Sitting alone and over to one side, opposite the crowded gathering at the front of the theater, and as far away from Kate Denisov as she could get, Leonora Rabkin listened to the entire speech. She attended every audition, yes, but she usually didn’t attend other such theater meetings, paperwork-making sessions, the lesser fundraising grabs, and, besides, she loathed both Martin Belloon and the theater’s resident showboating diva—of course Martin’s wife knew this (and it was quite obvious to the rest of the ensemble, but only gossiped about when both women were not present).

When Carole scolded Kate Denisov, Leonora barely stifled a wretched gleeful laugh. Carole’s glance in Leonora’s direction went unnoticed, and that was a blessing. No one on the island knew of Carole’s unspoken plan to dethrone Denisov as the lead in all of this year’s productions. She’d had enough insolence and kowtowing to last a lifetime. Earlier that morning, while her husband was going over notes onThe Queen’s Idle Fancy, Carole had slipped out of the house. She gave Leonora a call. If you want to compete once more for a role so juicy it’ll be the talk of the arts section for years to come, make sure you don’t miss tonight’s production meeting. Kate will be there.