![]() And I thought, yeah, that doesn't sound too bad. I remember one actor saying to me, look, you know, sign up for this, do six months' work, make some money for the first time in your life and get well-known, get a suntan and go home. Because I had learnt that the contract that I was being offered, which was six years - but I was told we would be lucky to make it through the first season. Indeed, a dear - very dear friend of mine and a very important English actor had said to me, don't do this, Patrick. Taking this role was also going to take you really far from your wife and kids, who lived back in England. You were not Gene Roddenberry's first pick to play Jean-Luc Picard. MARTIN: Did you feel that on a television set? STEWART: To stand in the middle of an empty stage in an empty theater and feel that I was at home was everything. Is that accurate? Did you sense that kind of reverence or sacredness about the theater? MARTIN: Maybe I am projecting, but there is, I think, a sacred quality to how you describe that space. Indeed, I had responsibilities to fulfill, even if they were as a lowly assistant stage manager. I looked at the set, only recently populated by our company of actors. With the theater otherwise deserted, I stood beneath this light every night, taking a moment to breathe in the auditorium and the vibrations of the audience that had just left it. Actually, I left on one light in accordance with an old theater tradition whereby a single bare bulb is left on, hanging over the center of the stage. STEWART: (Reading) At the end of each performance, I waited for the last actor and the staff to leave the theater before switching off the lights and locking up for the night. And I wondered if you would read that for me. And you write this beautiful description of what it felt like to be on the stage. There is a bit in the book, early in your career - I think it was your first job - but you were an assistant stage manager. MARTIN: That unforgettable voice is that of Sir Patrick Stewart, who played the captain of the Starship Enterprise on "The Next Generation" for seven seasons and in four feature films, and he stars in the latest TV iteration of the franchise, "Picard." I got to talk with Stewart about his new memoir called "Making It So." PATRICK STEWART: Its impact on so many people has been extraordinary, ranging from people saying that it became their education to others who said, I was going to end my life, but I couldn't because I wouldn't be able to see "Star Trek" anymore. For the most devoted of fans, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" represents far more. So don't worry, I did make real friends in Japan, but that show, those characters navigating the galaxy, were an important touchstone as I explored my own new world. ![]() There were enough episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" to keep me company for the duration of my time there. ![]() The teacher who had lived in my apartment before had left a huge box of VHS tapes. And in those early days especially, I was pretty lonely, except for my good friends Jean-Luc and Data. It was 1997, and I was living in Japan, teaching English to middle school kids. RACHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: Sometimes you find comfort in the most unusual places. It's part of her series called Enlighten Me. It's time now for another conversation about the different ways we find meaning in the world with our colleague Rachel Martin.
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