10. Summmmmmmmmmmmmary. Real, fresh, sweet, tasty.

The Darfsteller
by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
1/3

This is a story about an old actor in a world, where theater's fully robotized. The stage and the mannequins on it are controlled by a machine called 'Maestro', which requires a special script data and actors' personality data.

The lead character, Ryan Thornier, formerly a famous actor, works as a janitor in an old yet also robotized theater. Theater has always been the only valuable part of his life, and he misses it greatly. All he can do now to make up for that is going to the expensive and limping live theater.

Even so, it usually fails since his boss, the theater's manager, makes him work almost without any day-offs. The last straw to break the camel's back was inevitable and Thornier decides to quit the job. Without any more doubts he carries out his revenge upon the fat manager by various vile pranks. It's no surprise that all that resulted into a two-week resignation warning.

Now all Thornier wants is one last performance to finish things off. He gets his chance when the theater's Maestro damaged both of the personality records of an actor chosen for the lead role, Andreyev, in "The Anarch", a role Thornier was going to play just before the cybernetic acting hype, which caused the play to shut down. He is sent for a replacement (as well as a mannequin which just happened to be the one based on his close friend who were also going to participate in that play as a female lead and more or less "retained" her role via the animated puppet) and he thinks of an intricate plan to spoil the stageplay by delivering personality record of a completely different actor, a comedian. Thornier guesses that this will leave the staff no choice but to ask him to play instead of the mannequin.