You never know what you're gonna get

One of the most thrilling parts about live theatre is that every show is different. It's not like a movie--recorded, edited, perfected. It's flawed, it breaks down, and it's fixed right there in front of you.... Every night things are different from the night before. 

Most art forms are displayed as PRODUCT....a finished RESULT. A novel, a sculpture, a painting, a movie. But performing arts display a PROCESS. You watch as the art unfolds before your eyes. 

I'm on the scenery crew for a show at school called "Noises Off." The show, a British farce, was inspired by the idea that a show is "funnier from behind than in front." Well, I think the show might be cursed. In the show, everything goes wrong. People fall down stairs, doors get stuck, pants fall off, dishes crash, and so on. But in keeping with the rule...it has to be funnier backstage than onstage, right? So it's cursed.

We haven't gone through a single performance without catastrophe. At the final dress rehearsal, we ripped a curtain. Opening night? The backdrop got stuck on the set. Cursed second show? Keys got kicked underneath the spinning set (big problem). Sunday matinee? Lost a crew member to some sort of sudden migraine---leaving us with 5 people to do a set change meant for 6. 

And while everyone is panicking, and muttering into their headsets, and running around like chickens with their heads cut off, I just laugh. This is theatre. I wouldn't have it any other way. If every show went flawlessly, I don't think I'd have stuck with this for so long. It's the knowledge that at ANY SECOND something could go wrong ---that's what drives us. We feed off the catastrophes and the short time we have to fix them. 

Once, my mom did a radio interview (with me and some other girls) to promote a show she had directed. And I'll never forget what she said about the draw of live theatre. Every night is a little different. You never know what you're gonna get.