recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
LUCE STOOLS

"Luce Stools" is the thirteenth episode of Season 6.

## Synopsis

As Leo and Maya's show date fast approaches, they continue to struggle with the fact that their performance space smells horrendous and none of the set crew is willing to work with it. Jenna suggests the disaster relief cleanup crew her neighborhood hired after the terrible hurricane and although there are little to no signs of disaster in the building, Leo and Maya are desperate enough to hire Brenda and Bella Luce, a mother-daughter crack team of cleanliness fanatics "ready to scrub your bedroom, bathroom, basement, barn, back alley, birth pool, cesspool, swimming pool and/or murder scene top to bottom!" When the team discovers that their clients are young parents on teachers' salaries, they offer a discount on the condition that Brenda's husband Al gets prime advertising space in the show's playbill for his struggling furniture restoration business Luce Stools. A different type of stool proves to be the answer to Leo and Maya's lingering questions when a chance visit to the basement of the building reveals that the home's previous tenant was a compulsive collector of animal scat and his storm-damaged "collection," left behind after his move to a local nursing home, is stinking up the joint.
CTHANKSGIVING

"Cthanksgiving" is the ninth episode of Season 2.

## Synopsis

Vera and Harry throw a huge Thanksgiving party to thank the staff for stepping up to the plate and supporting their community in what has been a crazy year. Jenna reveals her secret to the rest of the staff, Robert turns out to be disturbingly good at Cards against Humanity, and Michelle presents a proposal for an internet radio station. Victoria gets invited to spend Thanksgiving in Cape Cod with an "interesting" group of visual art majors, who blow off the pumpkin pie and football to head to the beach to try to summon Cthulhu. Meanwhile, with only a short time to go until "CRACKED" opens, pinch-hitters Leo and Maya struggle to find the time and space to rehearse without ruining their surprise cameo.
DANCE TEN, LEGS EIGHT

"Dance Ten, Legs Eight" is the fourth episode of Season 7.

## Synopsis

Talia's dance class is thrown into a frenzy when oddball freshman Sage's emotional support tarantula breaks free from its carry case and the student's resulting tantrum threatens to ruin her teacher's long-dreamt-of first few weeks of motherhood. Experiencing tremendous pressure from the studio with which he is under contract, "Arts of Seduction" director Frank Bellamy arrives in Boston desperate for a new project. A chance encounter with his former star Ellen leads him to his lightbulb moment and he immediately holes himself up in a motel to bang out the script for "Duck Me In The Park," a romantic comedy based on Ellen's recounting of Becca's rescue at the hands of Heath. Meanwhile, Isobel stumbles on one of the leads of Leo and Maya's show practicing a dance routine alone and persuades the directors to name the boy dance captain. Upon viewing the student's presentation, Leo realizes that the young man's dance is completely ripped off from a "Surprise Package" routine.
DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOILET TROUBLE

"Double, Double, Toilet Trouble" is the eighteenth episode of Season 4.

## Synopsis

Athena pulls some strings and manages to wrangle a master class with famous chef Jean Mangeur-DeBitte in order to finally implement her crossover curriculum with Paul Chang's French 1 students. While the chef is eager to inspire a love of French baking in a new generation, his busy schedule prevents him from having the time to gather the required ingredients for the three-day program and so Paul, Tracy, Athena and Emily go on an elaborate culinary scavenger hunt to find the items before Jean arrives on campus. Meanwhile back on campus, the spring musical's assistant director Mira comes under scrutiny when she arranges a weekend-long workshop on the occult to help her actresses get into character and Talia's plans for a surprise proposal to Jenna are put in jeopardy after the ring ends up flushed down the toilet.
Kathleen Dearborn

Kathleen Dearborn (née Ruthann Hurley) is the headmistress of Harble Academy, Winter Lake's rival school in California.

She was hallmates with Vera Sharma in college and the two had a massive falling-out after Vera forgot to photoshop Kathleen's yellow teeth and third nipple out of her headshot, costing her a major role. She has made it her goal to ruin Vera's life ever since.
SCANDLER BING

"Scandler Bing" is the sixteenth episode of Season 2.

## Synopsis

When the story breaks that the author of "Arts of Seduction" isn't even old enough to drive, Kathleen decides to use the news to completely ruin Vera from all the way across the country, flooding the internet and writing to nationwide newspapers to suggest that a corrupt faculty (much of which was in place BEFORE Vera's arrival) contributed to the moral ruin of the young woman who must have been exposed to "unspeakable filth." Determined not to drive away the fall's admitted students, Vera hires former private investigator and current "scandal handler, or 'scandler' for short" Donna Bing, who travels to northern California to find out why Kathleen is on a tear. Donna discovers that Mrs. Dearborn is actually Ruthanne Hurley, a former NYU hallmate of Vera's who has had it out for her ever since a mishap involving some headshots Vera took ended up costing Ruthanne an important audition. Michelle and Robert are torn between their duties as champions of artistic achievement and their duties as concerned authority figures when the student at the center of the scandal leaves her school-issued laptop with them for repairs and they discover she's working on a sequel. Meanwhile, Harry is delighted to learn that the veterinarian treating Julianne's Lyme disease is an alumnus of The Academy.
Lily Blair

Lily Blair is a theater student in the class of 2022.

