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 are 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 stand on one side of the stage, while those who play the Capulets stand on the other (she claims that if they rehearse separately, 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 because she was too nervous to kiss him. Benny reveals (through his own puppet, Mrs. Appleblossom) that he too was nervous to kiss Luan, and 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
Lincoln, Lori, Leni, Luna, Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lisa, Lily, Lynn Sr., Rita, Bobby, Jackie, and Parvana have no lines in this episode.
 * 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

Trivia

 * 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.

Errors

 * Jackie's name on the role sheet is spelled as "Jackee".
 * Luan's braces were missing in one part of a scene.

Running Gags

 * Mrs. Bernardo being overly dramatic.
 * Luan trying to come up with various excuses to not kiss Benny.
 * Mr. Coconuts telling Luan to kiss Benny so she can get it over with.
 * Spencer trying to read his lines on his body.

Stage Plight