Thanks for your insight, Nate. Yeah, I've seen plenty of the behavior you mentioned. My old stand partner in the group I just quit was a professional ringer hired just for the performances, who'd expect me to educate her about everything she missed in the rehearsals, then call me unprofessional when I didn't. My stand partner in the recent ballet orchestra came in about 3 rehearsals before the show, but that wasn't out of ego, it was because the director had a hell of a time finding people willing to play. At least he made more of an effort to learn cues and was humble about his own limitations.

Generally, I'm pretty dedicated when it comes to rehearsal attendance, which is why I hate to think that I could skip for TV.