As a theatre critic for the Santa Barbara News Press and a high school drama teacher, I have gathered theatrical tidbits over years about the magic of theatre. Most theatre 'war stories' happily end with the explanation of how it all came together.
Some war stories I've heard from Central Coast theatre company members (PCPA, SLO Little Theatre, The Great American Melodrama) are that the costume designer quit the week the show opened, taking the costumes with her/him; the cast works all day and all night to recreate something like the original designs; doubts are high, but by opening, the entire cast is costumed, and the audience is none the wiser. The magic of theatre.
Or, how about when an actor simply couldn't learn his/her lines. Most of the actors at PCPA are students or resident actors that have been brought in specifically for a production — not too many other choices for understudies. I've witnessed a director giving various scenarios on how to cover for the actor, including the eleventh hour scenario: "If (ACTOR) freezes on stage, someone tell (ACTOR) that you want to show (ACTOR) the family dog in the back, and escort (ACTOR) offstage immediately." Funny now, not so much at the time. But, the story ends with the actor miraculously knowing the lines perfectly by opening night, though not one rehearsal could be completed up until then. The magic of theatre.
A very familiar and all-too-stressful situation has been the last minute actor physically not able to perform. Or worse, I remember a time when the company knew the actor could not perform, they brought in his understudy, then as the understudy was practicing to fill in 30 minutes before the show, HE was injured and ALSO couldn't perform! Then what? Have the stage manager step in? Cancel the show? It's too stressful to even remember the happy ending except that the magic of theatre solved it.
The magic of theatre has pulled Central Coast theatre companies through financially challenging times, i.e. Cambria's Pewter Plough Playhouse. The Playhouse was closed in 2010 by the fire department because there were no ceiling sprinklers. Magically, an anonymous donor contributed $30,000 and the theatre's doors swung open again in 2011.
It's mostly magic, but it's also the beauty of what they do: most theatre types are cross-trained. They are actors, techies, and administrators — they wear so many hats and have such a broad range of skills, they CAN step out of the booth for the show they are stage managing and board operating, and step up and into a role.
Not a day goes by that I don't thank the magicians and gods of theatre for all that they know, and, mostly, all they are willing to do to make theatre happen.
