14. Sellout
“We are a team.”
Mrs. Cornwall stands in front of the stage in the school auditorium, giving her usual casting announcement day spiel.
“We are an ensemble. We cooperate and conduct ourselves with professionalism at all times. We come together not for personal glory, but to offer our talents in service to a work of art bigger than any of us. None of us can do this alone, and no one is irreplaceable.”
We all nod along with reserved solemnity, pretending we feel nothing about the list of names and roles she holds in front of her.
“Assigned parts are non-negotiable, but they can and will be reassigned should that professionalism slip at any time during production,” she reminds us. “Some of our starting leads have made significant recent improvements. Some, in spite of their ta
