William Trench (Nobody Panic!)

**William Trench**, often referred to as William S. Trench, is a student at Eb Jaycation High School, an aspiring playwright and director, and a main character in the play *Nobody Panic!*. When his play is ruined by the death of his star Vicky Sweets, he flies into hysterics, derailing the investigation of Blake Backster. He is portrayed by Linus Ma.

## Character Background

William Shaykspeer Trench was born on April 23rd, 2004. His father and other ancestors were all successful play directors, leading William to develop an interest in becoming one himself. He began writing and directing stage plays at an early age, presumably sometime in elementary or middle school. During this time he met Pamilla Monica, who became his personal assistant during productions. Due to William's neurotic and perfectionist tendencies, he would often have panic attacks or make last-minute alterations to his plays, which Pamilla helped him deal with. He also developed a dependency on caffeine to help him stay awake and focus on his work, which eventually resulted in him putting excessive stimulants in his coffee such as muscle relaxants and Red Bull energy drinks. At some point in high school, William moved to Eb Jaycation High School for unknown reasons. Pamilla moved schools with him so they could continue working together. Over the course of four years, William wrote a five hour long anthology play called "A Hallowed Well", then spent the following 2 years directing it. The play eventually opened at the high school on June 1st, 2022.

On the opening night of "A Hallowed Well", William opens the show with a grand speech, preparing the audience to view his magnum opus. As he leaves, though, he is stopped by Sage Manjeer, the production's stage manager, who informs him of several issues with the show including none of the understudies showing up and the cast and crew starting from the wrong scene. William panics before remembering he is in front of an audience. He reassures them that everything will be fine before dragging Sage behind the curtain and yelling at the cast and crew to get the show going. The curtain then opens and the 'play' begins. When Vicky Sweets dies in the middle of the show, William does not notice immediately, but eventually walks onstage, dropping his clipboard and startling everyone. He runs to the body and begins crying. Blake Backster tries to calm him, but his sadness instantly turns to rage as he shakes Vicky's body, screaming that her death ruined his show. William's anger rises and Blake orders two crew members to detain him. They pin William down to the ground and drag him offstage.

After Blake begins his investigation, William is the second to be interrogated. Blake and William sit in the interrogation room, with William face-down on the desk. Blake remarks that due to the events of the night, William likely won't receive his "big break" from his play. These comments cause William to begin sobbing uncontrollably over his failed production. After a few unsuccessful attempts to calm him down, Blake gets Pamilla to bring them both coffee. William asks for his "usual". William then reveals to Blake that he has always wanted to be a director, and that Pamilla has been his assistant ever since his first production. Blake ignores William's comments and begins monologuing about his suspected motive for William to murder Vicky. As he finishes his speech, Pamilla re-enters the room with the coffee and points out that William has fallen asleep. She then explains to Blake that she believes that William is the least likely suspect due to his lack of motive for ruining his own production, and his care for Vicky. Blake takes her testimony into account but won't let William go on a hunch. Pamilla then wakes up William using the scent of his coffee. He springs up in a panic before leaving with his mug.

After Cherry Kiss returns backstage from her interrogation, she is quickly screamed at by William, who accuses her of Vicky's murder, grabbing and shaking her before being pulled back by Brick and kicked in the groin by Cherry. Hearing the commotion, Blake and Pamilla enter, and William begins a crazed rant, explaining what he believes happened in relation to Vicky's murder. He yells that Cherry killed Vicky out of vengeance for losing the lead role in "A Hallowed Well" to her, so that he would break down and be made out to be crazy by Blake, who he claims purposely wasted everyone's time with his interrogations. When Cherry points out that killing Vicky would be a strange way to seek revenge, William switches gears and instead claims that Cherry was just a pawn in a greater plan, and that the true orchestrator of the night's events was Pamilla, his assistant. He explains that Pamilla wanted to keep the blood off her own hands and her motive was to take William out and become the director herself. William's betrayal of her causes Pamilla to punch William in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

