Kissu

The True Self - Persona

Leiko Hamada: Auditorium- Judging Panel

Noting that there was only two candidates left before the end, Leiko's eyes drifted to the last-but-one name on the sign up sheet. "Katsuro Sakuma", she pronounced aloud, her expression changing into a frown as the name rekindled some kind of memory in the back of her mind. Wasn't this the Sakuma person who always joked around during lessons? He had a reputation of being somewhat of a class clown, she believed, so it was strange to see his name appear for something like Drama Club. Unless...he was intent on making a mockery of the script?

Praying that this wasn't to be the case, Leiko's eyes lifted up to the stage as a tall, messy-haired male strode to the centre with an air of confidence. Comedy had its place in the arts, of course, but Leiko's excerpt held no room for such an approach. Watching with bated breath, Leiko prepared herself for the inevitable.

Not for the first time that afternoon however, Leiko found herself surprised by what followed. Unlike the other candidates, Katsuro chose to treat the script not as a monologue, but as part of a dialogue, sharing the space with some other invisible actor as he recited his lines to them with passion and love dripping from every uttered word. It was hard to discern any note of genuinety in his recital, but it was a straightforward performance and interpretation of the text, and an effective one at that. He finished his lines with a dramatic flair, and shortly after, the audience crackled into rumbling applause.

Sinking into deep thought, Leiko turned to her fellow judges and conversed with them a bit before coming to a verdict on his performance. "Sakuma-san," she began, looking up at the fellow junior with her pen rolling in between her fingers. "I have to say...out of all of the auditions so far, this is the first one where I felt like I was watching a 'show' rather than an audition. You clearly established a character from the start, held a natural stage presence throughout, and you persisted with the original context of the script, which was pleasant to watch." Leiko was almost surprised at herself that she was praising someone like Katsuro so highly, but it was truly quite difficult to fault. "All I would suggest in future performances is to engage with your audience a little more. Open up your body movements, allow us to absorb your facial expressions, tell us what it means to be in love as well as Hermia." After a quick look at her notes to ensure there was nothing she had missed in her critique, she waved him off with an approving nod. "A very good audition, Sakuma-san."

And thankfully, not a comical one, Leiko added internally as she leafed through her notes, her eyes finally reaching the end of the list. Ah...she wondered how he would tackle the script? Feeling her senses stir with anticipation, Leiko announced crisply, "And now, for our final audition of the day, please welcome Kaminari Sutoraiki!

The True Self - Persona

SwordfishKnight said
Get better courage scrub.

M8, have you seen that Expression stat? Noboru better pull his ass in weight in Drama real quick.

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Sho Minazuki said
Maximum Courage, Expression, Diligence, Academics and Understanding, here I come.

Hmm, if I had to venture what Leiko's stats would be, they would be like:

Courage-3/5
Expression-5/5
Diligence-4/5
Academics-3/5
Understanding-1/5

So overall, pretty high ranking, with the exception of Understanding, which is her worst stat.

As for Saya-

Courage-1/5
Expression-3/5
Diligence-3/5
Academics-1/5
Understanding-4/5

...A lot lower. XD Got to grind those stats to impress Rokoru-senpai!

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Sho Minazuki said
> You recited your lines perfectly!> Rui's Expression increased dramatically!

Grinding dat Expression stat.

Also, I'm nearly done posting. I got the bad case of procrastination.

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Savo said
Don't expect a post today because its about time for me to go to bed... Also, theres an off chance that it might be difficult as hell to get a post in tomorrow, so don't expect one either. I should be able to possibly completely one on Thursday or Friday.

Ouch. Well, I understand that life gets busy. Thanks for letting us know :) I'll write up the response to Malik's post, and then I'll ask Sho when he come on whether we should finish up the Drama Club between myself, you and Haru in the collab pad. I'm just very conscious over how long this thing is gonna last.

Sen said
You messed up, Sato. Your hand thing didn't work.

Indeed it didn't. XD Heck, I'm not sure what he was trying to do. Well, Leiko will bug him on it at a later opportunity.

Sen said
Also, I really like the line "." I don't know why, but it just looks nice and feels good to say.

Yeah, I really like it too. The verse actually goes on for two lines longer, but I felt it sounded a lot smoother if I just cut it to that line. It's a pretty versatile concept too, when taken out of context. Overall, I've got to say it's been super fun critiquing everyone.

