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Onstage Nightmares

Question:

Oh, lordy this thread was bound to come up with some real doozies, so here goes.  Amongst my "interesting" experiences, I must say one stands out in particular.  I was in a one-act play festival playing the principal role of a vicious school marm who eventually gets her come-uppance.  About half way through, there was a blackout during which I was supposed to cross over to SR past a bunch of furniture.  I guess I panicked for some long forgotten reason, but the upshot was that during the blackout, whilst standing in the tiny space off L, my bladder let loose with a mighty torrent, the spot came up SR and I had no choice but to cross the entire stage with my shoes going "scoosh, scoosh, scoosh" with every step.  Luckily, my costume was entirely black.  I arrived in the spot, finished the scene and our play won first prize, with myself singled out as having portrayed my character with particular attention to detail.  Apparently nobody heard my shoes.                 ^  "agenbite of inwyt: hecate u to u" -<[;-O   ^                  ^                                              ^                                 * * * * * [This message was posted to the ACTING-L mailing list and relayed to this newsgroup.  You may followup to the newsgroup or, if you are a  member of ACTING-L,  reply  to  the  list.   For  more  information  send E-mail to

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I got one!  =) Picture a production of "The King and I".  In the blackout before the deathbed scene, the king was supposed to get on the bed and the techies would move it center stage.  When the lights came up on stage, we were all still frantically searching for the bed.  Then someone spotted it- already moved into place suspiciously lacking an occupant.  The ASM was calling to the light booth for a blackout but after a few seconds (which seemed like an eternity!)  when she got no answer, the actor playing the king dropped to the floor and crawled out to the bed with all the weakness of a dying man! It was most definately a night I will *never* forget! -robyne                                 * * * * * [This message was posted to the ACTING-L mailing list and relayed to this newsgroup.  You may followup to the newsgroup or, if you are a  member of ACTING-L,  reply  to  the  list.   For  more  information  send E-mail to

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Hmmm, which story to tell – I have a few. Well, I’ll pick one to start with, and if this thread keeps going, I’ll post some more. It was so long ago that I forget what play it was – but I’ll never forget the moment. I was in the middle of an intimate, two-person scene when the actress (and I use the term loosely)I was working with froze completely. It was obvious she was having trouble (as I do now) remembering what play she was in, let alone what her next line was. I tried to cover, to lead her back to where she needed to be, but nothing was working. Finally, out of desperation, I fed her the line she was supposed to give me (it was integral to the plot and had to be delivered by someone!). She looked at me, horrified; then in a "whisper" that surely could have been heard in the lobby, said sharply, "That’s not your line – it’s mine!", of course leaving the impression that I was the one who flubbed. She then proceeded to repeat the line to me, leaving me with nothing to do but continue with the script and pray she would make it through the rest of the show (she did). dl                                 * * * * * [This message was posted to the ACTING-L mailing list and relayed to this newsgroup.  You may followup to the newsgroup or, if you are a  member of ACTING-L,  reply  to  the  list.   For  more  information  send E-mail to

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