At table, when Jesus blessed and broke the bread and gave it to them, suddenly he is the host and they are the guests. Luke portrays this appearance of Jesus as a Yahwistic theophany, an appearance of YHWH. The disciples come to realize that it hadn’t been a “he” who was talking to them, but “I AM”, the driving force all that had happened, as well as the source of who they are and what they are becoming.
As a host, Jesus is authoritative, but gentle, not at all aggressive or domineering. I like your theatrical analogy, Andrew, and the reference to how a good host allows his guests to play a part. And yes, you have giving a very good example of how a good host would react and how a good guest “would respond to the host’s cues.”