While she has been a consistent star of the stage at Winter Lake Academy for the Arts, her real breakout is in "Songs from Down There," where she brings an earnest down-home early-Taylor-Swift charm to the ballad "My First Tampon Experience." She is approached for a record deal based on her performance and is forced to choose between her life-long dream of attending the Hartt School for musical theater and going to Hollywood where she knows nobody.

When she ultimately makes the decision to go to Hollywood, she hits a roadblock when her personal website is edited to make her look bad by a boy she turned down for a date after he helped set up the page. While Rocky gets to work helping Lily make things right on her site, the rest of the staff rallies around her and shares their own embarrassing moments for solidarity.
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is the third episode of Season 2.

## Synopsis

Classes begin, and Leo and Maya forge ahead with auditions for "I Love The '90s: The Musical," while going to comic lengths to disguise their impending parenthood from Vera, who they believe (incorrectly) to be unhappy with her state of childlessness. Victoria's behavior makes a complete turnaround immediately upon arrival at The Academy, but she finds ballet to be stifling. Robert, now doing double duty as English teacher and head poetry teacher, discovers that Bonnie's extremely "creative" former dorm charge is in his sophomore English class, which proves to be awkward considering he is now aware she has written pages of speculative fiction (however poorly disguised) on his relations with Jillian and the appearance and functionality of his "junk." Meanwhile, Dana impresses Roger with her grasp of advanced calculus, Harry considers retiring Julianne from the show circuit after the latest in a string of mishaps and Jenna shares a secret with Michelle.
MONTAGUE AND CATAPULT

"Montague and Catapult" is the fourteenth episode of Season 8.

## Synopsis

After the success of Colin's production of "Cymbeline" and the positive response to a rumor that Daniel's spring musical will be a reworking of one of the Bard's classics, Vera decides to make the theme of the Winter Dance "Shakespeare In Love." With the serious subject matter of "Wicked Five-Oh," the glamour and mystique of the Valentine's Day event is a welcome break from the otherwise dark mood on campus, and the event is made even more joyous when it serves as the backdrop for Rocky's epic marriage proposal to Hannah. The show goes off without a hitch after Capri reveals she did not tell her mother about the show, to the great relief of Vera and Isobel and to the slight disappointment of Axl and Carl who were looking for a little drama. Meanwhile, Jenna and Isaiah (now working as a biology teacher with Jenna back from maternity leave) work together with their students to put together a functional catapult, a positive experience until a student with impulse control issues accidentally launches a backpack full of expensive borrowed sheet music into the lake after which The Academy is named.
CRACKED

"CRACKED: A Modern Nutcracker" is an award-winning staging of "The Nutcracker." Its world premiere at the Boston Ballet brought choreographer Talia Vergara to the attention of Winter Lake Academy for the Arts.

While the choreography is not tremendously different from what is traditionally seen, the music is comprised of Tchaikovsky covers from contemporary artists (sometimes even with lyrics) and the dancers wear jeggings instead of tights.
THE HEIR DOWN THERE

"The Heir Down There" is the thirteenth episode of Season 3.

## Synopsis

Despite strongly-worded warnings to stay away from the dangerously moldy tunnels, students still flock underground in search of privacy and mole-people (despite the latter being a mere hallucination on Victoria's part). As the opening date of "This Might Be A Musical" fast approaches, one of the show's leads finds himself spending more time alone in the tunnels during his spare time than off with his friends. Concerned about the young man, Leo investigates, only to discover that young Charles Chester Chatsworth IX, the grandson of The Academy's first male student (now a wealthy conductor living in Australia) is terrified that he will give a lousy performance and bring shame to his family name when his grandfather comes to America for the first time in 16 years to see his show. Cora decides that she can no longer handle Jonathan's late-night Rodgers and Hammerstein binges and makes plans to move out of Bonnie's place. Meanwhile, Jenna and Athena's plans to have their baking classes cater Annie's first birthday party rub Esther the wrong way.
DON'T GET TESTE WITH ME

"Don't Get Teste With Me" is the twenty-second episode of Season 4.

## Synopsis

Despite Howard's brilliant finish at Westminster and his easygoing demeanor making him perfect for dressing up and posing, the pug club with which Harry is collaborating for his calendar decides (without telling Harry) to re-shoot Howard's months with a different dog because Howard's "junk" is distracting and takes away from the "spay and neuter your pets" message the association wants to spread.  With only a few weeks left of school, Jillian's doctor clears her to return to work and the revitalized teacher, aghast at the swooping motions of Mira's "witch choreography," clashes with Jonathan when she attempts to Fosse-fy the musical numbers days before the opening of "A Bun In The Coven." Meanwhile, Athena achieves personal victory when she successfully pries a secret out of Esther and also manages to transport 50 meringues from The Stickitt Inn to the lobby of the Helen MacLellan Theater without breaking a single one.
MAJOR CHANGES

"Major Changes" is the nineteenth episode of Season 4.

