May I borrow that soapbox?

I realize that UNR's theatre program may not be very prestigious. It's facilities were not the "top of the line" and they only had a pittence of classes on acting. Compared to Juliard or NYU, it's kind of a laughable degree. But UNR had one thing down very well, what I think may be the most important tools that could be passed on to a future generation of theatre folk... the art of the theatre.
By this I mean the understanding of what theatre is truely all about. It is about creating an experience for the audience that they will remember, in some way, for the rest of their lives.. With luck, that means an experience that gives them knowledge, or insight, or humor, or something.
The one thing I truly got from UNR was that, regardless of the level at which you were working, that must be the goal or else you just have a vanity troupe. And also, that goal must be universal for every member of that company, from the producers to the performers, back stage to front of house. Everyone must be on the same page and working toward the common, overall goal. Anyone just killing time is in fact killing the art.
Long story short, we must respect and support each other in theatre. We are a family. We live and die as a team. So imagine the biterness in me now as I write this, because you know I wouldn't mention it unless someone in my "family" betrayed me.
It was a little thing really. A bit of confusion about when we needed to meet in the lobby to perform our opening march. About half of us though that we we to delay it about ten minutes. We were wrong. Here's where the betrayal part comes in. Half of the crew was in place and as we all have radios, it would have been a simple matter to call the rest of us down. Instead a conscious decision was made to not do that, but instead to procede with only half of the gatekeepers and present a rather crappy, half-assed opening. The response when asked why we weren't called? "It's not MY responsibility."
Of course!!! How silly of me. It is certainly not OUR job to try and make the audience's expierence as nice as possible. Nor is it OUR job to try and look out for each other and help when given the chance. I suppose it is OUR job to take any opportunity to make ourselves look good at the expense of others.
The only good to report at the end of this is that the bosses look toward the true goal. They want what I want. What true theatre folk want. They recognize the deeper problem and work to eliminate it. It gives me hope.

Thanks Paige, here's your box back.