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1156

Articles from the Old Site / Mayhem at the Zoo

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

by Dustin E.

So I am in the middle of Production Stage Managing a production of Edward
Albee's The Zoo Story. The show is running well, my board op hasn't fallen
asleep yet and the actors, only by some miracle of god, hadn't missed a single
line. Well, halfway through the run (it is one of those long one acts with no
intermission) this woman, whom the cops said was strung out on either coke,
heroine, or both, struts her hot little self out onto the stage. It is a small
thrust space and she had easy access to stumble down from her seat on to the
stage and plop herself on one of our park benches right next to one of my two
actors. She then in a loud boisterous voice begins to convince him to stop doing
the show. "No one is even paying attention, come on, just stop, we don't
even like it,"

she says as she begins to caress his shoulder. At this point I for the first and
only time since threw my clear com off my head and went bolting around the
backstage to phone the police. After about fifteen minutes, a fist fight was
working its way out with said coke head, both actors (all the while in
character) and the house manager. They eventually dragged her kicking and
screaming off the stage and out of the theater into the cop car and merrily on
her way. Then without missing a beat my actors picked up where they left off and
continued doing the performance.

1157

Articles from the Old Site / A Midsummer Night's Explosion

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by Brandon)

     

I'm currently SMing a production of "A Midsummer Night's
      Dream" at my high school. We have a pretty tight budget but do get
      some state funding so we are able to get pretty decent gadgets. We just
      got 4 new Rosco Gobo Slide Projectors. They are actually really amazing
      and they work really well, if you have never seen one. They just slip
      right into the can where a normal gobo would go and your set. Well, these
      new "perfect" gobos have given me and my staff hell. In the
      middle of last night's show, I'm sitting in the booth calling cues, etc.
      and I see our moon gobo start to form cracks... it was burning up right
      before our eyes. Wow, did that create a problem. The ASMs, in their
      annoyance, were screaming over the headsets that something was wrong,
      something was wrong, and they wouldn't shut up. We were having quite a
      hard time concentrating, so I took my headset mic and held it up to a
      speaker (which means tons of feedback over the cans); that made them shut
      up. The can started to
      smoke and the board wasn't responding when we tried to cut out that
      circuit. Finally we had someone run down to the orchestra pit below the
      stage and pull the circuit manually. I'm not sure if this is a horror
      story, or a tip. To be careful with those slide gobos, and how to get your
      noisy ASMs to shut up.

1158

Articles from the Old Site / This looks like a job for the "Poisoned Boot"

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(Aaron H. S.)

Last year I was stage managing a production of "Rumors". According
to the script, the end of the first act breaks out in complete chaos and Chris
trips over the phone cord. Well this worked fine every other time we had ever
tried it. The cord connected to the bottom went to a button that the sound
operator could push to ring the phone. Well this particular night, when Chris
tripped over it, she ripped the cord. We start the second act and it comes time
for our first phone cue. The sound operator presses the button and nothing
happens. The actors just had this long pause on stage before finally one of them
was like "I think I heard the intercom buzz!". Well after we figured
out the problem I did some fast thinking for the rest of the phone cues and we
ended up using a cell phone for the rings. (only slightly better...most of the
time it was late). What was even worse was that one of the members of the crew
went to reset the phone cord at intermission and saw that it was ripped, but she
didn't think it was important enough to tell anyone!

1159

Articles from the Old Site / Rip Van Winkle

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

     

So I was doing Grease (hey, everyone's gotta do it once!) in this
      wretched barn theatre in New Hampshire.  The director, last name
      Putnam, is actually a relative big shot for the company, he's done some
      stuff for Broadway, etc.  Well, he's trying to give some reality to
      the characters, not just redo the movie, but to create fully developed
      characters.  Well, it wouldn't have played in Peoria, and it
      certainly didn't play with our Artistic Director.  After the final
      run through, with 48 hours to go before opening on the first show of the
      summer season, she canned him and took over the show herself.  I
      didn't even know that he left--apparently he was informed at 1am and was
      packed up and off to Anchorage, AK by 6am.  The Artistic Director was
      a wee bit of a tyrant.  Unfortunately I was not alerted to the whole
      debacle until 8am, an hour before we were supposed to start first tech.