## Synopsis

Mr. Caldwell lands a very good job and learns that his new workplace will now cover the cost of the acquisition, training and veterinary care of a service dog for Bailey. Initially the Caldwell sisters are thrilled, but when the Massachusetts Board of Health demands that Cookie the Great Dane stay out of the kitchen at the Stickitt Inn, Bailey is confronted with two choices, both of them difficult. If she remains in her chosen field of study, she will need to find other arrangements for Cookie while she's in class and spend several hours a day unable to rely on Cookie's support. If she switches majors, Bailey will have Cookie's full support but she will not be utilizing the talents for which she was recognized. Meanwhile, Victoria receives an official offer from the Austin Ballet but begins having second thoughts when some of the colleges to which she applied tempt her with hefty financial aid packages and Bonnie irks the traditionalist board of trustees with her Youtube-themed opera "Charlie mi ha morso il dito."
TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SHART

"Total Eclipse of the Shart" is the eighth episode of Season 4.

## Synopsis

Bonnie and Jonathan chaperone a bus full of eager voice and musical theater students on their way to prestigious Singer University in Washington D.C. for their early action auditions. While Jonathan is all business and needs heavy-duty sleeping medication to make it through seven hours of teenage vocalizing, Bonnie takes the opportunity to bond with the students and enlighten them on all sorts of opera gossip. When the subject of much of the gossip ends up being the professor in charge of the voice auditions, the dirt the students have on him allows them to be far more relaxed and open with their performances. The musical theater students, not having received the same advantage from Bonnie's husband, remain on edge and Charles feels the physical effects of his anxiety. Back at The Academy, Vera and crew struggle to find a replacement upperclassman musical theater and movement teacher after Jillian's headache medication causes her to streak across campus and she is placed on temporary medical leave.
BACK TO BEFORE

"Back To Before" is the eleventh episode of Season 5.

## Synopsis

Impressed with Hannah's internet popularity despite the content of her blog, Vera offers her the role of Young Alumni Liaison in The Academy's External Relations department despite Hannah never having attended the school. Within days, the gifted young woman is soliciting (and actually obtaining) donations from students who haven't stepped foot on campus since graduation and filling up pages of the alumni magazine with tales from even the most reticent of alumni. With good news comes bad, however, and when Hannah reports a recent alum's demise from something with which he struggled as a student, Vera begins to wonder where The Academy failed the young man. After she and several members of the academic faculty attend a conference on troubled students, she becomes fixated on tracking down young alumni (and "would-be" alumni who transferred or were asked to leave) from her years as a Winter Lake student to the present who she believes were "let down" by the administration to set things right. Jonathan approaches Mira and Jillian about a change in the theater department's winter programming. Meanwhile, a young woman named Lucy claiming to be an incoming midyear student arrives on campus despite The Academy being on winter break, looking for Maya and demanding access to a specific dorm room in Leo and Maya's building despite being an underclassman.
French Bulldogs Eating A Watermelon

"French Bulldogs Eating A Watermelon" is a moderately-successful hipster band hired to play at Winter Lake Academy for the Arts for the 2021 prom.

There are three members of the band: Byron Cassidy, Hermione Gardner and Isosceles McKinney. At the time of their prom performance, the lineup consists solely of Byron and Hermione, as Isosceles is off finding herself in India. Her absence is barely noticed, however, since she generally just sits there and plays the triangle.
RO-BERT

"Ro-bert" is the sixth episode of Season 7.

## Synopsis

With Jillian constantly in rehearsals or performing and Victoria relishing her role as the cruise ship's newest lifeguard, Robert finds himself bored and lonely and offers to teach a poetry elective remotely. While Vera is intrigued and many of the poetry students jump at the chance to study with him again, the headmistress is concerned that to onlookers, a classroom without a fully-present teacher may reflect poorly on the school and other staff members are far too busy to serve as a classroom monitor (to make sure that no disgruntled students pull the plug on their lessons). Unable to secure childcare, Bonnie brings Marley to a faculty meeting where the young girl ends up saving the day by mentioning that there is a boy in her class at her new school recovering from a transplant who attends school via robot. While Robert's situation is far less dire, the manufacturers of the robot jump at the chance to have their product featured in a conservatory environment and an elective is planned for the spring semester. Meanwhile, when it is revealed that Halloween falls on a weekday, Michelle attempts to lighten the mood by announcing a costume contest in which participants must dress up as their favorite literary character, a decision that backfires when some of the more clueless underclassmen arrive to poetry class dressed as characters from "Arts of Seduction."
THE LYING, THE WITCH HUNT AND THE WARDROBE

"The Lying, The Witch Hunt and the Wardrobe" is the seventh episode of Season 3.

## Synopsis

In an attempt to save money on a vehicle-detailing bill, Harry takes it upon himself to single-handedly remove every last bit of glitter and other student debris from the bus in which he transported the high-schoolers to Rocky Horror. Among the confetti, dried rice and the chicken nuggets Colin sent flying when he tripped over a sleeping sophomore's leg after doing a head count, Harry makes a most interesting discovery: a positive pregnancy test. In a panic, Vera sends a harshly-worded e-mail to the dorm parents criticizing their lax enforcement of the parietal rules and puts the students who attended the screening under intense scrutiny. Meanwhile, Colin's cat-themed Shakespeare piece "Romeow and Julie's Pet" is protested by angry furries who accuse his costume designer of ripping off an Internet-famous artist's design after the show's Mercutio Instagrams a picture of himself in costume.
The Barr Family

## Heath Barr

Heath Barr is a reporter. Although his home base is the Boston Globe, he has occasionally written features for People Magazine. Throughout his romantic involvement with Clifford Torres, he has often used the frequent scandals plaguing Cliff's employer, Winter Lake Academy for the Arts, as material for his articles.

