Why do people stage door? — Page 2

If I had a great waiter or service person, I ALWAYS wait until they get off work and then follow them to their car.

I find gas station attendants are the most skittish.

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I stagedoor for the same reasons as many people have mention, to thank the actors for their performance and tell them how they've inspired me or things like that. Getting a picture is always great, but it's fine if I don't. Meeting the actors is sort of the icing on the cake after watching a brilliant performance.

I stagedoor for the same reasons that have been said. That it is a way to meet actors that I am fans of etc. Now, I don't at all consider stage dooring for the same show more then once to be considered weird or stalkerish at all. When I have done it the impression that I have gotten from the actors is that they are glad that there is a person or two who enjoys their performance and the show enough to come more then once. I don't think that in all my times of going to the stage door. There has ever once been a performer who got freaked at the sight of seeing the same person there multiple times.

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Maybe it depends on the quality of the interaction. I've known performers who have ducked out side doors specifically to avoid meeting certain repeat stage door visitors, and have remarked that seeing certain people at the stage door over and over again does make them uncomfortable.

I'm not going to lie..I stage door at pretty much every show I've been to.

As everyone has said, I do it to tell these talented people how much their work means to me and how much I aspire to be where they are someday. I have a signed playbill collection and I do enjoy taking pictures. The only times I'll take another picture on a different day would be if the circumstances were different.

Like, I took a picture with Aaron Albano when I didn't even plan to stage door one day, because my friend did it and I felt silly just standing there. Then, when I saw the last Spelling Bee show, I took another picture with him because the adrenaline was soaring through the roof and he was just too adorable.

Kevin Cahoon is pretty much my only other instance. I met him at the Wedding Singer in the October before it closed and I told him my birthday was coming up in December. (We were just chatting because he was waiting for someone and said he wanted to talk a little bit. SUCH a sweetie.) When he heard it was my birthday, he gave me a "friends and family" discount code if I wanted to see the show again for my birthday, and if I did to come back to the stage door that day. I did, and when I went to SD, he said "gather up the people you're with and follow me." And he gave me a backstage tour, brought me on the stage, everything. It was magical. So, I took my second picture that day. haha.

I love stage door-ing. Most actors appreciate the support, I think.

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Damn, I hope I don't make the actors feel like I'm trying to be buddy-buddy with them. I seriously have like the most friendly attitude, and when I talk to ANYONE, stranger, actor, etc..I talk to them as if they've been my best friend forever. I hope that doesn't bother them.

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I'm sure they appreciate friendliness. I think what winston89 means by buddy-buddy is what I was also alluding to: that there are some people who go to the stage door a LOT, and believe that since the actors know their names or faces and stop to chat, they must be very best friends. They read far more into the interaction than is really there, sometimes bring the actors expensive gifts and try to get them to communicate with them, etc.

Updated On: 2/14/08 at 07:45 PM

Same with me. If I see a show that I think is wonderful or has actors in it that I admire and would just like to say thank you, then I'll stage door. I don't stage all the time. And sometimes if I'm with friends who are stage dooring, but I have nothing to say to the actor(s), I'll watch all the craziness going on.
But whenever I've met an actor, they have all always been appreciative of the support. Once, I was thanking an actor for his performance and we ended up having a 15 minute conversation, which I didn't expect at all.
But on another note, with actor(s) that I do know, I don't expect to go backstage. That's their workspace and I'm content to just wait at the stage door until they are ready to leave. I think I've met a lot of parents that way.

I stagedoor more often than not, but I started on a total whim -- I saw the latest
RENT tour when it was in Los Angeles and because my ride wasn't going to be there until about an hour after the final curtain, my friend and I decided to poke around a bit and found the stagedoor. It wasn't too crowded, so we managed to have a very pleasant chat with Bryce Ryness who played Roger.

The next time I stagedoored was A Chorus Line in San Francisco, because I was so moved and impressed by the actors and the show I really felt the need to tell them. The stagedoor of the Curran in San Francisco is right next to the main door, so there was quite a crowd, but most of the performers were very friendly and willing to sign and pose for pictures. Chrissie Whitehead, Alisan Fraser, Deidre Goodwin, Mara Davi were all amazingly chatty and humble when I met them. I remember talking with Michael Berresse (who managed to spot I was a budding actor after I told him how much I enjoyed the show) for several minutes about A Chorus Line, and the shows I had done, and San Francisco, and my mother who had seen most of the original company talked about how glad she was the show was being mounted again. It was a wonderful night, not only having seen the show, but also being able to interact with the performers afterwards.

I do stagedoor a fair bit, moreso than not, but it's really only when I've really enjoyed the performance and really would like to meet the actors and tell them so.

I also ended up having quite a long chat with Anthony Rapp when he came to my school for a book-signing. I brought my Little Shop programs for when I'd seen the show with him in it and we got to talking about that. Then I mentioned I'd done a chapter of his book as a competition piece in speech competition and we ended up chatting for a few minutes. Which irked the people behind me in line to no end, I have no doubt.

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I stage door to get window cards signed and sell them on ebay.

That's a lie, I don't sell them. If it comes to it I will. I don't know really why I stage door. It's just part of the fun.

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I stage door because I need to be validated by complete strangers who I've just paid money to watch pretend to be other people for two or three hours.

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Haha. Nice, LizzieCurry.