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The Oz Amateur Dramatic Society clustered around Ryan in Em City.
"I'm straight," Ryan insisted, "I've got a reputation to think about."
"That's exactly it, Ryan," Suzanne said, pleading. "Nobody else is willing to play Dr Frank-N-Furter because they're worried it might damage their cred."
"What about one of the gays?" Ryan demanded.
"Fiona already has her heart set on playing Janet, Alonzo is playing Riff, Kiki is the Transylvanian ambassador -"
"Okay, what about Miguel?"
Miguel shook his head. "I'm playing Brad."
"Beecher?" Ryan said, turning his eyes to him.
Beecher smiled in an unpleasant kind of way.
"Right," Ryan said, sounding a little uncomfortable.
"I've done my time in drag, O'Reily," Beecher said. "The next time someone tries to make me wear lipstick, they won't like where I shove it."
Suzanne jumped in. "That's why we need you. We need someone that everyone knows is - well, secure in his masculinity."
"You're the only one man enough to do it, Ryan," Miguel said, with a (mostly) straight face.
Ryan leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable.
"Say if I do do this," he said, "What's in it for me?"
"The joy of creative expression?" Suzanne tried.
"Ten bucks, three loose cigarettes, most of a roll of SweetTarts, a refillable lighter, and an unopened copy of, uh, Suck magazine," Beecher said, pushing the pile of loot and crumpled dollar bills forward on the table. "We did a whip 'round."
"And nobody will think I'm - you know," Ryan said.
"We'll put it on the poster if we have to," Suzanne promised.
Ryan thought it over. They all watched with bated breath as he made up his mind.
"I'll do it," he said, sweeping the money into his pocket and grabbing the lighter and the porn as he got up and walked away, towards the library.
Once he was out of their sight, Ryan cracked a victorious grin and pumped his fist in the air. Finally! Things were looking up.
Ryan had always wanted to play Dr Frank-N-Furter. Ever since he'd met that crazy kid Nicky at summer theatre camp, and she'd told him all about the movie and how people got all dressed up to go see it. Ever since he started going to midnight screenings in the Village. He'd met Shannon when she was playing Columbia in a shadow cast.
Eventually Ryan's career as a drug dealer had taken priority, until it started to swallow up more and more of his time and he could no longer devote the necessary hours to putting together costumes or practicing his lip syncing or even going to screenings much. And in the drug trade, it was best not to let anyone know about your past in musical theatre.
Then Cyril got his injury, and Ryan ended up with a life sentence.
After McManus got rid of the cable package, Ryan had thought he was never gonna get the chance to see Rocky Horror ever again. Now he was going to be starring in it. Must be the luck of the Irish.
At this point, if Augustus had still been there, he might have pointed out an important fact: the luck of the Irish has, historically, not been too hot. But Augustus wasn't there.
Ryan skipped off towards the phones - he had some calls to make.
Prison News In Brief
Three injured at Oswald State Correctional Facility.
A violent incident occurred during a prisoner performance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. No one can be named pending an official investigation, but it's reported that the prisoner playing Riff Raff stabbed both Brad and Dr Frank-N-Furter with a homemade weapon, possibly due to a personal dispute.
Contacted by phone, program director Tim McManus said that all three prisoners were "in a stable condition" and suggested that Empire State Prison News should "stop trying to find a story where there isn't one". He further suggested that despite last year's tragedy-struck production of Macbeth, "since no one was killed this time" there was in fact no pattern of violent incidents during prison recreational activities, and the accidental death of a prisoner last year could be attributed primarily to "the curse of the Scottish Play" rather than any issues with staffing and governance at Oswald.
The incident comes at an unfortunate time for prisoners, given that the bill providing funding for prison recreation and education is up before the state Senate next week. Governor Devlin (continued on page 3)