4/7 Evening: Did someone die in the Front Mezz at the Atkinson? This isn't a joke. — Page 2

Actually her reasoning was that it was God's decision to have the man fall ill. I spoke to her at intermission to seek a possible exhange for a later date and she was pretty adiment that there was nothing she could have done. Dumb if you ask me.

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That's bullshi*t, GYPSY. Completely ridiculous. I would definitely push and try to get a refund or another ticket. There were much better ways to handle that cockup.

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"It was the worst theater going experience of my life."

I believe it was the dead guy's worst theater going experience as well. it might even have been worse than yours.

and he didn't write any letters.

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Saturday Night at Altar Boyz in SF a woman slumped over in her seat at the Orpheum in San Francisco. I was there helping with the merchandise and sitting in the back by the sound board. I noticed her boyfriend carrying her up the aisle. I ran to the lobby to advise an usher who ran to get the hose manager. By this point she was laying in the lobby and I turned my phone back on and called 911. She came to and stood up on her own and I went to speak to her (with the 911 operator on my phone) and she refused ambulance service. She and her boyfriend decided to leave, and another usher had to chase her down to give her her shoes which were still at her seat.

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I must say that Gypsy that the hose manager telling you that it was " god's choice to make the person sick" as a defences statement to why you shouln't get a refund, is just bull SH*T. I mean I know that the theatres HATE having to give refunds and they do sometimes come up with BS reasons as to why they shouldn't just so that they can keep the money but this was the worst one I have ever heard. You should have made a crack about how god has nothing to do with me having a bad experence that deserves me to get my money back or something like that.

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Many times ushers are hired on a per diem basis. I know this because I attended different performances in three different theaters over a 1 month period and had the same young man seat me. I started a conversation with him and he told me about his per diem hiring.

I can't imagine a per diem hiring having a sense of the theater's seating plan, let alone CPR.

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I don't expect many people to know CPR, but I do expect virtually anyone to know how and when to dial 911.

Keeping in mind that we don't necessarily know the whole story, etc, etc: based on what's been said so far, I think it is insane that they would not turn on the house lights to try to figure out what was going on with the guy. Didn't they want to see what his color is like, etc? And I can't believe that they didn't ask for medical help but just let the poor guy sit there slumped over. Sounds like a lot of bad calls by a lot of different people.

They are lucky that the guy is still alive (and hopefully without any permanent damage) -- it may have been "God's decision" that the guy fell ill at that particular moment, but it was the theater staff's decision not to do everything possible to increase the odds that he would survive by opting not to stop the show. Does the house manager honestly believe that there is any reasonable person (audience or actors) who would have said, "Why are they stopping the show? Who cares that there is some guy in the audience who may be dying?"

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People have just got to stop dying in the theater. It isn't right.

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Theatre is a Live experience
so Death will always be a factor.

Last time I checked, people paying $100 dollars should not be suffering because of "G-d's will" considering he isn't giving us the money to pay for it in the first place.

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When I was backpacking around Europe in college, I had standing room seats at the opera in Vienna. During the first scene, I started feeling really awful, and the next thing I remember, I was lying on the floor of the lobby, with hovering people all around me (interestingly enough, speaking English to me).

I have to admit that, honestly, until reading this thread, I never even though about what happened in the actual theater.

I'm guessing they didn't stop the show, though. But, hey, if anyone was at the Vienna Opera House in March of 1996 and some stupid American girl's passing out disrupted your enjoyment of the opening scene of Maria Stuarda, I do apologize.

Updated On: 4/9/07 at 11:45 PM