Opening Night (Encore)

Speaker 1 Get more, nothing much happens, with bonus episodes, extra long stories, and ad-free listening, all while supporting the show you love. Subscribe now.

Speaker 2 This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians.

Speaker 2 These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save.

Speaker 2 Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations.

Speaker 1 The holidays can be a lot, can't they?

Speaker 1 For business owners especially, this time of year can go from cozy to chaotic. Fast.

Speaker 1 I remember my first holiday rush. I was so worried something would break.
The website, the checkout, my own brain.

Speaker 1 But that's when I learned what a difference the right tools can make. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world, about 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S.

Speaker 1 Whether you're just opening your virtual doors or you're running a full-blown store, Shopify helps you take the holidays from chaos to cha-ching.

Speaker 1 There are thousands of templates and tools to make your site beautiful and functional.

Speaker 1 AI tools to help write product descriptions and headlines, and built-in marketing support so your voice doesn't get lost in the noise.

Speaker 1 Plus, you can relax, knowing Shopify's award-winning customer service is there 24-7 if anything comes up. So make this Black Friday one to remember.

Speaker 1 Sign up for your free trial today at Shopify.com slash nothing much.

Speaker 1 That's shopify.com slash nothing much.

Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good,

Speaker 1 and then

Speaker 1 you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I write and read all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens.

Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We are bringing you an encore episode tonight, meaning that this story originally aired at some point in the past. It could have been recorded with different equipment in a different location.

Speaker 1 And since I'm a person and not a computer, I sometimes sound just slightly different.

Speaker 1 But the stories are always soothing and family-friendly. And our wishes for you are always deep rest and sweet dreams.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 I have a story to tell you.

Speaker 1 It's a soft place to rest your mind.

Speaker 1 And I think it works best if you imagine yourself in it.

Speaker 1 So as you listen and follow along with the sound of my voice,

Speaker 1 pull the details of it around you like a blanket.

Speaker 1 And before you know it, you'll be in deep, restorative sleep.

Speaker 1 I'll tell the story twice, and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 If you wake in the middle of the night, you could listen again, or just pull those details back into your mind.

Speaker 1 Think through any part of the story that you can remember,

Speaker 1 and you'll drop right back off.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Opening Night,

Speaker 1 and it's a story about the moments before the curtain rises.

Speaker 1 It's also about flowers in the green room, the electric feeling of stepping out from the wings,

Speaker 1 and an arm full of programs waiting to be passed out.

Speaker 1 Okay,

Speaker 1 it's time.

Speaker 1 Turn off your light.

Speaker 1 Set everything down.

Speaker 1 Get as comfortable as you can.

Speaker 1 You have done enough for today.

Speaker 1 Truly,

Speaker 1 it is enough.

Speaker 1 Take a deep breath in through your nose

Speaker 1 and out through your mouth

Speaker 1 again,

Speaker 1 slow in

Speaker 1 and with sound out.

Speaker 1 Good

Speaker 1 opening night.

Speaker 1 We had a few hours yet,

Speaker 1 and most everything was done.

Speaker 1 The costumes were hanging in the dressing rooms.

Speaker 1 The lights were set,

Speaker 1 and hopefully the cast was ready.

Speaker 1 I carried an armful of programmes to a table at the back of the auditorium and had a seat.

Speaker 1 The programmes needed to be folded.

Speaker 1 Each was just a few sheets.

Speaker 1 We weren't on Broadway here, just a small playhouse, a community theater

Speaker 1 that did four or five shows a year.

Speaker 1 I laid the stack of papers out in front of me

Speaker 1 and started to put them together,

Speaker 1 lining up the sheets and clapping the edges of the pages against the table to even them out.

Speaker 1 Then finding the middle seam

Speaker 1 and creasing it tightly with my thumbnail

Speaker 1 and tucking the finished version in a box

Speaker 1 for our ushers to reach into later tonight.

Speaker 1 I liked having the the empty theater

Speaker 1 to myself.

