Austin Abram

Austin is a supporting character in A Performer's Life Beyond the Drapes, and is a brief initial love interest for Mackenzie Fanheart. In the Senior Year segment, he comes out as homosexual.

Appearance
Austin is a young man of relatively short height (in men's standards) and has a lean yet slightly muscular build. He has unkempt hair dyed bondi-blue (often times drawn with fringe over his left eye) and steel-blue eyes.

His usual attire often seems a little vintage, compared to other characters. He usually wears button-up shirts, sometimes worn open over plain undershirts. He either wears jeans or slacks, and almost always wears sneakers.

Personality
Austin has a very casual, frank personality, a trait which makes him easy to talk to. He typically likes to spend time on his own and mind his own business, though he will butt into a conversation if he deems it necessary. With friends, he's shown to be sarcastic and teasing, especially when talking about crushes.

He's also shown to have a very keen intuition, as he was able to correctly guess Ms. Solace's intentions on opening night of the Phantom production, which allowed him to save most of the Christine costumes.

During his brief relationship with Max, he's shown to also make a lot of sexual jokes, mainly out of nerves, though he tones that down per Max's request. He also compliments her every chance he gets and tries to bring her spirits up if he notices she's feeling down.

It's implied he may suffer from some abandonment issues, as he mentions that his mother gave him up as a baby to live with his aunt and uncle. Due to this, he's shown to feel self-conscious about himself and worries about driving people out of his life; he tries not to show this side of himself, and always presents as a fun, casual person.

Mackenzie Fanheart
Initially, the two seem to be very good friends. He seems to hold Max to a high regard due to her compassionate, affable nature, as he mentions that she deserves good friends. However, they later come to develop feelings for each other during preparation for the Into the Woods production. Following the opening night performance, the recognize their feelings for each other and almost become intimate before a scare from the Wolf-Masked Assassin makes Max change her mind.

He's shown to care a great deal for her, as he was willing to fight off that Wolf-Masked Assassin from killing her (even after a brutal stab to the shoulder) and carry her back to her dormitory. Following the attack, they officially become a couple, and are shown to be very affectionate toward each other (he's even shown to be slightly starstruck by her after Trinity gives her a makeover for the Spring Concert).

In the Senior Year segment, after he realizes his homosexuality, his relationship with Max ends and returns to being a simple friendship.

Mikael Karlsson, John Rodriguez, and Timothy Harris
Austin is shown to have a strong friendship with Mikael, John, and Tim. Like Mikael, he enjoys teasing John about his crush on Greta. Though they aren't shown hanging out together that often in the novel, they are shown together in the last chapter of the Sophomore Year segment, where he is shown to be bothered by the prospect of Mikael leaving (though he tries to hide it). He is shown to be supportive of Mikael's relationship with Max, as he consoles him about his leaving and having to break up with her.

Darius Anderson
Though they have little to no interactions throughout the novel, theirs thoughts and feelings toward each other are apparent. Austin sees Darius as somewhat of an acquaintance at most, and is aware of the latter's feelings toward Max. Darius on the other hand detests Austin due to his relationship with Max, having even stabbed him under the guise of the Wolf-Masked Assassin when he was walking Max back to her dorm.

Performances

 * Wicked - Boq/Tin Man
 * Into the Woods - The Baker
 * Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella - Jean-Michel

Mentioned

 * Kiss Me, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Anthony

Trivia

 * Meaning of the name 'Austin': "Great"; "Magnificent". Meaning of the surname 'Abram': "Father of a Multitude".
 * Austin is shown to have an interest in horror films, same as Max.
 * In addition, his favorite horror franchise is also Saw.


 * Austin is implied to be the son of Jensen Abrams, the tritagonist from the author's novella, ANGEL :
 * There's no guarantee that his hair is actually dyed; he's never mentioned to ever have roots or to have to go and have it touched up. This may imply it's his natural color
 * His keen intuition may be a Gothic Angel power, possibly the ability to read minds
 * When he rescues Max from being killed by the Wolf-Masked Assassin, she mentions that he moved almost unnaturally fast, though he claims she simply blanked out for a few moments