Stage Plight

**"Stage Plight"** is the forty sixth episode of the third season, and the one hundred forty seventh episode of *The Loud House*.

## Plot

Hoping to get closer to her crush, Benny, Luan tries out for the school play.

## Synopsis

At the high school, Luan, while going through her locker, sees her crush, Benny, behind her. Luan wishes to express her true feelings for him, but the only time they're together is in mime class, and as everyone knows, mimes can't speak. Suddenly, Luan notices Benny signing his name on a sheet on the wall. Luan checks what Benny did, and to her surprise, Benny is trying out for an upcoming stage adaptation of *Romeo and Juliet*. Thinking that this could be the perfect opportunity to get close to Benny, Luan decides to sign up as well.

At the Royal Woods Auditorium, a group of high school students is auditioning for a role in the play, and the next day, Luan learns that she has been accepted into the play. Back at the Royal Woods auditorium, the selected students meet their play director, Mrs. Bernardo. When she requests that the students who play the Montagues and Capulets each rehearse separately (since she claims that it'll make the tension in the play more believable), Luan is clearly displeased at this, since she's playing a Capulet, while Benny plays a Montague. Acting quickly, she asks one of her classmates on the Montague side if they would like to switch roles, but the classmate will do it under certain conditions. After making several deals, Luan finally gets onto the Montague side so she can be with Benny.

The next day, Mrs. Bernardo tells the students that the scene that they're going to rehearse is the kiss scene. While most of the students (including Luan and Benny) sit down, the two kids playing Romeo and Juliet, Ruby and Spencer, attempt to act out the scene, but Spencer has trouble remembering his lines, making Mrs. Bernardo say that she's not buying into their performance. Suddenly, she sees Luan and Benny interacting with each other, and noticing what chemistry they have decides to make them the lead stars. Luan, clearly nervous about this change, excuses herself to leave. At the Loud House, Luan mopes on her bed and expresses to Mr. Coconuts that she's nervous about kissing Benny. Mr. Coconuts says that it shouldn't be too much of a problem, since it's just a simple kiss, and it should be easy.

However, Luan gets extremely nervous every time Benny is about to kiss her, prompting her to come up with more and more excuses to not kiss him. During one day of rehearsal, Luan suggests that instead of kissing Benny, how about she send a text message with emojis instead. Mrs. Bernardo approves of Luan's idea since she's fascinated with a modern retelling of the story.

The next day, Luan arrives for rehearsals, but learns from Mrs. Bernardo that Benny quit the play due to a "conflict with Chess Club". Luan, knowing that Benny is lying, finds him sitting alone on a bench at the high school, and asks why he quit. Benny said he quit because he believed that Luan wasn't comfortable with him playing Romeo, and Luan (through Mr. Coconuts) says that the reason why she kept excusing herself was that she was too nervous to kiss him. Benny reveals (through his own marionette, Mrs. Appleblossom) that he too was nervous to kiss Luan. When they reveal that they both have feelings for each other, they finally decide to kiss after starring in the play, to which The Loud Family applauds to. With Luan and Benny now together, Mr. Coconuts and Mrs. Appleblossom agree that "this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

## Cast

* Cristina Pucelli as Luan / Mr. Coconuts
* Grey Griffin as Lola / Mrs. Bernardo / Shannon
* Ogie Banks as Spencer / Leo
* Eric Bauza as Rex
* Nazneen Contractor as Ruby
* Sean Giambrone as Benny
* Kamali Minter as Amy / Lyberti

Lincoln, Lori, Leni, Luna, Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lisa, Lily, Lynn Sr., Rita, Jackie, Errol, Maryam, and Parvana have no lines in this episode.

## Trivia

* Lincoln appears on the title card as the sandbag.

* In the original script, when everyone was taking a seat, Luan threw Mr. Coconuts in the air and accidentally hit Shannon when planning to sit next to Benny. Also in the original storyboard Luan was going to throw her backpack with Mr. Coconuts next to Benny. But in the final revision it was just Mr. Coconuts that Luan threw.
* This episode is banned to other countries because students kissing in school is not allowed. Philippines is one of the country that has this episode banned because it is one of the law here in the said country.
* This is the first episode to have one of Leni’s friends.

## References

* ***Stage Plight*** - The title of this episode is a pun on "stage fright", with "fright" being replaced by "plight", meaning "a dangerous, difficult, or otherwise unfortunate situation".

* ***Dat Boi*** - A picture in Luan's locker depicts a frog on a unicycle as a reference to this internet meme.
* ***Romeo and Juliet*** - The play that Luan and Benny are starring in is this famous play by William Shakespeare.
* ***The Real Housewives*** - Luan mentions a show called *The Real Mimes of Miami*, which is a reference to this American television franchise.
* ***Casablanca*** - Mr. Coconuts says "Well, Mrs. Appleblossom, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.", which is a line from that movie.

## Errors

* Jackie's name on the role sheet is spelled as "Jackee".
* Luan's braces were missing in one part of a scene where she was pushing Errol.
* After Luan switches almost everyone from Capulets to Montagues and vice versa, Jackie is still shown as a Capulet for a brief moment. But later, she appears as a Montague.

## Clip

The Loud House Kissing Scene Nickelodeon UK

The Loud House -“Stage Plight” Excerpt
Add a photo to this gallery

## Sources

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/SarahJSketches/status/1105905173447077888