The Performance Ch. 05

The Director took a few more puffs, dropped the cigarette, and ground it into the stage floor with her foot. "You guys appear in five scenes. In the first, her father has taken Veronica to a nude beach. You are the other people at the beach. Your next three scenes are dream sequences. The last scene is, well, we'll talk about that later. Ok, pair off boy-girl, boy-girl."

Naturally, Megan and I paired off as did Paula and Mike. Patty paired with the African American man. Perry was his name. He looked almost stereotypical: fit with well-defined muscles, and a huge dick. I later learned that Perry had not been a college athlete. Before he decided to try acting, he had earned a Bachelor's in physics from an Ivy League university. Perry turned out to be one of the more engaging chorus members.

The Director arranged us for the nude beach scene. She wanted two couples playing volleyball, challenging at that point as we had neither net nor ball, and the rest would be lying on the floor. "You couples lying on the beach: play with each other, but nothing too explicit," the Director instructed. Patty, Perry, Megan, and I were chosen to be the volleyball players. The Director told us, "I want a real game, not some pattycake thing. I want tits and dicks flopping around!" We spent almost two hours pretending to play volleyball while the Director precisely positioned the other couples and gave each couple detailed instructions on what they should be doing. The scene only lasted a few minutes.

We got to the second scene around 4:00 p.m. This scene was supposed to be one of Veronica's dreams. We were to be posed as couples around the perimeter of the stage while the leads played out some action in the center. The Director told us, "I want each couple doing something sexual. The only rule is no penetration. That gets us busted. Pick a pose you can hold without moving for the duration of the scene." Of course, we didn't know the duration of the scene at that point.

Megan and I chose to pose in what we thought was a passionate embrace. Other couples took similar poses. The Director circled the stage several times just looking at us. Finally, she said, "No." She assigned us to new partners. Patty got paired with a man we didn't know. Perry was partnered with the emaciated redhead. Fortunately, Megan was paired with Mike and I was paired with Paula. "OK, you will keep these pairings for the dream scenes," the Director declared. "I know that some of you are couples in real life and I've split you up. I don't give a shit. The person you're with now is your partner for the run of this show. The other two dream scenes are dynamic, not static like this one. You'd better be perfectly comfortable touching your partner anywhere on his or her body and having your partner touch you anywhere. I suggest that you spend tonight after rehearsal getting intimately familiar with your partner."

Having assigned us new partners, the Director proceeded to position each couple around the stage and put us into the poses she wanted. She turned Paula's back to me. "Jam your ass into his groin," she told Paula. "I want his dick between your cheeks." I was instructed to reach around Paula and grab one of her tits with each hand. It was a pose we could hold for a long time, and we did. Once the Director got Paula and I posed, she ignored us. We held the pose while she over an hour posing the other couples. Megan was finally posed on her knees in front of Mike. She had Mike's dick in her hand as if about to give him a blow job.

It was a little after 7:00 p.m. when the Director was finally satisfied with our poses for the second scene. "That's it for tonight," the Director declared. "But we didn't make nearly enough progress today. I want you here at noon tomorrow. It will be a long one, be prepared."

We dressed and got back into the Subaru. All four of us were hungry. As we drove back to the Green Blank, we saw diner with a few cars and trucks in the gravel parking lot. A Budweiser sign was lit in one window. We didn't remember seeing anywhere else to eat driving out to the Playhouse, so we stopped. As we walked in, we saw four other chorus members, including Perry and the emaciated redhead, had gotten there ahead of us. Patty and some others walked in behind us. We pushed a couple of tables together and all sat together.

The food turned out to be surprisingly good. We all had beer because the diner didn't serve wine or mixed drinks. As we ate, one of the chorus members whom I hadn't met began complaining about our pay: $ 150 per day.

Patty shut that down immediately. "I don't want any bitching about pay or conditions," she said. "We all know we're not up here for the money. We're here because this is the only show this summer in which no-names like us get to show off their dicks and cunts. Stars who want to be nude can do that revival of Equus on Broadway. People like us come here to show off nude onstage."