Heath's heroic rescue of Becca Alvarez from a flock of crazed water birds is the inspiration for the film "Duck Me In The Park," although the production is plagued by a number of flaws including (but not limited to) the erasure of Heath's sexuality in an attempt to create a heteronormative rom-com, hiring multiple-Razzie-nominee actor Carey Liles to play Heath despite looking nothing like him, and the fact that it was written by the director on the toilet.

## Dove Barr

Dove Barr is Heath's older sister. An award-winning florist based in New York, she is hired to do arrangements for one of the Gala performances and in the process, meets Talia Vergara and Jenna Hanson. Her beautiful work inspires them to go ahead with their dream wedding (something that they thought might never happen after so many failed proposal attempts) and she becomes their florist.

She had a brief college fling with Hannah Weinberg.
THEY'RE PLAYING OUR THONG

"They're Playing Our Thong" is the fifth episode of Season 3.

## Synopsis

While the hormonal student population of Winter Lake Academy is thrilled about the boy-band-themed fall musical, parents in town for Family Weekend are disappointed that none of the lead roles were available to their daughters. Despite having her production of "That's What She Said" on her track record to prove both her skills as a director and her lack of bias, Jillian reacts poorly to the stress and, after a particularly long blackout, is no longer able to shake the Liza mannerisms. Previously opposed to any medical procedure, Robert implores his ex to find a new treatment option for the terrifying blackouts while Jillian's mother Barbara worries that Jillian has not recovered enough from her previous procedure to make it through another one. Meanwhile, Maya enlists Athena to get the lowdown on Esther, and Leo's revelation of his newfound skill on the night of the auction earns him the nickname "Shakira" from the rest of "Surprise Package."
PARANOIA U.S.A.

"Paranoia U.S.A" is the thirteenth episode of Season 5.

## Synopsis

The Caldwell sisters excitedly approach Robert with their plans to invite their favorite comedian, Rania Alizadeh, to speak at an assembly for the upcoming Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month. Impressed with the girls' initiative and being quite the fan of Ms. Alizadeh's Comedy Central specials, he consults Vera to put their plans into motion. Vera is hesitant, however, revealing that Ms. Alizadeh, three years Vera's senior, is an alumna of The Academy and was not particularly enamored with the faculty (many of whom still teach there). She is paranoid that the creative writing students, who only a few weeks into the new year have already revived the old school newspaper, will take any criticism of the school's administration and use it against her, even though Rania's gripes predate Vera's "regime" and for that matter, most of her time as a student. Meanwhile, the mystery student from the winter break incident demands that her rooming assignment be switched from her perfectly good room to the room she demanded to inspect just a few weeks prior and refuses to tell Leo and Maya why.
Esther Shapiro

Esther Shapiro is a teacher in the Culinary Arts Department. She is a brilliant cook and a patient teacher who comes to The Academy to earn money to pay off astronomical medical bills after tragedy befalls her family.

Because of the loss of her infant twin sons (the aforementioned tragedy), she is initially uneasy around staff members with children, but interaction becomes easier when a healthy son, Ethan, arrives.

She is married to Rabbi Steve Shapiro, and the two only break Shabbat if the shadowcast of Rocky Horror falls on a Friday night. She is the daughter of therapist Laurel Weinberg and dentist Henry Weinberg, and has two younger sisters, Aviva and Hannah.
BUMMER VACATION

"Bummer Vacation" is the first episode of Season 4.

## Synopsis

While Cora and Bonnie have the time of their lives hosting a raucous family reunion at the Stickitt Inn, the rest of the staff of the academy is running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Paul discovers that a French teacher is retiring and attempts to prove his proficiency in the language in order to stay employed. Vera informs Maya and Leo that it is a liability and a distraction to keep three children under the age of two in a classroom full of high schoolers for several hours, and demands they find childcare. Jillian moves in with Robert, and while Victoria is initially thrilled to have someone in the house to talk to about "girl stuff," she begins to experience many sleepless nights due to Jillian's "sleep-Fosse-ing." Meanwhile, after Julianne's health takes a turn for the worse, Harry hijacks one of his book club meetings to hold a "living funeral" for her so she knows how much she is loved and Vera gets a very interesting phone call from Charles's grandfather regarding a program he wants her to implement at The Academy.
JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TESTICULAR DREAMCOAT

"Joseph and the Amazing Testicular Dreamcoat" is the nineteenth episode of Season 3.

