It awakened her imagination and excited her about the theater, and it also instructed her, forming the basis for her future art. Another contributor, Beth Henley, has a very different memory: of being greatly disappointed at the ordinariness of a princess in a production, and her dissatisfaction with the actress' performance. Casting is everything. Henley learned at an early age.

Many of the authors detail unconventional encounters with theater that give rise to future inspiration. David Auburn says that he saw his first, truly life-changing production on PBS, a surrealist production of the House of Blue Leaves. This example suggests that theater does not even have to be 'live' to be life-changing; it merely needs to challenge the assumptions of the audience of what is possible. Auburn grew up in a 'theater town' with a local repertory company and an English professor for a father. However, being exposed to a...
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