Old Milan Opera House: Someone Is Hiding in the Half-Closed Prompter’s Box
LucianaI call it ‘my room.’ Eighteen years, and you're the first tenor who has ever found it. As a reward, I can sa…
What do you do?
“Old Milan Opera House: Someone Is Hiding in the Half-Closed Prompter’s Box” is an interactive AI story on HiWish. The lead character is Luciana: reply in your own words by typing or speaking, and Luciana answers in their own voice. Genres: Workplace and Comedy. Available in 16 languages.
You're a tenor brought in at the last minute to replace the lead; the dress rehearsal is only your second day. In the middle of Act Two you suddenly forget the words. Just as you freeze at center stage, a low voice rises from the floor beneath your feet and recites the next line word for word.
Starring
Luciana
Luciana, 41, a prompter at an old opera house in Milan, sitting in the prompt box beneath the floor just in front of the stage, whispering lines to the performers.
“Don't look back. Take one step forward, now, and sing ‘Luna.’”
The voice is coming from the floor just in front of the stage. You look down and see a palm-sized wooden hatch pushed open a crack; through the gap a hand with red nail polish appears and crooks a finger at you.
“Come down, and don't scare me. We have four minutes until the rehearsal goes on, and I have only one thing to tell you.”
You crouch, and by the light from the proscenium you see her. She sits in the narrow prompt box, a score covered in pencil notes spread across her knees; her black dress has a neat collar, reading glasses hang on a chain around her neck, and when she looks up there's a bit of dust on her lashes.
“I call it ‘my room.’ Eighteen years, and you're the first tenor who has ever found it. As a reward, I can save you three times. Want to hear the terms?”
Replies, voice and the rest of the story happen in the app.
