When the lights go down and the play begins, a great theater production transports the audience into an imaginary world that often feels real. What the viewer witnesses is the culmination of hours, days and weeks of work. Set construction, sound and lighting design, technical reviews, and countless rehearsals that went into creating an experience that usually comes off without so much as a missed cue or a flubbed line.

But if you were allowed into theater anytime before opening night, it would often appear that nothing is ready and everything is far from perfect.

For the last three years, I’ve had the privilege to witness the process at the Harbor Stage Company in Wellfleet. Set construction. Readings. Conversations and collaboration between director and actor. The invisible but essential role of the stage director. The coordination among all those who never get to take a bow but are equally deserving of credit.

These photographs, and the book they appear in, were created at the final dress rehearsal of Bryony Lavery’s Frozen. Theater credits to: Jonathan Fielding, director; D'Arcy Dersham, Stacy Fischer, and Robert Kropf, actors; Evan Farley, stage design; John R. Malinowski, lighting; J Hagenbuckle, sound design; Adam Foster and Alison Greene, stage management.