One for the Books

You think you have seen it all, and then something so wild happens as to remind you there is much more to be seen.  Last evening, at a black box theatre off Times Square the performance of 12 Angry Women was late in starting.  10 minutes late and yet the small audience seating area was filled.  All at once, a nicely dressed woman, got up from her chair at the end of the front row and with her purse on her arm, walked over to the small table on set, where there was a pitcher of water and stacks of small cups.  She poured herself a cup of water and began to sip.  The women next to me were still chatting and I was inclined to turn to them and say “Looks like we are starting,” but something about the woman’s movements held me back.  I looked around at others in the audience, in particular at the place where she had been seated.  She re-sat.  Had she, as an audience member, just helped herself to part of the ‘set’?  Had she?  The woman next to her said something to her.  Everyone was now looking at her.  Then the ‘Director’ who was also the ‘let’s-get-the-show-on-the-road-person’ came to her.  “That is part of the set,” he said loud enough for all of us to hear.  “The actors will be drinking that water”.   Her response was in the form of trying to defend her actions, but he wasn’t buying it.  Neither was I.  How ‘country-bumpkin’ can you be?  There is an invisible line on the floor if there is no raised stage, or a stage lip.  She had annihilated  it.  Soon there after, the lights dimmed and the show began.  Next time I thought to look over, she was gone.