Funny Stories From The Theatre

[Budgie-Face]

I was in a play last year, and at the end one of the main characters dies.

While he was dying he made sort of groany noises which one lunch time between rehearsals someone said that it sounded. Well, like something else ;L

And he started laughing a bit while he was dying and we were all trying to keep a straight face and they were all laughing in a very serious bit

Luckily it wasn't the actual performance.

----

There was also while we were all getting made up for the first performance a slightly rude discussion being shouted across the room. It was more of a had to be there one. And I don't know GO's policy on mentioning certain things on their message boards :L

[Budgie-Face]

I just remembered another one.
I wasn't there, but it's gone down in history as one of the finest c**k-ups EVER at this thing.

Basically there is a bit where the character from the government says that they've wasted a lot of money spying on some guy who turned out to be innocent. This is a pretty important part of the scene

He ended up actually saying something like "the government now has no money - we used all of it searching for you!"
And very very obviously said that the government spent ALL THE MONEY spying on one man.

[lewdities]

I have a few! This past spring I was Belle in our school's musical production of Beauty and the Beast, opposite one of my best friends. I have a few stories about this one!

One rehearsal, we were going over the library scene for the first time, the scene where Belle reads to the Beast. We were going through the lines, and after I say "So I know how it feels to be... different. And I know how lonely that can be," the next line is a direction that reads, "There's a beat. Their eyes meet. A bond has formed between them." We both started laughing out loud as we read it silently to ourselves and everyone was confused until they looked at their own scripts! There was also another funny direction at the end when Belle and the Beast kiss, which read: "They kiss...the kiss that's been waiting for so long." We couldn't stop laughing at that one, either. Speaking of kisses, we missed twice. One time, when I was running toward him after the transformation, I wasn't really paying much attention and I got his cheek just below his eye! And another time, he also got absentminded and caught the corner of my mouth. All this in front of the whole cast, who thought it was absolutely hilarious. redface

And during the winter, I was in a play production class where we were split up into groups and assigned to write and produce a small play. My group was lazy, so I ended up writing, stage managing, and directing the whole play myself while the others acted and were stagehands. I wrote a play about pirates. The night of the show, while we were setting up for the next scene, whatever dummy was pulling the curtain pulled it before everyone was ready. Everyone managed to get to their places in time, but I was still onstage setting up a prop. I ran to the other side of the stage; I've never run so fast in my life! But when I went in the audience after and talked to my friend (who happens to be the boy who played the beast!), he said all he saw was a blur, lol. And in the ending scene where the pirates mutiny against their captain and defeat an evil sea goddess, one of the pirates forgot their sword, so she was standing there, weaponless, with a whole battle about to start. So after she said her lines, she stepped back a little and I handed her her sword. The next day when we watch the video of the production, you could see it clear as day! sweatdrop

[hushdearie]

Some of these stories make me feel way better about some of the embarrassing things I've done on stage...

I have two as well, both from Romeo & Juliet (being the played I've just done most recently).

We were going through the scene where Juliet and Romeo are married by Father Lawrence for the first time without our scripts, and we were figuring out stage movements, interactions, etc. I, being Juliet, was told to run out and embrace Romeo and he was supposed to swing me around. Our height difference was misjudged, and I ran forward only to have my face squashed against Romeo's chest. Needless to say, it didn't work when he tried to lift and twirl me.

This happened during the last week before performances, and I was getting a little worn down. We were going through the scene when Romeo and Juliet first meet, and as we started speaking I started feeling a bit light-headed, but kept on. I managed to do the first kiss fine, but after Romeo said his line and we kissed again, I blanked. I looked over at the director and he made hand motions like opening a book. I then said, "By the... book– oh, you kiss by the book! Sorry, I was feeling a bit light-headed there." Which Romeo followed up with, "Oh, wow, didn't know I was that good." Everyone laughed, but it's safe to say I was a bit mortified.

[Queen Lucia]

I was playing Gabrielle from The Madwoman of Chaillot ,and my heels had golden pins stuck into the sides for decoration. On closing night, I had gotten overly excited at the end of the tea party scene, and as I rushed towards Constance, one of the pins flew across the stage, into the stairs, and shattered everywhere. It scared me to death, but I just reacted as Gabrielle would have. "Oooohh!" xd

[The_Molly_Kay]

If you're a theater technician you'd laugh at this!!

So I go to florida school of the arts, in the tech program, and there was only 6 of us at the time.
We had to do a show called "The Actor's Project", where students run the entire show in a blackbox and there are three one acts.

Well, we all asked what our job assignments were and our professor told us. I got lighting designer for one show, one technician got lighting designer for the second show, and another for the third, and then, one got board op for lighting and one got board op for sound.
Lastly, one technician, graduating in the next few weeks, got.......

