Stagecraft Quotes

“The Performative Sleepwalker
by Stewart Stafford

When the blood fires hot,
Let it simmer or fade gently,
Put night between it and day,
To slake the furnace temper bluer.

Exhaustion distorts each problem’s scale,
The clouding of an unmoored mind,
The creator reacts as emotion’s crucible—
Vocation’s sleepwalker, bound to muse.

In stagecraft, cursing, destroying their work—
Forged in and from drama; lashed to return
At the behest of their craft, no more than
Rock withholds metal from the smelter’s hand.

© 2026 Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford