People say that the show must go on. They also say that what may happen behind the scenes only the actors know.
In the case of Tokyo International Players, the show has been going on with only wartime interruptions since 1896. What may happen behind the scenes, though, goes beyond only the actors' knowing. TIP, this venerable institution that is an integral part of Tokyo's international community, depends upon devoted bands of off-stage helpers. Backstage and front-of-house assistants, those who take care of sets and props, costumes, sound and lighting, are all vitally concerned with what happens behind the scenes. As long as audiences at the time don't know of panics and crises, usually everyone later can laugh at near disasters. They become part of TIP theatrical history.
Baroness D'Anethan, wife of the Belgian chief of mission in 1896, is credited with being one of the founders of the original Tokyo Dramatic and Musical Association. Its first staged play was "A Lesson in Love," presented in a room in the grand hall of an engineering college, lent for the occasion by the Imperial household. It is recorded that two minutes before the curtain rose, the entire electrical system blew up. The show went on by candlelight.
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