     

She then launched into a complete re-choreography, restaging, and
      re-harmonization of the entire show.  The entire light plot had to be
      re-hung, the pit had to be relocated, instrumentation needed to be
      rewritten, and she demanded that we locate wireless mics that would work
      in the middle of the White Mountains.  Granite mountains and radio
      waves don't mix very well.  

     

At any rate, the actors were mostly college students who got the gig
      because of the artistic director, so they didn't think to question the
      matter.  Besides, they wanted to do the movie version anyway. 
      As a tech crew, we regretted the loss, and regretted even more that tech
      rehearsals now were forced to run non-stop for the better part of the next
      two days.  We did open on time, but not before the actors managed to
      spray paint "Put Sux" on the locker unit in letters that were
      quite readable by the predominantly tourist audience.

     

Finally, after running pretty much three days straight at the theatre,
      we open.  All is going comparatively well, until the massive dance
      solo at the top of Act II.  My spot op is supposed to pick up the
      lead dancers as the ambient light faded out.  Unfortunately, the
      lights had to be at half fade before I could tell from the booth that the
      spot was on.  It wasn't.  My spot op, in an act of protest
      against the Artistic Director, had toked himself senseless preshow and
      fell asleep in the spot op booth.  Working at a company like that
      stretches time in bizarre ways...the night ended in a blur, but the summer
      seemed to go on forever.

1160

Articles from the Old Site / Human Wheels

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by Sara)

     

The first one that comes to my mind is when we
      did the musical Little Shop of Horrors last year we had this really cool
      set the entire set moved. If you don't know the play is about a killer
      plant that comes to take over the world and it takes place in a little
      flower shop, in a ghetto called Skid Row.

     

Well, we decided to make the shop a series of
      sections that pull apart and fit together. It was a really cool set. One
      of the sections had this really heavy "refrigerator" and because
      it was so heavy the wheels couldn't support it and the first time we moved
      it on opening night one of the wheels fell off and we had to move half of
      the set without a wheel the rest of the show. My dad was in the audience
      that night and he said you could see all these bodies, I think it took
      about ten of us to move that side after the wheel fell off, just pushing
      as hard as they could to get this thing to move the ten feet off stage and
      then back on stage. It was a mess, the next day before the show we put
      these giant 4 inch carriage bolts on it and it stayed the rest of the run.
      After that show the crew talked the director into doing a show that
      doesn't move, and she agreed.

1161

Articles from the Old Site / Now where did I put that...?

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by Stagemgr27)

     

When I stage managed Brighton Beach Memoirs, I remember one incident at
      one of the performances I forgot if I had put "Eugene's
      notebook" under his bed.  This was a crucial prop and for the
      last 8 performances, I had no thoughts of not having put the book in the
      proper place. It was so second nature that I couldn't remember if I did or
      not.  As I watched the actor reach under his bed for the book, I had
      all these thoughts flash before me and was I relieved when he came up with
      the book.  Little things like that keep you on your toes.  

1162

Articles from the Old Site / Guess what? You're going on tonight!

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by
      Stagemgr27)

     

Hi everyone!  I have another horror story about I show that I stage managed. I already submitted the one about Brighton
      Beach Memoirs and the infamous prop.  Well, I was stage managing Leader of the Pack.  The rehearsals were many and long and
      we all were looking forward to a wonderful run of 5 weeks.  I get a call the afternoon of opening night from the female
      lead (she called me and not the director) saying that she just can't go on...that she has total stage fright and is
      throwing up non-stop all day. There was no indication whatsoever that this was going on with her. So here I am, with almost
      a full house of reservations, and no leading lady.  Ironically, one of the musicians in our orchestra had done this role
      about 3 years ago, and was very happy to just play in the band. She said that she wanted to take a break from acting.  I
      frantically called our director and we both decided that we had no choice but to ask "Gerri" if she could do the part, even
      if she had to go on with the script. This happened 2 hours before show time and we couldn't get in touch with Gerri by phone. So, in she comes
      with her guitar, and she sees all of us waiting for her at the door. We hurriedly explained that...."guess what?, she was
      going on tonight"  After the color came back in her face, she went on, off book (remembering everything...dialogue and all)
      and saved the show...and finished the run.  We never heard from the original leading lady again. That's the
      excitement of live theatre and I wouldn't want it any other way!!!.

