Theatre Superstitions

[philhaney]

Re: I was yelled at

A technician without acties has marketable job skills.

Back to Sayings and Superstitions:
Can anyone explain the meaning and origin of "making one's 'nut'" as it relates to theater?

There are idiots and geniuses in every field, acting and technical theatre included. It takes just as much effort to be nice to someone as it does to be rude, but if you're nice the gears turn a lot more smoothly.

Besides, I got a lighting gig (LD, gaffer, and board op) because when the producer/director said, "I want to add lights to our annual production this year. Does anyone know someone with lighting experience?" An actie gave him my name. This was in 1997, and I've done their show every year since.....

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As far as "making one's nut" is concearned, one link says:

Achieving average overhead, or reaching the break-even point, is commonly referred to in the business world as "making one's nut."

While this site says, "If you're in business for yourself, the point when you break even is the point when you make your nut. Carny slang, if I recall correctly. The peanut vendors had to sell a certain number of peanuts before they would start making a profit. When they sold the amount that covered their cost, the had made their nut."

As you can see, they pretty much say the same thing. I even found Make Your Nut which has articles about personal finance tips, tricks, and pitfalls.

I haven't found any theatre specific uses of the term unless it means when a show goes into the black.....

 

[jdandreas09]

Re: I was yelled at

i thought it had to do with brakeing the sight line of the legs
or a shortend form of brake a legond

 

[Pip]

Re: I was yelled at

or a shortend form of brake a legond

What????

 

[gafftapegreenia]

I have taken to saying "drop a leko" instead of "break a leg". Seems more appropriate for wishing my comrads a successful show.

Actors are not idiots, they are sheep. I had an actor tell me this, NOT MY WORDS.

 

[ReiRei]

I learned about theatre superstitions the hard way. My first job was costume crew and someone had left a Macbeth script in the make-up room. It was the the second to last day and I picked it up because we were cleaning and I asked the actors whose Macbeth book it was. Everything went silent and two of the guys picked me up, took me outside and made me do the spitty sweary thing to ward off the evil Macbeth spirits.

Ever since then, I say it before every show... and nothing bad has ever happened... except for the guy who flew in the first electric instead of the sign, and when he flew the sign back in it hit the electric and a gel fell onto the floor. But that's it.

And once upon a time ago, my friend walked under a ladder with an umbrella while whistling and saying Macbeth before a show. In front of actors. I must say it was a bit humorous... and what a concept, nothing bad happened.

And I never knew about the "Good Luck" thing until our Drama club had a movie night last friday and I ran the equipment. We were watching the Producers and after the movie I was talking to one of my actor friends about it and he was like, "yeah, it's legit dood..."

 

[ReiRei]

I have taken to saying "drop a leko" instead of "break a leg". Seems more appropriate for wishing my comrads a successful show.

Actors are not idiots, they are sheep. I had an actor tell me this, NOT MY WORDS.

I actually had an LD tell me that actors were bugs. Either they're cockroaches or moths. Moths find the light, and cockroaches find the dark spots.

 

[Vanndel]

My bosses wife is so superstitious that if you did anything against what supersttion says you were takin outside and performed a ritual involving salt, plus she'd leave you there to wait a bit

 

[waynehoskins]

I actually had an LD tell me that actors were bugs. Either they're cockroaches or moths. Moths find the light, and cockroaches find the dark spots.

If there's a black hole anywhere on stage, an actor will find it and feel compelled to be there as long and often as possible.

 

[derekleffew]

Re: %26quot%3Bnut%26quot%3B lore

...As far as "making one's nut" is concearned, one link says:

Achieving average overhead, or reaching the break-even point, is commonly referred to in the business world as "making one's nut."

While this site says, "If you're in business for yourself, the point when you break even is the point when you make your nut. Carny slang, if I recall correctly. The peanut vendors had to sell a certain number of peanuts before they would start making a profit. When they sold the amount that covered their cost, the had made their nut."

As you can see, they pretty much say the same thing. I even found Make Your Nut which has articles about personal finance tips, tricks, and pitfalls.

I haven't found any theatre specific uses of the term unless it means when a show goes into the black.....

