The blare of a train’s horn sounds off as loud and clear inside the lobby of the Sooner Theatre in Norman as it does out on the street. Melany Pattison, the theater’s summer musical director, remains unperturbed.
“We get to deal with that during performances, too,” she said. “It kind of fits into the show, like comedic timing.”
Pattison’s 13 years at the theater, preceded by a 20-year stint as the education and touring director of the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company, have firmly instilled in her one of the prime tenets of theater: The show must go on.