There were a few muttered groans, but Jane couldn't tell who they came from. The older actors simply shook their heads. Shelley muttered almost silently, "Emote?"

Jane had also cringed at the use of "emote." She smiled at Shelley. The longer they'd been friends, the more they thought alike — most of the time. But not always. For instance, they disagreed violently about how books you owned should be treated.

She put this thought aside as the reading started. Jane was surprised at the different ways each actor read. John Bunting, now designated by the director as Mr. Walter Weston, slurred his words, but seemed to have already memorized the script. That surprised her. But on reflection, it shouldn't have. It was probably how he had earned his living from his youth. He looked a great deal older than his wife. He obviously dyed his thinning hair. He'd run to fat and had the bloodshot eyes and the big red nose of a heavy drinker.

His wife, Gloria, who played Mrs. Edina Weston in the script, was letter perfect and didn't even open the script to follow it. She took on a sort of Katharine Hepburn accent when she was speaking.

Joani-with-an-i wasn't nearly as well prepared and had to follow each of her lines with her long-nailed, red-painted forefinger.

Professor Imry was appalled. "You should have had this from memory by now, Angeline. I expect you to have it down by tomorrow's first rehearsal," he warned. "At this stage, you could be replaced."

She nodded sullenly, but her attitude was a bit fearful as well.

Denny Roth, who had the role of Todd Weston, the handsome, wayward son who had brought Angeline home to his family as his betrothed, had the script memorized by now as well, but read as if he were already bored with it, apparently changing some of Professor Imry's wording.

Imry chastised him. "Read it as if you mean it, and don't improvise."

"It's not my voice the way you've written it. I sound too old. My character's vocabulary and sentence patterns should be his own, not yours."