Opening night was a triumph. The Gala audience was very enthusiastic; we were pretty hyper, and I, especially, was riding a wave of terror.
On the second night, we always have to watch our energy levels, as the audience tends to be smaller and a tad bit harder to please. As it turned out, we had a nice sized house, and everything was going along swimmingly until about four scenes from the end of the play, when the lights went out. I had already blown out the candles, which meant that we finished that scene and did the next one in the emergency lights. After a bit, Lee, the light tech, managed to get the house lights and works to run, so we finished the show with those, but with no sound...no music, no effects...nothing.
We troupered on, and Josh was amazing, able to improvise the hospital scene, which is usually done completely with sound effects. He communicated to the audience that he was in a hospital, and distraught. He had them in the palm of his hand.
Using work lights and house lights, of course we had no fade, so blackouts happened with the flip of a switch. Old school, you might say.
Frank offered comps to the entire audience, so we shall see if anyone takes him up on it.
That's why we love it...you can never tell what's going to happen!
I have to admit that this particular disaster had never befallen me, but others have. I've had costumes disintegrate, pictures crash down off the wall, and sliding doors come completely off their tracks. I know that one just plays on, no matter what. And that's what we did.
It was awesome!
Come see us! www.sambasstheatre.org
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