I learned the importance of knowing your cue, at a young age.
The show was Howard Richardson & William Berney’s Dark of the Moon. My mother was the stage manager, and as the show got close to opening, I would watch rehearsals with her every night. At the end of the first half she would call out, “Blackout!” to signal the actors that in a performance the lights would go out. Being a kid, I thought this was great fun, and I started shouting it with her every night.
Opening night I was in the audience, and when the first act ended, I yelled “Blackout!”
The lights were late.