The Show Must Go On

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

I have solicited fun tour stories from the actors currently on tour with Theatre IV. This evening I received a message from Jennifer Zubernick. That message follows:

Hey Billy-Christopher,

I'm not sure if you're still in need of tour stories, but have I got one for you.

As you know, I'm in Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. On Friday, we were scheduled for two performances Connecticut. The weather was very cold, rainy, and icy but we got there safely. The first show went wonderfully, and we went back to our dressing room to relax and have some lunch before our next show. Steve (Freitas) went onstage to fix something and when he came back, announced, "Hey guys, we have a really big problem." Concerned, we all asked, "What?" His response was somewhat surreal, "Umm, it's raining... on the stage." We all went out to the stage to see for ourselves and sure enough, it was literally raining on the stage. Somehow rain had penetrated vents in the ceiling and was coming down somewhat steadily in two big puddles near stage left. Not only was the stage quickly becoming slick where a lot of running action takes place, but one of the stage lights flickered as it was getting hit with the rain and our all-wood set was slowly getting wet and ruined. Stephanie (Hill), our road manager, alerted the theatre staff about the dangerous stage conditions. However, they had tons of kids already booked for the performance, so we got on the phone with Gordon Bass (TIV tour manager) to hear his advice. Not surprisingly, he also wanted the show to continue.

So what was a cast to do? The theatre was already filling with kids who had been bussed in from all over CT, and the theatre staff as well as our people back in Richmond wanted a show. So, we gave them a show. After some quick onstage thinking, creative blocking and differing set change placement, we gave just as good a show as any other, and soon enough no one in the audience was even paying attention to the unwanted rain special effects.

And that was within a week and a half of tour. We're performing until mid-April. If we can pull off a show in the rain, there's little we won't be able to handle if it comes our way.

-Jennifer Zubernick