(submitted by Lindsay)
Alright, this was a long time ago, and I was stage managing a SMALL professional theatre production of Lend Me a Tenor. A few days earlier, we had a crew person quit on us, so needless to say I was calling the show in a french maid outfit, heels, fishnets and all. The booth was only big enough for myself and my light board/sound board operator. (Did I mention I was running the spotlight too?)
So, the set is divided down the middle by this cut-away wall with a door in it between the 2 rooms. The set is a rotating repertory set, so most of the flats are held together by 12 foot pieces of moulding. This dear actress was having a bad night. She enters from the 'kitchen' with a set of champagne glasses. She sets them down, and I hear tinkling (she broke off the stems). Then begins a long chase sequence. She runs around the sofa and picks up the champagne bucket, then slams it onto the tray that it's carried in on. The tray had a glass top. Shatters it. She runs into the next room and hits the wall, sending a 12 foot piece of moulding crashing off the set, onto a vase of flowers, and hitting a borrowed antique dresser. She then proceeds to pick up the moulding, ad lib a line "These damn cheap hotels" and toss the moulding out a doorway US, narrowly missing the rest of the cast waiting for an entrance. So, at intermission, I was out there cleaning up the
hotel in my little maid's costume, and screwing the moulding back into the set with a giant yellow DeWalt. Classy, no? The poor actress proceeded to break everything glass in 3 shows that summer. (We managed to replace all of her glassware with plastic versions.) Gotta love live theatre!
