Post by Arthur Kirkland on Feb 3, 2011 17:11:56 GMT -5
Name: Arthur Kirkland
Country of Origin: The United Kingdom; England
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Position Sought:(actor, technical crew, specific job) Theatre Caretaker
[li] Successful performances -- These usually come with less chaos, more audience enthusiasm and earns more money.
[/li][li] Working – Arthur enjoys his job. He loves what he does for a living and is proud when it provides positive results.
[/li][li] Music – though the Englishman doesn’t participate on the stage he still clearly has a love for music. He enjoys rock music more, especially classic rock bands. Arthur has many band posters up on the walls in his office, alongside some of the shows that he was part of in some fashion.
[/li][li] Positive Reviews – there are reviews, photographs and other clippings posted up on Arthur’s office board from past performances and current shows.
[/li][li] Creativity – this is something that Arthur admires and will openly compliment people who manage to surprise him with their new takes on old material.
[/li][li] British Humour – it’s really its own entity. Sometimes the oddest things strike Arthur as comical, while funny things go right over his head.
[/li][li] Literature – books, scripts, anything to read that he can get his hands on. (Yes, that was probably a romance novel trying to hide under a stack of papers but don’t dare try to call him on that.)
[/li][li] Tea – Arthur’s other beverage of choice. He drinks it on a regularly scheduled time each day and becomes grumpy if events force him to skip it.
[/li][li] Routine – there needs to be a daily routine to keep things in a state of calm and order. Arthur is a creature of habit and that often makes people mistake him for predictable.
[/li][li] Smoking. [/li][/ul]
[li] Laziness – specifically amongst crewmembers and actors that don’t treat their job with respect. Arthur believes that everyone should be doing their part in the team to make things run.
[/li][li] Substance Abusers – this might have something to do with events in his past, but Arthur takes a very firm stance on people who are discovered to have no desire to control their impulses/uses.
[/li][li] Unreliability – Arthur is fair about giving chances to people to prove that they are trustworthy enough to keep around. People who are unreliable with their behaviour tend to not be carried on long with the Company.
[/li][li] Nosy People – The Englishman is quite mum about his past. People who try to pry into it too much often end up on his bad list quickly. Especially reporters.
[/li][li] Divas – while Arthur will strain to be politely accommodating up to a point, as soon as people try to push beyond those boundaries, the Englishman will often knock them down a peg. He views egos as the most damaging poison to a positive environment in any Company.
[/li][li] Smoking. [/li][/ul]
Previous Job Experience/Skills: (Past 'productions', craft or artistic schools, etc.)
Hired personally by Hetalian International Theatre’s Italian benefactor to oversee operations of the theatre. Arthur has traveled to several theatres throughout Europe, Asia and America; his specialty has been as an advisory party, taking companies that are struggling or on the verge of financial ruin and streamlining them back into success.
Management – capable of coordinating several aspects of the business; handling contributors on the monetary end of the theatre, also works with the theatre director to check all aspects of ordering for supplies, goods, services for the place.
Bossiness – Arthur understands the creative nature of how a theatre operates yet he also knows what business requires as well. He has no qualms about voicing his opinions and stepping in to override things when they meet his disapproval. His moments of disapproval are normally precluded by a telltale scowl of his rather impressive eyebrows.
Scheduling – Getting people where they need to be, when they need to be there, and getting out those who are simply in the way. Not only does production need to meet a certain deadline, so do the deposits of cash for the theatre. While others seem to have some difficulty getting a series of tasks completed in a timely manner, Arthur appears to possess an almost unreal quality of having everything planned out right down to the last second.
Immunity to Bullshit – Arthur has heard all types of excuses through the years from actors, staff and crewmembers. He runs his business with a strong no-nonsense policy as far as conduct goes; which means that people with habits of repeated drug abuse, alcohol abuse and erratic behaviour don’t last long under his employment.
Mediation – The Englishman has much experience in resolving disputes between strong personalities in the theatre world. He tends to handle ‘divas’ as equally as everyone else, and knows when it is time to be diplomatic and when it is time to put them in their place.
Personality and character history: (200 hundred+ words)
Arthur Kirkland is a man with a strong personality that often comes across as surly, or sometimes even outright mean. He is serious in nature and this has often put him at odds with individuals who have opposite perceptions of how things should be done. Though these flaws in his personality are balanced by the fact that Arthur has a sharp, focused mind that allows him to step into chaotic situations and establish calm. This makes him incredibly reliable to others. Arthur is outwardly cool in manner but underneath that exterior is a sympathetic, sometimes sensitive romantic’s heart. He can be highly compassionate at times when people need it; adaptive to situations that unfold. At times where it is necessary for him to be firm or angry, Arthur’s temper is legendary.
The Englishman was hired to oversee the operations of the Hetalian International Theatre by the Italian that funded the theatre’s creation. Arthur is one of the few people to have encountered their mysterious benefactor and has been caught on some occasions speaking with someone of such importance on the telephone in his personal office. He respects his employer enough not to divulge too many details on the Italian to those who ask, allowing the Italian to maintain their privacy. He has been with the theatre since the ground was broke on its construction and therefore knows the place inside and out, still keeping all of the paperwork, designs and construction material information on file in his office.
