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So...do ya think you're theatre is haunted?

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StageMgr2Stars:
The Abbott Kaplan theatre at SUNY Purchase is said to have a ghost. People say they have seen a figure in door ways and in the hemp room. I dont think anyones seen it in years tho.

avkid:
Absolutely.
A 90 year Vaudeville house can't be without a ghost.
Legend has it that a pregnant woman roams the halls at night looking for someone.
Nobody really remembers who she was looking for.
At one time there was even a sculpture of her hanging on a wall in the house.
http://www.endicottarts.com/Copy_of_theater7.jpg

I have heard all sorts of weird things late at night, and felt that "rushing air" sensation.

Tempest:
Two of my university theatre spaces had ghosts. 
In the black box space, there was a ghost in the dressing area that liked to open and close backstage doors.  I acutally trained the ghost to open and close the doors as necessary during a run of one-acts.  I'd look up and see one of the doors creeping open when everyone else was otherwise visible or on stage.  I'd say "Excuse me, we need that door closed," and it would close.  The fact that the ghost obeyed me freaked my actors out more than the ghost itself!
The Valborg mainstage space had a permanent ghost from an audience member who had died during a production in the 70's.  When we did Hamlet, however, we brought in a real human skull for Yorik, along with an ANGRY ghost.  It sent LOUD static over the sound system, waved things in front of the stage lights, and once I even saw it.  I was working about 15 feet from the end of a dead-end catwalk, and saw a male figure in a white shirt down at the end, clear as day.  I figured it was the ME (the only other person in the space), and ignored him.  Then, the ME walked into view around a different corner.  I look toward the end of the catwalk, and there was no one there.  And no way off that area of the catwalk except straight down!  And not down a ladder.

smLionel:
Totally believe theatre's are haunted.  I'm currently studying at the Conservatory of Theatre at Webster University and one of our spaces, Stage 3, is in an old church building place. The other ASM Kate and I were backstage during tech for Spelling Bee when the stage door shook violently. I opened the door and found no one there. This happened several times throughout tech and the run.

Kate also told me stories of her teching a dance show when suddenly loud bangs were heard from the space above the theatre (As if someone were throwing risers on the floor or something) So she went upstairs to see what was going on only to find the space above Stage 3 completely shut down, lights out and locked.

bex:
My university theatre has a ghost named Sydney, who is the one-legged ghost of a Civil War vet.

The student theatre group, the AU Players, was founded in the 20's, and performed in the Auburn Chapel. During the Civil War, the chapel was used as a Confederate army hospital. Story goes that Sydney was a soldier who died following an amputation during the war, and he haunted the chapel. Well, when the University built a theatre on campus, the AU Players moved out of the chapel, and Sydney came with them.

Our resident costume designer swears he exists- she has numerous stories of going into costume storage and seeing a rolling rack moving by itself, or costume pieces that she needed but couldn't find mysteriously appearing in plain sight. The best piece of evidence, though, is the box of left shoes- shoes whose mates have disappeared, and always the left one (Sydney lost his left leg, you see, and so would have no use for a left shoe).

To insure a good production, it is always the Stage Manager's job to feed Sydney before the first performance- Reese's pieces or peanut butter M&M's in a bucket on the 2nd catwalk.  One show that I ASM'ed was plagued with issues (headsets cutting out, costume pieces going missing, etc) and come to find out that the SM had refused to feed Sydney because she didn't believe he existed.  After I fed him and wrote him an apology note, the problems stopped.

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