## Synopsis

After further tests reveal that Jonathan does not have cancer, the elated theater department head goes on a celebratory spending spree purchasing elaborate special effects gadgets and makeup for the spring musical and hiring up-and-coming fashion designer prodigy Joseph "JJ" James as his costumer for the piece when a film project for which the young man was costuming falls through. Bonnie, days away from staging the world premiere of the medical opera "Non sono stato io a mettermelo nel culo, deve essere stato un fantasma!", is forced to rein in her husband before he goes over budget trying to recreate giant abdominal holes and twisted necks for his lead actresses while simultaneously dealing with the normal stresses of planning an opera and trying to figure out why young JJ looks so familiar. Carole, already convinced The Academy will hire JJ full time, suggests to Vera that the sartorial wunderkind will have very little to do with only two mainstage productions a year and that he should work for the visual art department in his down-time.
A TROUBLING PATTERN

"A Troubling Pattern" is the twelfth episode of Season 5.

## Synopsis

The winter children's show is scrapped in favor of a dinner theater performance of "A Very Duggar Wedding," and rehearsals are in full swing. Vera is incredibly pleased with the project, which marries the rich theatrical tradition of audience interaction with the novelty of serving student-created dishes courtesy of the Culinary Arts department. She is equally pleased with Jonathan for finding a way for co-directors Mira and Jillian to bond: sending them on a whirlwind dinner theater tour of Massachusetts and Rhode Island for "research." While Mira, the consummate professional, gleans information by taking copious amounts of notes and copious amounts of dinner rolls for her carb-crazy marathon-runner husband Jimmy, Jillian takes these school-sponsored outings as an excuse to get "white-girl wasted." While Mira, Jimmy and occasionally Robert take turns as designated driver, they're concerned when the alcohol reacts with Jillian's meds and causes her to slip into old habits, namely thinking she's Celine Dion. Meanwhile, an off-the-cuff comment by Cliff leads Vera to worry that a small group of new midyear Creative Writing students are spies sent by Kathleen, while Robert finally convinces Bailey Caldwell to join the disability awareness club.
Mary Kontrarian

Mary Kontrarian is the head of the Dance Department at Winter Lake Academy for the Arts.

Until the arrival of Talia Vergara, she was responsible for choreographing the yearly production of "The Nutcracker."

While she is delighted to have reduced responsibilities, she is always on hand for input when asked, although sometimes her visions for the productions verge on the offensive or the impossible.

She is often found at trustee meetings, flipping them all off under the table.
I'LL FLY AWAY (OH GLORY)

"I'll Fly Away (Oh Glory)" is the fifth episode of Season 8.

## Synopsis

Despite their hopes of staying until the end of the semester, The Sommers Seven prepare to say goodbye to The Academy. While their host family is exasperated with the amount of work required to both protect The Sommers Seven and shield their own children from the sect's harmful teachings and is more than ready to see them go, the music department braces itself for the loss of seven of its best violinists. Michelle is dismayed when her creative writing students seem more interested in the celebrities she schmoozed with on her book tour than in writing their own books. Meanwhile, after overhearing the "weirdo clique" complain about Leo going back on his promise to let them show off their niche skills in "Take This Broken Wing," Carole decides to tempt them over to the "art side" by promising them key positions in a living scenery performance art piece she plans to install in the center of Winter Lake.
BEYONCE, BETWICE, BETHREETIMES A LADY

"Beyonce, Betwice, Bethreetimes A Lady" is the third episode of Season 5.

## Synopsis

Leo and Maya make a number of special announcements, the most important being that The Academy has earned the rights to stage the workshop premiere of "Child of Destiny: The Beyoncé Knowles Story," which in a break from tradition will not be performed in the Black Box theater but on the new outdoor stage barring a major weather incident. The Culinary Arts students begin their studies at Haven Farm, where Bailey's service dog proves to be less of a problem...that is, until Bailey discovers that Cookie has quite the taste for goat poop. The proprietors of Haven Farm, Elvis and April Sherman and their brood Antigone, Delancey, Tibia, Garfunkel, Cobbler, Reverie, Palabra and only son Zithromax, invite the Culinary Arts students and faculty over for a celebratory dinner, where Esther contemplates breaking the rules of kashrut when faced with pork belly and hormonal cravings at the same time. Meanwhile, having snapped out of Liza-mode, Jillian faces an identity crisis when she realizes that her confidence as an educator has disappeared with her delusions, while Colin seeks Michelle's advice for a production of Macbeth in which the titular character is transgender.
POPPET OUT

"Poppet Out" is the seventh episode of Season 6.

## Synopsis

Colin's production of "The Seussible," a Dr. Seuss-inspired take on Arthur Miller's tale of the Salem Witch Trials, celebrates its opening night. While the special effects and script, both care of Violet, win rave reviews from the Winter Lake community and visiting professors scouting for talent for their university-level theater programs, Colin is desperate to keep the production out of the news for fear his idea will anger the Seuss estate. Talia's ballet proposal is accepted, but under the condition that she collaborates with Carole on costumes. Still in shock that the board of trustees listens to her after all her wacky ideas for The Nutcracker, she rushes to agree only to be reminded by JJ that Carole's visions for the costumes for Colin's all-female adaptation of The Tempest all sort of looked like the female anatomy. Meanwhile, Jenna and Talia's choice to hire an outside photographer for their wedding in order to let Vera sit back and enjoy herself causes a huge scandal when their chosen photographer forgets to password-protect their online wedding album and among the pictures is a glaring wardrobe malfunction that Leo thought he had under control.
WISHIN' AND HOPIN' AND CLIMBIN' AND PASSIN' OUT

"Wishin' and Hopin' and Climbin' and Passin' Out" is the third episode of Season 9.