1163

Articles from the Old Site / Train Wreck

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by Alvin)

     

I was the stage manager for a musical this past December.  Among the various set pieces was a 3 unit platform that rolled
      together to make one big platform.  The way it was constructed allowed it to only come together in one way.  During the run
      of a show, my trusty ASM suddenly blurts out that the two ends pieces have been mixed up stage left and stage right.  So I
      miss three sounds cues as they tell me this during a warn.  I quickly tell them to bring the units on as they would because
      they remain separate during that scene, and just exit upstage left and upstage right to swap the two...no problem, ample
      clearance up left and up right.  I proceed to call the show and then watch the crew on stage right swing up stage with
      their platform, then come back down left, crashing into a throne, rubbing against the other platform and noisily exit
      DOWNstage left.  Thinking that was bad enough, I try and tell myself the stage left crew won't try that, they just saw it
      doesn't work...wrong again.  They mirror the same horrendous movement they just observed and manage to knock over a fire extinguish hidden
      on the set.  The night wasn't over there, as later when the SR platform came on
      stage (motivated by actors this time), they
      hook the curtain legs, and instead of unhooking it, push harder, rip the curtain, and almost send the platform into the
      first row.  Thankfully, this was the night the director was watching the show...

1164

Articles from the Old Site / Infestation

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by Linda)

     

Hi again, I was the Stage Manager for Best Little Whorehouse in Texas for a local community theatre out in Long Island,
      N.Y.  We had a large and talented cast and went through 2 months of intense rehearsals heading toward a 5 wk. run.  The
      first two weekends went over without a hitch. Everything fell into place and we had sold out audiences.  Well, week
      three...we come into the theatre about 2 hours before the show was to go up on a Friday night.  We all started noticing
      little flies flying around.  Well, it was Summer and we really didn't think too much of it. The show starts, and all that
      the cast sees from the stage are people in the audience fanning themselves (or so we thought).  We thought that maybe it
      was too hot in the theatre but quickly realized that they were fanning away FLIES!! Fruit flies to be exact.  As the
      singers on stage were in the midst of their numbers, flies were going into their mouths.  You
      cannot believe what went on. The show was scheduled to be video taped that evening and when the videographer got the tape ready, he made a section at the end, of outtakes of flies
      going into the actor's mouths, the audience fanning themselves...it was priceless.  Anyway, back to the show. When we
      finished the show, we apologized to the audience and went furiously around the theatre trying to find out where the flies
      were coming from  Low and behold, we found, in the corner of the dressing room, a bag of half eaten bananas that must have
      been there for weeks. How gross was that?  We immediately got rid of the bag, and started  to spray the theatre. The next
      day, Saturday, I was first to open the theatre. It looked like the problem was solved.  The first actor to walk into the
      theatre (who by the way was the sweetest and calmest gentlemen) quickly ran up to me, pointed his finger angrily at me and
      said, "If I see one fly...I'm OUTTA HERE!!."  Anyway, I had wanted to make an announcement that since this was a "Texas
      Ranch", we wanted to create a realistic atmosphere  (and flies were the natural way to go!

1165

Articles from the Old Site / Follow Spot...Go?

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by bigbanger2x)

     

I was stage managing Grease for my high school theatre and the scene w/
      Sandy and Raining on prom night is about to happen when my light board op tells me that the area light on that area is out and since we did the scene from behind a scrim we
      could not use front of house to light the scene. I asked her if the bulb blew and she said that is happens all the time and
      you just have to hit the instrument a few times (like my Nintendo) before it will work again. So I leap from my booth and
      haul it back stage. The light is on an electric with a trim of 18'. I am 6'3" and the only latter I had was 6'.
      Luckily I thought, the light is only about 1 foot onstage past the leg. So
      I figure I can stand on the 6' ladder and reach up with a broomstick and tap the light. So there I go, to the TOP (a.k.a. do not stand on this rung or you are stupid) rung of the
      ladder, arms fully extended, holding a broom over Sandy's head as she sings
      "its raining on prom night." Luckily, the light only required one solid smack and I kept my balance. The audience did not see me or the broom or the odd look on Sandy's face. The best
      part was that I got back to the booth just in time to give the spot off
      cue to my spot op.

