The narrator most strongly suggests that which of the following resulted in the transformation described in the last paragraph?

Choice D is the best answer. Sentence 10 indicates that the play “remained a static, shapeless, inhumanly heavy weight” even after numerous rehearsals. “With twenty-four hours to go,” however, the Players “had somehow managed to bring it off” (sentence 11). The narrator goes on to suggest that something about the break in routine near the very end of the rehearsal period was responsible. Feeling “giddy in the unfamiliar feel of make-up and costumes,” the Players “had forgotten to be afraid”; instead, “they had let the movement of the play come and carry them and break like a wave” and “had all put their hearts into their work” (sentence 12). Choice A is incorrect because the passage does mention that the transformative last rehearsal took place “tonight” (sentence 11) but does not clearly indicate the time of day during which prior rehearsals were held, and it seems likely, given the intensifying schedule (“doubling and redoubling,” sentence 9), that at least some prior rehearsals had taken place at night. Choice B is incorrect because sentence 9 asserts that the “doubling and redoubling” of the rehearsal schedule “seemed only to make matters worse.” Choice C is incorrect because there is no evidence in the passage that the director changed his or her style.