the leader of the crew and her struggles along that path. Penny said it was "inspired" by someone she knew in Portland. Whether that was true or not, the book was published and received very positive reviews.

Megan got the word at year end that she was being promoted to full professor effective at the beginning of the next academic year. That meant a significant increase in salary, fewer teaching expectations, more publishing expectations, and a much shorter list of transgressions which could get her fired. At the same time, I was promoted to associate professor. That wasn't a big pay raise but, more important, it meant that I was permanently on faculty. No more one-year appointments. However, the list of things that were "cause" for firing me was much longer than the new list that would apply to Megan.

Megan and I had become good friends with student Paula Hartweg and her boyfriend, student Mike Cairncross. Paula and Mike had been on the production crew for our performance and, in an unplanned but very welcome finale, Paula had joined the rest of us onstage nude. Paula also took my "History of Post-War Europe" class second semester that year. She told me that she needed another history credit to graduate and took the course because we knew each other. I made a mental note to keep some distance from Paula. They were both seniors, so we only needed to keep our noses clean for a few more months.

Calling a respite in our growing relationship with Paula and Mike for even a few months proved too much for Megan and me. The night of our performance, Megan's friend Evan had said that he wanted to paint Paula "with" Megan and me. In Evan's lexicon, posing "with" someone meant that the models were nude and in intimate positions. Evan particularly liked depicting people in bondage. Paula, Megan, and I discovered that we enjoyed being tied up together naked. Mike came along every time Paula posed with us and seemed to be perfectly ok with it.

Evan was very overtly gay and very open about the fact that he wanted to see Mike naked. Once Megan and Paula added their encouragement, Mike stripped off and began posing with us. No one complained when Evan posed with Megan and Mike or Paula and me. The poses included almost everything short of penetration. Being in intimate positions together for extended periods only deepened the respect, affection, and friendship that had developed between Paula, Mike, Megan, and me.

I was concerned that someone might think that the fact that I was posing nude with Paula for erotic pictures might influence the grade I gave her in class. Paula helped there. She is a very intelligent and hard-working person. Her class work was so objectively good, I was confident that I could defend any high grade which I gave her.

One negative was that Megan and I were seeing less of Penny. She had gotten her own apartment in the District and spent a lot of time on her radio shows. Her publisher had started her doing book signings just before Christmas in D.C. and Baltimore. After the Holidays, those were expanded to include places like Boston, New York, Charlotte, Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, and Houston. I wondered if Penny's overloaded schedule was at all related to her comment on the night of our performance that Megan and I loved each other too much for Penny to be in a threesome with us. As the weather warmed, Megan and I spent more time nude beside Helen's and Jim's pool. Paula and Mike joined us frequently, but Penny's presence had become a rare treat.

I had very mixed emotions about Penny drawing away from us. When I had first moved to D.C., I was very interested in Penny even though, or maybe because, she was my best friends' daughter. Apparently, Penny was attracted to me too, but had second thoughts and moved to the West Coast. By the time she came back a couple of years later, Megan and I were very much in love with each other. Megan and I both loved Penny, and there was no part of our lives she had not shared. I sensed, however, that she could not have the relationship she wanted with me given my tight bond with Megan. On the other hand, maybe I was flattering myself unduly and Penny really was just very busy with things that mattered to her.

The academic year reached its climax with final exams in early May. The day after I had administered my European history final, Penny made a rare appearance at Megan's townhouse. We congratulated Penny on her recent radio show which was getting national attention. Penny had gotten two high government officials who had recently resigned on air to talk about widespread use of mood and perception altering drugs by political appointees in the current conservative "family values" administration. Major media outlets had run with the story and there appeared to be quite a bit more to it than Penny's guests had admitted on air.

Penny undressed and slouched into one of Megan's armchairs with a leg draped over each arm. "Uh, I have something that I need to tell you," she said.

"What?" Megan asked.

"Well, I'm doing it to Harry again," Penny responded.

"What do you mean?" Megan asked.

"You know that several years ago, when Harry and I first talked about getting naked onstage together, I went to Portland, Oregon to take 'the job of a lifetime' instead." Megan and I both nodded our heads. "Well," Penny said, "I'm running off again. I've been offered a one-year post as "new writer in residence" in Austin, Texas. I'm also getting a radio show there. I have to be in Austin by June 9." Penny would be gone in less than a month.

We all three got a bit drunk that night. Midway through the evening, Penny said, "Oh, shit, I left something in my car." She ran naked out to the curb and came back carrying a bag. Out of the bag she pulled a coupled of plastic bags with long tubes attached.

"What are those?" Megan asked.

Slightly giddy, Penny replied "Enema bags. I thought you and I would give each other enemas and then let Harry fuck each of us in the ass."

I helped with insertion of the enema tubes but stayed in the hall for the discharges. Megan insisted that I fuck Penny's ass first since she was moving away. Penny's asshole felt nice to me. I quickly figured out that I also need to finger Penny's pussy for her to enjoy it. At both women's insistence, I came in Penny's ass.

