CALLING: Stop The Show!

[thehayworth]

You can never tell which way gel frames are going to go.  They can drop straight down ... or sail off in any direction.

[TheaterTek]

Thanks for the input, I thought I was right on this one. It's possible he didn't think it was a severe issue because in this theater the lights are only about 5 feet overhead, but it still bothered me that he wouldn't let me stop rehearsal.

[musicalssm]

Well, I actually have a couple of comments to add to this thread after this week.  On the gel frame, it was interesting that after discussing this issue here we discovered a dangerous gel at the show Thursday.  The light op and myself went to change a burnt lamp and discovered that an instrument at one of the entries was hung upside down.  The gel frame fell as I took it from her.  Fortunately no injuries occured and we re-hung the instrument correctly.  It was rather frightening to think that the designer had made that large of a mistake.  Her thought is that he left the light from the previous show.  I don't know the background of the other show's tech crew and it is community theatre so who knows.  I will have to pay more attention to these things in the future.

On stopping the show...I had my first close call Sat. night.  Intermission was doubled in length and then the show was able to continue.  When we brought the lights up one of the elderly ladies didn't get up or respond.  Her family was sitting next to her.  We had to RN's check on the situation (the director and house manager, incidentally) and called 911.  It appeared she had a stroke or heart attack during the final scene of Act I.  She was able to open her eyes and move her fingers a little when the paramedics arrived.  After they were able to get her on a stretcher and rolled out to the ambulance we gave everyone an extra five minutes to use the restrooms before proceeding with the performance.  I doubt I will ever forget the site of paramedics on our castle set.  Since it was theatre in the round and the only access to the seat was across the stage it was an interesting circumstance.  That is the closest I've come to having to stop a show entirely.  There was some discussion as to whether we would continue or not and I felt it was important that we go on even though we had lost a large portion of our audience and shaken the rest a little bit.  The actors did a great job maintaining their composure and everyone enjoyed the show.

musicalssm

[cuelight]

I've, thankfully, never had to stop a show. I've been involved in one that was postponed during my followspot days. A pigeon flew into the Grand Circle through the fire doors (God knows why they were left open) and we had to delay the show for an hour and half while we tried to get it out. It was a matinee and our shows ended up being back to back. Needless to say, we lost about 30% of our audience and the company and stage manager were not impressed.

[Rosemary]

I have never had to stop a show - but I have a question regarding the topic.  Does everyone talk through with their cast what to do in case the show must stop for some reason? 

I've thought about this before but I'm not sure how other people handle it.

[Mac Calder]

As a general rule, no. A lot depends on the venue and how it is managed as to what you cover in your H&S walk through.

I cover evacuation procedures and what to do in emergency situations, however there are far too many variables in "What to do when the show stops" for it to be taught to the cast. The last show stop I did I made an announcement along the lines of:

"Attention ladies and gentlemen. Unfortunately we are forced to stop the show momentarily for the safety of our actors. Please remain seated until further notice. Cast and Crew, please leave the stage via Stage Left and report to the warm up room. Ladies and Gentlemen, once again we apologise for this interruption, and hope to resume the show in five minutes." - that announcement was because the flyman had noticed one of the fly lines had come unclipped from a backdrop in the right hand corner, and had the second line broken, or come disconnected, the backdrop would have hit someone on the head.

Managing things like that is usually a 'seat of the pants' thing. You make the decision, good or bad, and provide instructions on the fly. There is no formula that you can teach to the cast.

[smsam]

Ditto what Mac said... There are too many variables of what can happen to practice Show Stops with the company. Depending on what type of theatre it is you can normally bring in the tabs and deal with the actors in privacy behind them but if this is not possible (studio theatre situation) my preferred method is to send and ASM onto the stage and just ask the company to clear to their dressing rooms! In some west-end shows Show Stops happen a few times each month (lion king and chitty were the big Culprits !) this is normally because of Automation!! When automation is involved however Casts normally have rehearsed what to do when the tabs fall because it could prove dangerous if they didn't. Normally (depending on the state of automation) this just involves clearing the stage!!

I would then do a relay announcement backstage along the lines of "Ladies and Gentlemen of the "Name of Show" Company. This evenings performance has been temporarily suspended due to [problem here - might be watered down a bit if necessary e.g. a technical problem!  ]. [Any Special Instructions e.g. Stay in your dressing rooms until further notice]

My FOH announcement would be something like "Ladies and Gentlemen it has become necessary to temporarily suspend this evenings performance. Thank You for your patience and we will return to the performance as soon as possible. Thank You".