In a storage closet beside the theatre, William sits tied to a high chair, unconscious. Gwen Stayfer enters, waking him up. He claims he can't remember anything that happened after being interrogated. Gwen informs him of his rant, and he tries to defend himself, wallowing in his own self-pity. Gwen tells him he needs to swallow his pride and apologize to Pamilla for his actions. William agrees, and asks Gwen to get him a coffee, claiming he makes his own blend. She asks him what's in it, and he lists off several concerning ingredients including energy drinks and muscle relaxants. Gwen tells him that the coffee must have had some effect on his health, and they realize that the coffee may have been to blame for his actions. Overhearing their screaming, Blake storms in and kicks Gwen out. William tells Blake about the coffee and Blake calls in Sebastian Niall to have it analyzed to confirm William's story. Later, Pamilla enters to collect some papers. William tries to talk to her, but she ignores him. He finally gets her attention by saying he wants to sincerely apologize. She asks if he really meant the things he said, to which he responds by blaming the coffee. The two discuss the situation and William reveals that he only tried to push Pamilla away because he believed he didn't deserve someone as caring and intelligent as her for an assistant director. Pamilla, in turn, tells William she enjoys her work and cares deeply for him. The two make up and Pamilla unties William, and the scene ends as they share a hug. Blake, William and Pamilla meet in the storage closet to begin a second interrogation of William. He once again blames the coffee for his actions, but Blake is still suspicious of him and asks him to recount the events of the night from his perspective. He does, and reveals that he was manipulating the circuit breaker backstage during the show as he confused it for the lighting level switches, revealing he was the one who caused the blackout.

When the cast and crew meet in the science lab at the end of the play, one of the scientists confirms that Vicky's blood matches up with the contents of William's coffee thermos. The cast and crew realize that Vicky drank William's coffee, putting her on edge, and the theatre blackout caused her to have a heart attack and hit her head on the floor, killing her. William begins to break down upon realizing he killed Vicky, but the others reassure him that it wasn't his fault. Pamilla tells William that the events of the night would make for a good play, and the two set off together.

## Personality

William Trench is shown in *Nobody Panic!* to be an extremely neurotic, self-obsessed and egotistical person. During the productions of his plays, his perfectionist nature causes him to become a controlling and micromanaging force, often making last-minute changes to scripts or direction. Throughout the events of the play, he shows his emotional and narcissistic nature after Vicky Sweets dies by caring more about his play being ruined than the death of his peer. This is furthered by the derailing of Blake Backster's investigation and his maniacal rant during the climax of act 1 in which he accuses his assistant Pamilla Monica of killing Vicky to ruin his play and take his place as director. However, many of William's more abrasive tendencies could be blamed on his addiction to coffee and consumption of his 'special brew' which includes energy drinks and muscle relaxants, which would certainly put him on edge. Underneath his self-centered exterior, though, is someone insecure who wishes to live up to the expectations of his family and feels he will never be good enough, as he admits to Pamilla. He ultimately does care for her, though it is difficult for him to admit.

