THEATRICAL CALAMITIES - Back Stage Stories: Thechnical Theater Difficulties

Technical Theater Difficulties

Calling all Techies!!!!

- I am a sudent at Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet School in Nashville, TN. This year ('98-'99) our fall production was "Guys and Dolls". I'm lighting crew chief, technical director, and an actor at school. I happened to be doing all of these for this show, along with set design, head carpenter, and properties master. I played Harry the Horse and a Havanna dancer. For those of you that don't know the show, Harry is in the end of the scene before the Havanna dance. I ran off stage, stripped, and changed. Due to set changes (and the lack of a fly space) we chose to do the Havanna scene in front of the curtain. The lights that light up the front of the curtain are placed in the balcony. One night , I'm backstage changing, and the props crew chief in formed me that she was relaying the message that the balcony lights were not working. I was forced to troubleshoot the problem. I checked breakers, and got two of the lights working (that only lit the sides), however! the center of the stage (where we danced mostly) was still unlit. I had already relayed to the follow spot operaters to spot as much as possible. I suddenly heard the music for my intro to dance. I ran across stage, slipped out of the side of the curtain and met up with my partner as she was about to do the dance alone. No one in the audience had realize what had happened. Later on in that same show, we wrote Sky Masterson gay love letters which he took up while on stage (no big deal because he didn't read them until he was off stage). The next night, Big Jule decided to write Nathan Detroit a ga love letter, however, Nathan read his onstage. I stand over Nathan's shoulder looking on. Nathan began to crack, but caught himself. I , however, couldn't rstrain myself. If it weren't for the hats used in th show, I would have completely dropped character and ruined the scene. It was, needless to say, a pretty fun show! -Brandon Hodge

-In a high school production of "How to Succeed..." last year, we were giving an open dress rehearsal in front of students. There was one final scene change that was absolute madness. The rest of us made it off okay, but when we turned to see if any of our comrades had been left behind, there was a techie named Ryan, standing in front of a bank of windows we had just flown in. When the drop blocking him from audience view began to go out, Ryan panicked, dove through one of the windows, and belly-crawled to the safety of the stage right wing. -Louisa Smith

-Manchester Universities G&S Soc (MUGSS) - The Mikado (1998). As a finalist at uni, I decided I didn't have time to remain a techie, so I went onto stage. This was a pity since the crew had a lot of fun at the chorus' expense that year. As well as having 100 odd people on stage, we flew a fibreglass helicopter down from the non-existent fly-tower (see the photos in http://www.mugss.man.ac.uk). In order to control the lateral motion of the helicopter (we wanted it to do a 180 degree turn), the crew had lines running into the wings at head height. Meanwhile the chorus (all 100 of us) ran onto stage, and for some reason we didn't notice the black lines against the dark set... particularly as the helicopter was not flown at either the tech or the dress rehearsals. We had one or two angry chorus members that first night *grin* BTW If you are curious about the use of a helicopter in "The Mikado", have a look at the website - it was unusual, but it worked very well. -Ben

-It was my senior year at Robert E. Lee High School- We were doing "Best Christmas Pageant Ever" as the kid's show, and I was basically Carpenter/Crew Chief. In the middle of the play there was a crossover scene to give the crew time to fly out the cyc and stained-glass windows (there's another story about them), roll in the manger, set a ladder behind it for the Angel of the Lord, set the steps in front of it, and clear the stage as the cyc and windows are flown back in. Which wouldn't have been so difficult, if it wasn't for the fact that in the middle of the crossover, the nurse and Mrs.---- (I forget her name- the one with the broken leg) enter the scene through a gap in the main act that opens and closes for them. Which means that we had to appear, roll the manger out, disappear for the curtain opening, then reappear and finish setting everything before the scene ends. Two separate times, techies were onstage when the curtain opened into the next scene- once, I was on my way (rather hurriedly) offstage, when I heard the main act opening. My only options were to A) make a running dive offstage, and directly into a dozen actors, or B) drop directly where I stood, behind a two-foot riser built from platforms with casters attached. I took the second, and plastered myself to the ground, hoping noone would step on me during the entrance. And there I stayed until the fire scene, where the chaos allowed me to wriggle offstage unnoticed. The second time, another crewmember- the one responsible for the ladder- had trouble setting it, and was just turning to around to go when the curtain opened. She was twenty feet away from either side of the stage, so she just sidestepped behind the pylon that formed the corner of the manger- Luckily, the manger was way upstage, and the back was hung with burlap. She was stuck there, standing behind the pylon, smack dab in the middle of the stage, until, again, the fire scene, when she ran off during the pandemonium. And from then on, you could have mistaken the stage crew for an Indianapolis 500 pit crew. And noone in the audience ever noticed anything either time. -Drew Jensen

