Yes, I’m already at the theater

“On the day before a New York opening, a company moves within a solar system of its own. It is a planet in outer space, detached from the moon and stars, and its orbit is the stairway from the dressing rooms to the stage. Each actor sits at his make-up table, staring into the brilliantly lit mirror at his own image, making the prescribed movements that will detach him still further from the world of reality and allow him to achieve the anonymity of complete disguise.”
Moss Hart, Act One