Penny's reactions told Megan that having a dick in her ass wasn't the ultimate sexual experience, so we decided not to wait for me to get it up again. Megan rolled onto her belly and I fingered her asshole a bit. Her asshole looked so good, and I figured she was clean, that I started kissing Megan there and worked my tongue into her asshole. Megan enjoyed my tongue in her asshole so long as I finger fucked her simultaneously. After Megan came, the girls started playing with my asshole. Megan gave me a prostate massage that got me painfully hard and Penny sucked me off. It was a night like old times.

The University had a laudable practice of sending you a memo each year listing what degrees it was conferring on students whom you had in class. A week or so after the night of anal play with Megan and Penny, that year's memo showed up. I was pleased to see that Paula was receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts with "highest distinction," meaning that she'd graduated with, at least, a 3.8 average.

Mike had graduated too. He wasn't on my memo because I'd never had him in class. Soon after graduation, he gotten into one of the unions and was getting calls to help move rock shows in and out of area venues. He was also doing sound at area clubs which had live music. Paula hadn't found anything interesting. She was working at a nearby Starbucks.

With Penny in Texas, Megan and I spent more time with Paula and Mike. Since they were alumni now, we could be more open about it. Paula read some of the theater industry publications looking for work. Just before Memorial Day, she came to us with an announcement in one of those trades. A new show was being staged in Burlington, Vermont for two weeks at the end of July. There would be auditions for "supporting players" in New York in a week. What had caught Paula's attention was the language, "Supporting players must be willing to perform in the nude."

Paula said, "I'd love to get my bare ass onstage again." That sounded like fun to Megan and me too. We talked with Mike and decided that all four of us could spend two weeks in Vermont if we were chosen. However, it would be all or nothing. None of us would do it unless all four of us were cast. We got on the train and ended up in an empty hall on the edge of Harlem.

There was only, according to the announcement, a single day of auditions. We didn't know how many people they wanted, but there were very few at the audition. The audition was run by a heavyset woman with a crew-cut whom, we learned, was the show's director. She had everyone sit on the floor in a semi-circle. At the top of the circle, the director and three other people sat at a folding table just in front of us. Everyone would do their audition in the center of the group. The director said, "I want to see how you perform when strangers are watching."

The shorter woman with a crew-cut who sat at the Director's right called the first name and a cute young girl walked in front of the table. She answered a few questions. Then, the director said, "OK, take all your clothes off." The girl was obviously extremely nervous. After a moment's hesitation, she started to undress. After some fumbling, she finally stood naked in front of all of us.

"Ok," the Director said, "start jilling yourself."

"What?" the girl asked.

"Jilling," the Director said. "You know, masturbation. Put your fingers in your cunt and get yourself off."

"What has that got to do with this show?" the girl asked indignantly.

"Nothing," the Director said. "I want to see what your limits are on what you will do with people watching you. I assume that you can act and move well enough for this show."

The girl shook her head, gathered up her clothes, and left in tears. The next name called was Paula's.

Paula walked in front of the table. There were still about 20 people sitting on the floor. Paula was asked why she wanted a performing role when her resume said that she was a production technician. "I thought that being naked in front of an audience sounded like fun," she answered.

"Have you ever been naked onstage before," she was asked.

Paula smiled. "Yes, last September."

"What did you think about that?" another member of the team asked her.

"I loved it and want to do it again," Paula said, "that's why I'm here."

Paula was told to undress, which she did gracefully. "Ok," the Director said, "you know the drill. Masturbate for us."

Paula smiled and looked around the room. Satisfied that all eyes were on her, she put her hand between her legs. I could see her working her finger inside herself. I knew from having seen her and Mike have sex that Paula did not usually come quickly. I wondered whether the Director had the patience to wait on her.

The Director didn't have patience. Paula was just starting to breath hard when the Director said, "Stop. Leave your clothes off. Go over there." Paula looked disappointed but did as she was told.

This process was repeated several times before I was called. When I stood, one of the audition team said, "You didn't give us a resume. What have you done?"

"No acting," I said. "I'm a history professor. I've had some amateur experiences onstage but nothing worth the paper to write it down. I'm friends with the girl standing over there," I said, pointing at Paula. "She showed me and my girlfriend the announcement about this audition and we all thought it would be fun to do."

I was told to strip off and did. The Director said, "How can I get you to masturbate? You're not hard. You spend a lot of time naked in front of strangers?"

"Some," I replied.

The Director pointed at Paula. "She's one of your friends?" I nodded. To Paula, the Director yelled, "Get over here. Give your buddy a hard-on."

Paula came over and stood facing me. The Director didn't know that Paula and I had been tied up nude together in several positions while posing for Evan. We were very comfortable touching each other. Paula smiled as she took my dick in one hand and cupped my balls in the other. I looked over at Megan and Mike. They were both smiling, whether enjoying our situation or anticipating their auditions I don't know.

Paula got me hard. The Director said, "You want to finish him off?"

Paula said, enthusiastically, "Sure."

To me, the Director said, "She's cute. I assume you don't mind."

"She's a dear friend," I replied.

