Ah...The Joys Of Live Theater

I'd have to say my career in performing began in high school. I didn't to a lot of shows--I was too shy--but I definitely found an interest. In college I worked as a stuntman and in 2000, my son and I did our first community theater production...Scrooge.

Since then, I've probably done at least one show every year, some years no shows, some years many. Needless to say, if you're on a stage performing in front of a live audience, it's only a matter of time before something goes wrong.

I was reviewing a show for a blog when the stage didn't lift and they took a ten-plus minute break to get it fixed. I was in a show when lightning hit the building and fried some audio equipment. I was in another a show when the motorized cart that Belle's father drove in Beauty and the Beast died on stage. I, a member of the ensemble, ended up running on stage to jimmy the key--it was quirky. It worked. And everyone knows what it's like to completely forget a line or have an actor with which you are interacting on stage, forget a line.

Ah, the joys of live theater.

I've been both on stage and in the audience when mistakes happen. It's part of the experience. Thankfully, when they do it's nice when those who paid to see you on stage are considerate enough to understand that errors and technical difficulties happen and to not complain, even though they've spent good money to see the show. It's part of being a good citizen, a good patron, a good person.

As long as I continue to do shows, I suppose the glitches and gaffs and mistakes and miscues will continue as well. Let's hope they're at a minimum and when they do happen, people will understand.