Nothing Short of Disturbing
Last night was the first second-weekend performance of Agnes of God. I was snickering because (in my rarely humble opinion) Richard didn't pick the best time to perform this thing. Good Friday and Easter are two of the dates of performance... *groans* So that was already asking for trouble. Also worrisome was the slowly solidifying theory that the play is cursed. If tech went beautifully, the cast forgot their lines, and if they remembered their lines, we lost power connections to half the stage and a headset connector went out. Like that. The only thing that made all of this bearable was the (normally upsetting) fact that we never had an audience of more than thirteen. (No, I'm not superstitious about numbers. I almost wish I was, though, for the sake of this argument.)
Well, I stopped worrying when the house was pretty much full (comparatively speaking), the cast was remembering their lines, and tech was looking truly beautiful.
About twenty minutes away from intermission, I was staring intently at my script, following along, half-listening to the twins (who must not have enough time together these days, 'cause they couldn't keep quiet; I have to admit, though, that I enjoyed myself... God, they're hysterical), minding my own business, when the twins stop talking. Naturally, I look up and out at the stage... to find the actors running over to this elderly gentlemen, who, if he had been conscious, would have found himself being slapped by someone... (who was that?)
Someone whipped out their phone and called 911. I hollered at Kev to bring up the lights, but since I never really trained him on the board, he didn't know how. I ran over and brought up channel 24, which at least gave them the house lights, John Rustan (drama teacher and audience member) brought up the work lights, and I ran, barefoot (I almost always am when I'm in the booth) down to the stage.
We ended up sending everyone up into the lobby and waiting impatiently for the ambulance to arrive. (Hey, guys, Rustin was one of the paramedics. Cool, eh?)
Suffice it to say the man was alive when they took him away. Public safety insisted on calling a custodian to mop down the stage (there had been a tiny bit of blood) even though TD Mike had already done so. We comped everyone refreshments, and the show went on.
It was really a great performance, all things considered. Tech continued to go beautifully, and after the show, Mike came into the booth and told us we had done a fabulous job overall (people keeling over included.)
Never a dull moment in live theatre, is there? And just imagine how it was for the actors... I mean, if a little kid had a seizure during Magic Theatre, I'm not sure I'd be all gleeful about carrying on. Well.
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