As it was told to me by a Theatrical Producer (and is therefore inherently questionable): In days of yore, when a theatre company would come into town, the mayor or other town official would confiscate a nut holding on one of their wagon's wheels. After the engagement, once the mayor had verified that the company had paid all its debts, he'd return the nut so they could leave. Hence "the nut" of a show refers to the "break-even point" or operating expenses. A one-man show has a much smaller nut than a major musical.

 

[Grog12]

If there's a black hole anywhere on stage, an actor will find it and feel compelled to be there as long and often as possible.

How many dancers does it take to change a light bulb?

Heh dancer's can't find their light.

 

[cdub260]

And once upon a time ago, my friend walked under a ladder with an umbrella while whistling and saying Macbeth before a show. In front of actors.

The walking under a ladder one actually has a fairly mundane and somewhat obvious origin. People who walk under ladders have a nasty habit of getting things dropped on them. Hence the belief that it's unlucky to walk under a ladder.

Personally, I'd consider this one more of a safety tip than a superstition.

 

[TOG]

Re: I was yelled at

"...I am not sure how it relates to the theatre unless it involves over-tightening a cast c-clamp without a safety chain attached, thereby killing an innocent bystander below.

You let 'danes on deck while hanging?

I refuse to be the blunt instrument for some Darwin Award contender. The last noob who tried to walk under my ladder got to spend the next hour walking backwards through the house seats row-by-row while singing the "A-B-C" song over and over.

 

[philhaney]

How many dancers does it take to change a light bulb?

Heh dancer's can't find their light.

How many Master Electricians does it take to change a light bulb?


One, and it's a lamp, d_mn it!

 

[Van]

How many Master Electricians does it take to change a light bulb?


One, and it's a lamp, d_mn it!

How many IATSE electricians does it take to change a light bulb?





5 .....You got a problem wi' dat?

 

[Smurphy]

Ok that mad me laugh van. I am actually very superstitious, (coming from my acting background) I was acting before teching, I find tech tweaks my interest more. But anyway I do not say the M word in the theatre and do not say good luck but I do whistle thats just crazy.

 

[toyboyt122]

Regardless of the superstitions, I knew I found my long sought black shoes when i found the brand Macbeth. I don't have to say it to proudly wear the dreaded name for every performance.

 

[TheSlowPoisoner]

Well, I'm not much for superstitions, other than the "M" word, but last week, I think I may have gained myself a new one. I'm not really one for whistling usually, I'm more of a hummer for the most part, but on this particular day I had pantomimed stealing a sardine from the set, and thus whistled as the universal sign of "I didn't do it".

The very next day, while retrieving a lamp base from our storage space, the top rung pulled out of the ladder on which I was climbing and I went splat. I probably didn't fall more than eight feet, but apparently it was loud enough to terrify the people in the hallway by the stage door on the opposite side of where I was that somebody had finally crashed our revolving set into one of the side set pieces. Luckily, I didn't hit my head on impact, and my only lasting injuries were a bruised rib, whiplash (or at least a neck muscle injury that felt a lot like it), and an overwhelming feeling I'm a fat***.

Although it probably had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I was whistling on stage, I probably won't be doing it again any time soon.

 

[derekleffew]

Well, okay, TheSlowPoisoner, but you DO realize that not whistling onstage is not a superstition, but a tradition, regardless of whether or not one believes the oft-debated fable about sailors.

...
- Never whistle on stage unless it is part of the play. The reason for this is that most theatres were in sea ports. They were hemp houses, and they employed sailors ashore to run the rigging. The sailors would whistle commands to each other. So, whistling on stage was an open invitation to have a batten or sandbag fall on your head. ...

Some theatre historians have totally debunked this as myth, and have suggested it must have been started by someone who found whistling annoying. What would prevent the audience from hearing these whistles, and wouldn't that be distracting?

See Theater Superstitions for more fiction.

 

[TheSlowPoisoner]

Interesting that you didn't call out any of the other nine thousand people in this thread who cited whistling in a theatre as a superstition.

Superstition, tradition--I don't care. I was merely telling a story that seemed to pertain to what this thread was intended to discuss.

 

[WestlakeTech]

One of the Tech1s on the crew said Good Luck to one of the actors last night. He got a bit sarcastically upset.
"You never say GL!"
"oh, sorry, break a leg."

We actually made a joke on the last show that techies should say "Break a light."

Whistling on stage is a new one for me. I know plenty of people who have whistled on stage and no one's had a sandbag or batten dropped on them yet.