outgrow her preoccupation with theater.

But roots are roots, and it didn't work out that way: After trying a few other things, she's now a Broadway stage manager, the person at the nerve center of theatrical productions. In that role, Llynn and her counterparts toil in relative obscurity to bring together the collective efforts of actors, directors, choreographers, music directors, sound and light technicians, costume and scenery designers--to name but a few of those involved in building a successful production.

"It's like international diplomacy sometimes," Llynn says. "You have a lot of warring nations, and you wonder, 'Why can't I just be Switzerland?'"

Llynn's job certainly has her hopping. She's in charge of keeping meticulously detailed records of the music, movement, and timing of her shows--"in case someone's hit by aO'Donnell is a "very competitive" bowler.)

Llynn has been more or less continuously involved with theater since age 10, when she became a child actor in a professional troupe. But by 18, turned off by her perception of actors as crazy people who were having a lot of fun, but weren't making much money at it, she turned down offers from strong theater schools like NYU, Juilliard, and Yale in favor of "the best academic school I could find that didn't have a huge, theater program."

The English and art-history major later dabbled in a little bit of everything--and eventually realized that the best way to pull her diverse interests together was as a stage manager, a personage she'd been familiar with (and envious of) as a curious child actor.