1166

Articles from the Old Site / Down the Hatch!

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by VSM)

     

I was Stage Managing Sweeney Todd with George Ball and Amanda McBroom in 1000 Oaks, CA. As you all know, it is a two story
      set with open playing areas atop the different platforms. Sweeney's "Special" Barber Chair sits atop a trap door, releasing
      the "dead" victim thru the bottom half of the unit and out a trap door on the other side. Yes, you guessed it - One night
      the trap didn't work. The chair collapsed, releasing the actor to the floor of the unit where the trap is supposed to send
      him down thru it. There he is, trying not to laugh, there Sweeney is trying to stomp the trap open, there I am in the Booth
      praying for the bloody trap to "Open, Open, just bloody OPEN !!!" Eventually it did - to thunderous applause... Ah the
      magic of Live Theatre...

1167

Articles from the Old Site / RIP: Light Board

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by Stacy)

     

Okay there have been several bad times but the one that stands out is when we were doing a production of School House
      Rocks Live!  This was a college production and the lighting board we had was old and outdated.  It had been going in and
      out of the repair shop and we had just received it back from its last adventure.  We were scheduled to do an afternoon
      performance for the local elementary school.  We were in the middle of the second song and the light board passed away.  The
      stage had been dropped for the orchestra pit and they had small lights with blue gels.  When we lost the light board, the
      musicians ripped of the gels and turned their lamps toward the stage.  The rest of the show was done in the light of three
      lamps.  The kids loved the show and the teachers thought it was supposed to be that way. 

1168

Articles from the Old Site / Don't Press that Red Button!

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by J. Lada)

     

My most horrific moment as a Stage Manager came during a sold-out run of a community theatre production of A Chorus Line. 
      The director set the show on a bare stage. No soft goods in at all - the audience could see everything - including me at my
      station stage right. That took some getting used to. The show was chock-a-block full of light cues (almost 200)- a
      challenge to tech & lots of fun to call. One night, during Paul's monologue; one of the 2 sections of the show where we
      were in the same light cue for more than a page (On headset we called this one the cigarette break cue), the house lights
      come up. No cue had been called- I instructed the board op to manually bring down the lights - I confered with my ASM stage
      left; mindful of the fact that the next page of cues was rapidly coming up - we finally figured out that the show had been
      over sold & the House Manager had allowed patrons to sit in folding seats directly below the House panic lights. The
      gentleman sitting there leaned his head against the wall; hitting the panics. I sent my ASM out to instruct the House Manager to remove the
      patrons & the folding seats from the back of the House (in addition to causing me problems - it was a violation of local
      fire code). All taken care of - NO. Of course not. During the section of the show, after Paul's injury, where the dancers
      answer the "what do you do when you can't dance anymore" (the drinks & hors
      d'oeuvres cue to us) up come the House lights again.  I was not a happy SM - I was colorfully
      vacillating from English to French to Italian  as I tried to reach the House
      Manager by telephone. She wouldn't answer - the Producer finally did pick up the lobby phone. I sent him into the House to
      guard the panics. After that, prior to every performance, I personally inspected the House before it opened and strongly
      reminded the House Managers to not seat anyone , anywhere but in a bolted to the floor House seat. 
      Oh yes, the best part of this story is that was the night the local theatre critics & my boss were in the audience. 

