_I blew that. Had a couple of lines wrong. Used the wrong inflection. And the blocking. I’ll never be allowed on this stage again._

__

_“Great performance, Brad!”_

_“Huh? Oh, thanks. I thought it could have been better.”_

_“What are you talking about? That was one of the best performances I’ve seen on this stage. And I have seen a lot of performances here.”_

__

_No. He’s wrong. I sucked tonight. Oh no, here comes Catherine._

__

__

“I don’t know what to say, Brad.”

" I know, I’m so -“.

“That was amazing. I’ll admit you threw me with a couple of the changes you made on the fly from rehearsal, but it worked. You made it better.”

“Yeah, well, it was more -“.

“Maybe next time you have these waves of brilliance, just give me some advance notice.”

_Brilliance? I had no idea what I was doing out there. I blanked. I forgot most of what I was supposed to say. How is that brilliant?_

__

__

“She’s right, you know?”

“Who is?”

“Catherine”.

“How so?”

“Your performance WAS brilliant. But you really shouldn’t spring that on your fellow lead in an actual performance for the first time. Work your ideas out in rehearsal. As the director, I’d have preferred to have seen it before too.”

“Right, Dennis. Next time. It won’t happen again”.

“It better happen again tomorrow”.

_Oh no. Tomorrow? I don’t know what I did TONIGHT. The crowd hasn’t even left yet and I don’t remember what I did over the last couple of hours. I know I didn’t do it right. Well I DID something right, but I certainly didn’t do it the way I was supposed to. But I don’t know what I actually did. And he wants it again tomorrow?_

__

__

“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Huh? Oh nothing. Just reflecting on the performance.”

“As you should. It was mind-blowing. You were really in the zone.”

“Thanks, Sasha”

_The zone? Is that what it was? Is that why I don’t remember? If I get into it tomorrow will I be able to pull it off again? Will it be the same as it was tonight?_

__

__

“You’re a fraud!”

“I know.”

“I’ve seen some bad performances before, but wow, I’m surprised there wasn’t an uprising from the audience. The fact it was still full when the curtain came down shocks me.”

“It wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“Whatever you’re imagining it was, it was worse. And that ovation, they were pitying you. They were applauding it was over.”

“Listen, Brad. I was there. It wasn’t that bad.”__

__

_I need to get out of here. This is too much._

__

__

“Catherine? What happened? Why did Brad smash the mirror and run off?”