I sit just off the set on Stage Right on headset, right at the foot of the stairs that the actors use to get up to the second level of the performance space. I have the perfect profile shot of them as they aim their intentions at the audience, so that i catch the tiny flinches and thrusts they are making that don’t ever make it out past the lip of the stage. Tonight Gina climbed the stairs to close out the first act with her a cappella lullabye, and there was something about it that just sent a hush over our typically active end-of-act headset conversations. At first she was unsure and fragile, but as the chorus rose her voice did too, until it crested as it poured out of her in waves of perfect vibrato, only to slowly fade away again afterwards.
The first thing i said on headset when she closed her mouth was “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what convinced me to do theatre.”