For the Band

This week, we played a pair of games on For the Drama, a sweet game for children that could perhaps use another round of development called The Cat is Missing and a band on the tour before breaking up story called For the Band by Marie-Anne Cledan. In the later, our band was the boy band called the Alley Cats, which consisted of three members: bassist and bad boy Jaden, lead singer and guitarist Chad, and cat furry and electric accordionist Bernie. We were the support team of the group: driver Sheila, make-up and costume designer Donna, sound guy Tony, and venue booker Danny.

Sheila takes singing lessons from Bernie and writes a song about the open road that the band sings as if she might be a member, too. She knows that Bernie is the key to bands popularity, so she clips his and other members hair to give to the fans on the road, especially at the high school performance that was the hottest show of the tour. She originally became the groups driver as a way of hiding her love child with Bernie from the press and the fans. By the end of the tour when it seems the band will break up, she and Bernie are ready to confess the truth and be parents together of their now teenaged child, especially if it will save the band.

Donna does a good job and stays professional, but tells the paparazzi that one of the members used to run motocross to keep them mollified without betraying the group. She creates a tiff when she sides with temperamental Chad in a dispute over which of the members is better looking despite knowing that Jaden takes that crown. After she later comments on how warmed over Jaden looks due to a hangover after a rough night, Jaden won’t give her the time of day. Toward the end of the tour, she mockingly sings “yeah, yeah, yeah” into the live mic as the band does, and she tried to play it off as testing the equipment when Danny asked about it. She’s ready to move on and let the band dissolve by the end of the tour.

Tony gets his job as the sound guy almost entirely through luck when he steps into the role after the previous guy leaves the group. He doesn’t actually know how all the equipment works, but knows how to set the machine to the same settings that worked for the previous guy. Danny keeps his secret but resents the great appreciation that leads the band to give him a plaque for making them sound so good. Tony shares a luxury room with Jaden one night and learns about his secret crush on Chad. He always wonders whether the song about never letting you out of my sight that Jaden sings is really about Chad. When he thinks about quitting before he’s found out, Bernie comforts him and convinces him to stay. But when the band decides to break up, Tony decides he should go to school to learn the skill he’s always pretended to have.

Danny was fired by the band once after Jaden got upset about some small dressing room requirement that wasn’t provided. While away he booked for a Crosby, Still & Nash cover band and did such a good job that Alley Cats finally took him back. He continues to sabotage Jaden throughout the tour, leaving one small thing off at every stop to wheedle the guy. He is ready to finally leave the tour when the Bernie fans knock him to the ground after the show, but his dislike of his family keeps him away and on the road. He advised the band to finally make their White Album cover, but the band ignored him as usual. He’s already proved he can do just fine without them so doesn’t lift a finger to keep them together when they band talks of going their separate ways.