

I don’t know what part I’m supposed to be playing I don’t know my lines I don’t even know my cues. A play is under way and I’ve got a crucial part. The house lights are low and the stage lights full, so from my position onstage I can barely make out the audience, but I sense it is a full house. This is how it goes: I suddenly find myself in a theater-a large, Broadway-style playhouse, the kind every actor aspires to play.

In spite of the fact that my memories of theater are nearly all happy ones, I keep having this recurring nightmare. I tell you this so that you will understand what I am about to reveal. My wife was part of the theater company I managed, and we had many close friends there.

I was young and energetic and pretty good at what I did. They were, for the most part, joyful years.