## Synopsis

After years of sitting idly by, Roger decides he's finally going to join his colleagues on the mountain climbing orientation. Figuring it's been long enough since he hurt himself and feeling like he is at the top of his game thanks to workout buddies Dave and Isaiah, he heads off with the class of 2022 to reach the summit of Mount Monadnock. His failure to return alarms the rest of the crew and their failure to notice his absence until the completion of their descent sends them into a shame spiral. Meanwhile, Carole catches wind of the theater department's plans and insists on designing the set. Initially into the idea of interdisciplinary collaboration, the department accepts the offer but has second thoughts when Carole submits the proposal and it involves each wing of the stage being transformed into a woman's leg (papier-mâché, of course) with center stage serving as "introitus."
TOO HOT TO SCANDAL

"Too Hot To Scandal" is the fifteenth episode of Season 7.

## Synopsis

After Michelle's quick thinking with "Robot Robert and the Sharpie Dick Incident" saves the day, it's her day in the spotlight and sales of her novel spike. With publishers pounding down her door to put out whatever she has up her sleeve, she decides to borrow Vera's "scandler" Donna Bing to help her figure out what kind of image to present. While having been Massachusetts' first poet laureate reflects well on her, her managerial position for a mostly-faculty male exotic dance crew does not and she reluctantly hands the reins over to Tracy Chang. Meanwhile, facing pressure to replace Carey, Frank holds an open call for a "mystery role" in his film and Liam tries out, while Ellen secretly plots a return to acting when Jillian puts in a good word for her with a producer.
THE REEL WORLD

"The Reel World" is the twentieth episode of Season 9.

## Synopsis

Lily shows up at Leo and Maya's door, inconsolable. Having decided to defer college a year in an attempt to go big, she has hired a marketing team to set up a website with the requisite headshots and reel. While her résumé is impressive and her headshots technically flawless, her video editor failed to edit out the particularly flatulent audience member from the clip of her "Songs from Down There" solo and thus every subtle twist and turn in the song reads as a "one cheek sneak," and he holds the password of the site for ransom when she turns him down for a date. While Cliff gets to work teaching the young man a lesson in manners and Rocky gets to work hacking the site for Lily, the rest of the faculty decides to cheer Lily up by sharing embarrassing experiences from their own past: Daniel's work as a precocious child actor, Maya getting her first period during a sixth-grade production of "Anything Goes," Jillian's unfortunate winter of Elf Discovery, and Robert's "year of lies," his first year in college where he would give differing (and increasingly ridiculous) backstories to why he was in a wheelchair, only to be busted in the beginning of sophomore year when the drunk driver who hit him came to speak at his school. Meanwhile, after reasoning that their social circle consists of pretty much the same people, the two engaged faculty couples begin to plan a double wedding, which sounds like a good idea until Cliff points out that Hannah spent the good part of a year hooking up with Heath's sister in college.
CONDOMLEEZZA

"Condomleezza" is the thirteenth episode of Season 1.

## Synopsis

A week before "Schoolhouse Wrong" is set to go up, a trustee sits in on a rehearsal and is horrified at the content. She threatens to pull her yearly million dollar donation to the school unless the production is sanitized beyond the point of recognition. Jillian attempts to help Maya and Leo by getting in touch with the playwright, but the playwright refuses to let her work be altered. Jillian suggests that the show goes on as planned and simply not be marketed as a children's musical, but press releases have already gone out to the local media. In solidarity with his fellow acting teachers, Colin (a father of four children under the age of ten) announces that he has no problem with his children seeing the production as they will be more likely to remember its valuable lessons about sexuality, profanity and substance use when they eventually face these real-life issues because of the power of song.
PARENTS' WEAKENED

"Parents' Weakened" is the fifth episode of Season 2.

## Synopsis

Leo and Maya's show opens without a hitch, but they're in for the shock of their lives when they return to their on-campus apartment on opening night to discover that Maya's parents Richie and Anita have skipped the entire performance, broken in and set up a surprise baby shower for them. Tensions flare between Jillian and Robert when the former reveals that she has agreed to a consultation for the experimental brain surgery after a clash with Jillian's mother, who is torn between her deep love for her daughter and her deep hatred for Celine Dion. Bonnie discovers that Jonathan loves to binge-watch telenovelas and eat fondue, that he's surprisingly not gay, and that he had absolutely no clue that the Bonita Alcott who has been teaching at The Academy for fifteen years and Bonita Alcott, critically-acclaimed opera singer, are one and the same. Meanwhile, Talia shows Jenna a good time, while Robert and Jillian decide to take a break.
YOU KNOW NOTHING, BOARD OF TRUSTEES

"You Know Nothing, Board Of Trustees" is the eighth episode of Season 5.

