Art Prompt Writing Contest #11 - Behind The Scenes

One melancholic autumn the passers-by look at a man in dirty and tattered clothes, he takes small steps and then stops smiling, every step gets him closer to an abandoned theater ticket office.

"Carlos, hurry up, the scene of the warriors in battle is next!", shouts the director to the careless call boy in charge of alerting the actors and actresses to enter the stage, the one who despite not being able to see the play as a part of the audience uses every moment he has to see it from behind the scenes. Carlos knows all the actors and actresses, he always encourages them to come on stage, including Ana, the most beloved and famous actress of the theater.

Carlos was thrilled to see the rehearsals of great work, he learned from them and never wanted to miss any details. Every day that there was a play in the Grand Theater Carlos lived it fully, he could not be sitting in the room but from behind the scenes he watched every performance, and he as had seen them in rehearsals, he knew when they were wrong, when something in the scene was not perfect, Carlos knew everything that happened in the Grand Theater.

When the plays ended, Carlos was no longer the call boy, he was then responsible for cleaning the theater with the help of two other workers. After finishing cleaning and picking all up Carlos said goodbye to his assistants and he was left alone, then he went on stage and began to act, he imagined the room full of people who were thrilled with his performance. When the humble worker began with his solitary performances, they lasted only a few minutes, but with time they got longer and longer, they were all main characters of classical works that had been presented with great success in the Grand Theater, Carlos knew by heart all the scripts.

One day in the Grand Theater they were looking for new actors, usually Carlos was not able see the casting due to his occupations, but that day he accidentally had the opportunity to witness part of one of them. That day Carlos saw the performance of a girl who impacted him, not only him, but also the jury, besides being a very good actress she was beautiful, Carlos had never felt anything like it, "she even surpasses my dear Ana in beauty and performance", thought Carlos observing her in detail.

The beautiful and talented actress was called Raquel and was immediately hired to play a supporting role in the play, however it was obvious that she promised a lot as an actress. When the rehearsals for the play began, Carlos had the opportunity to approach her several times, he tried to initiate some conversation with her but he was totally ignored by the new actress.

As always from behind the scenes Carlos saw the play, he expected Raquel's performance, she was not the main actress, however her role in the scene was very important, but her nerves betrayed her, she did not make any mistakes in the dialogue, but she did not give a good performance, her admirer could notice this as she did.

For several nights Carlos had created in his mind an original work, in his brain was everything, every dialogue and every scene, the work represented his life: an actor that could never be, but there was something that his play was missing, and that night he knew it was the love of a woman, and that woman was Raquel. Carlos laid on the empty stage looking at the ceiling of the theater and creating that work in his thoughts, without writing down anything as he did not know how to write, everything was in his memory.

One day Carlos saw Raquel enter the theater very early in the morning, the young girl went away to a place where they deposited all the props of the works, it was the most quiet and lonely place of the Grand Theater, he observed that Raquel was rehearsing and practicing for the role that she had gotten the day before, once again she played a secondary role. Carlos discreetly saw her between a row of dresses hanging from a long tube, he saw every movement she made in her rehearsal and could not help saying out loud, "no, not like that", Carlos immediately fell silent but was heard by Raquel, "Who's there?" She cried angrily, "ah, it's you, Carlos. Now besides being a call boy and cleaner, you're an actor", Carlos smiled and very distressed came out of the clothes all disheveled, "Excuse me, Miss Raquel, but I could not help it", "help what?" exclaimed the girl but this time smiling, then Carlos approached her and explained with great delicacy how she was supposed to act in that scene she was rehearsing, Raquel was surprised to see his knowledge of acting, she was fascinated. "But Carlos, where did you learn all that?" Raquel asked surprised, "watching the actors from behind the scenes" Carlos answered.

Raquel greatly improved her performance, every night she stayed with Carlos, who taught her the key aspects of the art of acting, for Carlos everything was a dream. Raquel's career was in ascent, she even managed to be the main actress in several works, to the point that she replaced Ana who was already retiring of the acting world due to health problems. Raquel was now the star, and each time she needed less of Carlos's advice and classes.

One night, after a great work that was a success, Carlos asked Raquel to stay that night in the theater, she agreed but only for a few minutes, however for Carlos every minute with Raquel was life and joy for his soul. That night he told her everything about his work, he wanted her to help him, they were alone on stage and Carlos was acting and telling her quickly what the play consisted of, he was very excited, Raquel just watched him, interrupted him and told him she would talk with the directors and help him in his theatrical work.

The next day Carlos arrived early at the Grand Theater, he was surprised to see that they were picking up everything and putting it in large trucks, "what's wrong?", he asked a group of workers who helped carry some things, "don't you know?, the Grand Theater has closed its doors forever," his companions told him, these news felt like a bucket of cold water to Carlos. He ran to the dressing rooms and saw some actors who collected their things to leave, asked them desperatly for Raquel, "She is in her dressing room," said one of the actors. He walked to the dressing room and opened the door, his eyes were nailed to the scene, but this was not an acted one, Raquel was passionately kissing with one of the directors of the theater.

Before that emotional shock Carlos left without saying a word, the impression was such that he never managed to recover from so much pain that this experience caused him. The final closure of the Grand Theater left him unemployed, never again seeing Raquel or his co-workers. Carlos only daydreams every day in the works that he knew by heart, he acted in the streets and with that he earned some money, but he always told the people who saw him act that he would soon play the role of his life, that of the actor who never was, and said that in the work would act the famous actress Raquel, people laughed at him.

One day in autumn he arrived at the Grand Theater and saw with astonishment that it said "Today the work of Carlos Lombardi is released: The actor that never was. With the performance of the great actress, Raquel". Carlos walked to the ticket office and suddenly realized that it was closed, he looked around and just watched people walking in front of him watching him as something strange. He went to the entrance of the Grand Theater and saw that the main door was closed with dried leaves that were scattered on the ground. Carlos then went to another entrance, one that he knew well, forced the door a bit and managed to enter the theater, everything was in darkness, but he heard those unmistakable sounds of words of actors and music of the plays, "my play is already starting "Carlos said to himself as he walked little by little towards the stage of the theater, he reached the racks and from there he saw Raquel acting in his play, he stood there for hours enjoying every moment. At the end he heard what he had been expecting for so long, a roaring applause, he saw Raquel looking at him smiling, she called him from the stage, but he wanted to stay there, behind the scenes, watching and imagining everything, every scene, every word, every gesture of the actors. The audience shouted his name and Carlos laughed while his tears fell with happiness.