Patty was right. That was why Megan, Paula, Mike, and I were doing this. The emaciated redhead, Alicia, said, "I'd go to Egypt and get fucked by a camel if I could do it nude in front of an audience." I hoped that was hyperbole. An older couple sitting at the table next to us stopped eating, went up to the cash register, paid, and walked out.

The four of us stripped as soon as we got back to our room at the Green Blank. Mike said, "The Director wants us to spend tonight getting 'intimately familiar' with our onstage partners. How do you propose that we do that?"

Megan stood up and walked over to Mike. "Let me show you," she said. She took Mike's dick in her hand and kissed him. Mike began fondling Megan's tits.

Paula came to me and sat down in my lap, facing me. "I think they've got a good idea," she said. I hugged her and we shared a long kiss. In a short time, Mike was on his back on one twin bed and Megan was riding him a she likes to do. Paula was on her back on the other bed and I was on top of Paula pushing my dick into her. While the four of us had done a lot together over the preceding months, this was the first time we'd had intercourse with each other's partners. I can't speak for Megan and Mike, but Paula and I agreed to make our first time with each other last as long as possible. While intercourse with Megan is incomparable, fucking Paula felt pretty damned good. I think she enjoyed it.

I was still pumping Paula and sucking on one of her nipples when I heard the distinctive sound of Megan orgasming followed by Mike's grunts. Paula giggled at the sound of her boyfriend and my girlfriend coming. A few minutes later, Paula bit down on her lower lip for a moment. Her eyes seemed to have sparks in them. She said, "Harry, let go, now!" I picked up my pace and Paula contracted her pelvic muscles to increase the sensation for both of us. It required an effort to keep myself moving inside of her, but it was worth it. A few moments later, Paula's legs, which had been wrapped around me, contracted violently. She shrieked and dug her fingers into my back. It was, however, the incredible look on Paula's face as she came that sent me over the edge.

A few minutes after Paula and I experienced our first shared orgasm, Megan said sweetly, "That looked like fun." Paula and I started laughing.

Megan slept with Mike that night and I slept with Paula. In the morning, I think we were all a little unsure of where our swapping partners had left us. Once we were all awake, we sat in bed for a moment looking at each other. Paula broke the silence, saying, "Well, I guess we crossed some sort of a line last night."

Megan replied, "I'm not sure it was a bad thing. Did you enjoy sex with Harry?"

"Well, yeah," Paula replied, "as I guess you know, he's a good fuck."

"Ok," Megan responded, "Mike's a good fuck too. I don't see any problem. We're adults. We care about each other. We respect each other."

"So," Mike said, "we're all agreed that Megan and Harry are a couple and Paula and I are a couple, but Harry and Paula can fuck whenever they want, and Megan and I can fuck whenever we want?"

Paula giggled and added, "Or, you could fuck Harry."

"No offense, Harry," Mike said, "but that is NOT going to happen."

"Thank you," I said very sincerely.

Paula said, "I think we've been heading to this point, now that I think about it. Given what we had already done together, it's probably inevitable that we'd eventually start fucking the other person's partner."

"You're probably right," Megan said, "but that doesn't answer Mike's question of whether we agree that sex between any of the four of us is ok going forward."

"Any of the four of us?" Mike repeated. "I already said that I'm not fucking Harry and I think Harry strongly agrees with that."

"I do," I said.

"I know," Megan said coyly, "I just want to preserve the option for Paula and me to get together."

"You do have a spectacular body," Paula said.

"Ok," Megan said, "I'll ask Harry: are you ok with Mike fucking me in the future? That doesn't mean that I love you less. It only means that I have your permission to give and receive pleasure with Mike."

I looked at Megan. In that moment, I was acutely aware of how much I loved her. The idea of agreeing that she could fuck another man, even Mike whom I admired greatly, was difficult. However, as I thought it through, I couldn't see how it would be a problem. "You both have my permission," I said.

Mike said, "Paula, are you ok with me fucking Megan?"

Paula smiled. "On two conditions," she said, "One: you don't stop fucking me; and two: you give me permission to fuck Harry whenever I feel like it."

"Absolutely," Mike said.

"Just to be clear," I said to Megan, "Paula's condition applies to us too. Just because you can fuck Mike doesn't mean that we stop making love."

