It all started with an innocent encounter at Huck's in Robinson, Illinois.

I pulled up to fill the tank, and at the next gas pump was Larry Quick, the special effects wizard for Lincoln Trail College productions.

Quick is a regular fixture in the LTC theater department. He and the backstage crew create those special effects that give each show that extra pop.

We've worked together many times, so the course of the conversation obviously led to the college's current production of "Peter Pan."

I pumped him about how the production was going, and quickly the conversation led to the big effect in this show - Peter Pan and the Darling children flying.

Theater director Barb Shimer had explained to me how the counterweight apparatus worked but I'd been dying to see for myself.

Then I heard Larry utter the phrase I'd been dying to hear.

"I really wish I could get some photos backstage..."

I think I blacked out for a split second and then quickly volunteered my services. Shooting in my studio near Robinson, Illinois, is always a blast, but going out to photograph someone flying in the air was beyond anything I could imagine.

Here I was with a bona fide invite, and I didn't even have to ask.

I was in heaven.

Just before rehearsal, I met up with the flight crew of Larry Quick, Robert Quick, Daniel Boatman and J.D. Dollahan. Josh Quick was missing the night of rehearsal. His flyer, Wendy, was out sick.

My crew was relaxed as they waited for their "moment."

It was amazing how quickly things happened backstage. In fact the first appearance by Peter Pan, I totally missed the backstage pull. 

It happens quickly, they told me.

Now I was prepared.

The first scene went by and we were joking around a little backstage.

They agreed that most of the crew work actually takes place before the production opens not during the show. This show was a bit different in that there were bursts of activity backstage when they were all pulling their weight (pun intended) to send the Darling children and Peter Pan soaring across the stage.

After observing how hard the pulls were backstage, it was easy to see how the crew members had built up quite the arm muscles from the week the apparatus arrived to the last show. The crew pulled in unison as the Darling children soared together. There was almost as much rhythm occurring backstage as on the stage.

Everyone knew their job, with each flyer tethered to a puller behind the scenes. 

I imagine it took a pretty good gulp of courage the first time each of the performers soared across the stage.

Yet they all looked so graceful during the performances.

Once the pulling was done and the scene ended, there was quiet. I put down my camera.

Suddenly, the quiet was broken by characters transporting the bedroom set backstage at lightning speed as they prepared for the next scene.

I leaped out of the way so they could do their job, packed up my gear and drove home with a huge smile on my face. Now I know what a magician's assistant must feel like - and so do you:)