Best show stop I saw (i.e. not working there) was back in the 80's, the premiere show for a new playhouse, maybe 200 seats. We went to see "Dracula" on, of all things, a dark and stormy night. About half way through act two, a bolt of lightning and crack of thunder, and all the power goes out. No emergency lights, and no cell phones. So we waited while house staff came out with flashlights. The actor playing Van Helsing sat on a stool at center stage and regaled the audience with some of the best theater stories I've ever heard while cast and crew were frantically lighting every candle and oil lamp they could find. In about 15 minutes the stage was surrounded by a bunch of open flame candles and lamps (yeah, real safe), and the cast picked up where they left off. It was absolutely amazing to see the rest of the show by candlelight. Five minutes before the end of the play, the power came back on. The entire audience began shouting to shut it off and finish by candlelight, which they did. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Show Stop Stories
- Thread startercdiamondz
- Start date
kiwitechgirl
Well-Known Member
I've been the cause of one - I was running floor LX on Les Mis and my smoke machine had got a bit clogged up, so I took it OUTSIDE, turned it up to full blast and ran it for a minute or so to try and clear the clog out. Next thing I know, the fire alarm goes off, doors open and everyone starts pouring out of the theatre. Turns out the smoke had managed to drift through a crack in the wall into a room where there was a non-isolated smoke detector.
We had a stop on a student production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying when a piece of bracing on the set came loose; unfortunately it was on a wall which was built on the revolve, and when the revolve turned (manual not automated), the loose bracing caught a fixed set wall and pulled the whole thing down on the revolve operator's head. Tabs in, crew swarm the stage to put the wall back up, revolve operator was fine, and after an unscheduled ten-minute interval we kept going!
I've had a couple of shows stop for fire alarms which have turned out to be false alarms (we had two in a week, turned out to be a faulty detector), one where it was delayed due to a bomb threat in a neighbouring building, and one delayed start because the AC had gone out earlier that day, it was the height of summer and although the AC had been fixed we needed to get the theatre back down to a workable temperature before starting the show.
Working in opera now; we've had more stops than I care to remember when revolves don't behave (controller reboots usually fix); this is an occupational hazard when you're working in rep and putting revolves in and out daily. The best days are when you have a matinee and an evening performance of two different shows, each has a revolve - and it's not the same revolve. We also had one show with a ring-and-disc revolve which we ended up doing semi in concert one night when the disc completely refused to move at all, no matter what the mechs did. Started that one an hour late on what was a 3 hour show anyway...that was a long night.
On one memorable production (no revolve!) which has since been removed from our repertoire, we had two stops within three minutes; the set had a wall stretching from wing to wing, then walls at 90 degrees to that which slid across to create different "rooms". It was not reliable in any way, shape or form and the sliding walls jammed frequently, needing a strategic boot or two to sort them out. No surprise we haven't done that one again.
We had a stop on a student production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying when a piece of bracing on the set came loose; unfortunately it was on a wall which was built on the revolve, and when the revolve turned (manual not automated), the loose bracing caught a fixed set wall and pulled the whole thing down on the revolve operator's head. Tabs in, crew swarm the stage to put the wall back up, revolve operator was fine, and after an unscheduled ten-minute interval we kept going!
I've had a couple of shows stop for fire alarms which have turned out to be false alarms (we had two in a week, turned out to be a faulty detector), one where it was delayed due to a bomb threat in a neighbouring building, and one delayed start because the AC had gone out earlier that day, it was the height of summer and although the AC had been fixed we needed to get the theatre back down to a workable temperature before starting the show.
Working in opera now; we've had more stops than I care to remember when revolves don't behave (controller reboots usually fix); this is an occupational hazard when you're working in rep and putting revolves in and out daily. The best days are when you have a matinee and an evening performance of two different shows, each has a revolve - and it's not the same revolve. We also had one show with a ring-and-disc revolve which we ended up doing semi in concert one night when the disc completely refused to move at all, no matter what the mechs did. Started that one an hour late on what was a 3 hour show anyway...that was a long night.
