iRunStories / Season 1, Episode 11
The Understudy
Lily had waited three months for Morgan to get sick. Not that she'd wished illness upon the lead actress—not specifically, not really. But when you're an understudy, you learn to read symptoms like a hawk reads thermals. A sneeze during rehearsal. A voice slightly hoarse during warm-ups. The particular glassiness of eyes that meant someone had been taking cold medicine. So when Morgan called the stage manager at 4 PM on a Saturday—two hours before curtain—reporting a fever of 102 and the inability to stand without vomiting, Lily was already in her car, already heading to the theater, already running her lines in her head. Tonight, she thought. Tonight is MY night. The Hartwell Theater was small but prestigious, one of those off-Broadway venues where critics actually showed up and careers were made or broken. "The Amber Room" had been running for six weeks to sold-out houses, a psychological thriller about a woman trapped in a hotel room with her own worst memories. Morgan had gotten rave reviews. Now Lily would show them what a REAL actress could do. She arrived at 4:30 to find the theater already buzzing with pre-show energy. Jerry, the stage manager, met her at the door with a face like an approaching storm. "Morgan's out. You're up. Costume fitting in fifteen, then we'll run Act...