Rhy'Din was always changing. New buildings went up, old buildings came down, some buildings were changed entirely from the inside out. A block away from the Shanachie Theater, the latter was taking place - indeed, had been taking place for several months now. It was the latest venture decided upon by Mataya De Luca and co - a dedicated school for the theater arts; not just performance, but all the backstage skills needed to keep a theater going. No one expected it to be a large school, and the first year's intake was going to rattle around in the place, certainly, but the school itself had been completed. Now they just had to decide on a name while the furnishings were being put in and the staff decided upon. And today, Mataya had dragged her brother along to see their new school in all its glory.
"Tell me why I'm here again?" Tony asked, happy enough to go along with his sister to check out her latest venture, but unsure why she'd asked him and not Jonathan or someone else who might be more involved in the school than he would. Then again, they weren't only siblings but business partners.
Mataya gave him a Look.
"Because I can't trust Merethyl to give me an honest answer about whether or not the ballet facilities are right for her, and Irina's been dodging me for weeks," she responded, though her lips were twitching with a smile. She knew Tony was just as excited about the venture as she was.
"So, what are you planning on doing with the new facility?" he asked, wanting to be sure they were both on the same page. He ignored the "Look", knowing his sister well enough to know she'd indulge him a little in answering his questions. "I mean, I assume you'd want to move STARS here, too, right?"
"Well, yeah, it's going to be an empty building on the weekends," she pointed out as they walked up to the entrance together. "But the performance hall here is going to be a fully kitted out theater, so the STARS performances can take place here and they won't get the stress of having the professional set up getting in their way. Right now, we only have one little ballerina, and I suggested that Merry might want to make use of the dance rooms here to tutor her rather than at the studios."
"It's a pretty big building," Tony remarked as they came to a halt just outside the entrance. But what did it look like on the inside, he wondered. How much work would this entail" There was certainly no lack of funding, given the theater's sponsors, but could they fill all the rooms here"
"Well, we're expecting between fifteen and twenty students this year, since it's the first year only and word won't have got out about the school for very long," she admitted, stepping aside as a pair of half-orcs manhandled what looked like a pile of desks past them and in through the doors. "We're laying on for academic subjects as well, because anyone studying acting needs to be able to study plays, and the scenery builders and lighting and sound engineers need math and all that as well. It's not like every room is going to be in use all the time."
"Plus STARS and ballet classes," Tony interjected thoughtfully, moving aside with her to allow the half-orcs to do their job. "Are you planning on moving the dance studio here, too?" he asked curiously.
"Not at the moment," she said, leading the way to follow the decorators into the school itself. "I thought keeping the adult and children classes away from the professional classes would be better for morale all 'round. Apart from Zahan, of course - I talked to her parents, and they seem happier with the idea of having her going to school here in Rhy'Din like normal, and just having daily tutoring from Merry. It would be better than separating her from everyone she loves just to continue studying."
"That makes sense," Tony said, following his sister's lead up the stairs and pulling open the door to let them both in. "I like the idea of having a school associated with the theater. That way, they already have a place to go after they graduate," he mused aloud. They'd already discussed most of this before, of course, but this was the first he was seeing of the building Mataya had purchased with this plan in mind.
The door opened into a small foyer, the left wall devoted to the window of the school office, and a door that proclaimed itself to be the principal's office. A wide door ahead of them stood open, and immediately visible beyond that was another set of double doors.
"Through there is the theater space," Mataya told her brother cheerfully as they stepped out of the foyer, revealing that those double doors were on a wall of a main corridor, from which doors opened into what were, presumably, classrooms. Two sets of stairs sat on either side of the theater doors, leading upward.
"How did you find this building?" Tony asked, as he took in their surroundings. It was obviously designed to be a school, or it had been renovated at some point to serve as a school. The building was pretty big, but it wasn't so much the classrooms that impressed him as the theater, and it was to that space that he gravitated.
"Believe it or not, this was a factory mill," she told him with a grin, opening the door to look into the theater space. There were no seats, just a wide hall in which rehearsals could take place, and at the far end, a proscenium stage with an apron, complete with curtains and a fully working backstage area. "I mean, this was the factory floor, and the two wings on either side were the workers' housing."
"Impressive," Tony said, as he stepped into the large space and took a better look around. Not only impressive, but full of potential. There was no doubt his sister was excited about the school, and her excitement was catching. "Ambitious, but impressive," he repeated.
"I seem to remember you saying the same thing when I told you I was renovating a manor house into a theater," she teased him in a merry tone, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor as she skipped into the center of the wide hall.
"Care to try it out?" he asked, a teasing tone to his voice, wondering if she was still as agile as she'd once been on a dance floor. Instead of waiting for an answer, he swept forward, one arm going around her waist, the other taking her hand to spin her around in a waltz, moving as smoothly as the accomplished dancer he was.
Some things, you never lost. Though it had been a few years since 'Taya had performed, she was still a dancer at heart, stepping easily into the spin of the waltz with her big brother.
