Synopsis: Bertram of the Cold Mouth Players

Bertram Inez is an actor big on dreams and looks, but short on talent and opportunities. He gets hand jobs (and worse) on some lecherous dude’s porn site for money. And while he puts in a hell of a performance each time, and his fans love him, he knows this is not being an actor.

But change is coming. A storm sweeps him into the arms of a traveling troupe of very odd and very wondrous actors – The Cold Mouth Players. The dictator Frederick Schluter rules them with an iron fist, they have weird rules and customs that push Bertram way past his comfort zone, and they only ever put on one production: The Tempest.

And this production--it has a verisimilitude impossible in the regular theater. Could Ariel be a real airy spirit? Could Prospero be a true magician? And Caliban an actual monster?

This is Bertram’s only opportunity to tour with a real traveling show. It’s his only chance to be a real actor. But will he sell his soul to be included in their number? Of course he will. It beats beating it on camera.

The more they demand of him, the more he gives. And the more they take, the less he comes to recognize himself. His one rock is Edgar Schluter, the Caliban character with whom he finds himself inexplicably in love.

But will his lover push him into open rebellion against the director Schluter? And if he does this, will there be any going home again?