-I was running sound and LX for a local drama school production, on very short notice, and had a truly hideous set of cues. In the play, a UFO was meant to appear (signified by a lighting change with accompanying noises) and then an ethereal voice would speak 'words of wisdom'. The problem was that I had to acheive this with two cassettes, one of noise, one of voice, with only a single twin deck cassette machine. (Did I mention that this was the first piece after interval?) So the sequence goes like this: Q LX (UFO landing) + SFX (Noise)fade out SFX Q crossfafe LX (to beam of light) + play SFX (Voice)fade out SFX + change to normal LX state Problem was, I had neglected to change the tape of background music that was playing during interval for the 'UFO voice' tape, something that was rapidly noticed by cast and audience, as they were treated to the UFO playing Miles Davis at a rather high volume. The cast onstage looked liked stunned mullets, the audience merely looked confused, and all that could be heard over the headsets was hysterical laughter from the rest of the crew...-Sean James

-Okay so during this years Spring Production of "Fools" there were many an interesting thing. First of all during a rehersal (one that was being tapped mind you) The person playing Leon had to read a letter, well the letter was replaced with a very funny note. he could not contain his laughter, and then in the very same seen the actress playing Sophia, had her skirt fall down. Lets see then during a perfomance I (yes I did this one) accidentally tore a door of its hinge, so there I am standing there wit hthis door, well I put it back, went throught the house and backstage telling evryone the door was broken. We also had half the cast fall into the audience, okay during the wedding seen, when Leon gets the letter were all supose to run the the front of the stage, well the stage got kinda slipery and we almost all fell into the front row. We also had fun with a rubber chicken used by the butcher. Oh and during one the rehearsal when were all suppose t fall down, well we fell all right-on top of each other I had someone land on my leg, I was in such pain. I also hit my head on one of the falls, and during a show someones pants fell down. One thing to note. It always seems that disaster incures when we are filming. There are many other story I can share of other shows and the chaos that went on. Let me just say to all the non theatre people and the theatre people- Theatre is NEVER boring (well at least with us)-Thespis

-It was my sophmore year at Hewitt Trussville High School and we did "Little Shop of Horrors". I was assistant stage manager, I worked the clock, was general gopher and grip. Our Audrey had just come offstage after her talkwith Seymour about killing the plant. When she exits she is wearing a rain slicker and a 60's style dress. Well Jessica exits stage right and has to do a mega ultra fast quick change into a small nightie right in the wings. The dress's zipper got stuck and they could not get the dress off of her so they had to just rip the dress off of her and she threw on the nightie. Thank god the dress was hers and it was closing night so she didn't have to wear it again. -Angela Baker

-My first production with the Renton Players was "Romeo and Juliet" in 1995. Because I had a small part, I was assigned to be the dresser for the leads. Romeo's last change was right before his funeral. Because of the timing, we had to do it onstage during a blackout while the tomb set was being moved off. One night, the techies moving the set weren't watching where they were going and ran into us. It took us a few extra seconds to finish the change, but the stage manager didn't see what happened and called lights up. I was almost to my place, but I was still holding onto Romeo's costume. Romeo, on the other hand, was a few steps away from his funeral bier. While everyone was laughing at Romeo's resurrection, I stuffed his costume down my dress. The director still uses this as her warning about the importance of communication. -Britt Boyd