## Quotes

> "*Hello everybody, welcome to my show! Before we begin, I have a question for you all: What is art? Is painting art? Is drama art? Is our entire existence a form of art? Now, I don’t mean to get all existential, but two and a half years ago, art was ripped away from us by the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout those years, many things were lost. Homes, jobs, relationships, coffee, mental stability… art. Just thinking about it makes me so… mad. But no more. Today, the wondering and wandering ends, right here, right now with the rebound and rebirth of Eb Jaycation High's live dramatic productions, directed by yours truly, William Trench! Now. What I want you all to do before I get off this podium, is to strap onto your seats and prepare to have your minds blown. This play, that I directed by the way, has everything that you could possibly wish for in a comeback performance. It’s got action, tragedy, romance, murder, and so much more! There really isn’t anything that you wouldn’t want. So, without further ado! Behold! My masterpiece! My Mona Lisa! My statement to the world! My work of art: “A Hallowed Well”, the first part of the five-hour anthology you will be viewing tonight. Please, enjoy.*" ― William's speech to the audience at the beginning of the play.
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> "*Vicky, Vicky, Vicky... Why… why?! Why did you have to die?! You ignorant fool! Ah! You ruined my show!*" ― William's strange reaction to the death of Vicky Sweets.
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> "*A better play… A better play!? So my show was terrible!*" ― William takes Blake Backster's advice as an insult to his production.
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> "*Don’t you see the greater plot here people First, Cherry, powered by rage and envy from Vicky taking her role, takes the life of my lead! She knew this would cause a panic and awaited my arrival. The second I showed but an ounce of instability she sicked her gorilla boyfriend on me! She thought that that would silence me, but no, I will not be silenced! And so she thinks up a new ploy! She uses her influence to keep everyone oh so very calm, whilst allowing me to stew so that I seem like the mad one! But wait, there's more! It would be too obvious if she simply had everyone act calm, so she turned my very own leading man against me! Told him to have that ‘show-must-go-on’ mentality to lull me in, make me doubt my own mind of what is real and what is not! Lost in this reality, all I seem to be is some mad dog! After I had been drawn to my wit’s end it was time for the killing blow! Not to Vicky, mind you, but to me! You draw everybody's attention with that little display of yours! Fighting with Gwen and accusing her to place guilt on yourself so you could play victim and win everybody's trust! Leaving the only plausible culprit to be me! The one who has been acting the most out of control! But I’ve solved your riddle puzzle master! I got you right in the act![...]Well that’s just the thing isn’t it? You were simply a tool! A pawn, in a greater plan! A twotime failure of a student could never plan all that! There's only one mind I know that could! It was you! Who else but you could plan all of this? You were just using Cherry as a puppet! Using her insecurities to keep the blood off your hands, but you were the one who truly wanted my downfall! And what, might you ask, is the reason? You are finally fed up with being in my shadow! It just all makes so much sense! You ruin my masterpiece, blame it on me and finally tunnel your way out of the assistant position to get what you really want! The director! Well I refuse to let your little mind game play out!*" ― William's maniacal rant towards Cherry Kiss and Pamilla Monica.
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> "*Oh you know, coffee, sugar, cream, muscle relaxants, 5 hour energy, red bull, monster energy, espresso. The usual.*" ― William explains what he puts in his coffee.
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> "*Oh god… It’s my fault! It's all my fault! I misplaced the coffee, I blew out the lights! I ruined the show! I killed Vicky! Dear god, I’m so sorry Vicky! I should’ve been more responsible!*" ― William realizes he was the cause of Vicky's death.
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## Gallery

William's profile sheet, used to promote the play.William gives his pre-show speech.William goes on a maniacal rant.William apologizes to Pamilla.William watches as Blake recounts the events of the night.Character poster for *Nobody Panic!* featuring William.
## Trivia

* William has 121 lines of dialogue in *Nobody Panic!*, the second most after Blake Backster.
* During the writing of *Nobody Panic!*, the character of William was written to be played by Linus Ma, who helped develop the character's arc in the story.
* William's black turtleneck worn in the show was owned by director Oliver Beckwith, and his red scarf was owned by Andie Davis, who portrayed Umhuh Perry.
* Although William's arc in the story concludes in a positive way, he could be seen as the antagonist of the play, directly opposing the goals of protagonist Blake Backster.
* William's character was originally conceived by Callum Armstrong as "William S. Trench: Student director (spiral into madness, upset that show is ruined instead of person has died, but also be kind of like the assistant to the captain)"
	+ His full middle name was created later for the profile sheet.
* William's name is a reference to famous playwright William Shakespeare. His birthday, April 23rd, is also estimated to be Shakespeare's birthday.