I woke up early, or half woke up, because I could hear my mom puttering around before dawn. Why do old people wake up so early?

But I was surprised to see all her mechanics exposed at that early hour, the levers and the gears all behind the proscenium. All the clockwork charms that control the curtains and the scrim, the fly loft and the battens, head block and counterweights, teasers, tormentors, and cyclorama.

It was a little frightening. I’d never seen that before. She had it all covered up by the time I actually got out of bed. Maybe old people get up early to do maintenance.