...and that about covers it. The production team is involved in just about every essential part of any given play.

That's so cool!

Between scheduling, budgeting, meeting with the other teams, creating flyers, running the ticket office on the day of the performances, lunch catering...

You have quite a lot to do.

It is. Things do get a little hectic sometimes... But they're all things that need to be taken care of in order for a show to succeed.

We feel a great sense of responsibility knowing that what we do determines whether or not we're going to be one hundred percent ready to deliver on the day.

So, whenever the audience goes home smiling...

Not only the actors and the director, but we also get to feel proud of what we accomplished!

It sounds like you love your job very much.

I do! Seeing the audience smile and have fun fills me with the same satisfaction that the actors and directors feel!

Seeing the audience smile...

Our visit with the production team was really fun!

Yes, it was nice to see how passionate they all were about what they do. I'm very much looking forward to our next stop now.

Wait!

Please watch your step. There's an unfinished prop by your feet.

Oh no! We're sorry!

This looks like...

Pardon me, but is this a novel that will be in the protagonist's home during the next show?

Hm? Yes, that's right...

Oh, aren't you two here visiting us?

We heard that you were interested in how the production process works and stuff.

Yes, we're from the troupe Wonderlands×Showtime.

My name is Rui Kamishiro. It's a pleasure to meet you.

I'm Emu Otori! It's nice to meet you!

Yes, nice to meet you both.

I'm the director for our troupe and also make quite a lot of our props. As such, I'm very interested in seeing how you make yours.

If it's alright with you, would you mind telling us more about your creative process?

I don't mind.

I was actually just about to go on break.

Still, I'm amazed that you could tell this prop was for the next show.

It felt like something that would be in the protagonist's house...

A starving novelist desperately working to finish his manuscript next to a disordered pile of books...

This truly felt like one of those books.

You mean that? I really appreciate it.

Our job as designers is to make the audience believe that everything on stage is the real thing.

The real thing...?

(Then, this book has certainly accomplished that...)

(When I initially saw it, I didn't see it as a prop.)

(I simply saw it as a book from that novelist's house.)

This really is remarkable...

Every crease and stain looks so real...

It has me imagining Kishi spilling a drink near it at one point in time.

Yeah, I thought that too!

I thought about him panicking and trying to clean it up in a really big hurry!

Hehe. It means a lot to hear how much of an image it conjured up.

As you both described, creases and stains like these can flesh out the setting of a play...

And that's why, even if the audience doesn't see every little prop, we don't want to cut any corners.

The devil is in the details, yes?

Exactly.

Yes, it can be hard sometimes...

But the things we make elevate the actors' performance, and seeing the audience at the edge of their seats makes all that fatigue go away.

In other words, we do everything we can for our actors and the audience.

For the actors and the audience...

(They're incredible. Not just their artistic skills...)

(They care about the details. They passionately want to bring the characters to life and entertain their audience. That much is clear.)

(This is what it means to be a true professional...)

(I hope I get to create sets and props with artisans like these someday.)