On one memorable production (no revolve!) which has since been removed from our repertoire, we had two stops within three minutes; the set had a wall stretching from wing to wing, then walls at 90 degrees to that which slid across to create different "rooms". It was not reliable in any way, shape or form and the sliding walls jammed frequently, needing a strategic boot or two to sort them out. No surprise we haven't done that one again.
(If a mod feels like this thread is pin-able content it's totally cool with me.) I have an almost stop story, although it is pretty lame to be honest. During a scene change a heavy scenic element fell over as it was being moved almost breaking 4 feet (2 techs were moving it). ASM called for a longer-than-normal scene change as well as more light and rounded up some techs to carry the scenic element off quickly and safely. Said piece was redesigned for better stability. As for the techs with almost broken-feet: they were carried into the back and ended up driving them to the local urgent care to get their feet x-rayed to check for any fracture. They were all fine and dandy.
EDIT: Minor grammar.
EDIT: Minor grammar.
Last edited:
bobgaggle
Well-Known Member
Not my story, but I knew a guy who was in a production of cuckoos nest. Small studio space. Apparently the performance was so convincing that an audience member (who we found out later, suffered from metal health issues) got up from her seat and ran onstage to try to convince the actors to not take the drugs. They tried to act around her as a house guy urged her offstage, but she kept getting more and more upset until the guy playing chief broke character and walked her backstage where she was calmed down...
mikefellh
Active Member
Gee, worst I ever had in 15 years was a brownout...it was long enough to shutdown the digital projector, computer, and booth worklights, but since the power came back on almost immediately the emergency lights never came on...but both me and the audience was left in the dark until I figured out what happened which took me about 30 seconds and switch on the houselights (never leave the audience in the dark)...an eternity.
After that the Board had a long discussion about getting a UPS, but considering the amount of current the projector and computer used (more than 10amps) which would mean a large UPS, and the fact that was only the first time it happened it didn't make sense...could go for years before we had another brownout during a show.
After that the Board had a long discussion about getting a UPS, but considering the amount of current the projector and computer used (more than 10amps) which would mean a large UPS, and the fact that was only the first time it happened it didn't make sense...could go for years before we had another brownout during a show.
Mercedes
Member
Oh I've got a good one too.
Two years ago, I was SM'ing a production of Shrek. Tech for that show was a bit rough, but we got through it. About halfway through the run, our Shrek decided to "jump" off of a raked stage (AEA rake with a step) to the main deck right at the top of "Big Bright Beautiful World" (this is the first major song in the show). He landed funny, and managed to completely destroy his kneecap. He fell to the stage, whimpering. I had to smack my Sound Engineer to kill his mic, I brought up houselights, and my Deck Manager ran onto stage. Thank goodness that we happened to have a General Practitioner, An ER nurse and a trauma surgeon in the house that night. They instantly popped up and ran to the stage. My HM called the EMTs, and we held the show. I suggested all the fairytale characters go out to the lobby and take pictures with all the kids who just saw that happen onstage (that was super scary to see-I made a house announcement so that the parents knew we were doing that). Shrek's Understudy was pulled, we got him into the second set of prosthetics and most of the costume (the EMTs had to cut our Shrek out of his pants) and our Donkey and Fiona went back into the dressing room and ran lines with him until he was ready. We held for about 45 minutes, but in the end we restarted and our Understudy got a standing ovation when he came on, and during bows.
Our original lead was out of commission for almost a year while he had surgery and a ton of PT to get him back in shape.
