Stopping a show

[EustaceM]

I was calling a show and there was one instance where I had to stop the show because the fire alarm went off due to the haze machine.

I was wondering if there is a standard way or procedure of stopping the show in the case of any emergency. If there isnt, can you tell me what I should say and how I should say.

 

[Edrick]

Depends on how the system is setup. The Highschool I was at the lighting system would go into panic mode and the sound equipment would auto shutdown. So wasn't much we could do although the need never came up. Basically house lights would go to full and sound and everything else would shutdown.

Now that's in the event of a fire trigger. For a regular evacuation there's a number of ways it would be handled and that'd be determined by the school / AHJ I'm assuming this is a school environment.

 

[Sayen]

I don't think I would like the sound system shutting down. My SM's have a mic and are prepped to read notices to the audience (please evacuate, please remain seated, use west exit, etc.). For a fire obviously the alarm is sufficient, but for other issues with a large crowd that's your first line of communication.

 

[porkchop]

I don't think I would like the sound system shutting down. My SM's have a mic and are prepped to read notices to the audience (please evacuate, please remain seated, use west exit, etc.). For a fire obviously the alarm is sufficient, but for other issues with a large crowd that's your first line of communication.

That's the way code for show power (at least for road shows) was explained to me in Canada. The idea is there's a mic for the house or emergency PA somewhere for such an announcement to be read. In the mean time all the show audio gear gets power cut. We use enough battery backups we can run the show for 45 minutes with no power to audio, but that's a whole different story. I guess they had a rock show so loud that no one could hear a fire alarm so no one evacuated. Because of this they're kind of crazy about audio power in some places now.

So come back to the OP. If we're in a situation where the show needs to be stopped the SM or Production Director will call an all stop over radio, the audio guy will stop the show track and play a prerecorded "all stop" message. We don't have a message saying evacuate the building, but there is a live mic available if the need arose. This usually happens for us in the case of performer injuries requiring medical attention in the performing area or when the power goes out (generators are so finicky sometimes) so usually it's pretty obvious why the show it stopping.

 

[Nelson]

Even a fire alarm isn't always enough to get people to leave. I once was working a show when someone pulled the fire alarm. No one moved! Everyone just stayed where they were until the alarm was shut off. I wasn't prepared with a live mic either. Now I make sure I always have a Godmike ready to use if I need to make an announcement to the audience.

To answer the OP, think about what you are going to say ahead of time and maybe even write it down. You could have prewritten messages ready to be read if the need arises. That saves you from having to make a last-minute, panicked message that could cause more harm than good.

 

[alyx92]

Whenever I have my voiceover guy record the house speeches (Welcome, cell, phones, nearest exit, etc.) I also have him do:

"Ladies an Gentlemen, due to technical difficulties, this performance of insert show here will be delayed momentarily. Please remain seated."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, due to technical difficulties, this performance of insert show here has been canceled. Please proceed to the theater lobby via the doors behind you."

and

"Ladies and Gentlemen, RUN FOR YOU LIVES!!!!!!!!

 

[chausman]

"Ladies and Gentlemen, RUN FOR YOU LIVES!!!!!!!!

I see the smilie, but I still think this needs to be said. Anything similar to "Run" or "Fire" can be more dangerous then what is actually causing the show to be stopped and the audience exiting.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/28/black-friday-stampede-kil_n_146967.html

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was knocked to the floor during the mad rush. She was hospitalized for observation, police said. Early witness accounts that the woman suffered a miscarriage were unfounded, police said.
From The New York Daily News:

A worker died after being trampled and a woman miscarried when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday morning, witnesses said.

The unidentified worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.
Additional reports from NY Newsday say the "34-year-old Wal-Mart worker died Friday morning after he was knocked to the ground after 'a throng of shoppers physically broke down the doors,' pushing their way into the store at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, Nassau police said."

 

[gafftaper]

This is a really important topic for high school, church, community theater and smaller colleges, and other smaller faciliites to consider. Many don't have any sort of plan at all. Many don't have a microphone that the SM can use to make an announcement. Many don't have a mic or recorded announcement at the audio desk that is ready to go.

So what's your plan to stop the show?
Who takes control of the crowd?
What should they say?
How do they project so that they are heard?
What sorts of situations are bad enough that you will stop the show?
Has anyone at your facility talked with the Fire Marshal about what you are expected to do?

 

[chausman]

Who will remove stage weights and other large objects from doors that are supposed to be closed?

 

[derekleffew]

This is a really important topic for high school, church, community theater and smaller colleges, and other smaller faciliites to consider. Many don't have any sort of plan at all. Many don't have a microphone that the SM can use to make an announcement. Many don't have a mic or recorded announcement at the audio desk that is ready to go.

