An Agent's Inbox #14

Dear Agent,

By twelve years old, Ebele Xia Scott's spent half of her life auditioning and she's well on her way to stardom, having performed on Broadway's brightest stages. But Ebi's dreams go dark when her adoptive parents move the whole family to tiny Princeton, NJ. Now if she wants to act professionally, she'll have to audition for the local regional theatre's production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 

Ebi expects to awe her castmates with her experience and talent, maybe even teaching them a thing or two about real theatre, until she is forced to share her role with two other girls. Taking matters into her own hands, she concocts a series of sabotages to convince the girls a theatre ghost is haunting them, to scare them into quitting. What Ebi doesn't realize is an actual ghost is waiting in the wings, ready to lead her through scenes of her past, present, and future to show Ebi the importance of collaboration, friendship, and the magic of theatre. 

UPSTAGED, a middle grade contemporary fantasy complete at 51,000 words, is a retelling of Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Fans of the authenticity of Tim Federle's BETTER NATE THAN EVER and the heart of Raina Telgemeier's DRAMA will find much to love in UPSTAGED. 

I am currently an MFA student in Children's Literature at Hollins University. My short fiction has been published and podcasted. When I'm not writing (or reading!), I make costumes for the same Tony Award-winning regional theatre that Ebi snubs. I haven't met any ghosts (yet). 

Sincerely,

J.C.J.

UPSTAGED

DIRECTOR'S Theatre Ghost's NOTE 

Marley's dead to start off. That's necessary info, so when he shows up to chat with Scrooge, it's scary. People think of A Christmas Carol as a Christmas story, but it's a ghost story too. In fact, the ghosts are my favorite part. Which might not be surprising, since I'm a ghost too. But I'm not scary and I'm definitely not dead. We'll get into that more later. 

Right now, I want to introduce you to someone. Every few years a person's essence is so disruptive that it jolts me from my rest in McCarter Theatre's dusty, abandoned tower. Ebele Xia Scott is the loudest, and Scroogiest, I've ever heard in the fifty years I've hung around the theatre. Not that Ebi's greedy for money. She just really, really wants--other things. But you'll see soon enough. 

For now, just settle in. 

Relax. 

And enjoy the show. 

Act I, scene 1: 

Whoever scheduled Carol auditions for late August was as dumb as a doornail. By twelve, Ebi did not consider herself a method actor, but she still sat under the biggest air conditioning vent she found in the chaotic theatre lobby, and imagined herself on the cold, winter streets of a Dickensian London. Past the other child actors and their anxious, milling moms, the glass doors revealed a late afternoon hazy with heat.