Caligari's

Caligari's

Once upon a time there was a man named Russell Schwartz, or as many knew him, Cagliostro the Magnificent.  Russell was an avid student of the art of Ledgerdemain and worked upscale venues on both coasts (when stage magic was hot.) and the catskill circuit (when it wasn't)  Russell was once said to have the best hands in the business and a flair for the dramatic that made him money and got him laid. But stage magic tends to wax and wane some, and even the best have to admit that some times in the biz are better than others.  At some point in the early nineties, Russell took some money he'd banked and bought his own club. Nowadays, magic doesn't really have as much mystique as it used to. Penn and Teller have seen to that. Also, comedy clubs have diluted the art. If you were a magician, you ended up having to learn a joke or two in order to work. If you were a comedian, you could learn a few tricks and double bill yourself. It's enough to make a true student of the art want to puke.

And Russell, does puke…Mainly because he's dying.

Oh sure, He's still mobile and got his faculties. Still got a razor keen mind. But years of abusing his liver have come home to roost. His doctor knows, but he hasn't told his kids or his ex-wives. He's not looking for a miracle or anything, it's just that he'd like to leave his kids a bit more. He's still trying to figure out how to drum up some more business for the club, but magic seems dead in this brand new millennium. Magic just doesn't seem…magical anymore.

Russell Schwartz is looking for an out, even though he no longer believes one exists.

The Neighborhood:

 Much of the neighborhood is fairly suburban. Caligari's sits at the end of a strip mall. The strip mall sits across the way from an all night gas n' go. The strip mall itself has seen better days. a quarter of it's storefronts are empty. The only one that always seems to see traffic is the laundromat at the other end.  Over time, Russell has managed to purchase the rest of the strip. He's not the best investor, but he is patient and over the years, the laundromat has kept the doors open more times than Russell really wants to think about.

The Exterior: 

Recently repainted in darker colors, the outside of the club appears to be a large wooden box of some sort. This motif is in evidence on all of the sides except the back side which is the home of the loading dock. That wall is flat black. The building is two stories tall.

The Foyer: The tiles are painted to look like tarot cards from the Thoth Crowley deck. There is a reservation/coat check area to one side of the double doors leading into the main room. Each side of the double doors is painted to look like a puzzle box from a series of popular movies.  The foyer is also home to an old style cigarette machine.

The Bar: In the main room the bar sits along the left side of the room.  it's a well stocked bar, with a number of local microbrew labels in addition to all the usual stuff. The door behind the bar leads to a large walk-in for keg storage. Another door leads into a miniscule kitchen largely used to store/cook lunch for members of the staff.

the bar blender is in the kitchen, as it too noisy to be used during performances.(Joey has even gone to the extreme of putting acoustical foam on the kitchen door.)  Anymore you can almost always find Russell at the corner of the bar that faces the stage, nursing a gin fizz.

The Show Floor: The tables are all wood with polyurethane coating on them. Each table has a collection of old magician show-bills that lie beneath the coating. The other side of the house is home to the public restrooms.

The Stage: The stage is a one-half thrust stage with a 15' foot proscenium arch.  The floor is host to three functional traps. (Although the stage left trap sticks occasionally.) three battens overhead hold the lights for the stage. Their positioning hasn't changed in years. To the right side of the stage is a spot for the stage manager and an alcove for the house sound system. Which is little better than a jumped up stereo connected to a laptop. The back wall is covered with a pretty rudimentary black cyclorama. The actual back wall is a loading dock door and rolls up and opens into the storage/Workshop area.

Storage/Workshop:

The back half of the building is an open and warehouse-like area which is used as random storage but also as an area for performers to assemble their gear. granted not a lot of traveling magicians NEED a truckload of props or anything like that, but the place can accommodate it, should it be necessary. There is a fairly well provisioned workbench with a peg-board full of tools. Like in any workplace there is only one "really good" screwdriver.  The back wall leads out to the actual loading dock.

Additionally, there are a couple of stands, chairs, a table with a green baize covering for close-up magic, and a ventriloquist dummy that got left behind some years ago. The dummy has been dubbed "Monty" by the staff and creepy stories abound about him and his supposed depredations. 

A set of metal stairs leads up to the second level which sit directly above the stage.

The Second Floor: Is home to a small washroom the size of a postage stamp. A small office furnished largely with file cabinets and an old wooden desk. and the "green room".  The Green room smells of cheap whiskey and cigarettes. Yellowed photos on the wall shows Russell shaking hands with the greats and near-greats of magic. There is a table with three mis-matched chairs, a low battered couch, a pay-phone, and a pepsi machine.