(Note: I couldn't bring the grand in because he was laying right underneath the line)
Two years ago, I was SM'ing a production of Shrek. Tech for that show was a bit rough, but we got through it. About halfway through the run, our Shrek decided to "jump" off of a raked stage (AEA rake with a step) to the main deck right at the top of "Big Bright Beautiful World" (this is the first major song in the show). He landed funny, and managed to completely destroy his kneecap. He fell to the stage, whimpering. I had to smack my Sound Engineer to kill his mic, I brought up houselights, and my Deck Manager ran onto stage. Thank goodness that we happened to have a General Practitioner, An ER nurse and a trauma surgeon in the house that night. They instantly popped up and ran to the stage. My HM called the EMTs, and we held the show. I suggested all the fairytale characters go out to the lobby and take pictures with all the kids who just saw that happen onstage (that was super scary to see-I made a house announcement so that the parents knew we were doing that). Shrek's Understudy was pulled, we got him into the second set of prosthetics and most of the costume (the EMTs had to cut our Shrek out of his pants) and our Donkey and Fiona went back into the dressing room and ran lines with him until he was ready. We held for about 45 minutes, but in the end we restarted and our Understudy got a standing ovation when he came on, and during bows.
Our original lead was out of commission for almost a year while he had surgery and a ton of PT to get him back in shape.
(Note: I couldn't bring the grand in because he was laying right underneath the line)
Dionysus
Well-Known Member
I've got a few show stop stories from my years...
The first was not a show I was working on, but I was there and remember it well. My highschool was doing Wizard of Oz (before I really got involved much) and one night a huge storm rolled in during the show.
The show was stopped due to a Tornado Advisory/Warning and Severe Weather/Storm (no where near Tornado country), The entire audience was ushered to the centre of the school where a lack of windows and such was. At first many of them thought it was a gimmick or joke. It was not, as before long their feet were wet and the power went out. Thankfully a tornado never touched down anywhere near. But the storm was certainly bad enough...
I'll save the rest for later. Work to be done.
The first was not a show I was working on, but I was there and remember it well. My highschool was doing Wizard of Oz (before I really got involved much) and one night a huge storm rolled in during the show.
The show was stopped due to a Tornado Advisory/Warning and Severe Weather/Storm (no where near Tornado country), The entire audience was ushered to the centre of the school where a lack of windows and such was. At first many of them thought it was a gimmick or joke. It was not, as before long their feet were wet and the power went out. Thankfully a tornado never touched down anywhere near. But the storm was certainly bad enough...
I'll save the rest for later. Work to be done.
Chase P.
Well-Known Member
Oh gosh, so many.
-Power outages in summer stock, always a wait for the board to reset and the board op and SM to get back to the proper cue.
-Poorly executed pyro (no direct line of site from operator to flashpot), dancer left doll prop on top of the flashpot itself, small fire upstage center during the party scene of the Nutcracker. A dancer playing a maid actually patted the flames out with her bare hands. By some miracle, no show stop required. Pyro practices were completely overhauled (duh).
-Main curtain removed for a production (very large curtain, used to be on the splash page of Rose Brand's website). Re-hung with white sash cord instead of the rated stuff to operate in opera tabs mode. Worked fine for a couple months, then failed during the top of Act II of the Nutcracker. Almost took out a bunch of little kids on stage when half the drape billowed in at speed. I had to sprint up 40' of spiral stairs to a pin rail to un-rig the thing so the show could resume.
-Had a dance captain/actor who was diabetic. Would regularly throw off his diet (he didn't take insulin) the night before by drinking, then black out on stage (still moving, just visibly not ok, kinda zombie like). I'd get sent out on stage during dance numbers to grab him and drag him to the green room to restore his blood sugar levels. Only one show actually stopped from that.
-National tour of Fiddler on the Roof, I was the most expendable stagehand at the top of Act II. For some reason, that was when elderly audience members always had their cardiac events. Probably the combination of sitting for a long time during the first act, then moving at intermission. Totally not because of the boring start to Act II. I would be sent out to the house on watch to let the SM know when the EMTs had cleared the room with the patient. Pretty sure I've witnessed several deaths.
-Power outages in summer stock, always a wait for the board to reset and the board op and SM to get back to the proper cue.
-Poorly executed pyro (no direct line of site from operator to flashpot), dancer left doll prop on top of the flashpot itself, small fire upstage center during the party scene of the Nutcracker. A dancer playing a maid actually patted the flames out with her bare hands. By some miracle, no show stop required. Pyro practices were completely overhauled (duh).