"Oh, you old romantic," she said, laughing. "You and Anya should go dancing properly sometime."
"Think we need classes?" he asked in a teasing tone of voice as he led her across the makeshift dance floor. It had been a long time since he'd gone ballroom dancing. It was something he and Anya had never really had time for, but it was a tempting thought.
"Tell me why I'm here again?" Tony asked, happy enough to go along with his sister to check out her latest venture, but unsure why she'd asked him and not Jonathan or someone else who might be more involved in the school than he would. Then again, they weren't only siblings but business partners.
Mataya gave him a Look.
"Because I can't trust Merethyl to give me an honest answer about whether or not the ballet facilities are right for her, and Irina's been dodging me for weeks," she responded, though her lips were twitching with a smile. She knew Tony was just as excited about the venture as she was.
"So, what are you planning on doing with the new facility?" he asked, wanting to be sure they were both on the same page. He ignored the "Look", knowing his sister well enough to know she'd indulge him a little in answering his questions. "I mean, I assume you'd want to move STARS here, too, right?"
"Well, yeah, it's going to be an empty building on the weekends," she pointed out as they walked up to the entrance together. "But the performance hall here is going to be a fully kitted out theater, so the STARS performances can take place here and they won't get the stress of having the professional set up getting in their way. Right now, we only have one little ballerina, and I suggested that Merry might want to make use of the dance rooms here to tutor her rather than at the studios."
"It's a pretty big building," Tony remarked as they came to a halt just outside the entrance. But what did it look like on the inside, he wondered. How much work would this entail" There was certainly no lack of funding, given the theater's sponsors, but could they fill all the rooms here"
"Well, we're expecting between fifteen and twenty students this year, since it's the first year only and word won't have got out about the school for very long," she admitted, stepping aside as a pair of half-orcs manhandled what looked like a pile of desks past them and in through the doors. "We're laying on for academic subjects as well, because anyone studying acting needs to be able to study plays, and the scenery builders and lighting and sound engineers need math and all that as well. It's not like every room is going to be in use all the time."
"Plus STARS and ballet classes," Tony interjected thoughtfully, moving aside with her to allow the half-orcs to do their job. "Are you planning on moving the dance studio here, too?" he asked curiously.
"Not at the moment," she said, leading the way to follow the decorators into the school itself. "I thought keeping the adult and children classes away from the professional classes would be better for morale all 'round. Apart from Zahan, of course - I talked to her parents, and they seem happier with the idea of having her going to school here in Rhy'Din like normal, and just having daily tutoring from Merry. It would be better than separating her from everyone she loves just to continue studying."
"That makes sense," Tony said, following his sister's lead up the stairs and pulling open the door to let them both in. "I like the idea of having a school associated with the theater. That way, they already have a place to go after they graduate," he mused aloud. They'd already discussed most of this before, of course, but this was the first he was seeing of the building Mataya had purchased with this plan in mind.
The door opened into a small foyer, the left wall devoted to the window of the school office, and a door that proclaimed itself to be the principal's office. A wide door ahead of them stood open, and immediately visible beyond that was another set of double doors.
"Through there is the theater space," Mataya told her brother cheerfully as they stepped out of the foyer, revealing that those double doors were on a wall of a main corridor, from which doors opened into what were, presumably, classrooms. Two sets of stairs sat on either side of the theater doors, leading upward.
"How did you find this building?" Tony asked, as he took in their surroundings. It was obviously designed to be a school, or it had been renovated at some point to serve as a school. The building was pretty big, but it wasn't so much the classrooms that impressed him as the theater, and it was to that space that he gravitated.
"Believe it or not, this was a factory mill," she told him with a grin, opening the door to look into the theater space. There were no seats, just a wide hall in which rehearsals could take place, and at the far end, a proscenium stage with an apron, complete with curtains and a fully working backstage area. "I mean, this was the factory floor, and the two wings on either side were the workers' housing."
"Impressive," Tony said, as he stepped into the large space and took a better look around. Not only impressive, but full of potential. There was no doubt his sister was excited about the school, and her excitement was catching. "Ambitious, but impressive," he repeated.
"I seem to remember you saying the same thing when I told you I was renovating a manor house into a theater," she teased him in a merry tone, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor as she skipped into the center of the wide hall.
"Care to try it out?" he asked, a teasing tone to his voice, wondering if she was still as agile as she'd once been on a dance floor. Instead of waiting for an answer, he swept forward, one arm going around her waist, the other taking her hand to spin her around in a waltz, moving as smoothly as the accomplished dancer he was.
Some things, you never lost. Though it had been a few years since 'Taya had performed, she was still a dancer at heart, stepping easily into the spin of the waltz with her big brother.
"Oh, you old romantic," she said, laughing. "You and Anya should go dancing properly sometime."
"Think we need classes?" he asked in a teasing tone of voice as he led her across the makeshift dance floor. It had been a long time since he'd gone ballroom dancing. It was something he and Anya had never really had time for, but it was a tempting thought.