-WEST SIDE STORY, Pierre-Mercure Theatre, Montréal, Québec, CANADA April 4, 5, 1997, It all started as I being a actor/singer. But when a month prior to the show, the project director (we'll call her Bonzo) asked me to do the sets, I laugh and cried at the same time. "What? Didn't you have a whole crew supposed to be working on it since september (6 months before the call)" "Yes, but they did nothing." "You're our only hope", did Bonze said, not convincing at all, but nonetheless desperate. "OK. I'll do them." GOSH! A month of rush, with a 400$ budget (originally 200$) and... I'll spare you the details. And I also had to give more than a hand at stage directing, program design, photography, actors direction and, yes, my role! Finally, the show was average. But don't ever accept to build sets for a musical a month prior to the premiere with a 400$ budget. Just quit. Titanic might sink, but you won't be on it., -Vaixe

-I directed a small production of "Measure for Measure" in Austin, Texas, back in 1994 or so. After weeks of small houses and good reviews, we finally had our first full house - on closing night. We were playing in a small caberet space downtown, and, unkown to us, a music festival was scheduled for the same day. I arrived at the theatre to find a band setting up directly outside of the theatre. My stage manager asked their manager when the set would end. He told her approx. 7:30-8:30 pm. Well, 8:30 rolls around, the band is still blasting, and we have SRO and Austin's biggest reviewer in attendance (again). So we start the show, praying that the musice will stop. Did I mention that this was a conjunto band?(electric Mexican music, guitars, bass, drums, and ACCORDION!) So it's the middle of Act 2, the caracters are deep in the bowels of the prison system, and we hear the band announce their last song. My Girl by the Four Tops. In Spanish. With an ACCORDION! The reviewer called it, " the most surreal theatrical experience of my life.",
Andy Johnson

-Whilst performing "Fiddler on the Roof" in Succasunna, NJ in 1996, each night of the show seemed to be plagued with one problem or another. On the second to last night, our main curtain got stuck, halfway open, halfway closed right before the "Chavaleh" and "Anatevka" scenes. Our conductor didn't know this, and only vamped the scene change twice, he stopped the musicians, and the scene HAD to begin. Our Tevye and Golde simply walked in front of the half opened curtain to do the "Chava is Gone!" dialogue, even though the house could not be seen by the audience. Tevye was then supposed to go sit on a milkcan and sing "Chavaleh", while a ballet was being performed. Well, he had no place to sit, so he just stood there, and the dancers just 'squished' together in the half-open curtain. The curtain could not be fixed while the dancers were out there, so the whole scene was played. The lights dimmed, and the next scene started (curtain half-open). This is the 'Anatevka' scene, where the whole town comes on and sings. Our stage manager brought out the hydraulic lift and fixed the curtain during the dialogue (the lift was hidden behind the broken curtain and the orchestra and singing hid the sound). He dropped himself down, wheeled his lift off stage, and slowly opened the curtain. The townspeople, in the middle of the song, noticed the curtain was opening and slowly walked to their correct places on the stage. Some people in the audience NEVER KNEW! (Some did...)-Ken Elpus

-I was in a Performance of South Pacific during which the lead Nellie had to change into her bathrobe in the middle of a scene. Since she had difficulty having the mike go with her, she asked if she could borrow my mike for the scene and just have it pre- attached to the robe. We informed the crew, and pulled the switch. Yet when she tried this, she found trying to put on the pre-miked robe more trouble then it was worth. The next evening when I handed her the mike, she handed it back, telling me she'd just go back to the old way. So during that scene I was upstairs in on of the dressing rooms, telling pretty nasty jokes with my friends and fellow thespians. After one particularly perverted jokes, I went to threated my friend. "Pat, Pat, come here!" I said laughing. The I stopped. "Did that sound funny to any of you?" It turned out that noone had informed the crew that we would not be pulling the switch, and they had put on my microphone at that instant. Lucky it wasn't an instant earlier, or the audience would have gotten an earful of something not appropriate for children!
-Laura Therese Keuling