Pranks/Idiocy

[Amber H.]

Okay Chris here’s mine,

Our set of prankster guidelines, were almost exactly the same, but unwritten. However, if you strayed beyond the limits you would be quietly ostracized by the rest of the company.
Usually our little jokes centered around testing fellow actor’s abilities to stay in character when unusual things happened during a dress rehearsal or performance.
For example there is a scene in an opera called “Amahl and the Night Visitors” where local shepherds and villagers come out to greet the three kings who are on their way to see the Christ Child. They bring gifts with them and lay them before the kings to be taken to the child as well. After the first few performances, some peculiar items started making their way into some of the baskets of plastic fruits and nuts. It started with some odd bits of candy, a few plastic baby toys, some travel sized personal hygiene products (mouthwash, soap, toothpaste) for the kings, and I think finally we put in a full meal from Wendy’s toward the end of the show’s run. The baritone whom we were trying to get to crack up onstage did amazingly well. He really liked it. The lead tenor didn’t appreciate it though. But that’s just the way most tenors are. They’re kind of an anal bunch (I hope that’s an okay word to use here).

I think my father pulled much better ones though. During the play “South Pacific” there is a scene in which one of the commanding officers says something like, “I know I’m not very well liked around here.”
Every time the actor said this line during rehearsal, something would happen to him. One night someone jumped up on the stage and gave him a pie in the face. The next night, a bucket of water was dumped on him. The third night, a hangman’s noose dropped down out of the grid right in front of him. He was a total basket case by the time the play started.

Anyway those are the kinds of things that would happen, especially when anyone from my family was involved (don’t get me started on the things my family did to each other).