## Synopsis

The board of trustees decides to allow Talia to stage "Game of Nutcrackers" on a probationary basis. If more than 80% of the seats are sold and there's no backlash, she is allowed free rein over future Nutcracker projects. If the show sells well and there is some backlash, she is allowed to stage the show again but must stick to traditional choreography and costuming. If the show sells poorly and there is significant backlash, she must relinquish all control of future productions. The delighted Talia enthusiastically presents JJ with the good news and the designer begins round-the-clock work on the costume pieces. While initially JJ is thrilled for a real challenge following the bare-bones staging of "Macbeth" and the rented costume pieces for "Child of Destiny," he finds himself hounded by GOT super-fans Bonnie, Harry and Jillian who demand that every detail be true to the show. Meanwhile, when a fascinated Violet visits Haven Farm with her family, April teaches her to make herbal tinctures. She attempts a healing concoction to help Esther recover after the birth of her son but ends up making Esther trip balls.
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

"The Elephant In The Room" is the fourth episode of Season 2.

## Synopsis

Two weeks before Leo and Maya's show is set to open, they attend a budget meeting to discuss the spring semester's productions. The head of the theater department, Jonathan Hargrove Wigglesworth Bates, is desperate to stage a production that he describes as "RENT, but with dogs, and fleas instead of AIDS." When it is revealed that due to the funding crisis brought on by the "Schoolhouse Wrong" incident and the penalty The Academy had to pay for extending "Harmony Defined" a week without securing additional performance rights, the school will either have to cancel the spring musical or have the dog costumes implied like Sutton Foster's facial scar in the musical "Violet," Vera suggests admitting the foul celebuspawn for the spring semester. Colin objects, stating that he saw the young man's audition and later used it to make himself ill after a bad batch of clams, and Maya seconds the objection because she "totally reads OhNoTheyDidn't and I heard that kid punches people." Jonathan tasks Leo with finding a solution, and Leo seeks out Bonnie.
The Butts Family

## Ophelia Butts

Ophelia is the tiny and very emotional older sister of Roger Butts. She is very crafty and artistic and would have fit in very well at The Academy. She was the "favorite" of her beloved grandmother Patricia.

## Patricia "Pat" Butts

Patricia was Roger Butts's paternal grandmother. Widowed and wealthy, she was either unaware or unaccepting of Roger's asexuality and constantly pressured him to settle down and continue the family line, hence Roger's arrangement with Jillian Jordan.
THE GIRL WITH COLITIS GOES BY

"The Girl With Colitis Goes By" is the twentieth episode of Season 7.

## Synopsis

With Dave's help, Holly goes behind Vera's back and takes her writing students to DorkCon. Alysson-Clare, the keynote speaker on the literature panel, deeply praises the educators and the administration in her lecture, and Holly is delighted to share the soundbites with her employer until she remembers she wasn't supposed to attend. With Daniel's changes in place and rehearsals for "Sea Sharp" in full swing, Leo is ready to reclaim his throne as The Academy's king of musical theater now that Daniel's job is done. However, just when he believes Daniel's ready to peace out and go back to New York for his next project, the composer offers both Maya and Vera a proposal they cannot refuse. Meanwhile, aspiring detective Violet discovers the culprit for the Brown Note Scandal: a prospective freshman touring the school on opening night who later was discovered to be Patient Zero for a particularly nasty strain of Clostridium difficile colitis.
Violet Andrews

Violet Andrews is the impossibly British chemistry teacher. She is Mary Poppins, except where Mary carried coat racks, tape measures and the occasional lamp, Violet carries highly volatile chemicals.

She is married to Colin Andrews and has four children, the eldest of whom graduates from The Academy in the end of the series: Julie, Emma, Matilda and Beatrice.

She speaks Klingon and is somewhat of a party animal.
FREE TO BE A.D.H.D.

"Free To Be A.D.H.D." is the twelfth episode of Season 4.

## Synopsis

After the success of the very traditional Nutcracker and the controversy over The Academy's theater department selections over the past few years, Jonathan decides to smooth things over with the trustees by having Leo and Maya direct "Free To Be You And Me." Jason Jones, the younger brother of one of their "Schoolhouse Wrong" alumni, gives a great audition but keeps interrupting rehearsals with distracting behavior, expending precious rehearsal time and the directors' energy trying to rein him in. It is soon discovered that he has not been taking his ADHD medication, believing the show's "be yourself" message to mean that he isn't himself when he's being medicated. Meanwhile, Robert tries to rope the newly-enrolled Caldwell twins into starting a disability awareness and action club on campus to mixed results; Hailey is thrilled about the idea but doesn't approve of Robert's choice to have his able-bodied daughter as the face of the club and Bailey refuses to join, feeling like doing so would further define her by her disability and not her mad soufflé skills.
MY MOM GOT REMARRIED TO HER DOPPELGANGER PARTNER LIKE TWO HUNDRED FEET FROM WHERE MY DAD TEACHES ENGLISH AND ALL I GOT WAS A LOUSY T-SHIRT

"My Mom Got Remarried To Her Doppelganger Partner Like Two Hundred Feet From Where My Dad Teaches English And All I Got Was A Lousy T-Shirt" is the seventeenth episode of Season 3.

