Lada Korsunskaya

Many years ago there was such a position in the theater, prompter. She was not taught anywhere, she arose spontaneously. Somewhere they even treated her with disdain. But in reality, this is a difficult and thankless job. The prompter sits in a tiny booth under the stage, only his head above floor level, hidden from viewers by an acoustic shell. He is an integral part of rehearsals, he is present at all performances, he knows all the lines, the movements of the actors on the stage, he knows exactly where the weak points of the actor are and who needs to tell the word, and to whom the whole line. The prompter had to have perfect pitch and clear diction. He sits for hours in a cramped corner, inhaling the dust from the stage, which is raised by the curtains of dresses or a rising curtain, and at the same time is all in attention. Prompter was once a walking encyclopedia of the theater. Probably, an old prompter of a drama theater could tell us many interesting stories.