Daphne Greengrass

Gerald,

Brilliant news! I finally had my appointment with Madam Umbridge yesterday, and since I've put so much work into getting the staff's support and going through with the preliminary planning, she's gone ahead and agreed to the Revue. Mind, she doesn't want to be involved in any capacity, I don't think, but that's perfectly fine with me. The pink cow wouldn't know artistic expression if it sicked up hairballs on her shoes!

Now, since I've already sorted it out by owl with Governor Selwyn, I think it'll be okay for you to be the director, so long as Professor Carpenter is your co-director. Just so that it's all in keeping with the goals of YPL and the School at large. (You remember what I told you about Governor Selwyn, right? He's the one who got a whole lot of us silly on Sunrise Cordials. Father knows him, too. He's an alright sort, I think, even if you have to mind what you drink around him.) As far as the timeline goes, I was thinking of something like this...

Before Christmas Hols: Casting call; script writing.
During Christmas Hols: Choreography; finalise script.
After Hols: Rehearsals.
Performance: Before Easter Hols (??)

I need to talk with Grandmother about the best song choices. I do wonder about some of them being so very old, though... it might be nift to spice up some of those ancient tunes with some new arrangements. I wonder if Pansy would be interested? Oh, and I need to find out more about what it was actually like to be a Hogwarts student one-hundred or something years ago. Only we'll have to be careful and leave out all those bits to do with muggles and mudbloods, of course.

Oh, there's so much to talk about! I should see about arranging a fire chat. I really do wish you had been able to get away to Hogsmeade today, I could have told you all of this in person. And really, the shops in the village are provincial, but they're not entirely without charm. I would have had such a grand time, showing you around! Well, don't worry - once you break into directing you won't have to spend every hour of the day in rehearsals, or giving lessons. It'll be so much better, you'll see!

Dear Miss Belby,

As a member of the Young Protectors League applying for the summer programme, I write to you as one whose profession I deeply admire and aspire to. I also write to you as a sincere and avid admirer of your operatic performances. Two Christmases ago I saw you perform as Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung, and I was both mesmerised and moved to tears. Though my own talents are aligned more to dance and dramatics than opera, I feel that you are the premiere embodiment of how a performance artist can serve our Protectorate.

I can think of a few uncultured souls who might question the significance of the artist to our Protectorate. To convince them otherwise, I would tell them to look to wizarding communities elsewhere who still must keep their art, performance, and sport underground and away from the eyes of Muggles. My own grandmother, Alexandra Greengrass, did a three-year run as lead in The Isle of Circe. It played at The Seraphim, which at the time was hidden somewhere between the New London Pavillion and the Criterion Theatre. The star of the show had to get into the theater via a disguised "red telephone box," under the shadow of marquees announcing shows about "Salad Days." Indeed, the strength of our Protectorate rests firmly on the foundation of New London, which would not exist without the cultural contributions of artists and performers such as yourself. Never before has there been a land of witches and wizards with so firm a grasp on their own history, and so much confidence for their own future, and that is because we can now speak, sing, and dance our history our in the open as never before, all thanks to artists like you, who lift our spirits and morale!

I myself aspire to be a stage actress like my grandmother. Since the age of four I have studied dance and dramatics with Mr Gerald Krumgold, and since the age of eight I have studied song and voice with Mrs Hortence Gibbons. I played the role of Auror Crouch in Hogwarts' recent dramatic production, and while the role was not a leading one, I took it on as seriously as I would a leading role at the Palladium. I understand how important such productions are to the vibrant, still-growing culture of the Protectorate, and I shall see to it that I continue to play my part for that culture.

Sincerely yours,
Daphne G. Greengrass