“Hold it!” called Jimmy from his seat in the middle of the school auditorium’s front row “Hold it! That won’t do at all!”
Linda, Michael, and Peter stopped and turned to face Jimmy from the stage.
“What’s wrong?” asked Michael. “I thought we were doing pretty good. Peter and I didn’t flub any of our lines this time, did we?”
“No, Michael, ” said Jimmy. “You and Peter did great this time. It’s Linda. I could hardly hear her.”
Linda bowed her head. “Sorry,” she muttered.
“What did you say? I didn’t catch that.”
“She said she was sorry,” said Peter.
Jimmy went up on stage and faced Linda. “Linda, you want to pass this school project don’t you? You don’t want us to fail, do you?”
“No, Jimmy. I don’t want to fail.”
“You want this play to be a success, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then you need to project your voice better. You need to learn to speak louder so the audience can hear you. Yes, there will be microphones set up, but you still need to be loud enough that they can pick up your voice.”
“I…I can try. It’s just…I get nervous being in front of people, and when I get nervous, I tend to speak softly.”
“I understand. But you still need to do better.”
“I’ll help you, Linda,” said Peter. “I’ll help you work on your nervousness. And I’m sure Ashley can help you out, too. She used to get stage fright before she joined the choir. Remember? She can probably give you some tips.”
“And I’ll help, too,” said Michael. “We’ll have you projecting your voice like a champ in no time!”
Linda gave them a small smile. “Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.”
“Great,” said Jimmy. “Now that that’s settled, let’s take five and then start practicing the next scene. We only have two weeks to get this down pat.”
This post is part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “project”:
The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Mar. 4/17
Jeanne Owens, author 