1169

Articles from the Old Site / Gremlins and Fairies

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by Sarah)

     

Horror! So, here I am, stage managing for A
      Midsummer Night's Dream and it is our final preview before opening. The
      house is full, and full of important people, the important kind that
      donate to needy university theatres. Well, here we are in Act IV, and the
      fairies are getting ready to do their victory dance because everything
      worked out so nicely, thank you very much. Oberon says to Titania,
      "Call Music." Of course, Titania replies, (it being her turn to
      say her line) "Music, ho!" at which point sound Q 33 is called
      (makes it easy when the line cue is “ho” which sounds so much like “go”).
      Silence. Titania and Oberon stand on stage, arms raised in expectation of
      a lilting melody moving to crescendo, but nooooo. I look at my sound guy,
      and say, "Sound Guy, make the music happen,
      where-oh-where-is-the-music-Sound-Guypleeeasseeeeoh
      pleaseohpleaseohpleasemakeitworkSoundGuy." Finally, he gets it cued
      and...it's SQ18. "Hold please," I shout out the window, to the
      audience's mixed delight and consternation. We back up a bit and try it
      again. "Music ho!" Silence. Titania drops her arms and begins to
      giggle. “Hold please.” I look again at my sound guy and say, “I will
      buy you a case of Barq’s if you get this right, right now.” Third time’s
      a charm, right? I mean we’ve been surrounded by magic and flowers of
      purple dye and all that, all night long. “Call Music.” “Music ho!”
      SQ33 goes fine, the fairies are dancing and I think we are in the home
      stretch. All of a sudden,  the mini disc player has a seizure and the
      music skips like Shirley Temple. The fairies stop mid-leap and turn to the
      booth and glare. “Hold please.” I now begin to look at my Sound Guy
      with something like pity, because the director is in the house, ready to
      blow a fuse. I use my eyes to plead, and he promises me it will work this
      time, it must be the theatre ghost, angry for our portraying his kin as
      such aristocratic boobs. “Music ho!” SQ33 goes…the fairies are
      twirling, here comes the music swell, and…YAY! IT WORKED!

      It almost made me cry.

1170

Articles from the Old Site / Um, the Curtain's Stuck.

« on: Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 am »

(submitted by Jason)

     

I was stage-managing a production of the play "Life With Father."  Its
      a very simple play with an easy set, no moving parts more importantly, and not really a massive amount of light and sound cues.  Well,
      unfortunately we were short handed tech wise, so I was also keeping a freshman light crew in order, in addition to holding a small role in the
      production. (not my idea by the way, but someone quit and the show must go on.)  So I'm calling the show off a wireless headset, running back
      and forth between backstage and the booth, all while wearing a suit I might add.  Now to the fun part.  I had just finished a scene on stage,
      and the curtain closed for a scene change. It was an easy one that the run crew could handle for themselves, so I run up to the booth to check
      on the light crew.  Well, I'm up there going over stuff with them when one of my run crew comes over the head set and says, "Umm.....The
      curtain's stuck."  

     

Well at first this didn't concern me too much because we have an older curtain track and sometimes it gets stuck and you just
      have to back it up a bit and then pull it the rest of the way.  So very irritated that they bothered me with this I tell them as much.   Well
      they tell me it didn't work.   At this point were starting to loose the audience because they've been sitting there nearly 4 minutes.  So I
      sprint downstairs to do it myself.  However it doesn't work for me either.  The curtain is open about 5 feet, but I have to figure out
      what's wrong, so I pull out my mini-mag, and look up at the track.  I can totally see the whole thing hanging off the track and all snagged 

      up. 

     

Needless to say, the curtains not going anywhere anytime soon.   But the show must go on, so I get the tallest ladder I can find, and
      proceed to perform a very big no-no by climbing to the VERY top step. 
      I barely miss it while standing on my toes.  At this point the audience is getting very restless, because they've been sitting there going on
      10 minutes, and they can see this mysterious figure on a ladder in the middle of the stage.  Knowing full well that the shows not going
      anywhere till I get the stupid thing fixed, I have my light crew bring up a full wash, and tell the audience what's going on.  I then have the
      actors come out to "entertain" until I get done.  I then proceed to put up 3 levels of full size scaffolding.  To make an already long story a
      little shorter, after 20 minutes of grappling with this mess, I finally got it in half way functioning order.  But just as a precaution, we did
      the rest of the show with the curtain open, and the audience got a full view of scene changes.

     

      Here's the best part.   After the show, very reluctant freshmen run crew member comes up to me and tells me that instead of backing the
      curtain up when it originally snagged, he just jerked REAL hard, and instead of opening more, he heard a loud POP, and that's when he called
      me.  Believe it or not he turned out to be my best crew member and is now the SM.