-Main curtain removed for a production (very large curtain, used to be on the splash page of Rose Brand's website). Re-hung with white sash cord instead of the rated stuff to operate in opera tabs mode. Worked fine for a couple months, then failed during the top of Act II of the Nutcracker. Almost took out a bunch of little kids on stage when half the drape billowed in at speed. I had to sprint up 40' of spiral stairs to a pin rail to un-rig the thing so the show could resume.
-Had a dance captain/actor who was diabetic. Would regularly throw off his diet (he didn't take insulin) the night before by drinking, then black out on stage (still moving, just visibly not ok, kinda zombie like). I'd get sent out on stage during dance numbers to grab him and drag him to the green room to restore his blood sugar levels. Only one show actually stopped from that.
-National tour of Fiddler on the Roof, I was the most expendable stagehand at the top of Act II. For some reason, that was when elderly audience members always had their cardiac events. Probably the combination of sitting for a long time during the first act, then moving at intermission. Totally not because of the boring start to Act II. I would be sent out to the house on watch to let the SM know when the EMTs had cleared the room with the patient. Pretty sure I've witnessed several deaths.
@Chase P. Which venue? I had nothing but great times with great IA people while in an old, dual-balconied, opera house next to the park where not even the police venture after dark. The venue's crew, along with staff and crew at the SF Opera, took absolutely spectacular care of my wife and I while our tour of "The Buddy Holly Story" was there for a full month in 1990, the year after a major quake. Great town. Great people. Fabulous, freshly caught, sea food and GREAT memories. [And then there's that 8 story shoe store in the heart of downtown with 16 CURVED escalators to take up all the way from street level to the 8th floor. [I can't speak for Tony Bennett but that shoe store is where my wife 'left her heart']
Thanks for the memories!
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
Not exactly a show stop story, but I think it's worth a share. Here we go......
My old high school theater had a break-in years back and the culprit decided to sneak into the light booth and proceeded to piss all over our light board and backup sound board. The booth had to be serialized and everything. We had to delay an upcoming show while they cleaned up. The silver lining was that we got huge upgrade from a grant to replace the board. Although to this day, the backup sound board is still being used with the auditorium projectors.
(And they never caught the culprit)
My old high school theater had a break-in years back and the culprit decided to sneak into the light booth and proceeded to piss all over our light board and backup sound board. The booth had to be serialized and everything. We had to delay an upcoming show while they cleaned up. The silver lining was that we got huge upgrade from a grant to replace the board. Although to this day, the backup sound board is still being used with the auditorium projectors.
(And they never caught the culprit)
Stevens R. Miller
Well-Known Member
So, if I want a better board, all I have to do is...
@Stevens R. Miller Urinate is possibly the word you're looking for but defecating or expectorating may work as well depending upon how far up scale you're hoping to jump. Do PLEASE keep us up to date on your progress and findings.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
Harlem Blues and Jazz Band concert at a venue in Mamaronack, NY, late 70’s. Invited singer is this older women, stage name of Princess White. She goes out on stage, belts out a few numbers, goes off stage right, sits into a chair and keels over dead, heart attack.
I’m the only tech person in the space, in the light and sound booth at rear audience. I notice the slack in the music as the band members are all looking off to the wing, finally one of them asks “Is there a doctor in the house ?”. That got my attention and I beelined it out the rear door and around to SR. EMS shows up but cannot get the stretcher backstage. She’s a huge women and we have to carry her thru the narrow backstage hallway to the lobby, where they get her to the ambulance.
My memory is the show never stopped, probably should have though, except the only person able to make the call was me and I was busy moving the lady to the lobby and in any event was all of 22 at the time so had no clue what to do.
I’m the only tech person in the space, in the light and sound booth at rear audience. I notice the slack in the music as the band members are all looking off to the wing, finally one of them asks “Is there a doctor in the house ?”. That got my attention and I beelined it out the rear door and around to SR. EMS shows up but cannot get the stretcher backstage. She’s a huge women and we have to carry her thru the narrow backstage hallway to the lobby, where they get her to the ambulance.
