The ultimate deadline is opening night. People have already bought tickets to whatever you are writing, rehearsing, choreographing, or constructing. There is no option to push back the deadline. There is no way to postpone the launch. There are people who have paid good money to sit in specific seats on a specific date and see your show. So you better figure out how to give it to them.
This is not to say we get it right every time. It’s also not to say that staying up all night in a dark theater in a flop sweat trying to solve the latest problem is the healthiest way of working on a project. But all of us – actors, playwrights, directors, designers, stage managers, technicians – we all have ingrained in us the universal rallying cry of theater people everywhere: “The show must go on!” It’s half time management, and half elbow grease, this ability of ours to make miracles happen within very strict timelines.
Next time you’re working towards a deadline and you start to think there’s no way you’ll finish in time, remember the costume designer sewing buttons until 2 AM. Remember the actor pacing the floor of his apartment in the pattern of his fight choreography. Remember the technician who stays after rehearsal to get on a ladder and re-hang lights because they aren't quite right. What will it take for your show to go on? How will you create magic with the resources you have?
This is not to say we get it right every time. It’s also not to say that staying up all night in a dark theater in a flop sweat trying to solve the latest problem is the healthiest way of working on a project. But all of us – actors, playwrights, directors, designers, stage managers, technicians – we all have ingrained in us the universal rallying cry of theater people everywhere: “The show must go on!” It’s half time management, and half elbow grease, this ability of ours to make miracles happen within very strict timelines.
Next time you’re working towards a deadline and you start to think there’s no way you’ll finish in time, remember the costume designer sewing buttons until 2 AM. Remember the actor pacing the floor of his apartment in the pattern of his fight choreography. Remember the technician who stays after rehearsal to get on a ladder and re-hang lights because they aren't quite right. What will it take for your show to go on? How will you create magic with the resources you have?
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