Arthur is content to handle the business end of operations for the Theatre. While he has some experience having performed on the stage back in the United Kingdom and is rumoured to have a surprisingly good singing voice, these are skills that he has no interest in using. Though a few personnel have reported hearing someone singing on occasion inside the Englishman’s office. Arthur also seems capable with a piano and has filled in behind the keyboard in times of dire need. Mostly, though, he remains distant from the creative aspect of the Theatre, only in an advisory or in handling operational matters that are brought to his attention.
While trying to maintain his role as a separate entity and neutral party in all matters relating to the Theatre, there are a few individuals that the Englishman has difficulty with. His solution to these personalities that clash with his is usually to keep interactions down to a minimum as often as possible.
Rumours abound concerning Arthur’s potentially spotty younger years. There was some speculation about the Englishman involvement with an underground punk rock band in the United Kingdom, though this was never confirmed and Arthur remains tight-lipped on the subject. When asked about the old piercing points on his ears or the tattoos that show on the few occasions where Arthur did not wear his layers of professional/casual attire, he tends to dismiss them vaguely as ‘teenage folly’. Though the fact that rock music tends to blast out from the upstairs office during the early morning and late night hours that Arthur thinks he is alone in the place might be revealing enough on its own. There is suspicion of some past tragedy that altered the course of his life to where it is today.
His language tends to get salty at times. This is especially aggravated by the introduction of alcohol into his system. Arthur tends to avoid joining other people at the bars and nightclubs around the theatre for just that reason. Pay no attention to those flasks in his desk drawer that he breaks out on rare instances for celebration or sorrow.
Other: (Things about your character that people should know when interacting with them. Any eccentricities, odd habits, theatre superstitions?)
Arthur is trying to quit smoking. Again. This has been an ongoing struggle. His need to smoke is generally a sign of stress, so if you find him outside puffing then it is probably best to avoid approaching him with more problems.
RP sample: (200 hundred+ words. Please include some lyrics somewhere from a musical piece.)
There was a quiet in the theatre that Arthur enjoyed. The night before the place opened for hiring, still without any beating hearts to fill this grand shell, and he was the only one left once the work crews had gone. Arthur locked up, turned off almost all the lights, checked that the windows were flawlessly clean at the entrance, and then headed back inside to the stage. He had left the stage lights on to give the place enough light to navigate with. The dark spaces didn’t bother him. Some people might try to claim that there was a spooky quality to the place – but it was just too young to have its ghosts yet.
Arthur crossed the stage to where the piano sat waiting for the influx of actors who would undoubtedly be coming in tomorrow to begin the process of trying to join the Company. This poor instrument was bound to get a workout thanks to all of the people who would be trying to prove their singing skill (or lack thereof). The Englishman sat down at the keyboard with another glance around the empty place. Slim fingers passed across the ivories to find a place to start, then pressed as he began to lightly play some half-hearted number. The acoustics were perfect. There was no chance that anyone could fault the Theatre on its sound quality. Even with the press of bodies that would eventually fill the seats the noise would still carry true and rich.
He ran over a mental checklist of how things would need to run tomorrow. His Italian employer had left him with implicit instructions on how this theatre should operate. It would be Arthur’s responsibility to see that the man’s vision came to fruition. There were bound to be obstacles along the way that would be unavoidable. There was also the inarguable fact that Arthur would be encountering people with personalities in opposition to his own. And chances were high that a few of those skilled members of the international theatrical circuit that Arthur had met along his way just might turn their heads up here.
It was bound to be a long day. Arthur sighed roughly as he imagined the worst-case scenarios. Past lovers, past rivals – who knew what might turn up when he opened the doors tomorrow to let them pour in? Twitching, the Englishman paused in his playing to reach into the back pocket of his pants. While there was a firm no-smoking policy in place for inside of the theatre, Arthur decided that he could be a hypocrite while the place was still not yet open, because being the first to break a rule made him feel satisfyingly wicked.
Once it was lit, Arthur resumed his playing on the piano. He hummed the first few bars of some song he’d heard on Broadway years ago. Though it wasn’t long before the humming turned into quiet singing, smoke bobbing as Arthur sang the words.
“To get along on Broadway,
To sing a song on Broadway,
To hit the top on Broadway and not lose,
I tell you, Arthur king,
There is one essential thing...
There simply must be, simply must be Jews.”
OOC Information:
Name: (Or what you would like to be called.) Hat
Timezone: Pacific Standard Time
Aim/msn/skype/email: (So we can contact you if needed.)caretakerkirkland@yahoo.com
Chatango ID:(If you have one you already intend to use.)CaretakerKirkland
What are your favorite musicals? (We might just feature one!)
Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, Spamalot, The Who’s Tommy, RENT, Ragtime, Wicked, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, Moulin Rouge, Repo!: The Genetic Opera, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jekyll&Hyde, Sideshow, Jesus Christ Superstar, Into The Woods, Kiss Me Kate, My Fair Lady, The Lion King (musical), Avenue Q, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Sweeney Todd – to name a few.