You Can Be Replaced

Before I found a home in Shakespeare, I did musicals for six or seven years. By the time I was eleven, I was used to the long and late rehearsals leading up to tech week, and the longer and later rehearsals right before opening. I knew how to behave backstage and onstage. I knew to be prepared to deliver my part on demand at any moment, and to be hushed and still any other time.

When I and another kid began goofing off during one of those late rehearsals, we knew we were misbehaving. We knew w...