"Of course, Harry," Megan said, "I'm not substituting Mike for you. I'm adding Mike just like you're adding Paula." That seemed like a good outcome.

Mike and I both got out of bed. We walked past each other and got in bed with our long-term partners. Megan and I hugged. I started rolling one of her nipples between my fingers. Megan started rubbing a finger just behind my balls. I moved my hand from her breast and put it between her legs. I rubbed her clit with my index finger. After a few minutes, Megan simply said, "Please?" I lay on my back and Megan mounted me.

Megan's movements up and down my dick were slow and loving. At one point, Megan leaned forward and whispered, "Mike's nice, but you're the man I love."

"Can I keep you forever?" I whispered back.

Megan sat back up. She looked down at me and smiled. In a normal tone of voice, she said, "Yes." Those were the last words we spoke for quite a while.

I was so engrossed in Megan that I was oblivious to whatever Paula and Mike were doing. I got the general idea when I heard another of Paula's shrieks. I didn't recall the girl having been that loud when she came in the past. The sound of Paula's pleasure was the trigger for the orgasms Megan and I had been building towards. Ours weren't as loud, but I'm sure they were at least as intense.

Once we'd all gotten our breath and pulse back to normal, Paula said, a little sheepishly, "Damn, I'm sorry about the screaming. It's just, well, the O Harry gave me last night and the one from Mike just now were, well, they were a new level of intensity."

Megan said, laughing, "So, going forward, we're going to hear that bloodcurdling scream every time you have a good orgasm?"

"Shit, I'm afraid you might," Paula replied.

"That's ok," I said, "it just means that a dear friend is having fun."

The bathtub/shower in our room was tiny. That didn't stop all four of us from trying to shower together. It worked so long as each of us washed someone else.

When we arrived at rehearsal at noon, Patty loudly announced, "Somebody got laid, but good, in room 8 last night and again this morning." Room 8 was our room. I glanced at Paula.

Paula was no longer as embarrassed by her coital noises. She announced to the room, "By two different guys, no less."

The Director said, very loudly, "I don't give a rat's ass about your sexual escapades. Just get your clothes off and get up here. All of you!"

The first half of rehearsal that day was devoted to the second dream scene. Insofar as we were concerned, the idea was that a spotlight would focus on each couple in turn. We had some action to do during our time in the spotlight. The Director had Mike pick up Megan and spin her so that her head was to the floor and her feet were in the air. Holding her legs, Mike then had to lift Megan until her vulva was level with his face and her face was level with his dick. They had to hold that position until the spotlight moved off them.

The Director's idea for Paula and me was, I thought, more devilish. I was supposed to hold Paula over my head in a supine position while she spread her legs as far as she could. We figured out how to do that with surprising ease. Then, the Director added a twist. She wanted Paula to twist while above my head into a prone position. Paula was then supposed to slide down my body until her feet reached the stage. We were to end the action by embracing and kissing.

The twist part took some work and I had to catch Paula several times to keep her from hurting herself. The slide down my body was less demanding. However, each time she did it, my dick caught between Paula's thighs. The Director thought that was fine, and I wasn't complaining. However, I did start getting hard. That was a no-no.

Another interesting feature of the rehearsals was the Director's insistence that we undress at the beginning of rehearsal and stay nude until the day's session was over. We took breaks in the nude. We went to the john in the nude (Only the men's room plumbing worked so we quickly got used to it being unisex. The women's room was supposed to be repaired by opening night). Two of the chorus smoked. Unlike the Director, they had to go into the parking lot to smoke and had to do so in the nude.

The upside of the mandatory nudity rule at rehearsal, maybe intended, was that all twelve of us got comfortable being nude around each other and around all the clothed people who were, for various reasons, at the rehearsals. We had also figured out that the twelve of us were the only guests at the Green Blank. By July 22, most of us were going nude at the motel including walking between rooms and to the ice machine. The old couple who ran the place didn't care so long as they got their money.