Set designer, technical director, master carpenter, props master, scenic artist, paint charge, master electrician, and others.... now tell me, how in the hell does that work? xD We all thought our professor flipped his lid, but some how the technician managed to pull it off, passing out the night of the show of course. rofl rofl

[Elegy Hymn]

I was Maria in the Sound of Music and therefore had to have my own changing area because of my amount of costumes. So they put me out from backstage behind a wooden panel that basically just separated me from the audience. The lighting technician had put a small blue lamp back there so that I could see what I was doing, but what we didn't find out until opening night is that the light caused a shadow of my silhouette to be cast on the wall. A very giant, sometimes naked shadow of me, that everyone in the orchestra put and every member of the audience could see quite clearly. I still get mortified thinking about it...

[Elegy Hymn]

Artisticalogical Poppy

Sionja

Most of the funny stuff happens backstage, though, haha. Mostly because we are terrified of the wrath of the director and maestro too much to be silly during rehearsals.

I completely agree. I can remember waiting around in our school theatre, just me and a few of the other actors, and we got bored really quickly so we decided to play hide and seek, as we had about 3-4 hours before we even left the building to go to the theatre we were performing in. It got to the point where we left the theatre and started hiding around the school. It was hysterical waving to the janitors while we tore down the halls.

I always feel like I miss out on the backstage shenanigans because I'm on stage so much. And I'm not even trying to sound like a cocky p***k! I am seriously always on stage and therefore miss out on so many inside jokes. So when people are like "remember that one time..?" I'm like, no, but I really wish I did. It's actually a huge bummer sad

[pulchrare]

Princess Sleepyface

I was Maria in the Sound of Music and therefore had to have my own changing area because of my amount of costumes. So they put me out from backstage behind a wooden panel that basically just separated me from the audience. The lighting technician had put a small blue lamp back there so that I could see what I was doing, but what we didn't find out until opening night is that the light caused a shadow of my silhouette to be cast on the wall. A very giant, sometimes naked shadow of me, that everyone in the orchestra put and every member of the audience could see quite clearly. I still get mortified thinking about it...

Oh my gosh. I don't even know what to say about that. But I think that's one of my favourite stories.

[Elegy Hymn]

Artisticalogical Poppy

Princess Sleepyface

I was Maria in the Sound of Music and therefore had to have my own changing area because of my amount of costumes. So they put me out from backstage behind a wooden panel that basically just separated me from the audience. The lighting technician had put a small blue lamp back there so that I could see what I was doing, but what we didn't find out until opening night is that the light caused a shadow of my silhouette to be cast on the wall. A very giant, sometimes naked shadow of me, that everyone in the orchestra put and every member of the audience could see quite clearly. I still get mortified thinking about it...

Oh my gosh. I don't even know what to say about that. But I think that's one of my favourite stories.

It was SO embarrassing! And all of the band guys were at least two years younger than me, and that night on Facebook their statuses were all about how "the orchestra gets more of a show than you'd think". Ugh. Needless to say, I was not very happy with the lighting designers... sweatdrop

[AdeleDrew]

I was once in this variety show that this well known play director in our city once wrote. And this one rehersal we had everyone was randomly laughing for no apparent reason...I think there was a reason but half of the people didn't know why they were laughing...I being one of them.


This other story my friend told me about when he was in this one play. So apearently when they were performing this one show this kid had to be a charactor that dies at the end. So when he was acting dead at the end of the show he farted as the curtins closed. blaugh You would not belive how hard I laughed when he told me this story!! rofl

[Kiyene]

I was perfect in every rehearsal. A star actor - knew my lines before everyone else and never missed a beat.
And then came opening night, which haunts me to this day:
Our school, not being the most immersed in performing arts, decided to do a Shakespeare to save on rights. We did A Midsummer Night's Dream (I'm still convinced this is because it has way more girls in it than any other Shakespeare). I scored the role of Helena and I was the youngest lead in the play. It was opening night (not actually night - it was a mattinee due to our principle's hatred for the arts - long story) and we'd gotten through half of the play, all running smoothly. Escalating into the fight scene, the rhythm was really falling into place; I felt in my element. Now, due to a 'modernising' of the setting, we were no longer in a wood - rather a park. Ever faithful to directorial decisions, we had a mini playset at the back of the stage. Spying on Lysander and Hermia, I lay in wait under the small bridge. And upon my cue line, I pushed myself forward and out onto the stage. A collective gasp issued from the crowd and crashing down behind me came - the entire canvas backdrop.
I later learned, once I had come off stage, that the falling backdrop had hit Puck (who was also spying on us all) on the head. Everyone was gathered around her, asking if she had a concussion. I have never been so embarrassed in my life.