Speaker 1 I wasn't going to be treading the boards tonight.

Speaker 1 I was just helping wherever I was needed.

Speaker 1 A sort of gopher for the stage manager and the director,

Speaker 1 and any cast member who suddenly couldn't find their props or lost a shoe.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 the space had a kind of magic to it.

Speaker 1 The empty seats looked expectant in the low light.

Speaker 1 And I thought about the very first time I saw a play.

Speaker 1 My mother had taken me

Speaker 1 when I might have been in second or third grade.

Speaker 1 I know the play

Speaker 1 now.

Speaker 1 In fact, I've been in it twice since.

Speaker 1 But most of it had gone over my head that first night.

Speaker 1 The thing that had certainly registered

Speaker 1 was the electric feeling

Speaker 1 of watching live theater.

Speaker 1 I just couldn't believe how it felt,

Speaker 1 how it looked,

Speaker 1 how different it was from a movie or show on TV.

Speaker 1 I remembered being mesmerized by being able to see the lead actress blink

Speaker 1 and breathe.

Speaker 1 I was close enough to hear every step and sound the cast made.

Speaker 1 I carried the box of ready programs over to a tiny alcove beside the door

Speaker 1 and set them in there,

Speaker 1 ready for showtime.

Speaker 1 Then walked through the aisles of seats to the third or fourth row

Speaker 1 and scooted along to the middle seat.

Speaker 1 I pressed the seat down behind me and sat.

Speaker 1 This might be the very spot I'd sat in

Speaker 1 for that first show.

Speaker 1 I leaned back and looked up at the ceiling.

Speaker 1 It was high and dark,

Speaker 1 and I could just make out some of the light fixtures

Speaker 1 that, in a couple of hours,

Speaker 1 would flood the stage

Speaker 1 and make the people sitting in these seats forget for a while

Speaker 1 about anything besides what they saw before them.

Speaker 1 I pushed up from the chair and headed down the row to the aisle.

Speaker 1 I walked to the back of the house, glancing through the rows as I went,

Speaker 1 to see that all was clean and ready for our audience. And it was.

Speaker 1 I checked my watch.

Speaker 1 The cast would be here in a bit, to start warming up

Speaker 1 and getting into costume.

Speaker 1 And I took a side door into the green room to see that it was ready.

Speaker 1 We always laid out a table of snacks and drinks,

Speaker 1 along with a bouquet of flowers for the cast and crew on opening night.

Speaker 1 And I fussed with the roses for a few moments

Speaker 1 so that they showed well in their vase.

Speaker 1 I took a stack of napkins from a drawer and laid it out next to the crackers and nuts.

Speaker 1 The green room has a different energy from the house and certainly from the stage.

Speaker 1 It feels anticipatory,

Speaker 1 excited,

Speaker 1 but muted.

Speaker 1 I kept up my tour

Speaker 1 and next went to check the dressing rooms.

Speaker 1 I flicked on the switch by the door,

Speaker 1 and the big bulbs ringing each mirror lit up.

Speaker 1 The counters were clear and clean,

Speaker 1 and I set out a couple boxes of tissues here and there.

Speaker 1 I twisted the knob on the speaker above the door that let actors hear what was happening on stage

Speaker 1 so they wouldn't miss their cues.

Speaker 1 I could make out a few voices and pacing feet.

Speaker 1 That must be the stage manager and crew getting things ready.

Speaker 1 Down the hall,

Speaker 1 I pushed through the heavy stage door and stepped into the wings and backstage space.

Speaker 1 It was dark.

Speaker 1 Tall, thick curtains at the edges of stage right and left kept it that way.

Speaker 1 I walked past the light booth

Speaker 1 and exchanged a wave with the technician inside.

Speaker 1 Over the prop table, I clicked on a lamp clamped to the wall.

Speaker 1 It was fitted with a blue light bulb

Speaker 1 that would give our actors enough illumination to pick up what they needed,

Speaker 1 but wouldn't be visible to the audience.

