UNDERSTUDY — Opening Night

The stage manager has eloped with the box-office takings, so the cue board is yours. Ten acts across three plays and a gala: call the lights, the thunder, the trapdoor and the followspot on their beat, reading the actors instead of a chart. The stage is lit only by the instruments you have switched on, a diva stretches her silences until the written moment is a lie, and the morning Herald prints a notice assembled from what you actually did. Tuned by eye, judged by the house.