My memory is the show never stopped, probably should have though, except the only person able to make the call was me and I was busy moving the lady to the lobby and in any event was all of 22 at the time so had no clue what to do.
Stevens R. Miller
Well-Known Member
Dude, that's the show-stopper that proves there is no show-stopper. It must go on. Yours did. She was in it.
Sounds to me like you did alright.
This isn’t a true show-stop since it occurred during a final dress rehearsal...but it’s a good story anyway. It was actually the very first musical I ever worked on, waaay back in high school. We were performing Little Shop of Horrors and the actor playing Orin (the dentist) was to make his entrance on a real motorcycle. He was supposed to start it and coast onstage in neutral. He didn’t. Instead, he came flying onstage in gear and largely out of control. He put the front wheel into the 10’ deep orchestra pit, complete with dozens of high school students and somehow, thanks to everyone jumping in to stop the actor and bike from falling in, disaster was narrowly averted.
The show was stopped for a good half hour while actors stopped panicking and while the gasoline from the cracked gas tank was cleaned up. Good times.
Edit: oops I didn’t realize this thread was as old as it was. Oh well, I enjoyed reading the stories and maybe people will post more.
The show was stopped for a good half hour while actors stopped panicking and while the gasoline from the cracked gas tank was cleaned up. Good times.
Edit: oops I didn’t realize this thread was as old as it was. Oh well, I enjoyed reading the stories and maybe people will post more.
DeenT
Active Member
Not a show stop, but a rehearsal stop. Our resident theatre company was rehearsing a musical and they had an antique car with an electric motor. Director didn't like it simply coming onto stage, stopping for dialogue, then exiting the other side of stage. The SM hopped in to help find the best way to bring it in, turn towards the audience, back up, then exit the stage. After finding a suitable route, the SM tried it in full. As I'm watching from the booth, I see the SM hop from the car as it continues into the pit (we had a small orchestra for this show). Many actors rushed from the wings to grab onto the car as it hung on the front of the stage. At the time, I was on crutches for a severe ankle sprain. I leapt up and rushed to the stage. The front of the car was inches away from the conductor's face. Our synth player was luckily absent that night or he would've gotten hit by the car. Luckily we were able to pull it back onto stage, the car had very minimal damage and the front of the stage was later replaced. For a few minutes, I forgot that my foot was even in excruciating pain.
Ancient Engineer
Well-Known Member
Two quick ones in here...
1. While doing a comedy murder mystery musical at the local black box, the male protagonist is involved in a multi-car accident on the way to the theater. He had to be extracted with the jaws of life. Now, nothing broken, but this kid is bleeding from everywhere. He self-exits the gurney and RUNS to the theater and makes call. (!) Covered in blood the SM says that they will cancel the show. Dood says "get me a box of band-aids and some tampons and gaff tape, this show is going on" and he heads for the dressing room. Bandages applied, the show starts... At intermission the SM stops by to check on the kid and his dressing room looks like the worst kind of horror movie. Covered in blood, just...eeew. Anyways he somehow convinces the SM to start act two. One scene into act two, dood exits the scene and collapses. Not revivable, the squad is called and I get to announce that the show has been cancelled because of this guy and the accident and all that. The paramedics come down the center aisle and gurney the boy out and the audience is just laughing and not moving. I explained to them multiple times that this is not part of the show and that they should exit the theater and nobody moves and the laughter is deafining. So out come the translucent (because that is what the theater had) trash bags of bloody stuff. Dozens of them. The other actors are now in street clothes and are leaving and the audience is finally cottoning on... One elderly lady in the front row says: "You are not kidding, the show is really over?" All of the actors go "we are going home, you should too". One fellow was still incredulous and was the last one to go as I locked up the theater he earnestly says: "Well, that's the darndest ending to a show that I have ever seen". I had to laugh, what else could I do?
2. Ice skating show: Skater comes down center ice at high velocity and fails to turn before the ice runs out. Hits the 6" tall divider at the feet of the front row and goes head-feet-head-feet-head-feet-buuuut into the audience. Chaos ensues.
