The Reign of Silence
The crowd amassed in front of the stage. I was behind the curtain waiting to perform. I could hear the cacophony of sounds as the clock ticked closer to the appointed hour.
Then the time had arrived I could hear the emcee announce my name. There was thunderous applause as the curtains opened and I stepped out and then…there was silence.
I’m used to silence from an audience in anticipation of the first song of my set, but this was different. There was no movement to accompany this quiet which is usually visible when I begin. The reason being, there was no audience. Whoever had been making the noise prior to the curtain being drawn had vanished.
I tried to sing, despite my confusion, but everything that normally would have come out of my mouth had turned silent. What was going on? Was this a dream? More likely a nightmare. As I looked around, all the stage crew were still there; waiting for something to happen. I took a step back and as I did the curtains were drawn shut.
As soon as they closed all sounds reappeared. I turned to one of the stage crew and asked, “What just happened?”
He replied, “We just got word from the director, that because of the Governor’s decree, no concerts are allowed to be performed until all pandemic precautions have been observed. There were too many people in the audience not observing the proper protocols. So we had to mute you and the audience and restart the program pending the proper observance of all the rules. Now that you’ve stepped behind the curtain, we have been able to properly provide all audience members with the proper masks and shields and gloves.”
It was hard for me to fathom all this information. It became even crazier when the stage manager came to me with a mask and shield for me to wear.
That being said and done, the curtains again opened to a rounding applause and I began my concert. I hope no one was videoing this one. It was bad enough that it was being streamed live.