Speaker 1 We covered the table with a piece of white butcher's paper

Speaker 1 and outlined each prop in marker

Speaker 1 with its description written alongside

Speaker 1 that way when we checked the table as i did now

Speaker 1 we could see right away

Speaker 1 that everything was accounted for

Speaker 1 There was the locket for the last scene of Act One,

Speaker 1 the newspaper that would get carried out at the top of Act 2.

Speaker 1 The handkerchief that would be dropped and picked up

Speaker 1 and lead to the reveal near the end of the show.

Speaker 1 I could hear the cast coming in through the hall,

Speaker 1 dropping off their bags and chatting in the green room.

Speaker 1 I snuck closer to the edge of the stage and peered out across it and into the audience.

Speaker 1 There was so much residual, excited energy stored up in these old wood floors

Speaker 1 that just standing there made me shiver with the thrill

Speaker 1 of being about to make an entrance.

Speaker 1 I took a breath

Speaker 1 as if I were really preparing

Speaker 1 for such a thing,

Speaker 1 then stepped out and crossed to center stage.

Speaker 1 There are things that might might stir us up so much,

Speaker 1 push us past

Speaker 1 what we thought we were capable of,

Speaker 1 and even frighten us a bit,

Speaker 1 but also make us feel

Speaker 1 so vibrantly connected

Speaker 1 to each coming moment

Speaker 1 that we know we'll do them again

Speaker 1 and again.

Speaker 1 And standing on stage reminded me

Speaker 1 that I'd keep doing this.

Speaker 1 The ushers were gathering,

Speaker 1 and soon we'd be opening the house

Speaker 1 and welcoming our audience.

Speaker 1 I crossed over to the other side of the stage as the proscenium curtain curtain came down behind me,

Speaker 1 clicked on a few more blue lights and stepped into the back hall.

Speaker 1 Actors were shedding coats in the dressing rooms,

Speaker 1 and suddenly the mostly empty theater felt full and bustling.

Speaker 1 Coming the other way, I spotted the stage manager with her clipboard.

Speaker 1 She looked at her watch and called out

Speaker 1 Places in thirty.

Speaker 1 Everyone around her responded in a chorus, as we'd been trained to do

Speaker 1 since our very first shows.

Speaker 1 Thank you, thirty, we sang back.

Speaker 1 I smiled as I made my way back through the green room toward the house.

Speaker 1 That call and response had always felt like a particularly well-devised form of communication.

Speaker 1 Some information is given,

Speaker 1 and then you respond politely

Speaker 1 and show that you understood

Speaker 1 by repeating the most important aspect of it.

Speaker 1 I tried to make a habit of it when some message came my way

Speaker 1 to say thank you and acknowledge the vital missive.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 here,

Speaker 1 being part of something I loved,

Speaker 1 I pushed through the doors and signaled to the ushers to open the house.

Speaker 1 I thought,

Speaker 1 thank you, opening night.

Speaker 1 Opening night.

Speaker 1 We had a few hours yet,

Speaker 1 and most

Speaker 1 everything was done.

Speaker 1 The costumes were hanging in the dressing rooms.

Speaker 1 The lights were set,

Speaker 1 and hopefully the cast was ready.

Speaker 1 I carried an armful of programs to a table at the back of the auditorium and had a seat.

Speaker 1 The programs needed to be folded.

Speaker 1 Each was just a few sheets.

Speaker 1 We weren't on Broadway here,

Speaker 1 just a small playhouse,

Speaker 1 a community theater

Speaker 1 that did four or five shows a year.

Speaker 1 I laid the stack of papers out in front of me

Speaker 1 and started to put them together,

Speaker 1 lining up the sheets,

Speaker 1 and clapping the edges of the pages against the table

Speaker 1 to even them out,

Speaker 1 then finding the middle seam and creasing it tightly with my thumbnail,

Speaker 1 and tucking the finished version in a box

Speaker 1 for our ushers to reach into

Speaker 1 later tonight.