July 22 was also our first full cast rehearsal, meaning that we started rehearsing the scenes with the actors who had dialog. When we met Carrie Wey, the young woman playing Veronica, the first thought in my mind was "cheerleader." Carrie was blonde, had big tits, and wore a perpetual smile; almost the stereotypical cheerleader. That was interesting because she was supposed to appear nude in several of the scenes with us, starting with the nude beach scene. I hadn't known any "cheerleader" types who voluntarily went nude in public.

Consistent with her dealings with us, the Director stated unequivocally that the featured actors "must" be nude to rehearse scenes in which they would appear in the nude during the run. Derek, the actor who played Veronica's father, and Clarisse, who played the father's girlfriend, casually stripped off for the nude beach scene. Carrie came out in a bathrobe and started bitching about how it wasn't necessary for her to be nude to rehearse the scene. Of course, all that did was ensure that everyone in the theater was focused on her when the Director finally decreed that she undress on the spot or be fired. I assume that was the calculation behind Carrie's tantrum. She certainly had a body that she should have been proud to expose.

The other thing which Carrie's tantrum did was to incite the Director. The Director started giving Carrie much more detailed direction on her actions and movements during the nude scenes than she gave the other actors. The effect was that, by the end of a performance, the audience would see every bit of Carrie. I wondered whether that had been part of her plan.

If it sounds like I'm dumping on Carrie, I really don't mean to. She was pleasant enough to all of us, and she took the final scene in stride. The final scene of the show was supposed to establish Veronica's decision, on her own, to reject the strictures imposed by her mother and uncle and embrace sexual liberation. Alone, Veronica takes herself to a sex club where we, the chorus, were playing the nude patrons. Veronica sees the mass of naked bodies writhing against each other, hesitates, then strips off and joyously runs into the middle of us.

Of course, we and Carrie had to be nude to rehearse the final scene. The Director's instructions to us were, "Rub ourselves against each other. Handle each other's tits, dicks, asses, and cunts." I wondered whether the show would be allowed to open, but no one outside the cast and crew seemed to be paying the slightest attention to us. The Director's instructions for when Veronica ran into our crowd were even more explicit. "Grab her tits. Goose her. I want your hands all over her." To Carrie's credit, that is exactly what we did to her and she seemed to like it.

We were having so much fun in rehearsal and at the Green Blank that opening night seemed anti-climactic. We had seen a little of the publicity for the show which said that the show would "break boundaries." It didn't, however, mention the extensive nudity and sex short of intercourse. I wondered if the audiences had any clue what they were coming to see.

That first night, very few came. The auditorium was only about a third full. Still, when we came on for the nude beach scene and Megan and I played volleyball with Patty and Perry, I felt the same exhilaration I'd felt when Megan, Patty, Helen, Jim, and, ultimately, Paula had undress onstage before an audience. I was just sorry that there weren't more people there to see my dick flop around.

The local paper had a rather scathing review the next day. The part I recall read, "Since we do not have high-end strip clubs in this community, I can recommend this show if you have a desire to see a number of very attractive nude bodies. If, however, you wish to see a quality play, you will be sorely disappointed." Apparently, a lot of people did want to see nude bodies. Our Friday night show and the two performances on Saturday were sold out. Those were much more raucous audiences than I had ever encountered in a theater before. However, their energy, and the occasional comment shouted at the stage made the performances more fun for us. We loosened up because the audience was loose. There was a lot more hand to pubes and pubes to pubes contact. The audiences seemed to like that. I was a little surprised that the audiences seemed to split about 50-50 male and female.

We also took curtain calls in the nude. I was gratified those three performances because, it seemed to me, that the loudest applause came when Megan took her one step forward. Paula was also well-received. My moment came at the end of the Saturday night show. As I took my one step forward, a female voice yelled from the audience, "I'd suck him." Of course, the voice did sound a little drunk.

My nagging fear materialized when we got to the Playhouse for the Sunday matinee and saw police cars in the parking lot. Before we pulled in, we saw the woman who shadowed the Director standing across the road from the Playhouse waving us to her. Megan parked on the side of the road and lowered a window.

The woman came up to the window and said, "For the moment at least, we're shut down. They say we're obscene under community standards. I think you should leave now. Go back to the Green Blank. Someone will contact you there when we know what's going to happen."