Prestige doesn’t call it violence. They call it discipline.

In the aftermath of the first tests, the school fractures behind closed doors. A dressing room lies destroyed. Bodies line the floor. Sirens scream through hallways that were never meant to hear them.

And at the center of it all stands Nia Calloway — untouched, unbroken, and finally aware.

As emergency lights flood the room, Nia turns toward us. She doesn’t scream. She doesn’t cry.

She watches.

Because this is the moment she understands the truth: Some students are tested. Some are sacrificed. And some are meant to survive long enough to remember.

The Gauntlet isn’t about talent.

It’s about who makes it out.

Winter Semester, 2007.

Before the blood. Before the rumors. Before anyone knew what “Festival Season” really meant.

Fifteen-year-old Nia Calloway steps into Prestige Academy believing talent is enough. Vocal Hall feels familiar. Safe. Controlled. But when Ms. Vesper quietly finalizes placements and introduces the Festival Gauntlet, the rules begin to shift.

No donors. No favorites. Just pressure.

As Nia’s voice is crowned the standard, her best friend Amaya Parker is invited into something far more dangerous — a test disguised as opportunity. Glass bottles. Open flame. Silence that watches.

This is not rehearsal. This is Round Zero.

And once the Gauntlet begins, it does not stop.

Wolf Dé Roses wakes up burning with purpose—and something darker. Coach Thompson offers a six-grand “mentorship” deal that smells like desperation. Nia Calloway warns him the coach’s debts run deep, while new ally JJ teaches Wolf how to turn rage into rhythm. But when Tessa Briggs is declared “upgraded” instead of missing, the floor drops out. A descent into Prestige’s basement exposes a rigged system, a ghost in an old uniform, and the first glimpse of what ECHO really means. Then the locker door closes…and someone knocks.

Themes: Hunger vs control, exploitation in art, corruption, the cost of truth. Featuring: Wolf Dé Roses, Nia Calloway, Coach Thompson, JJ, Lexi Delgado, Jax Santiago, Maya Williams, Tessa Briggs Soundtrack vibe: Industrial hip-hop × dark R&B × glitch-jazz Setting: Prestige Performing Arts Academy – New Detroit Basement Level

Wolf Dé Roses begins to see Prestige’s perfect image crack when lunch turns into a revelation. An eerie cafeteria encounter, a mysterious coupon, and a glowing slice of Detroit pizza lead him into a secret that shouldn’t exist — Room 117½. Inside, graffiti whispers, “They Watch the Watchers,” and a new crew introduces him to a world of rebellion, chaos, and coded art.

As paint drips and secrets surface, Wolf discovers that sometimes, creation consumes the creator.

🎧 Thee Performing Arts — A Detroit-based psychological drama where performance and identity blur.

As Wolf Dé Roses begins to settle into Prestige Performing Arts Academy, the pressure of perfection starts to fracture his sense of reality. Reflections twist, voices echo, and the line between who he is and who he’s expected to be begins to blur.

“Sometimes the mirror doesn’t show what’s real — it shows what the school wants to see.”

This episode dives deeper into Wolf’s psychological struggle with identity, performance, and perception, setting the stage for the revelations to come.

🎭 Thee Performing Arts — A Prestige Story

Wolf Dé Roses faces his first full day at Prestige Performing Arts Academy — and quickly learns that talent isn’t enough to survive here. Between silent judgment, coded rules, and the weight of being the outsider, every classroom feels like a stage he’s not invited to perform on.

When a strange can labeled Cannibal Fruit™ lands on his desk, Wolf begins to question if the pressure is just psychological… or something much darker.

🎭 Thee Performing Arts — A Prestige Story Arc I: Welcome to Prestige #PsychologicalThriller #DarkAcademia #DetroitFiction #TheePerformingArts #PodcastSeries

Last night, Wolf Dé Roses dreamed of the stage collapsing beneath him. This morning, he’s standing in front of Prestige Performing Arts Academy — the most elite school in New Detroit, where art isn’t just talent, it’s survival.

In this opening chapter, Wolf steps into a world of marble halls, whispered rankings, and students who treat performance like religion. Every gasp, gesture, and glance has a price.

🎭 The Performing Arts is a cinematic audio series blending psychological thriller, urban fantasy, and Detroit mystery.

Written & Created by: Wolf Dé Roses Setting: New Detroit (2008) Genre: Audio Drama · Thriller · Mystery · Urban Fantasy

🎧 New chapters every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & everywhere you listen.