Sam x

[kokobear]

I've had to stop shows on several different occasions.

Once, a pre-teen actress passed out and fell from an 8' platform, just seconds from the final cues.  She broke both of her jaws, which of course necessitated calling an ambulance and her parents.  I immediately called for God Mic and said "Ladies and gentlemen, we now pause for a brief unscheduled intermission" before I tore out of the booth to attend to her.  (As a side note, one of my Artistic Directors was actually running lights that night, but wouldn't address the audience, he left it up to me to figure out what to say!)

Then there was the time when a stage tech missed his spike and the gigantic turntable missed it's pivot and wedged itself against the proscenuim.  This would be Opening Night of the biggest contract that I've ever worked under!  Once again, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we will now pause for a brief, unscheduled, intermission!"  This time, since it was opening night, everyone who built it was in the audience, and throughout the house (astonishingly like a pack of Whack-A-Moles) techies began to pop out of their seats and wander backstage.  There was a little hemming-and-hawing before we reset and got going again.  (This story gets a lot more detailed and funnier when I tell it in person )

Most recently, in the first act of the last show I SM'ed, power went out throughout downtown.  I ran over to the tech booth (where the window slides open), and announced "Ladies and Gentlemen, we obviously have had a power outage.  Please remain seated as we try to determine the extent of the problem.  Crew, please escort the actors offstage with flashlights."  I then went out to the lobby to check with House Management, who had already called Com Ed, and saw that the lights were out to the entire area.  I then went back in and announced the postponement of the show, and had the ushers begin escorting the audience out with flashlights.  We ended up cancelling that performance, and the lights came back on an hour after we cancelled the second show of our twinight doubleheader.

Stopping a show is not a fun thing, but like any other crisis, it can be handled well, or panic can ensue.  The trick is to keep a level head, as is the key to Stage Management!

[carebear3885q]

We didn't have to stop the show because it was just as the performers were bowing. It was a children's show so there was SOO many kids. One of them escaped the house and went into the lobby and pulled the firealarm. We had to evacuate the theatre not knowing what happened for so long. It was pretty frustrating.

[Theatre Rogue]

I thankfully have never had to stop a show. However the last show I was the PSM for was "The Fourth Wall". As I went to start the show the monitors in the light booth went out, so I couldn't hear anything. So I went and daisy chained my headset off from my sound booth opps in the sound booth (becasue their window stays open so they can hear), only to have the head sets short out too! I ended up standing in the back of the sound booth listening out of the window and calling the entire show off from walkie talkies! Not the way I prefer to start a show, that's for sure.

[cuelight]

Riding slightly on this topic.

Since my last post I've had to stop a show (for the first, and most certainly not the last in my career). Now this issue was slightly bizarre of sorts. I was stage managing on the West End Fringe. Which basically meant that I was company stage manager but I also dealt with DSM duties and I ran an ASM plot every night (with another ASM backstage). On this particular night I had given a call for two of my actors to standby for their entrance (I had to do this in person due to the nature of the venue) - and I was then sidetracked by a large H&S issue. The green room and dressing rooms were starting to flood - long story for another post.

The long short of it is this. While I was downstairs performing my stage management duties of health and safety, the two actors whom I called to standby had gotten into place. Unfortunatly they had missed their entrance cue and my lx/sound operator (who also operated cue lights) had already taken the cue light off green. After a timed two minutes of "waiting acting" one of my actors stopped the show, apologized to the audience and then crossed stage to find the two actors waiting.

The show resumed and I wasn't informed of any of this until I returned to the backstage area (my ASM and I had no radios or other form of communication). I was later chewed out by the producers for a show stop and was told that my place should have been backstage at all times to deal with that situation. But I had no idea it was going on. On the other hand, during this show stop I was dealing with a potential flood (which did eventually happen) and discussing with the theatre manager where I could move my casts' dressing rooms and ensure that everything wouldn't be destroyed.

Any thoughts? Any way that you think I could have dealt with the situation better?

[smejs]

Any thoughts? Any way that you think I could have dealt with the situation better?

