CALLING: Handling an emergency

[LizH]

I guess my question is "how would you have done this differently?"

In the middle of a show one of my leads began to have an asthma attack. It was a very slow onset- during a scene shift he asked my (backstage) ASM to call his partner to drive his inhaler in then went back onstage without saying anything else. He didn't show any symptoms until 10mins later, at which point I (from booth) asked my ASM if he was ok or had seemed sick to her and she said over com "I'm dealing with an emergency right now, I can't talk." I sent my light board operator down to the stage immediately to find out what was going on and alert the box office/house manager (thank god for wireless coms). Long story short I created an intermission at the next scene shift and booked it to the green room while the actor used his inhaler. In about 3 mins he was walking, talking, and breathing normally but I asked him to let me know if he wanted the rest of the show canceled anyways. He said he'd like to finish the show out, and after holding another 10mins to be sure he was still okay I began the show again- he even participated in the dance sequence I'd expressly told him to sit out of, then danced again during curtain call when the actors sometimes do a few measures of dance improv (the show is a mini-musical with a few instances of singing and dancing).

After the show ended and actors left I had a conversation with my ASM about letting me know what was happening backstage any time something like this happened, and how she could've kept me in the loop while handing the situation.

I'm curious how other people would've handled this though- I initially sent my board op backstage instead of going myself so a)I could keep my eyes on the actor who I thought was getting sick (the one having the asthma attack) and b)I could call the end of the scene into an intermission, which he couldn't have done and I couldn't have done while getting backstage. Then I asked the actor for his feelings on canceling the show (not in front of the other actors, the final word came from me) because while he visually was back to his normal level of health I wanted to be sure he felt like he could and wanted to finish the show out- those are the two big things I'm wondering about.

[CTsometimeSM]

My first thought is why didn't he have his inhaler at the theater?  I try to know if there are medical issues from my actors (though come to think of it I am not sure the legality of asking this).

Not sure what you could have done differently-sounds like you handled what you were given smoothly.  I would agree with making sure the ASM's know to let you know when things are up (IE when the first call went out for the inhaler).

I cringe a little at the idea of sending a board op down, but that is probably show/venue/experience dependent.  When he was actually crashing I can't blame the ASM for not answering too explicitly, but in the same time it took to say they were dealing with an emergency, they could have said XXX having an ahsma attack, can't talk now.  (which seems like it would have given you at least enough information to know to hold the show) - then again, it would have been a heck of a presence of mind to think that far through it in the heat of the moment.

[sarahbear42]

The only thing that I think of is that ASM should have told you that he was having trouble when he asked her to call for his inhaler, that should have set off a warning flag for her right there... and it would've been nice for her to be more specific over headset later, but that's certainly understandable. I think what you did was perfect.

[LizH]

My first thought is why didn't he have his inhaler at the theater?  I try to know if there are medical issues from my actors (though come to think of it I am not sure the legality of asking this).

I actually do ask my actors to fill out a personal info sheet that includes medical info (I tell them it's confidential & shred them after the show). He hadn't had an asthma attack in over 2 years so he didn't write it down and hasn't carried his inhaler in over a year. Needless to say his inhaler and peak flow meter are both with him for the rest of the run. 

[centaura]

It sounds like you handled the situation well.  I've been in a similar situation, I did handle it differently, but the scenario was different.  I was on tour, and the crew was local and didn't know the show at all.  I got a call from backstage that one of my actors was having problems, and the symptoms that were listed sounded like a stroke.  It was near the end of the show, so I took a chance.  I asked the hand with me in the booth if he could follow a prompt script, knowing that my sound tech knew the show well enough to run his own cues and that there were only a few light cues left in the show.  I left my script with the hand and went backstage to deal with the situation myself, since I was SM & CM, as well as first aid certified.  Backstage, I was able to organize the actors to get someone else onstage playing his part and then get him to where we could wait for an ambulance.  The local hand backstage, while handling the situation fine in regards to contacting me etc. had never seen the show before and the other actors didn't know what to do, so me showing up with directions for everyone was the best thing to do.

Its also why I always cleaned up my prompt script at the beginning of every tour.

-Centaura