drug use onstage

[missliz]

I'm working on Fifth of July right now. There's a lot of drinking, smoking, and drug use onstage. The food/drinks I'm fine with, and we've gotten the herbal cigarettes.

For the pill popping, I'm planning on going with vitamins because it seems like the best option. Is there something that'd be better/safer that someone with more experience with this would recommend?

The biggest thing is all the cocaine that gets snorted. I've done the research and was told that the Equity-approved cocaine substitute is powdered baby formula. I then had an actor tell me they've used that before and it hurt their noses. I've also gotten bee pollen and crushed-up vitamins as recommendations.

The actors aren't doing big lines, but they do pour the coke out and do small bumps. The show runs for 7 wks, so I want to make sure nothing's going to mess with them long-term (the same guy who told me about bee pollen said that it ended up bothering one of the actresses' noses, but it was also 2 months of Hurlyburly, which has a lot more drug use that this show).

Any ideas are greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[Mac Calder]

Too many vitamins can be bad for your system. I would suggest asking your pharmacist if they are able to get in placebo pills (sugar pills) for the show. You can also get a hard candy (tastes like chalk) which looks like a pill from a distance.

As for snorting - any powder will irritate the nose - The nose is not designed for snorting powder

[missliz]

Too many vitamins can be bad for your system. I would suggest asking your pharmacist if they are able to get in placebo pills (sugar pills) for the show. You can also get a hard candy (tastes like chalk) which looks like a pill from a distance.

As for snorting - any powder will irritate the nose - The nose is not designed for snorting powder

Hard candy...don't know why that didn't occur to me. Thanks!

And I know it's not a good thing to be snorting things in general, but it's necessary in the script. I'm trying to look for the least evil.

[thehayworth]

How close to the audience is this snorting?

[Mac Calder]

If you are Equity, go with their approved substance... Otherwise, I would suggest you still go with it, until someone has issue, because Equity generally don't approve substances without a fair bit of consultation with doctors etc. That is purely from a "Cover our own backside" point of view - as I doubt you would be able to do the same amount of research as reliably as Equity.

[missliz]

How close to the audience is this snorting?

It's a typical 99-seat black box. So fairly close.

[Scott]

Geez, I really find it hard to believe that actors need to be actually snorting any substance onstage -- seems terribly ill-advised to me.  Can't this be solved with judicious staging? 

[geoffsm]

Geez, I really find it hard to believe that actors need to be actually snorting any substance onstage -- seems terribly ill-advised to me.  Can't this be solved with judicious staging? 

I would agree.  I mean, if it is absolutely necessary, I would go with the Equity approved stuff.  But, in my humble opinion (and feel free to completely ignore me), I would have a fit if this were my actors.  Have you spoken with the director?  I would really push for having the drug use staged in such a way that wouldn't require actual snorting.

[EFMcMullen]

I've done the research and was told that the Equity-approved cocaine substitute is powdered baby formula.

I'm just curious as to where you got the "Equity" information.  Did you actually call Equity?  I didn't know they kept a list of "approved" substitutes. 

In any case, I am in agreement that snorting anything is getting into a dangerous area.  Another thing to think about, is there a way to put a filter in the "straw" (you will have to ignore my drug paraphernalia naivety, I don't know the proper term for the rolled up dollar bill) so they suck the substance up but it doesn't actually make it to the nose?

E



Moderator note:  Touched up BB code, no change made to content of post.  -KMC307

[mnsalz91]

at my school we're doing RENT (tonight is closing actually).  For the drugs we used sugar and for the pills we used TicTacs. 

[missliz]

Just posting a followup for all this-

I called Equity to verify what I'd heard (from another girl who used to be a stage manager) and they said that there IS an approved substitute- powdered baby formula. It looks remarkably similar though a little yellow-tinted. However, it's going to be in a brown-tinted glass vial so it's not a problem.

We've had actors trial-snort it and they haven't had a problem. It dissolves quickly and doesn't get mucusy. They only do little bumps, not lines, and only a few times, so the rep said not to worry about long-term problems. They also recommended having actors moisturize inside their nostrils with Vaseline post-show if we're really worried about them drying out.

Hope this can help anyone else dealing with cocaine onstage!