When Ana Maria Belo steps on stage, she is focused on more than just remembering her lines and which props to grab.
At any given moment, she is thinking about the pitch of other performer's voices and where they project sound from, her proximity to them, and the acoustics of the space; she is sensing sound through touch and vibration, and she is lip-reading and looking for physical cues from other performers to discern the rhythm and speed of their speech and whether they're speaking with a mumble or an accent.
It's a lot of listening — but not in the conventional sense.