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Posted!~

Malik and Savo, feel free to post your auditions whenever y'all are ready.I can make Leiko react to both sequentially in one post no problem. With any luck, Drama Club will reach its thrilling conclusion tomorrow!

Also, it's 3am where I am and I need to go to bed.

The True Self - Persona

Leiko Hamada: Auditorium- Judging Panel

Leiko continued to scrawl idly on her notebook as she glanced over at the audition sheet before her. The next name, like so many others, was unfamiliar to her. "Sato Hashimoto", she announced clearly, ceasing her writing for a moment as she rested her pen on the desk, propping her chin on the palms of her hands as her eyes cast forward to the stage.

A lean, fair-skinned male walked towards the centre of the stage, a few murmurs of recognition following him as he looked ahead at the audience with a sense of unease. Leiko could feel the nervous energy radiate from him, her own stomach knotting from the tension as she watched on silently. She hated watching people fall apart from stage fright, and she really hoped she wasn't about to witness it now.

The spotlight illuminated his slight figure, and with a deep breath, the male began to recite his words.

The initial delivery was sketchy at best. The male's voice shook slightly with nerves, but he was quick to recover, Leiko noted as his voice grew in power and confidence the deeper he delved into his role. His body started to relax along with his words, adopting a more natural stance as he recited the wonders of heaven and earth in a distant and somewhat melancholic way. He had chosen to focus on the emotion underlying the words in the script, an approach that a surprising amount of auditionees had not attempted, and Leiko couldn't help but feel impressed with his candour.

Briefly writing something down, Leiko's eyes flickered to the page and back again to see the male raising a hand with his palm facing upwards in some sort of strange gesture as he delivered his final line. Was he trying to shield his eyes from the spotlight? Leiko raised the end of her pen to her lips and tapped her bottom lip as she tried to work out the reason for the hand movement. The best she could conclude was that he was taking the 'bright things' mentioned in his final line literally, as if the spotlight itself was a factor in his performance. Perhaps he was attempting a form of meta-theatre in his delivery? Unsure of his true intention, Leiko dotted a question mark next to 'hand gesture' by Sato's name, whilst allowing the applause to thunder across the room.

Clearing her throat, Leiko's eyes roved her notes once more before levelling with Sato's brown ones. "You had somewhat of a shaky start," she began carefully, approaching her words like she was walking on eggshells whilst speaking to the unfamiliar male. She had never spoken to the student before, so it was difficult to gauge his temperament just from a short audition. "Which is understandable. Standing on that stage on your own with so many people watching can be terrifying. What matters, is that you held it together, and grew into your role the more you progressed." She stopped for a moment so that the male could consider her words before continuing her critique. "Your approach towards the script was excellent. I could sense that you put serious consideration towards the emotions behind the words, and I could honestly feel it resonate with the audience as well. Overall, a really good performance...umm..." Leiko blanched as his name slipped from her mind, quickly casting her eyes down before glancing back up at him again. "Hashimoto-san." With a quick murmur of agreement with the other judges, Leiko glanced at him with a pleased expression. "I look forward to us working together."

Leaving at that, Leiko allowed Sato to let himself leave the stage whilst she reviewed her notes once more. She really wanted to ask him what his intention had been with that sudden hand gesture of his, but she decided against it for now, in case the inquiry took him off guard and flustered him in front of his audience. Instead, she would find an opportunity to speak to him at a later date and ask him then.

Tossing her long hair behind her shoulder, Leiko noted that they were reaching closer to the end of the audition process. Overall, she was very pleased with the diversity in skill that the auditionees had shown thus far, and with that optimism pushing her forward, she announced the name of the next auditionee.

Final Fantasy VIII: Tempus Veneficarum [7/10 Slots]

Zarkun said
I have an inquiry about that actually. Do you want Jericho at the announcement or at the ball?

I don't think he really needs to be at the announcement, since he's already a SeeD. However, the grad ball is generally open to all the students as well as complete outsiders (like Rinoa), so I would say go for it. The more the merrier.

Anyway, since Lennon will be leaving tomorrow for a week, I will be taking temporary control until his return. Shiinen, when you have time, can you please finish up Eika's scene with Duncan? After that, we'll move onto the announcement and the results.

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I'm officially #rekt Malik. Thanks for that.

Also, I would like to point out that we lived up to our Ace Defective titles, Sword. We were nowhere near catching the perp.

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My dress is looking mighty fine, have to say.

Although Haru's face looks like she's enjoying the part a little too much.