It Takes a Village

I've been thinking a lot about my chosen profession, theatre, lately.  I've been lucky, being a big girl, to have had the small success I have had.  But what I have really been thinking about is that it takes a great many people to make theatre.  Painters, musicians, writers can all work by themselves, but to create a theatre production, it takes a village.

All the audience ever sees is the actors on stage.  They don't see the crew of board operators creating the sound and lighting effects.  They don't see the running crew behind stage changing the set.  They don't see the wardrobe people helping the actors change clothes.  They don't see the prop people organizing the items the actors carry on stage.  And they surely don't see the stage manager overseeing all of the work.

The audience also doesn't see the legion of designers and construction crews creating the sets, costumes, lighting plots, sound plots, properties that must be gathered and made before the show even opens.  The audience has no idea that these people have been working for weeks before the first ticket is sold.

And speaking of tickets, the audience has no idea of the marketing people who plan the campaign to bring them into the theatre to see the production.  The writers of press releases, the pursuers of theatre critics, the printers of tickets never get their names in the program (or almost never).

For every person the audience sees on stage, there are probably more than twenty who have had a hand in bringing the production to the stage.  Theatre is truly a collaborative process.  And so many of the people involved get little recognition.  They are, in essence, invisible.

So I want to take a moment this week to thank all the unsung heroes in my "village" who have made it possible for me to have my small success.  I may not remember your names, but I remember you.  And I am grateful for my costumes, my key light, my small career.  Thank you all very much.  Now take a well deserved bow.