The Staff:

Deondre Hamilton is normally the man behind the bar. He's not a closet magician or anything, it's just that when he got out of bar-tending school, this was the only gig he could snag. And over time, the place grew on him. Deondre is a compact black man with just a slight dash of latino. (He got a Giancarlo Esposito style mustache cause his girl told him it looked good on him once.) He speaks enough spanish to make the Hernandez sisters blush, or try to whack him one. Mostly he ducks super quick and puts on his brilliant smile to let them know he's just playing.  Deondre has been married since high school and while he despairs of ever having enough money to have kids, he wouldn't think of cheating on his woman. Deondre is actually a pretty good bartender even on those rare occasions when the place is packed.  Which ain't very often.  When he's not engaged in drink making, he's often got his nose in his kindle.  He's thinking very seriously about going back to school to get some kind of Paralegal thing going, if he can swing it.  It should go without saying, but I'll go ahead and say it. Between the neighborhood he grew up in, and working in a magic club, he's seen nearly every type of short con there is. Anybody trying to hustle him for "Change of a 20" is going to have a hard road to hoe.  Deondre actually likes the old man, even though he's probably heard all of his stories at least twice. Deondre may not know it, but he's the closest thing that Russell has to a real friend.

The thing you need to know about the Hernandez sisters is very simple. Dolores is the one who actually works here and is the legal employee of record. But for the most part, Bonita picks up a shift here and there and no one says a thing about it really. On those rare occasions when the place is actually full, They'll even call up Bonita and put her on the floor with Dolores. The two women are identical twins and are hard to tell apart. (Dolores has only one tear. Bonita has two and one of them is black. The ink comes from their wilder days) Yeah, in this odd little place, the WAITRESS has a body count.

If there's anything that makes it easier to tell the two apart, it is that Dolores tends to stalk around the club and is usually mad at somebody for slights real or imagined. She's imbibed a little of that cultural stereotype of the fiery latina, which gives her a certain amount of license to indulge in an addiction to a certain amount of drama in her life. While Bonita is much more relaxed generally. She's in a decent relationship and her kids have forced her to re-think a LOT of things.  Neither of the sisters will look at, or touch Monty…like, ever. Deondre has noticed this and occasionally posts the little guy up in surprising places.  If you hear a blood-curdling scream from somewhere in the club, that's why.

Joey Schwartz, Russell's son, by his first wife June, bills himself as King Solomon. Joey takes after his father with the kind of devotion to the art that is born out of being on the high functioning side of the Autism spectrum. He is a highly practiced mentalist and close up magician. He is skilled in large scale illusions and has a deft hand at escapology. He's not as good a showman as his old man and is a total duffer at anything involving hypnosis. (Which fascinates him.)  Some of the social artistry of magic eludes him and his act, as a whole, suffers because of it.

   And that's a shame, because he is SO desperate to prove himself. He works as the Club's MC and as the house magician, (When an act doesn't turn up, or turns up drunk.) and he's developed a bit of a judgmental streak when it comes to comedy magicians. (Except for the Amazing Johnathan, that guy is actually funny AND a world class magician)  If there is anything that is a source of tension between Joey and his father, it is that Joey is becoming something of an Atheist, and he wants to leave the club and go on tour. (Which Russell divines correctly to mean, never to return)  Russell just wants him to be happy.  But Russell realizes that Joey may not actually be equipped for it.  Dolores, not knowing anything about Autism, think that Joey is constantly giving her the "High Hat" and as such, is likely pissed at Joey more often than anyone else.

Rachel Schwartz is Russell's daughter by his third wife, Ruth. If Rachel had not been born, this place would have fallen down from neglect years ago. Rachel books the acts, Rachel is the de-facto stage manager, Rachel is the accountant and juggles the money coming in to keep the place open. Rachel is on the prod to keep stores in the strip mall open. (Even going to so far as flirt with the manager of the FroYo shop to keep them from de-camping) Rachel hires high school kids to check coats and keep the place clean, and isn't too proud to clean the bathrooms herself if need be.  Rachel is the one who brings in donuts every Monday. Rachel is the one who routinely talks down Dolores. Rachel is the one who goes around behind Joey doing spade-work to keep people from killing him. Rachel is the one that most of the acts like. Rachel is the one that most of the staff likes. And Rachel is the one who is going to be left the controlling interest when Russell performs his last disappearing act. If there is a source of tension in Rachel's life, it's that while she loves the club, loves watching the acts that come through here. and loves her father and half-brother, she recognizes that she has trouble telling people "No". And it means that the club has swallowed up a goodly chunk of her life…She's lonely and wants more, but isn't sure she can HAVE more…And there's always so MUCH to do.

Potential story uses:

* This club was originally designed as a hang-out for a vampire character of mine, I wanted a place for him to hang his hat that wasn't your ordinary nightclub (with club-kids, drugs, and inevitable vampires-fighting-one-another-shenanigans.)  If nothing else, this could help shake up the nightlife of your chronicle some.

* Magicians pride themselves on being skilled individuals. While this little club may not look like much, to the right character with the right attitude, it could be a university for a plethora of performing skills

* It's one of the few places where a group of mages could talk about "Magic" without attracting undue attention to themselves…And who knows, maybe a motivated Magi might be interested in fixing Russell's problem(s). Earning himself a life-long friend in the process.

* It's just barely possible that Cagliostro has forgotten who he is. Play the role long enough, and you become it. Hey it happens…and maybe he's about ready to die and be re-born all over again, and doesn't remember that that's what he does.

* Joey picked a sapphire ring with a star of David setting at a Psychic/Mystick fair some years ago and it figures heavily into his promotional material. It's just barely possible that it is some sleeping relic and Joey has no idea. Someone might see the poster in the case by the front door and recognize it...