Speaker 1 I liked having the empty theater to myself.

Speaker 1 I wasn't going to be treading the boards tonight.

Speaker 1 I was just helping

Speaker 1 wherever I was needed.

Speaker 1 A sort of gopher for the stage manager and the director

Speaker 1 and any cast member who suddenly couldn't find their props

Speaker 1 or lost a shoe.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 the space had a kind of magic to it.

Speaker 1 The empty seats looked expectant in the low light.

Speaker 1 And I thought about the very first time I saw a play.

Speaker 1 My mother had taken me

Speaker 1 and I might have been in second or third grade.

Speaker 1 I know the play

Speaker 1 well now.

Speaker 1 In fact,

Speaker 1 I've been in it twice since.

Speaker 1 But most of it had gone over my head that first night.

Speaker 1 The thing that had certainly registered

Speaker 1 was the electric feeling

Speaker 1 of watching live theater.

Speaker 1 I just couldn't believe how it felt,

Speaker 1 how it looked,

Speaker 1 how different it was from a movie

Speaker 1 or show on T V.

Speaker 1 I remembered being mesmerized by being able to see the lead actress blink and breathe.

Speaker 1 I was close enough to hear every step and sound the cast made.

Speaker 1 I carried the box of ready programs over to a tiny alcove beside the door

Speaker 1 and set them in there,

Speaker 1 ready for showtime.

Speaker 1 Then walked through the aisles of seats to the third or fourth row

Speaker 1 and scooted along to the middle seat.

Speaker 1 I pressed the seat down behind me

Speaker 1 and sat.

Speaker 1 This might be the very spot I'd sat in

Speaker 1 for that first show.

Speaker 1 I leaned back

Speaker 1 and looked up at the ceiling.

Speaker 1 It was high

Speaker 1 and dark,

Speaker 1 and I could just make out some of the light fixtures

Speaker 1 that,

Speaker 1 in a couple of hours,

Speaker 1 would flood the stage

Speaker 1 and make the people sitting in these seats

Speaker 1 forget for a while

Speaker 1 about anything

Speaker 1 besides what they saw before them.

Speaker 1 I pushed up from the chair

Speaker 1 and headed down the row to the aisle.

Speaker 1 I walked to the back of the house,

Speaker 1 glancing through the rows as I went,

Speaker 1 to see that all was clean and ready for our audience.

Speaker 1 And it was.

Speaker 1 I checked my watch.

Speaker 1 The cast would be here in a bit

Speaker 1 to start warming up

Speaker 1 and getting into costume.

Speaker 1 And I took a side door into the green room to see that it was ready.

Speaker 1 We always laid out a table of snacks and drinks,

Speaker 1 along with a bouquet of flowers for the cast and crew on opening night.

Speaker 1 And I fussed with the roses for a few moments,

Speaker 1 so that they showed well in their vase.

Speaker 1 I took a stack of napkins from a drawer

Speaker 1 and laid it out next to the crackers and nuts.

Speaker 1 The green room has a different energy from the house,

Speaker 1 and certainly from the stage.

Speaker 1 It feels anticipatory back here,

Speaker 1 excited,

Speaker 1 but muted.

Speaker 1 I kept up my tour

Speaker 1 and next went to check the dressing rooms.

Speaker 1 I flicked on the switch by the door,

Speaker 1 and the big bulbs ringing each mirror lit up.

Speaker 1 The counters were clear and clean,

Speaker 1 and I set out a couple of boxes of tissues here and there.

Speaker 1 I twisted the knob for the speaker above the door

Speaker 1 that let actors hear what was happening on stage

Speaker 1 so they wouldn't miss their cues

Speaker 1 and I could make out a few voices and pacing feet.

Speaker 1 That must be the stage manager and crew getting things ready.

Speaker 1 Down the hall I pushed through the heavy stage door and stepped into the wings and backstage space.

Speaker 1 It was dark.