1. While doing a comedy murder mystery musical at the local black box, the male protagonist is involved in a multi-car accident on the way to the theater. He had to be extracted with the jaws of life. Now, nothing broken, but this kid is bleeding from everywhere. He self-exits the gurney and RUNS to the theater and makes call. (!) Covered in blood the SM says that they will cancel the show. Dood says "get me a box of band-aids and some tampons and gaff tape, this show is going on" and he heads for the dressing room. Bandages applied, the show starts... At intermission the SM stops by to check on the kid and his dressing room looks like the worst kind of horror movie. Covered in blood, just...eeew. Anyways he somehow convinces the SM to start act two. One scene into act two, dood exits the scene and collapses. Not revivable, the squad is called and I get to announce that the show has been cancelled because of this guy and the accident and all that. The paramedics come down the center aisle and gurney the boy out and the audience is just laughing and not moving. I explained to them multiple times that this is not part of the show and that they should exit the theater and nobody moves and the laughter is deafining. So out come the translucent (because that is what the theater had) trash bags of bloody stuff. Dozens of them. The other actors are now in street clothes and are leaving and the audience is finally cottoning on... One elderly lady in the front row says: "You are not kidding, the show is really over?" All of the actors go "we are going home, you should too". One fellow was still incredulous and was the last one to go as I locked up the theater he earnestly says: "Well, that's the darndest ending to a show that I have ever seen". I had to laugh, what else could I do?
2. Ice skating show: Skater comes down center ice at high velocity and fails to turn before the ice runs out. Hits the 6" tall divider at the feet of the front row and goes head-feet-head-feet-head-feet-buuuut into the audience. Chaos ensues.
Dionysus
Well-Known Member
So as promised a few more Show Stop Stories.
1) I've had to interrupt a fringe show. I was running one of Eric Davis' Red Bastard shows when my booth phone rings. It's the house manager, who says a Police Officer has arrived and has reason to believe someone was in the audience, and this person's house was burning down and they needed to talk to them IMMEDIATELY. I interrupted the show and kindly asked the person to go out to the lobby. Never did end up hearing much more of the story, but always wondered. Thankfully only a brief interruption, but to a show that requires an extreme amount of rather awkward audience participation. The show asks some pointed questions about fidelity, sex, sexual orientation and the nature of love.
2) Another fringe show I had with an extreme amount of lighting, sound and video cues, when a huge storm hit and blacked out part of the city. At my theatre the power is only out for about 20 seconds, and we (as everyone should) have UPS' for our computers and consoles. However sometime before fringe (unbeknownst to me) someone while tidying up the booth had unplugged and replugged my QLab computer... Into the NOT battery protected side of the UPS.
I was about 5 minutes into the show, and everything was fine except for my rebooting QLab Mac. The show had layered video content and I HAD to start from the start of the show (yes I know how to load to time). Not sure if anyone is familiar with Fringe Festivals, but they typically run on a VERY tight timeline and do NOT allow for much of any deviation to schedule. I made the executive decision to restart and be damned to being a few minutes off schedule (I knew I could make it up if needed). Thankfully for my own sanity, but not for some others, most of the other venues were affected by the blackout and their shows were cancelled for the rest of the day. We ended up rescheduling all the rest of my shows to half an hour later to accommodate for people coming from other venues so they could still see shows that day.
3) I was co-TD and one of the designers for a small semi-pro summer theatre festival that ran for two summers. We had a few show cancellations due to the fact that in season 2 we had the majority of our shows outdoors in the courtyard of a historic Gaol (Jail), the same Jail that one of the plays actual events occurred in. Any light rain we would not cancel, but we cancelled for thunderstorms and high winds. Well one night we were starting to roll on one show when the forecast changed with a sudden severe thunderstorm advisory, and it was rolling in quick. Now I know to really watch weather like a hawk, long in advance.
