Preface Working in the theatre is fun. Or at least it should be! Theatre people are bright, hard- working, and committed to an artistic pursuit. If they were not, they would never survive the long hours and hard work that a theatre career demands. It is not a job for wimps! I wrote those words for the preface to the first addition of this book in 2002, and they still ring true today. I first began working on shows in high school, back in the early 1970s, and have had a great time doing it ever since. I love going to the theatre on opening night and seeing how my work, and the work of others, affects the audience. I'm really happy to have started in the business when I did, because it has given me a chance to see the art and craft of theatre production grow from something more like a sideline into an actual occupation. I've expanded this second edition quite a bit from the original, so that is now about half again as long, with somewhere around 1,200 illustrations, so I hope that the name is apt! Most of those illustrations are drawings, so that your eye is immediately drawn to the most important feature. But this latest edition includes quite a few more photographs where that seemed like a good idea. And of course the all-important screenshots. How could one discuss a computer program without them? Don't forget to check out these new features: · · Important terms to remember shown in italics Terms listed by chapter on line