Set the Stage! by Megan E. Bryant

Author:Megan E. Bryant [E. Bryant, Megan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2018-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

The theater where Emerson’s mom worked was a short bike ride from Jake’s house. Emerson led Jake around back to a plain black door with an intercom next to it. Emerson pressed the buzzer and said, “Hey, Mom! I’m here! With Jake!”

Bzzzzz!

“This is the stage door,” Emerson explained. “It’s for the actors and crew.”

Jake had never been backstage before. The walls were cluttered with posters from past shows, and a few different offices jutted off from the narrow, twisting hallway.

Mrs. Lewis briefly looked up from her computer to wave. “Good luck shopping, boys,” she joked.

Jake grimaced. He hated shopping. The sooner they found his Ben Franklin costume, the better.

“Where is everybody?” Jake asked Emerson as they went down to the basement.

“Mom says the theater is for night owls,” Jake said. “That’s when the actors show up for rehearsal and the crew builds the set, and it can get really loud and fun and crazy. The quiet behind-the-scenes work happens during the day. Come on, the costume shop is in here.”

Jake followed Emerson into a cavernous room filled with sewing machines, tall mirrors, tables, dressmaker forms, and bolts of fabric in every color and pattern imaginable. The walls were lined with racks of costumes, shelves of hats and wigs, and boxes of shoes.

Jake helped Ms. Fitzgerald climb out of his backpack. She looked around, confused. “Where’s the stage?”

“We’ll go there next,” Jake said.

Emerson yanked some pins out of a tufted pincushion. “Would you like to have a seat?” he asked Ms. Fitzgerald.

She perched on the edge of the pincushion, but even Jake could tell how eager she was to get to the stage. “This will just take a couple minutes,” he promised. Then he turned to Emerson. “Where do we begin?”

Emerson glanced at a list on the wall. “What time period would Benjamin Franklin be?” he asked.

“Um … colonial, I guess?” Jake said.

“Row C, rack 12,” Emerson replied.

Jake and Emerson sifted through all sorts of old-fashioned clothes—from vests and breeches to tricornered hats and floppy bow ties. Jake pulled on a brown velvet vest. The matching pants looked like they would end just above his knees, with small bows on each side. There was a ruffled, lacy tie attached to an even more ruffled shirt. Jake even found a pair of shoes with stacked heels and shiny buckles. It all looked right, but after Jake tried everything on, he had a strange sinking feeling.

“I don’t know about this,” Jake began.

“What’s the matter?” Emerson asked.

“I—don’t get me wrong, these costumes are incredible,” Jake began. “But … isn’t everybody going to laugh at me?”

Emerson shrugged. “You have to wear a Benjamin Franklin costume,” he pointed out. “This is what they wore back then, I think.”

Jake sighed. “Yeah. You’re right. And you’re lucky. I wish I could just wear a baseball uniform.”

“Old-fashioned baseball uniforms were dumb-looking, too,” Emerson pointed out. “I have to wear my mom’s knee socks … and tuck in my pants so that the top part is all poofy and baggy!”

“So you’re saying I look dumb?” Jake said, smiling so Emerson would know he was joking.

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