Forty Seconds in the Dark
1Three weeks before opening night, Ms. Okafor handed me a black T-shirt and a clipboard. "Welcome to stage crew, Kai," she said. "The actors get the applause. We make sure there is something to applaud."
2At first, I thought stage crew would be easy. Then I learned about the scene change. Between Act One and Act Two, the stage had to turn from a sunny park into a dark forest in forty seconds. Twelve props had to move, and each one had its own spot marked with glowing tape. Ms. Okafor called it the hardest forty seconds of the whole play.
3For the next two weeks, we practiced after school every day. We timed ourselves with a stopwatch. Our first try took almost two minutes. By the end of the second week, we were down to forty-five seconds.
4On opening night, my stomach was full of butterflies. Earlier that afternoon, I had counted every prop twice and checked that the glowing tape was still stuck to the floor.
5When the last line of Act One ended, the lights went dark. Lucía and I grabbed the park bench and hurried it into the wings. Meanwhile, Ben and Hye-jin rolled the cardboard trees onto the stage. Halfway through the change, my foot caught on a cable, and a lantern slipped out of my hand.
6For one terrible second, nobody moved. Then Lucía scooped up the lantern, set it on its glowing mark, and gave me a quick nod.
7Just as the last tree clicked into place, we slipped behind the curtain. A moment later, the lights rose on a dark, misty forest. From the audience came a soft "Ooh."
8After the show, Ms. Okafor held up the stopwatch so we could see it. Forty seconds, exactly. I grinned so hard that my cheeks hurt. Lucía gave me a high five.