Well this storm noone thought would be anything more than light rain. Until it was about to slam us. Don't remember how far in we were, but we started packing everything up as quickly as we could. We had some lights up on crank towers and the other TD started lowering them as the storm hit proper. Lighting struck the damaged lighting rod on the roof, arc'd across one of the stone walls, hit the tower he was cranking and down to ground. Blew his cellphone off of his hip apparently, and he was thankfully okay. But jeez that gave us all a scare. Had to change all of the fuses in the dimmer packs the next day of course. Thankfully I'd already killed the breakers for them.
I obviously have a bunch more (and some good ones) but I gotta go again.
1) I've had to interrupt a fringe show. I was running one of Eric Davis' Red Bastard shows when my booth phone rings. It's the house manager, who says a Police Officer has arrived and has reason to believe someone was in the audience, and this person's house was burning down and they needed to talk to them IMMEDIATELY. I interrupted the show and kindly asked the person to go out to the lobby. Never did end up hearing much more of the story, but always wondered. Thankfully only a brief interruption, but to a show that requires an extreme amount of rather awkward audience participation. The show asks some pointed questions about fidelity, sex, sexual orientation and the nature of love.
2) Another fringe show I had with an extreme amount of lighting, sound and video cues, when a huge storm hit and blacked out part of the city. At my theatre the power is only out for about 20 seconds, and we (as everyone should) have UPS' for our computers and consoles. However sometime before fringe (unbeknownst to me) someone while tidying up the booth had unplugged and replugged my QLab computer... Into the NOT battery protected side of the UPS.
I was about 5 minutes into the show, and everything was fine except for my rebooting QLab Mac. The show had layered video content and I HAD to start from the start of the show (yes I know how to load to time). Not sure if anyone is familiar with Fringe Festivals, but they typically run on a VERY tight timeline and do NOT allow for much of any deviation to schedule. I made the executive decision to restart and be damned to being a few minutes off schedule (I knew I could make it up if needed). Thankfully for my own sanity, but not for some others, most of the other venues were affected by the blackout and their shows were cancelled for the rest of the day. We ended up rescheduling all the rest of my shows to half an hour later to accommodate for people coming from other venues so they could still see shows that day.
3) I was co-TD and one of the designers for a small semi-pro summer theatre festival that ran for two summers. We had a few show cancellations due to the fact that in season 2 we had the majority of our shows outdoors in the courtyard of a historic Gaol (Jail), the same Jail that one of the plays actual events occurred in. Any light rain we would not cancel, but we cancelled for thunderstorms and high winds. Well one night we were starting to roll on one show when the forecast changed with a sudden severe thunderstorm advisory, and it was rolling in quick. Now I know to really watch weather like a hawk, long in advance.
Well this storm noone thought would be anything more than light rain. Until it was about to slam us. Don't remember how far in we were, but we started packing everything up as quickly as we could. We had some lights up on crank towers and the other TD started lowering them as the storm hit proper. Lighting struck the damaged lighting rod on the roof, arc'd across one of the stone walls, hit the tower he was cranking and down to ground. Blew his cellphone off of his hip apparently, and he was thankfully okay. But jeez that gave us all a scare. Had to change all of the fuses in the dimmer packs the next day of course. Thankfully I'd already killed the breakers for them.
I obviously have a bunch more (and some good ones) but I gotta go again.
misterm
Active Member
College, performing in an adaption of C.S. Lewis' Til We Have Faces. Lots of video work that the cast had to interact with. Opening night, we're all facing downstage. I can see out of my peripheral the video playing on the screen, but there's no audio. SM calls us to clear the stage, they spend ten minutes trying to fix the problem, then send the audience home. Luckily, it was a "free preview" because the director had experienced problems obtaining rights until the day before.
Was directing a high school showing of "Honk!" for some elementary kids when we hear a loud BOOOOM form outside and lost all power. The actors didn't miss a beat and kept acting by the light from the windows (couldn't black them out) and the lobby windows (I flung open the doors pretty quick). They skipped the songs and improvised an ending within twenty minutes. Found out later the transformer at the corner blew up.