## Synopsis

When the First Unitarian Church of Northampton is temporarily (but very suddenly) shut down when several congregants report seeing a rabid woodchuck during services, Valerie and Jayna are left without a wedding venue. With the students on spring break, Victoria suggests her mother's wedding be held on The Academy's beautiful campus. Valerie and Jayna are enamored with the idea, Robert's thrilled his ex has finally found happiness, and the ladies of the Culinary Arts Department throw themselves wholeheartedly into creating a gorgeous wedding cake when Victoria reveals her mother was planning to celebrate her second marriage with a sheet cake from Costco. The only problem? Nobody cleared it with Vera, and she's out of town. It's up to Victoria, Robert and the internet-ordained Michelle (stepping in for the original minister who was bitten by said rabid woodchuck) to throw together a wedding in one week and hide all the evidence before Vera and Harry return. Meanwhile, an off-the-cuff comment by Violet gets The Academy unwanted attention once again.
Roger Butts

Roger Butts was a former child math prodigy who finished high school at the age of 10 and finished college at 13.

At the start of the series, he was 40 years old and still enthusiastic as ever about math to the point in which it had caused him significant physical damage; he suffered from a back injury he obtained from jumping up on (and falling off of) a student's desk after the student finally grasped a theorem which had been eluding her for months. He may or may not have been on some form of amphetamines.

He swore himself to a life of celibacy since he witnessed his father and stepmother get hit by lightning when he walked in on them engaging in coitus on a camping trip in the Adirondacks, although he identified as somewhat asexual before the incident.

He dated Jillian Jordan on and off when she was "on her breaks" from Robert Fry. While they were good friends, there was no romantic attraction; this was a relationship of convenience meant to secure an inheritance from his wealthy grandmother Patricia (she had no such rules for her favorite grandchild, Roger's older sister Ophelia).

He met an unfortunate end in Season 9.
Arts of Seduction

"Arts of Seduction" is the racy "50 Shades of Grey"-esque book series by Alysson-Clare Shannon based on a 300 page work of "real person fanfiction" involving her teachers at Winter Lake Academy for the Arts.

While the initial manuscript and its author are praised for their gift of prose, sensitivity in dealing with the issues of disability and gender transition, razor-sharp accuracy in capturing the voice of each person featured and 10-page panty-melting love scenes, the administration is torn on how to address the piece of writing. On the one hand, it's clear that a lot of work and research has gone into it and they don't want to stifle Alysson-Clare's creativity, but on the other hand, it's ragingly inappropriate.

Alysson-Clare achieves success with "Arts of Seduction" when she submits it to publishers with the names changed (and, presumably, has someone more adult-looking sit in on all the important meetings). She writes several sequels, but none of them reach the level of success that the first book did.

It is adapted into a film by director Frank Bellamy, but ultimately filming is canceled.
Ellen Larkin

Ellen Larkin is an actress who comes to Winter Lake after her "big break" falls through. She is a college friend of Leo Hartz and Maya Song and the freshman year "beard" of Clifford Torres.

Initially slated to play the "Jillian" role in the aborted "Arts of Seduction" film under her stage name Amaryllis Lenore, she decides to help Leo and Maya with childcare while she shoots indie films on her days off.

She also works briefly in the theater department while Maya is on maternity leave.
RUMOR HAS IT

"Rumor Has It" is the twenty-first episode of Season 6

## Synopsis

Robert tries to reconcile his desire to support his fiancée in her pursuit of an opportunity that would benefit both of them and his obligation to lead his students by example, which would require him to curb Jillian's new Lady Macbeth streak, wherein she will stop at nothing to snag the cruise ship job away from Leo and Maya even if it means spreading ludicrous rumors. When Heath arrives in Winter Lake to cover the gossip, ranging from the vaguely believable but still completely untrue statement that Leo and Maya don't vaccinate their children to the plausible-if-they-had-the-money-and-didn't-have-four-kids-already rumor that Maya was expecting octuplets to the completely-out-there accusation that Leo was a member of the Illuminati and was planning on infecting his freshman students with polio, Robert works with Vera to find a way to support Jillian but protect both his friends and the school's reputation. When two freshmen are hospitalized for the latest "stupid YouTube dare," Violet enlists Cliff and Tracy into forming a Common Sense Coalition designed to combat "spring fever, senioritis and general hooliganism." Meanwhile, after revealing to Maya that she was too busy to attend her own prom, Ellen takes the night off from childcare and crashes the dance with Liam.
SISTER, SISTER

"Sister, Sister" is the fifth episode of Season 1.

## Synopsis

"Harmony Defined" sells out and Jillian decides to extend the show another week to coincide with Family Weekend. While a number of students' parents and siblings show up on campus, a number of the staff welcome their families as well. Roger's older sister Ophelia returns with startling news about their parents. Bonnie's younger sister Doreen reveals that she is converting to Judaism in preparation for her upcoming wedding. Vera's sister Nina returns to America after twenty years in London. Leo's sister Rachel is just here to party. With Heath in Nashville on business, Cliff organizes a karaoke night for himself, the Alcott women, Rachel, Leo and Maya, but plans are put on hold when two cast members of "Harmony Defined" get caught with ecstasy and Leo and Maya have to jump in and play their roles.