Speaker 1 Tall, thick curtains at the edges of stage right and left kept it that way.

Speaker 1 I walked past the light booth

Speaker 1 and exchanged a wave with the technician inside.

Speaker 1 Over the prop table, I clicked on a lamp clamped to the wall.

Speaker 1 It was fitted with a blue light bulb

Speaker 1 that would give our actors enough illumination to pick up what they needed,

Speaker 1 but wouldn't be visible to the audience.

Speaker 1 We'd covered the table with a piece of white butcher's paper,

Speaker 1 and outlined each prop in marker,

Speaker 1 with its description written alongside.

Speaker 1 That way,

Speaker 1 when we checked the table, as I did now,

Speaker 1 we could see right away

Speaker 1 that everything was accounted for.

Speaker 1 There was the locket

Speaker 1 for the last scene in Act One.

Speaker 1 The newspaper

Speaker 1 that would get carried out at the top of Act Two.

Speaker 1 The handkerchief that would be dropped

Speaker 1 and picked up

Speaker 1 and lead to the reveal near the end of the show.

Speaker 1 I could hear the cast coming in through the hall,

Speaker 1 dropping off their bags and chatting in the green room.

Speaker 1 I snuck closer to the edge of the stage

Speaker 1 and peered out across it

Speaker 1 and into the audience.

Speaker 1 There was so much residual, excited energy

Speaker 1 stored up in these old wood floors

Speaker 1 that just standing there

Speaker 1 made me shiver

Speaker 1 with the thrill

Speaker 1 of being

Speaker 1 about to make an entrance.

Speaker 1 I took a breath

Speaker 1 as if I were really preparing

Speaker 1 for such a thing,

Speaker 1 then stepped out

Speaker 1 and crossed to center stage.

Speaker 1 There are things that might

Speaker 1 stir us up so much,

Speaker 1 push us past

Speaker 1 what we thought we were capable of,

Speaker 1 and even frighten us a bit,

Speaker 1 but also make us feel

Speaker 1 so vibrantly connected

Speaker 1 to each coming moment

Speaker 1 that we know

Speaker 1 we'll do them again

Speaker 1 and again

Speaker 1 And standing on stage

Speaker 1 reminded me

Speaker 1 that I'd keep doing this

Speaker 1 The ushers were gathering

Speaker 1 And soon we'd be opening the house

Speaker 1 and welcoming our audience

Speaker 1 I crossed over to the other side of the stage

Speaker 1 as the proscenium curtain came down behind me,

Speaker 1 clicked on a few more blue lights

Speaker 1 and stepped into the back hall.

Speaker 1 Actors were shedding coats in the dressing rooms,

Speaker 1 and suddenly

Speaker 1 the mostly empty theater

Speaker 1 felt full

Speaker 1 and bustling.

Speaker 1 Coming the other way,

Speaker 1 I spotted the stage manager

Speaker 1 with her clipboard.

Speaker 1 She looked at her watch

Speaker 1 and called out,

Speaker 1 places in thirty

Speaker 1 everyone around her responded in a chorus

Speaker 1 as we'd been trained to do since our very first shows

Speaker 1 thank you thirty

Speaker 1 we sang back

Speaker 1 I smiled as I made my way

Speaker 1 back through the green room toward the house.

Speaker 1 That call and response

Speaker 1 had always felt like a particularly well devised form of communication.

Speaker 1 Some information is given,

Speaker 1 and then

Speaker 1 you respond politely

Speaker 1 and show that you understood

Speaker 1 by repeating

Speaker 1 the most important aspect of it

Speaker 1 I tried to make a habit of it

Speaker 1 when some message came my way

Speaker 1 to say thank you

Speaker 1 and acknowledge the vital missive

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 here,

Speaker 1 being part of something I loved,

Speaker 1 as I pushed through the doors

Speaker 1 and signaled to the ushers to open the house,

Speaker 1 I thought,

Speaker 1 Thank you,

Speaker 1 opening night,

Speaker 1 sweet dreams.