Was directing a high school showing of "Honk!" for some elementary kids when we hear a loud BOOOOM form outside and lost all power. The actors didn't miss a beat and kept acting by the light from the windows (couldn't black them out) and the lobby windows (I flung open the doors pretty quick). They skipped the songs and improvised an ending within twenty minutes. Found out later the transformer at the corner blew up.
Ancient Engineer
Well-Known Member
Originally I was going to kind of laundry-list all the times Q-lab had f@#ked over a show that I was on.
But in skimming through the journals... I have over 675 separate incidents logged during around 3,270 performances using the '-lab. (!)
So that seemed like a tedious prospect. Instead I will hijack the thread and talk about a truly lost art: Daily logging.
What? You haven't logged every performance in your career since 1986? I have, and it is pretty interesting sometimes.
To make counting easier, over the years I would do tick marks in the back of each journal to track incidents/recurring events so I didn't have to flip pages.
Like: Q-lab screwed the show, I screwed the show (about one tenth the number of times as Q-lab over my career: 62), Actor missed performance NC/NS (No Call/No Show), Lighting console screwed the show, Musician missed performance NC/NS, Sound console screwed the show, Above the line NC/NS (producer,director,SM,TD,Conductor), Power failure screwed the show, Weather screwed the show, Rigging failure, Scenery failure, Audience riot screwed the show (4 times), Total PA system failure, Rig spot op fell during show (3 times), Sleeping crew screwed/delayed/made interesting the show, Camera failure (4 times), Crew failure, White foam coffee cup left in scene on the best take (16 times!), Crew in scene on best take (3 times), No film in camera on any take (6 times!), Unexpected explosion screwed the show, Pyro landed hot in audience space (8 times!), Feet of film exposed (49,762,304'), Minutes of videotape captured (1,923,234min), On set determination that we'd "Fix it in Post, or FIP" (584 times), Actor/Crew perished during performance (7 times), and my favorite: Naked person randomly appeared during performance. Only four times during my brief experience in the performing arts...
When I die, I suspect that whomever goes through my crap will toss those books into the fire along with Rosebud.
But you should consider doing this. It is cathartic after a tough day to list your enemies and how you would like them to meet their fate and praise the successes which is what actually gets put down the most in the journal...
Thread hijacking complete. Thank you.
But in skimming through the journals... I have over 675 separate incidents logged during around 3,270 performances using the '-lab. (!)
So that seemed like a tedious prospect. Instead I will hijack the thread and talk about a truly lost art: Daily logging.
What? You haven't logged every performance in your career since 1986? I have, and it is pretty interesting sometimes.
To make counting easier, over the years I would do tick marks in the back of each journal to track incidents/recurring events so I didn't have to flip pages.
Like: Q-lab screwed the show, I screwed the show (about one tenth the number of times as Q-lab over my career: 62), Actor missed performance NC/NS (No Call/No Show), Lighting console screwed the show, Musician missed performance NC/NS, Sound console screwed the show, Above the line NC/NS (producer,director,SM,TD,Conductor), Power failure screwed the show, Weather screwed the show, Rigging failure, Scenery failure, Audience riot screwed the show (4 times), Total PA system failure, Rig spot op fell during show (3 times), Sleeping crew screwed/delayed/made interesting the show, Camera failure (4 times), Crew failure, White foam coffee cup left in scene on the best take (16 times!), Crew in scene on best take (3 times), No film in camera on any take (6 times!), Unexpected explosion screwed the show, Pyro landed hot in audience space (8 times!), Feet of film exposed (49,762,304'), Minutes of videotape captured (1,923,234min), On set determination that we'd "Fix it in Post, or FIP" (584 times), Actor/Crew perished during performance (7 times), and my favorite: Naked person randomly appeared during performance. Only four times during my brief experience in the performing arts...
When I die, I suspect that whomever goes through my crap will toss those books into the fire along with Rosebud.
But you should consider doing this. It is cathartic after a tough day to list your enemies and how you would like them to meet their fate and praise the successes which is what actually gets put down the most in the journal...
Thread hijacking complete. Thank you.
Last edited:
