Athena Grayson

Infrastructure. Most people think, “roads and bridges” when they hear the word. When you’re into Act Two on the stage of life, infrastructure is the knowledge that those stationary set-pieces will be doing double-duty, serving as sketch-definitions of many spaces in which you tell your story.

By the time Act Two rolls around, you have seen the way the clever use of colored spotlights can turn a backdrop from day to night, or how obstacles and accessories can take an interior space to exterior, exposing inner space to light and the world. And you know, in the relationship of actor to audience, that there is no fourth wall.

Still, those set-pieces of infrastructure exist. They are often the only things that are solid from Act One to Act Two. Upon them hang the symbols and properties that define the rest of your space. Isn’t it right, then, to ensure your set-pieces are built of sturdy materials flexible enough to do a changing job?

Who are your set pieces?

Those set pieces are the most solid pieces on your stage. They are the anchors around which the rest of your stage is built. These are the people and values that support the Story of You. Are they the people who cast your achievements in shadows? Distort your talents with the clever throwing of shade? Or are they the people and values that polish your strong points until they sing? Do they harmonize with your high points? Or do they drown you out while you’re center stage?

When you make your Act Two entrance, do they still carry the same accessories and lighting from your Act One? Or have they changed with you, taking on more form and function, startling the audience with their beauty and versatility? Your set pieces–the people and values that both anchor and support you–should support your stage directions in Act Two as much as they did when you first stepped out into the light of the world. If they cannot perform this function, it’s okay to allow them to recede into the backdrop, to draw the curtain over them and allow new anchors to help you stage your place.