So what's your plan to stop the show?
Who takes control of the crowd?
What should they say?
How do they project so that they are heard?
What sorts of situations are bad enough that you will stop the show?
Has anyone at your facility talked with the Fire Marshal about what you are expected to do?

In other words, develop an Emergency Preparedness Plan .

 

[ptero]

I've done that many times. 'They' finally installed magnetic catches on our two main hallway fire doors. The catches hold them open and are connected to the alarm system. They release, closing the door, with an alarm.

Who will remove stage weights and other large objects from doors that are supposed to be closed?

 

[chausman]

I've done that many times. 'They' finally installed magnetic catches on our two main hallway fire doors. The catches hold them open and are connected to the alarm system. They release, closing the door, with an alarm.

We have tho in most of our building, but the theater is lacking about 12 of them for all the doors we need open for a show.

 

[shiben]

We have tho in most of our building, but the theater is lacking about 12 of them for all the doors we need open for a show.

Do you know they are not that way for a reason? I know in a theater I used to work in, the doors had to be closed at all times as a fire code provision. Propping them open was one way to get your show shut down. Might want to make sure of that before propping the doors...

 

[Les]

My local community theatre has a Silent Knight system which has an annunciator similar to this:

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Fire alarm horn/strobe activation with creepy evacuation voice - YouTube

There are a few whoop whoops, followed by this message, and then a few more whoops (rinse and repeat).

 

[zmb]

Do you know they are not that way for a reason? I know in a theater I used to work in, the doors had to be closed at all times as a fire code provision. Propping them open was one way to get your show shut down. Might want to make sure of that before propping the doors...

Interestingly, the classroom doors in my school stay open if opened all the way without a magnetic release. Then the fire doors in the stairways/areas of refuge have the magnetic holder. Another place some doors have a word-generated, printed sign with a do not prop open message because it blocks the fire alarm pull.

And at the district performing arts center, there is a light that comes on if the system was shutdown by the fire alarm. And in the same venue, who would put optical-based sensors in the shower room?

 

[EustaceM]

In the case of the fire alarm going off, none of the equipment shuts down or anything. I would have to have house to full, audio mute and make an announcement on the god mic.

I was wondering what I should say in my announcement "Ladies and Gentlemen...."
(That way I can i tape that in the booths to use as a guide)

 

[Toffee]

We have emergency plans posted a all main areas (SR, SL, light board and sound board) that all of us as house staff have to memorize about what to do for each different position cause our boss will sometimes call us and be like "if you were doing lights at so and so stage what would you do in case of a fire?". We also all wear radios and all have specific channels per stage and channel one is our admin line and emergency stuff. So if we get a fire alarm we all switch to the emergency line and we switch on all work lights and house lights and follow our evac plans and lock the building down with audiance, cast and crew all locked out til the fire dept. gets there and checks the fire panel for an all clear.

 

[josh88]

in my old venue had a fire announcement that played before shows. "welcome to (theater) please turn off your phones, no photography, emergency exits are located in these places please look to find your nearest exit, thank you, enjoy the show."

In the event of needing to evacuate you wouldn't want to excite people at all, as has been said, fire, run, etc are bad. you want something along the lines of ladies and gentlemen we're having technical difficulties and ask that you would please exit the theatre in an orderly fashion, we apologize for any inconvenience and ask that you bear with us. or something along those lines except telling them to do whatever you want them to do under any given circumstance. and then just insert that into the standard beginning and end to customize for whatever problem you have.

 

[zmb]

Now how do you keep the audience from panicking if the fire alarm buzzer and strobe are in the house? Probably prevents the ability of "please exit in an orderly manner" announcement from being effective.

 

[derekleffew]

Now how do you keep the audience from panicking if the fire alarm buzzer and strobe are in the house? ...

Does anyone ever really panic and rush for the exits when Les' whoop-whoop alarms go off? It seems to me the alarms have become so frequent and ubiquitous as to be totally disregarded in most cases. Aka "boy who cried wolf" syndrome. Except in an institutional setting where proper procedure is drilled (as in fire drilled) into the participants. Now IF I received a text or Twitter message on my iPhone telling me there was a fire, I might consider evacuating. There's an urban myth here in Las Vegas that goes, "If it's a woman's voice, you can ignore it. However, if a male voice tells you to evacuate, do it!" After twenty years working in casinos, I've never heard the male voice. FWIW.

See also this thread Building Jurisdiction After Fire Alarm which I've been searching for all day, and finally found. Me, 1; CB's search, 0.