— You’re in the greenroom, listening to the play onstage. Your cue isn’t until Act II. You look at your phone to check the time. You look back up. Your cue is in three lines.
— “Never anger the costume designer,” they tell you, laughing. “You’ll be sorry.” You laugh along, until you’re called in for measurements. They pin cloth around your body, murmuring forgotten prayers and chants, claw-like nails digging into your skin. If you move at all, their eyes flash red.
— Working in tech, you always joke that you’re invisible to the actors. It’s not until the lead actress walks directly though you, that you begin to reconsider certain things.
— You love your director. You would die for them. You would kill for them. You would follow their every word without question. You love your director. You have died for them. You have killed for them. You follow their every word without question.
— The stage manager gets more stressed the closer it gets to the show. They begin to look more haggard, less human. On opening, they have horns and cloven feet.
— There’s a name and picture in the playbill you don’t recognize. No one has mentioned it. You’re afraid you’re the only one who sees it.
— Mid-play, you look out into the crowd of a faceless audience. For a second, they all become truly Faceless. You look away.
— Onstage, someone forgets a line. Backstage, time freezes. No one moves. Everyone is forced into stasis. You’re not allowed to breath. The line is remembered, and your lungs fill with air.
— During tech, a cue doesn’t work. Everyone holds while you try to fix it. It works. The scene continues. The cue doesn’t work. Everyone holds while you try to fix it. It works. The scene continues. The cue doesn’t work.
— The curtain opens and you walk out onstage, heart pumping. You blink, and it’s curtain call, with no memory of the play. Everyone tells you it was your best performance yet.
— Over the headset, the stage manager calls a cue. You play it. Over the headset, the stage manager yells at you for playing the cue when they didn’t call it.
— You’re new to theatre, and joking around with the cast. You mention the “M” play, and the silly superstition. Around you, faces pale. Then the stories come.
— In the dressing room, you grow comfortable changing in front of everyone. The others grow comfortable too. You start noticing things, scales and fur and claws out of the corner of your eye. You focus on doing your makeup, not wanting to be rude.
— If you’re alone in the theatre, stay where you are. Don’t fall for the easy tricks. Laughter in empty dressing rooms, singing from the tech booth, applause from the back of the house. Put your head down and study your lines. You’ll make it out this time.