My first response is "what was the other ASM doing?"  If the answer is "helping deal with the flood", that's probably not good.  At least one person should've been still on deck if the show was going on.  And if the person was AWAKE, even with no headset communication, one would think that person would've figured out that the "dramatic pause" was for the uncued entrance, and either crossed around backstage to push the 2 onstage, or made frantic hand gestures, etc from the other side.

This is one reason I don't like opera (though you didn't say it was), in that I feel an actor ultimately should be responsible for their own entrance.  Yes, there are things for cueing, etc, and safety, but come on, after 2 minutes they couldn't figure it out?  My bias - you true opera SMs can feel free to bash away...

Also, seems the theatre manager could've come joined you near the stage, so you could've multitasked THERE.  I've certainly had my share of "important" conversations in the booth while calling a show, during the more down moments.  And the person understands you stop to call a cue, then return to the conversation.  If the show IS still going on, you do have a duty there.  You can just try to find a way to multitask - or cover your own ass on your cues.

Erin

[smejs]

Also, unclear...were the actors going off a cue light?  (You mentioned the board op was running one.)  On the cases when I don't have an ASM near a cue light and I don't see whatever I expected to happen on the cue light, I tend to flash it several times on and off - hopefully the strobe light effect catches the eye of whoever was supposed to have gone, and then they go....late...(This is in shows where there aren't a ton of cuelights in a row of course.)  I've also used it as a signal to ASMs who've gone off headset in a non-wireless house to come back to headset to talk to me (like, "he threw the flower WAY downstage left, can you get it during the next shift?")...and we set that up as a form of communication from the beginning.  Kinda like the "call" button on a headset.

Erin

[cuelight]

Erin -
In response to your question. The other ASM was putting away props from that scene change. I also wasn't calling the show (which I realize I made unclear in my  original post - when I said DSM duties what I should have said was DSM duties apart from calling the show - again, due to the nature of the venue - and the fact that I had no comms system). I also didn't have a clear view of the stage where I was all the time - again, because of the venue (which in hindsight is a pretty crap space).

The theatre in question that I was working in was a small studio venue (90 seater) which two exits on either side of the stage. The acoustics backstage were terrible in addition to the fact that there's a larger theatre venue back to back with ours. It's a unique theatre in the fact that there's two playing spaces (main stage and studio 2, the latter being where I was). The other unique thing was that my backstage space was also doubled as their crossover to enter and exit from their vomitory entrance. My only clear view of the stage and what was going on was through the little window in the door of the audience entrance which was only accessible to me if I went all the way around the theatre - through FOH (Imagine a box. The top right hand corner was my main backstage area, the bottom right hand corner was where the audience entered - the only way to get there was to go all the way around the top and then go down and along the bottom of the box. There was no other way)

I do, however, fully agree with you on the actors taking their own entrances and realizing that something was happening when there was 2 minutes of silence. They wouldn't have seen any of the "waiting" acting going on though as the entrances/exits were solid wood doors (with a soundproof seal on them, part of the theatre and it's design - God knows why).

You're right in that I should have moved my meeting closer to the stage. It'd have made life easier.

[Mac Calder]

It is a difficult situation really.

The "Should I have stayed to clean it up" situation I believe has two factors:

Was anyone else available - ie FOH staff or free actors? If so, could you have safely handed them the job of cleaning it up?

Could the area in question be issolated from cast/crew safely? (ie was there risk of electrical shorting due to water down there) - if so, would it have been possible to do a quick walk through and make sure everything is out of harms way, and just closed off the area? Would that have been feasable?

The "Should the Producer have the right to berate me" part:

No. OH&S is one of the most important parts of theatre, and water can do a surprising amount of damage - especially combined with electricity (Most theatres I have been to have had their main power distro as well as the dimmers/patch bay down stairs - so during flooding, electrical dangers are an extreme risk). My gut response would have been to tell him/her/it/them/... that you would have been well within your right to call a stop to the entire show, and if you feel that you need to halt a show for safety reasons, you will. The actors momentarily pausing and disrupting the show for a couple of minutes is not cause for major alarm, and I highly doubt there were any complaints.

Also - it makes one wonder about two things:

When the LX op, who I would assume had a decent view of the stage, noticed the actors did not enter, why did he/she not re-cue them?

And B:

Should the actors not know the show well enough to know that the amount of time they were standing there was not normal?

Wrote this last night, got distracted by a phone call and forgot to hit post, so I realise some points are answered now