Harold B. Lee Library

Performance Lore

The world of theater is a mysterious place filled with illusions of grandeur. To the audience the stage is a strange place where stories come to life. Seeing back stage breaks that spell, and beautiful ball gowns are revealed as dress-up box rejects, while handsome princes are just guys who don’t have time to remove their caked on stage makeup before changing into jeans and a t-shirt to skateboard home.

It takes a special type of person to pretend to be someone else for a night. There is a great deal of vulnerability to acting that most people cannot accept. To appear weak is terrifying when every instinct says to cover that which is not strong. To utilize that weakness to invoke emotion in a comfortably covered up audience takes a great deal of strength.  There is no earthly guarantee that a performance will be good, or even the same every night. Instead, many actors and other performers fall into superstitions and good luck charms to guarantee their performance after all they can do.

Even after that, live theater Is dangerous and unpredictable. Even with precautions, practice, and good luck charms, mishaps do happen. Once they do, it is all on the skill of the actor to make sure that the show goes on as gracefully as possible. If the show cannot go on gracefully, then actors must endeavor to turn mistakes into comedy.