For example, when he worked with Tony Award-winning actress Janet McTeer, a veteran of the British stage, in the recent, acclaimed production of Ibsen's A Doll's House, there was a problem with the show's pace. McTeer, under pressure from producers to keep the running time under three hours, was rushing through her complex lines and some audience members couldn't understand her.

"We had to sit down and talk about it because people were saying, 'We can't hear, we can't hear,'" Steward, AS '76, recalls. "More accurately, they meant, 'We can't understand. It's not intelligible.'"

Steward, a veteran of more than a dozen Broadway shows, including Waiting for Godot, An Ideal Husband, Art and Hamlet, talked diction and enunciating T's with McTeer. "Janet could not have been nicer," he says.

As his title suggests, sound is one of this Hackensack, N.J., resident's key responsibilities. His work begins during rehearsals when he, following the sound designer's plans, oversees the building of sound and video rigs and the communication system and works with the carpenters and electricians to install them in the theatre.

For Arthur Miller's The Price, which opened Nov. 15 at the Royale Theatre, the process started in the beginning of October, when the set, consisting of piled up furniture, was built and loaded onto the stage. The revival show revolves around two brothers meeting after 16 years to sell their dad's possessions. Once the stage elements were in place, the actors were put through their paces with the creative team to determine lighting cues and sound levels.

"You fool and devil with it up to opening night," Steward explains.

During a production's run, he is responsible for multiple systems, including any video, backstage communications and those in the front of the house. "I get everything preset as much as possible, so that everything goes smoothly," he explains.

Sound quality is one of Steward's arguments with modern theatre. In his opinion, it matters little how beautiful the set or dramatic the lighting if the audience can't hear what's going on.

"Intelligibility is the key to me," he explains. "I want people to hear every word. You start with voices in the theatre and see what's needed."

Almost always, what's needed are body mikes, in addition to floor and hanging ones. But, Steward prefers the days when actors had to be able to project to the back of the house with minimal miking.

"I personally think that we have taught a generation of Americans to hear theatre improperly," he says. "I think every musical on Broadway is too loud. Body mikes are wonderful, but they have gone too far. When Evita opened on Broadway, it had five. Now, you have shows with 48. All of a sudden, you're getting notes from every chorus girl."

Partially for that reason, Steward has tended to work on Broadway with a dying breed in American theatre--the straight play. This has put him in close contact with a multitude of famous actors, including F. Murray Abraham, Steve Martin and Robin Williams in Waiting for Godot, Diana Rigg in Medea, Ralph Fiennes in Hamlet, Liam Neeson in The Judas Kiss and Alan Alda, Victor Garber and Alfred Molina in Art.

As the song goes, he usually finds "there's no people, like show..."

"Judd Hirsch--he loves the theatre, and you see the difference when he walks in the door. He lights up. Victor Garber loves being in the theatre. Freddy Molina--what a funny guy. Alan Alda--what a busy guy. But, all are really interesting people. You get to hang out with them and talk to them and get to know them. I haven't had a bad experience with a star."

Nor does he tire of seeing the same show over and over again. Art, a recent hit, ran for some 600 performances. "People say, 'You must see everything on Broadway,'" he says. "I don't. I see one show hundreds of times. On my nights off, I don't go to the theatre."

Steward's technical know-how, coupled with his ability to get along with actors, has kept him busy in New York, although he has done his share of time on the road, including stints with Phantom of the Opera, Jekyll and Hyde and Tommy Tune's Busker's Alley, which closed before it reached New York.

"I don't go on the road unless I have to, unless there's nothing cooking in New York and you have to pay the bills," says Steward, who has a young daughter.

He relies on his contacts for work, which at this point in his career are very good. During the run of The Price, he already had his next job lined up--a revival of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, set to open in May.

Steward, who came to New York 20 years ago to write and perform music--and did the requisite stint as a taxi driver--says he loves what he does.

"It's live. It's very stimulating to be involved with something live every night," he says. "If something goes wrong, I find out, along with 1,100 other people, and I need to make it right very quickly. That's fun. The people are fun. What a wonderful, eclectic gathering every night. It's a great life!"