A Revelation.

The Little Prince.

This one's for you, Leila ;)

I want to do a couple blogs on this performance, but my night is young and so am I, so I'm calling this Part One.

I start with an under-appreciated source for quotes, Facebook Chat:

"Working backstage is like making magic. Performing onstage is just dancing in the glitter."

   Okay, most actors could take offense to this statement, saying that performers have to work hard like technicians do to perfect their art. But in this quote, notice the word "dance" is used. Dancing is a skill, it requires a lot of focus, practice, and grace. The action of dancing is often celebratory as well. So, a performer celebrates and embraces this "glitter", but in a way that is tasteful, artistic, and well thought. That is to say, this task is no walk in the park.

   I have some experience in technical theater, the "backstage stuff" so to speak. I used to take it for granted, when everyone around me knew how to do tech just as well as they could act. I didn't feel like it was a useful skill. I saw more as just keeping up with the Joneses. But now, here, i see that not every actor knows how to run a light board, or the basics of stage makeup.  I have an asset that can be utilized, and was utilized during The Little Prince. I operated the lighting board. Sure, I still needed a bit of help. But the important part was I was more than just someone who does what she loves and takes the "glitter" she is given for granted. I'm on my way to being well rounded on a whole new level. And that is what TRULY makes a great performer. Well-rounded-ness.

   Tech really does make the magic. How many musicals are just people sitting on stage in jeans and a T-shirt singing to audiences of hundreds without a microphone? Not many that sell tickets, at least. People are drawn to the flashy endeavors, the bright lights and big noises and fancy rotating set pieces. The actors certainly aren't making any of those things happen for themselves. Every one person onstage is supported by a team of professionals backstage whose sole job is to make sure that what happens onstage is magical, and nothing less. Those theatre practitioners who say that they can do a play with minimal set/costumes/props, they are basically making actors stand alone. No illusion. No glitter to dance in. The focus is the dance itself, and that is what makes it hard.

   But then what, one might ask, is the "glitter"? Literally speaking, glitter is attractive, it makes a person look in its direction. Glitter is used in illusions and tricks, to conceal the mechanics and fool the audience. Glitter is the idea of fame, or recognition. After the show of The Little Prince, the true role reversal hit me. After the blackout, I crawled down the stairs form the lighting board, and then into the black box. But there were no congratulatory effects. Not for me anyway. It was Leila who got the accolades. It was so mind-blowing to just sit in the back, and get no glitter whatsoever, even though you were just as engaged, just as hard-working during the course of a show. It was flabbergasting to sit there and wonder how when I was up there getting roses and applause during Our Town, how Leila was able to slip out a back door with out a person in the audience seeking out the lone set designer. Sometimes I can't comprehend how people don't live without the glitter, the glow of praise. Maybe I'm just an incredibly vain person, like Sophia's character in the play. But maybe we were just made different ways. Leila likes making the magic, she feels better sneaking around backstage winding the crank that makes the show tick. I love dancing in the glitter, taking what Leila makes and transferring its greatness to the audience through performance. 

   And together, we make a perfect team :)