I hear you on the "performances not on
stage." I built a pneumatic, wireless DMX-controlled vomit machine for God of Carnage and we had SO much fun with that. I made my artistic director vomit sympathetically as I did a surprise test in my office across from hers.
There was also a time when we were doing Big Fish and we had a remote-controlled helium fish that came up out of the pit for
curtain call to swim around the
house. One night we had a
bit too much helium in it and it just slowly rose up to the
catwalk where it landed on a
Leko and the
mylar caught fire. The PM and I ran up 8 flights of stairs with fire extinguishers but it was out before we got there... which was probably good that we didn't cause a shower of powdered fire retardant to fall on the
house right audience.
A few years ago we did Fiddler in our larger black box (where I make the
pyro rules) and our Fruma-Sarah had incredible
stage fright. She took the
role because the character had a mask and felt "hidden" enough to do the
role. We put her on some big guy's shoulders and the costume was a big black, shear robe that covered to the floor. Her exit was to be buttoned with a flashpot going off. Well, during L'chaim, someone had sloshed some of their drink into the flashpot. Our stage-fright actress… expecting a flash and not getting one... panicked and passed out on the guy's shoulders, at which
point he is running around trying to balance her. To all of us, it was simultaneously hilarious and terrifying. To the audience, it just looked like Fruma-Sarah running around scaring the other characters.
Let's see... when was I in Stratford. I went every year for about 6 years, and then some before and after that span. First was probably 94, then probably every year from 96-01, then a few seasons on and off until 2012. I always came for the change-over week so I had more shows to choose from. Always stayed at either Queens Inn or Bentleys. I have been to all of the venues. Productions.... I remember Into The Woods, Guys and Dolls (Bruce Dow is a friend of a friend), one of the worst South
Pacific productions I have ever seen (I hate the show, but figured if anyone could do it justice, it would be SSF... but alas, it was during the years of a changing of the guard and it didn't grab me), As You Like It with the Barenaked Ladies scoring, Of Mice and Men with Graham Greene, Noises Off (which we just actually closed here with every show sold out) Hamlet, Macbeth, Dick the Prick (my term of endearment for Richard III), The Tempest, Othello, Glass Menagerie, Taming of the Shrew, Midsummer, King Lear.... I usually do about 10 days and do at least 6 shows. Gotta get my money's worth.