Paula jacked me off. When I shot, some of it hit papers on the folding table. The woman who had been using that paper was obviously repulsed. The Director, however, seemed impressed. "You two boyfriend and girlfriend?" she asked. Paula and I both shook our heads. "Ok," the Director said to me, "Leave your clothes off. Both of you go stand over there."

Paula and I walked naked to the wall the Director had pointed to. When we were out of the Director's earshot, I softly told Paula, "Thank you. That felt very good."

Paula gave me a big smile. "My pleasure," she said.

The Director did have the patience to wait while Megan finger-fucked herself to a small orgasm. In my opinion, that was far and away the best performance of the day. Mike explained that he would get off quicker if Paula helped him too. Several people had left the audition when they realized that everyone was expected to masturbate. There were sixteen people in the room who saw Paula give Mike a hand-job. Paula and Mike both seemed happy.

In the end, there were six women and six men who did masturbate. The twelve of us were called as a group back in front of the audition team. The Director said, "Ok. This is a hetero show. I want you to pair off, boy-girl, boy-girl, with someone you don't know. Once you've paired off, I want you to start playing with each other's dicks and cunts."

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to face an African American woman who was standing behind me. She smiled a dazzling smile and said, "Hi. I'm Patty Nash. Will you play with me?" Ms. Nash had a very pretty face, large breasts, washboard abs, and sprinter's thighs.

"It would be an honor," I replied. Ms. Nash took ahold of my dick and started stroking me. She also spread her legs. I put my hand between her legs and began rubbing her clit. After a few minutes, I worked a finger inside of Patty and began pressing hard against her pelvic bone.

As I rubbed the wall of her pussy, Patty's smile became larger. She finally said, "A few more minutes of this and you'll be getting me off."

Looking around, I saw Paula playing with a short, broad-shouldered man. Mike was with an extremely thin redhead. Megan had paired up with the only African American man in the group. Patty and I both had the other close to coming when the Director yelled, "Stop! You're all hired."

I reluctantly pulled my finger out of Patty and she let go of my dick. Patty leaned forward and whispered to me, "We'll finish some other time." I hoped that I wasn't being too disloyal to Megan by hoping that Patty's promise would be eventually fulfilled.

The Director stood up, walked away from the table, and lit a cigarette. The woman who sat to the Director's right, stood up and said, "We said the show'd run for two weeks. That was overly ambitious. We're doing seven shows July 25 through July 30. A few more performances could be cut but none will be added so you will be done on July 30. We want you there for rehearsals starting July 20. Lodging is at your expense, but we've reserved some rooms for you at a motel not far from the theater. It isn't much, but it is clean and only $ 25 per person per night. We've got three rooms and there's twelve of you, so we expect four per room. I've got a sheet for you with the information and directions. See you in Vermont."

Paula, Mike, Megan, and I left D.C. in Megan's Subaru just after midnight on July 20. We were in Burlington around 11:00 a.m. It took a little hunting to find the motel, which was a few miles north of town. We finally saw the sign reading "Green --- Motor Court." I assumed that the missing word had once been "Mountain." For the duration of the show, however, we all referred to the place as the "Green Blank."

The Green Blank was an old motel where you parked your car right outside the door to your room. There were only a dozen rooms to pick from, and an ice machine. The place looked like it had been built sometime around World War II. However, our room with two twin beds was clean, and the ice machine worked.

Our first rehearsal was at 1:00 p.m. Finding the theater was another challenge. The Yankee Playhouse turned out to be about six miles further out of town on a two-lane tertiary road. The Playhouse had a ramshackle look and, as we walked in, there was a smell of mildew in the house. But there was plenty of parking.

The four of us walked into the theater about fifteen minutes early. I saw Patty and a few others from the audition sitting auditorium seats. We joined them and the rest of the "chorus," as we called ourselves. filtered in before 1:00. The Director and the shorter woman who was her shadow were onstage with two women and a man. I assumed that those three were the leading actors. Just before 1:00, the Director told the three, "Go home. Think about it. Be back here at 8:00 in the morning."

The three actors walked offstage. The Director turned to look down at us. "What the fuck are you doing out there and what the fuck are you doing with clothes on?" she bellowed. "Onstage naked, now!"

We all undressed and walked onstage. The Director said, "Ok. Sit on the floor." Several of us looked down at the distinctly unclean stage floor. "There's nothing there that will damage your pretty little asses," the Director said, "now sit!" We reluctantly sat.

"We're not giving you scripts because none of you have any lines," the Director explained. "If you absolutely must read the script, we've got a couple of extra copies we can loan you. I wouldn't bother if I were you." Despite the several "NO SMOKING" signs posted around the auditorium; the Director lit a cigarette. Between puffs, she said, "The play is about Veronica. Veronica's parents divorced when she was very young. She was raised by her Puritanical mother but occasionally visited her libertine father. At the time of the play, Veronica has just finished college. Her mother has died, and Veronica is back in her old hometown for the funeral. Veronica's father and his current girlfriend have also shown up. So has Veronica's mother's brother and his wife. The uncle is even more Puritanical than Veronica's mother was. The play is about the fight between the father and the uncle for Veronica's sexual soul."