𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹 / 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝑔𝑒 *

the following individuals have 24 hours to make an in-character post or message the main for a hiatus before their characters are re-opened:

due to personal reasons, please unfollow @zahramalik / the temptress.

ACT I, SCENE VI: ANNUAL FOURTH-YEAR RETREAT

the tradition began in 1958. eager to prove that they’d toughened as a result of three-and-a-half years of alderidge’s rigorous theatre program, the fourth-years selected one weekend early in their second semester to retreat into the woods surrounding campus. there, they slept in tents, endured the cold, and made memories that would last far beyond graduation day. several more fourth-year cohorts took up the retreat in the years that followed, until eventually it was a non-negotiable rite of passage, well-known throughout the theatre department.

there was, of course, the tragic event of the 1970 retreat. the students were severely under-prepared, resulting in the pneumonia-related death of jennifer andrews and several other severe cases of frostbite. following these events, alderidge made the decision to ban the fourth-year retreat; but this made theatre students even more ardent in carrying on the tradition. while the school continues to frown upon it to this day, the students now know to come well-prepared for the cold-- and the class of 2020 is certainly not planning to be the first to chicken out.

with the weekend’s forecast predicting clear skies and reasonable warmth for this time of year, the students gather their tents and supplies in anticipation of the weekend. while it looks promising in some respects, there isn’t nearly as much excitement surrounding it as everyone thought there would be--- with the retreat coming on the heels of the recent police report, the air is thick with tension. what will a weekend of isolation in the woods with the whole fourth-year cohort bring?

welcome to ensemblehq’s act i finale. the event will begin on sunday, august 2, at 1pm est, and run for approximately two weeks (although this is flexible and will be officially decided once things have gotten into full swing). in addition to regular event threads on the dash, every character will be involved in a choices-based thread on discord which will not only determine how the event ends, but affect plot progression going forward! see below the cut for more details, and please let us know asap if you will not be able to participate in the discord thread (in this case, we won’t assign your character to a group).

the following individuals have 24 hours to make an in-character post or message the main for a hiatus before their characters are re-opened:

ACT I, SCENE V:  STATEMENT FROM BIRNAM POLICE

last week, detectives interviewed fifteen theatre students at the alderidge school of arts, all of whom worked closely with orson hobbs. these interviews revealed several previously unknown facts which are informing our investigation into mr. hobbs murder going forward.

first, we can confirm that prior to mr. hobbs’ house being vandalised, he hosted an unofficial after party for an unknown number of fourth year theatre students. the identity of students who attended the party is currently unknown, but we suspect it was the majority of the year. 

second, mr. hobbs was a difficult, controversial individual who was known to have antagonistic relationships with several of his students. we also have cause to believe that mr. hobbs may have regularly consumed illegal drugs. during our interviews, we discovered that mr. hobbs also had inappropriate relationships with his students, which included at least one romantic affair with a fourth year theatre student, whom we are not naming for privacy reasons.

third, we continue to be unable to verify whether the individual who vandalized mr. hobbs’ house is the same individual, or individuals, who murdered him.

finally, the department has identified five people of interest through the interviews, all of whom were mentioned by their peers. these individuals are mathias knight, josephine flores, madeline le, chandler rosen and hudson williams. we currently have no evidence that these individuals were involved in mr. hobbs’ death, but believe they may have additional information that is of value.

the following individuals have 24 hours to make an in-character post or message the main for a hiatus before their characters are re-opened:

TASK II:  SOCIAL MEDIA

hi, all!! given that our first task was quite writing heavy, we thought we’d do something lighter for task nombre deux and have some fun exploring our characters’ social media presences! unlike the audition task, this one is entirely optional and there is no limit to the number of task posts you can make. go wild on photoshop if you are able and inclined, but if not, there are tons of free generators out there for fake social media posts! we’ll link you to a few below the cut to give some options.

this is really just meant to spark creativity and muse, so have fun with it! the only rules are that everything should be tagged with #ensembletask, and that posts pertaining to this task should cease by july 30th. although honestly, there’s really nothing stopping you from making social media edits after that; they just won’t be part of this fun task window.

finally, we want to throw in an unrelated reminder to please DM us your character’s responses to the police interrogation questions as soon as possible! we’d like to have everyone’s collected by this friday, july 17th.

see below the cut for some fake social media generators that don’t require photo editing!

the following individuals have 24 hours to make an in-character post or message the main for a hiatus before their characters are re-opened:

ACT I, SCENE IV:  AND THE ROLE GOES TO...

after a weekend spent recovering from auditions, each new cell phone notification sends a rush of fear into every theatre student. could this be it? did they send the cast lists? the third-years awaiting decisions for ‘pericles’ and the second-years wondering which spare roles they’ll be slotted into are certainly nervous, but for the fourth-years, the cast list for ‘macbeth’ will mark the final note on which they complete their time at alderidge. and they haven’t the vaguest idea what to expect. 

at 10:00pm on sunday evening, theatre department emails light up the phones of all the students and they see the words “cast list”... but the announcement is only for ‘pericles’, not ‘macbeth.’ why hasn’t heidi made her decisions yet? the fourth-years wait by their phones for a follow-up email, but it doesn’t arrive by 11:00, or by 11:30. what could be taking so long?

midnight strikes in birnam at the exact moment everyone’s phones light up once more. the email comes directly from heidi, rather than the no-reply theatre department address, with an attachment and an informal message from the director herself:

Hi all,

It was a true joy to see you audition, and I absolutely can’t wait to work with each of you on our beloved Scottish Play. These choices weren’t easy, but I have the utmost confidence that every one of you will shine in the role you’ve been given. Read-through will take place Tuesday at 6pm in FAB 104. Rehearsal schedules will be distributed then; please email me any prior engagements from now through opening night by 8pm tomorrow. Now get some sleep, don’t forget we all have class bright and early! 

Love, Heidi B

the following individuals have 24 hours to make an in-character post or message the main for a hiatus before their characters are re-opened:

— CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING STUDENTS upon their enrollment in the alderidge theatre department’s fourth-year class! please send your account within TWENTY-FOUR HOURS and make sure you’ve gone through our post-acceptance CHECKLIST. we can’t wait to see you on the dash!

yes. their exact number & timing will depend on the pace and needs of the plot, but i would estimate they’ll be released between six and eight weeks.

the following individuals have 24 hours to make an in-character post or message the main for a hiatus before their characters are re-opened: