Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance? — Page 4

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#76

re: Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 8/14/06 at 6:05pm

Well I wasn't in this play, but in my Community Theater's production of Footloose, they had a full house of these little asian kids. There were, like, three to a seat because they were so small. In the beginning they were all entertained, but by the middle, all of them were playing on their damn gameboys or whatever. So obviously they made noises like "beep" and "boop" and "game over". Then my friend on stage muttered "game over" and the entire stage just busted up in laughter. It's more hilarious than unprofessional.

Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.

#77

re: Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 8/16/06 at 11:59am

One of the directors at my college invented this game he calls "Disk Pass". He gives someone in the cast a foam disk (like from a nerf gun) and it has to make it's way to everyone in the cast by the end of the first act. He invented it to keep us on our toes and our spirits light while we were in long tech/dress rehearsals.

The game wasn't supposed to continue once the show opened, but a few people in the cast decided they wanted to keep it going. They started passing all sorts of stuff, pennies, grapes, anything small. One night, they didn't have anything to pass and the rest of us figured they weren't going to pass anything. During one of the scenes where everyone was onstage, I look over and their group is laughing hysterically. They were trying to hold it together and doing a terrible job of it. Come to find out, someone had grabbed a broken condom (from someone's mic) and had started to pass that. Our director was there that night, unbeknownst to them, and read them the riot act at intermission. Needless to say, they didn't pass anything else after that.

#78

re: Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 8/19/06 at 11:48am

"My director came backstage in the middle of a performance to yell at us to "stop sucking".

Definitely LOL. :]

I remember our scenery falling down during a scene change. It was wonderful. We were pretty much all yelling at each other with the curtain down.

#79

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 8/23/06 at 7:59am

once we were at intermission at our dress rehearsal a bunch of freshman left to go get mcdonalds.

"I've had a lot of failed relationships, I don't get involved because I'm not equipped. I believe that the world should revolve around me"

#80

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 8/23/06 at 5:34pm

My Jr. Year in HS we were doing Annie Get your Gun and during the ball room scene all of the men broke out in the dance that Napolian did on stage. I almost died, There I was with my dance partner not knowing what to do so all the girls got into a group and I went on with my lines when the music dir. stoped the music. Oy!

"Never trust a rose, the blossoms are nice but the thorns are poison."

#81

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 8/24/06 at 3:27am

I was in my middle school's production of Alice in Wonderland, it was my first show and I had two roles, the Cook and Tweedle Dee and since I was the Cook I also had to be apart of the Jury so after the Court scene I had to RUN back stage and change into my costume do my make-up (we had pretty wild make-up) and do my hair (big tails with coloured spikes [we used the gloopy stuff that I'll never ever use again]) then run to the wings and get my shoes on just as the previous scene finished whil my friend got he umbrella ready but one day during the matinee preformance (were I get even less time to change) these two kids were fighting backstage about there roles or something and wouldn't let me pass and I also missed my que... but it could have been worse

#82

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 12/23/06 at 2:19pm

Bump.

#83

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 12/23/06 at 5:11pm

Not really during a rehearsal, but my chorus class won't shut up, even when we're practicing. And they're always asking, "Can we sing this song? Can we sing that song?" like it's request radio or something.

I hate my school.

Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you. --Cartman: South Park ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."

#84

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 12/24/06 at 12:59pm

Every year for five years I was in an outdoor youth musical theater program. Well at least in one instance in all five years, some couple sneaked out into the woods or up on the hill during the performance or intermission and made out. The sad part is, most of the couples were 13 or younger!

#85

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 12/24/06 at 9:45pm

I co-directed Alice in Wonderland at my high school this fall and I had the extreme displeasure of working with two of the most vicious, underhanded, manipulative people I've ever met. One was my co-director and one was the Mad Hatter/Humpty Dumpty. They're boyfriend and girlfriend, and together they're 100 times worse. That I got paired with this girl as a co-director was a huge mistake, but it was either me and her directing or these two hell-hounds directing together, and if that was the case, nothing would've ever gotten done because they would've been arguing or making out the whole time.

I could make a long list of unprofessional things these two people did during the rehearsal/run of Alice in Wonderland. My co-director constantly went behind my back and made decisions that I never knew about (while I would make sure we saw eye-to-eye before making a decision). She would yell at the cast and crew in front of everyone. And when someone tried to call her out on making decisions behind my back, she would point a finger at me and somehow make it seem like it was all my fault.

Our Mad Hatter/Humpty Dumpty...well, let me say I have never met another person with such a huge ego as he has. He firmly believes that he can do no wrong and that he is always right. He refused to take direction from us and often came late to rehearsal with no excuse (or he would show up and leave with no excuse). From what some of my friends (who were actors in the show) tell me, he maligned me a lot backstage. He would go out of his way to make my job difficult and put me in my worst light. On the second night of the show, he purposefully forgot his (extremely large) hat for the Mad Hatter scene, and then flat-out lied to my face after the show when I asked why he didn't have it. He forgot it, he said, because it was busy backstage. I found out after the run was over that he was upset because at the performances we'd done for the school, we cut half his scene because we were short on time and the audience didn't seem to like it. So he forgot various props (in the Humpty scene too) to spite us.

Oh, and one girl new to the club would smoke weed between her scenes (outside, how thoughtful of her) and one new boy to the club would run around with a lighter (which I frequently told the cast and crew were not allowed) and talk about having sex with his girlfriend and make the cast extremely uncomfortable. He was suspended last week for having sex in one of the art classrooms after school. He also had sex in our prop loft. Needless to say, he won't be allowed back into the club.

It was one of the most hellish experiences of my life. Ahhh, how wonderful it feels to get that off my chest.

We have an amazing new advisor, now - we were basically advisorless for the past year and a half - and I can finally rest assured that this weed-smoking and power-tripping will continue no longer.

#86

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 12/24/06 at 9:59pm

In the one play that I've done (I know, I'm such an amiture compaired to most of you!) there was an interesting story that occured...

Well apperently there's this "tradition" at my school where after the last successful performance (ex.: the final Saturday evening) the boys of the cast strip down to there skivies, streak across the stage, and sing "Ole Ole". While the boys were perparing for the "grand final" (*just an FYI to those who may be offended by this: no one was in the theater except for the cast and crew...we would never, EVER do this in front of a live audience) our horrid director comes in unnoticed. Then all of a sudden, we hear woops and hollers of "Ole, Ole, Ole!!" While the boys ran across the stage, twice, wearing nothing but silk ties and boxer shorts. Our director was SO pissed, but I have to say, one of the funniest and most unprofessional things I've seen

Your aspirations are your possibilities-Samuel Johnson (and a little help from nomdeplume)

#87

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 12/25/06 at 3:52am

Well, I've got a little story:

When I was in The Music Man, we had this little demon who made the cast and crew's life a living hell. She was disruptive, rude, and brought down the entire show.

One night, she was late for a scene. As a rule, we were not supposed to slam the door that lead to the stage during a performance [because it makes noise which can be heard by the audience]. Does Little Miss I'm-Too-Good-For-This-Show care? NOPE. She realizes she's late, runs out the door and slams it [thus creating noise]. My friend confronted her afterwards and yelled at her for making that mistake.

She also knocked into our Tommy onstage during the Shipoopi dance. Luckily, neither of them were hurt, but she could've caused him some major injury if she had actually collided into him any harder.

During one show, when my friend was standing in front of the monitor watching for the next scene [like we were *supposed* to be doing], this little hellion comes barging in, knocks right into my friend [almost causing her to fall to the ground] and keeps on going. One of the moms who managed us backstage asked her, "Aren't you going to apologize?" and she says, "I don't have to apologize to her or anyone!" [nice attitude, huh?]

And finally, the straw that broke the camel's back;

All the girls had to share one huge dressing room. So during one of the scenes, all us Pick-A-Littles were in there getting ready for our next costume change [I think it might've been Grecian Urns]. We notice that this girl is taking hairspray and spraying it all around the room - making it unbearable to breathe. So of course we let the director know and of course, this girl has to cry and act like she's innocent.

Thankfully, we had gathered enough evidence to boot her out of the show and when we came back for a rehearsal on Wednesday before our second run of shows, we were all told that the demon had been expelled.

And there was much rejoicing.

[Needless to say, our second run of shows went much smoothly].

"I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbable dreams." - Doctor Who

"Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, men recognize that the human race has been harshly treated but it has moved forward." - Les Miserables

#88

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:52pm

The most recent play I appeared in had a chacracter die on stage, landing behind a large piece of debris. My character was the only one shocked/upset about it, with the others on stage supporting it. I turned my head to look at the "dead body" and instead see him waving to friends in the front...I was so shocked I didn't think much of it while on stage.

How to properly use its/it's: Its is the possessive. It's is the contraction for it is...

#89

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 12/26/06 at 12:06am

I don't know if it's considered unprofessional for directors to throw large objects at their cast members, I didn't think much of it at the time but looking back on it, I could see why that might be considered unprofessional. Anyway, in Oct we did Tempest at my high school and I was Trinculo, so I had the misery aquaints a man with strange bedfellows line, which the more famous lines in the play according to my director. So when I do a Shakespeare, in the rehearsal process I'm constantly reviewing my modernizations (I don't do No fear Shakespeare, it's a great tool though, I just enjoy going through the lines myself) for my lines so I know exactly what the hell I'm saying and what my objectives need to be ect. So on opening night, I ended up spitting out the line, but I said roomates instead of bedfellows. We do notes on opening night only, and at notes that night, my director threw a large plastic pole at me, luckily she missed.

Also when we did Ragtime last year, we had this incredible show one night, you know the shows where there is this tremendous amount of energy and it's felt by almost all, well, when the final curtain went down after the Wheels After Dream Reprise, everyone on stage started cheering behind the curtain.

Our director wasn't happy and I'm sure if there was another white pole she would have thrown it at all us.

#90

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 12/28/06 at 11:28am

I was just involved in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream where one of the members of Theseus' court, who was only on at the very beginning and very end, went to get a spray tan during the show. IN COSTUME. And on the way back, picked up Jamba Juice for her friends in the show. And of course, she carried her Sidekick everywhere, including onstage.

-Was that a fart?
-My fault, I fear.

#91

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 12/28/06 at 1:13pm

Ok so I was in my 8th grade MTI Aladdin JR. last year and I played Iago. Even though the rest of the principals had never odne a show (i'd done LOTS), I got the parrot because it was part puppet (Avenue Q-ish) and no one else could to it without forgetting about the bird up their hand.

So I'm in the middle of a scene with our horrible Jafar and he blows a line, so he starts monolouging (because our teacher told us we could ad-lib, albeit in place of actualy lines...) so he asks me this question out of the blue and looks at the parrot and I took a quick look at my teacher and she montioned to keep going to I just answered with some lame joke and then had the parrot on my hand chase him off the stage...

#92

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 12/30/06 at 1:46am

These are cracking me up.

Showboat: I did the show at a community theatre and it was TERRIBLE. One day the four Mincing Misses (myself included) decided we were all just going to fall over at various points in the show. Only one girl actually went through with it. During what we called the "audience scene"- the ensemble were all sitting on benches on stage left and stage right watching a show. When the lights came up for the scene- one of the Mincing Misses fell off of the bench- and the rest of us could not stop laughing for the rest of the scene.

Beauty and the Beast: This was actually at a professional theatre. Two guys in our cast (the Beast and...I think Lumiere) found Disney pornography online- and found all of these drawings of Belle and the Beast, the Silly Girls and Gaston, Belle and Gaston, etc. in obscene poses. They decided it would be funny to print out these pictures and put them in the book that Belle and the Beast read during the Library scene. Well- Belle opens the book and does not miss a beat. Belle and the Beast were blocked to turn around and face upstage while there was a scene going on with Lumiere and Cogsworth (and Mrs. Potts?)- Belle looked out into the wings where the rest of the cast stood laughing hysterically. I was literally rolling on the floor laughing. And she gave us the death stare. Then- when we all came on for "Human Again"- the Beast did everything he could to make sure as much of the cast could see the pictures onstage as possible (without the audience seeing, of course). Theres a little scene between the Beast and Belle in the middle of "Human Again" during which the ensemble was supposed to freeze facing upstage watching them. But none of us were frozen- we were all shaking insanely. It was pretty bad.

Big: at the same professional theatre. So theres this tradition that I guess is saved more for touring productions, but this theatre abides by the tradition as well- where cast members bring in donuts for the rest of the cast when they have sex with someone. Hahah. So- someone had brought in donuts for the cast- and there were leftovers. During "Coffee, Black" our guy playing Josh Basking decided to walk on with the Dunkin Donuts box and just put it on the receptionist table. (He sings Coffee, Black at the office, the morning after sleeping with Susan...for those of you who don't know) The lady playing the receptionist proceeded to open up the box and eat a donut throughout the whole song. Most of us were facing upstage for atleast half of the number to hide our laughter.

Finally- when I did Thoroughly Modern Millie at the same professional theatre...this was actually after I had left the show to go to college (I came back to watch closing weekend)- after the Speakeasy...for the jail scene...someone had changed Millie's sign to say "8675309"- and when Jimmy said "May I ask you a personal question 8675309"- everyone onstage and in the audience just lost it. It was hilarious.

Mostly just innocent little pranks- but when you look back at them- TOTALLY unprofessional...

Man. That was long.

#93

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 2/20/07 at 6:44pm

I was the assistant musical director for a middle school production of Once on This Island this summer and I almost strangled a girl who thought it was funny to steal other people's costumes.

I'm guilty myself, too, though. I was in Anything Goes last summer as Ling and during the cell scene the guy who played Moonie kept hitting my hat, like to be funny. It progressed through the performances until I got so irratated I looked up and slapped him on stage. God, it was infuriating.

Also, a girl showed up to my last choir concert 15 minutes late, she just made it on stage, and completely stoned. She stood up there and giggled the whole time.

"An intelligent hell would be better than a stupid paradise." --Victor Hugo

#94

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 2/23/07 at 3:41pm

when i was in noises off closing night, dotty and i (i played gary) pulled alot of crap, for example, on one part i came out of he bedroom, with drenched in lip stick, it was ment to look like brooke and i were gettin buzy but it made me look like a queen, then we began throwing the sardines every were, then or belinda shuved my face in the sardines (mind you this was manly the 3rd act) as awful as it was the crowd LOVED IT! and so did we :) wont do it again though!

ALSO when i was in Beauty and the beast the first time, are beast and gaston fooled around ALOT like during a show they would being feeling each other up! man it got way dirty!! and dont get me started on the silly girls LOL

Why do i always get the dressing rooms with the hairy boys with backne & Sackne? i dont like vagina stick me with the girls!

#95

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 2/23/07 at 7:10pm

ahhh these are hilarious.
when i have more time, i'll tell some stories..

haha, keep them coming guys! =)

hear my song; it was made for the time when you don't know where to go, listen to the song that i sing, you'll be fine..

#96

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 3/26/07 at 12:11pm

GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY!

I injured...

The fur trapper...

Bump.

#97

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 3/26/07 at 4:26pm

unprofessional? not really. Being involved in community theatre, there isn't much that ISN'T unprofessional.

but funny? yes.

In The Illusion, there's a pretty intense swordfight between Clindor and Adraste. So right before Clindor wins and impales Adraste on his wooden sword, he disarms Adraste and sends his "sword" (an umbrella; our director likes replacing props with cool looking junk) flying across the stage. On opening night, the umbrella flew all the way across the stage and hit the girl playing Isabelle in the face. She fell over.

It happened twice.

This one is more unprofessional: Also in The Illusion, my part required me to stay onstage and fall asleep at intermission, with the audience watching. The girls playing the Shadows (these little sprites that help the magician) were supposed to clean up the stage (the magician mixes a little potion/explosion at the end of the first act) and taunt me while I was asleep. Instead of simply poking me or making faces at me or stealing my coat, they were a little more bothersome. Here's what they did:
- tickled me. I'm really ticklish
- sat on me
- smacked me
- broke my cane & taped it back together
- used a towel to clean up the baking soda and dust onstage and shook it in my face
I don't know how I didn't break character, but I didn't, thank God. I love them all, but I wanted to kill them!

"The art of Illusion is the art of love; and the art of love is the blood-red heart of the world." - Tony Kushner, "The Illusion"

#98

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 4/11/07 at 5:23pm

Ok, well this wasn't during an actual performance, but it's SOOO unprofessional I have to post this....

So right now my high school is currently doing As Bees In Honey Drown. I'm just doing tech cause it's a senior show, but anway, we're a week from opening. WOOO right?! Well...

Yesterday, the guy who plays evan wyler and a girl who plays a few different roles announce that they can't make the rehearsal we have this friday, because he has to go to a "family reunion" in california. The girl is his girlfriend, and she said, in front of the cast, that "i'd rather be there than here"... and she's going with him....

Our director kicked them out of the show....

But they aren't going to a family reunion, they're going to a broadway audition for Spring Awakening in LA....

WE ARE A WEEK FROM OPENING!!!!!!
Evan is in EVERY SINGLE SCENE!!!!!

its bad enough that anyone drops out of a show, but when they basically don't stop talking throughout the entire show, its a HUGE problem....

We are continuing the show and some of the people in the cast now have their roles and others took over the vacant ones blah blah....

I just still can't believe how incredibly disrespectful and unprofessional this act is.... i wanna say their names so that if anyone ever reads this that these jack asses will never get work and hopefully will wind up never even close to a theatre again....but i won't....i just had to tell our story..... thanks for reading

#99

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 4/11/07 at 5:31pm

That's why you should always cast MYSTERY MAN from LOST HIGHWAY. He could have done both the show AND the audition at the same time...

#100

Most Unprofessional Thing You've Ever Witnessed During a Performance?

Posted: 4/11/07 at 5:35pm

We were doing guys and dolls and Harry the Horse took it upon him self to get drunk before the show.

So he came in and then took it upon him self to start herassing "Sarah" (who just like the character is the sweetest girl in the world)-he was calling her lots of stuff that she wasnt and during the show he was in the wings he was still herassing her--so during intermission-she grabbed her car keys---walked to her car-got in it...got out with a pair of scissors and gave Harry's truck a nice line all the way around it.

funny thing is-he was to drunk to remember how or who did it the next day

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