Skipping dinner that evening, he worked through until almost one in the morning but set his alarm to call Monty and tell him he’d take the part.
“I knew you’d take it, Luka. It’s perfect for you.”
“When do rehearsals start?”
“Next week, first week in August. Then, we’ll work four days a week on it, depending on everyone’s schedule. I know a lot of you have prior commitments, so I’m not holding anyone to that rigid a schedule until November.”
“November? Monty, not to argue with you after you’ve given me this opportunity, but how will any of us be ready for February if we’re not working on this more?”
“I have faith in all of you. Work on your own for now, as I know you will, and I’ll set you up with some people to work in pairs and more once everyone’s signed on. I’ll bring the contracts to you when I get them all drawn, and we can begin.”
With his stomach in knots, Luka nodded and felt a tear slide down his face. “Thank you, truly, Monty. I’ll do my best. I swear to you.”
“I know you will. Just do me a favor, and don’t be too hard on the other cast members. You’re a perfectionist, I know, but not everyone is going to give ten thousand percent like you.”
“No disrespect, but then why would you hire them?”
As Monty laughed, he said, “I’ll call you soon for the signing. Goodbye, Luka.”
After the call ended, he picked up the script again, fearful that the potential of the play wouldn’t be realized if everyone wasn’t working as hard as he was. Not that he had power over that.
A lot of his fellow castmates hated him because he refused to give more than his full attention to a project. They didn’t understand. Most of them were kids whose parents had given them everything. They didn’t know what it was like to go hungry and have that hunger grow from simply needing a meal to needing so much more.
A roof that didn’t leak, a bathroom and kitchen without roaches, clean, new jeans without holes that didn’t ride up to his calves.
There was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep from going back to that. Working his way through school to live in the dorms, since his scholarship didn’t cover that, and working extra hours to eat decent meals in the cafeteria, only picking things that were healthy, and fresh.
No way would he go back to that.
So, he went to get some food, a few bananas, oranges and whole-grain bread — and then got home and absently snacked on them while learning his lines.
When, two days later, Monty came over with the contract, Luka couldn’t believe the money he’d be making from the venture. “This is…normal?”
“Yes, Luka. The star of a Broadway show is always paid well. Now you just have to earn it, and I have no doubt you have thescript is already memorized, and you are working night and day on perfecting the part.”
Hating that someone knew him so well, Luka said, “Memorized, yeah, but…”
“Luka, don’t get me wrong. I admire your work ethic. More need it, believe me, but let yourself have some fun too. Other actors would be out celebrating after getting offered the part of a lifetime. Please try to enjoy this a little too.”
He’d argue, but it would do no good. No one truly understood, and he couldn’t make them. Not unless years were spent in abject poverty would anyone understand. “I’ll try,” he said noncommittally.
“Well, good. I’ll see you soon.”
The cast was meeting for the first time that summer in a smaller theater that was a few blocks from the Garden. Two of them, he knew from the university, and the others he knew by name only by a few of the programs he’d saved from his favorite performances.
He tried not to come off as an asshole, but it wasn’t easy listening to them catching up. Most knew one another by casting calls, where a person could sit in a room filled with look-alikes for hours while each was taken to the back and auditioned.
They tried to engage him, and he tried to reciprocate, but he wasn’t good at small talk. He wanted to get to business, so he shoved his fists between his knees and waited until they were ready to get to work.
It was over an hour, but finally, they began talking about the play. Everyone was extremely excited, and when they talked about their parts, they waited for Luka to reveal his.
“I’m Adrian. I’m…I’m the lead.”
All stared at him, their jaws dropped or their lips thin slashes on their faces. Finally, one said what he was thinking. “They chose an unknown?”
“It’s Monty,” Selina said, who’d be playing his older sister. “We all know Monty or know of him. He wanted me to be in it. I was in his class the first year he was teaching.”
“Well, Monty knows his stuff,” Andrew said, as he nodded in Luka’s direction. “Welcome aboard.”
