# Ask the (former) stagehand/stagemanager, director and all around theatrical jack of all trades **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 3, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408 "2011-03-03T21:23:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/61 "2011-03-09T23:32:37Z")
This thread is really interesting! I work front-of-house at our local theatre, so I am merely as a child amongst adults here. > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I think I can speak for everyone involved in theatre when I say that the thing I like to hear most from people is “I had a _great_ time at your show!” I completely agree with this. We want people to feel that their afternoon or evening out at the theatre has been worth it. I’d say that’s probably all that **really** matters to us. > [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > OK, now I have questions about lines. I am under the impression that is absolutely verboten to mess with the playwright’s lines In parallel with what others have already said about this, licensing is also an issue. Some playwrights are **very** definite about their text not being meddled with. A while back our theatre got some negative comments in at least one industry magazine, because a company performing there had made dialogue cuts. The licensing was entirely clear that this wasn’t permissible. Unfortunately the director had decided at almost the last minute to cut for time (:smack:)… As such, it was rather galling that it was the theatre that got the negative press, and that the company responsible wasn’t even mentioned. :mad: I believe there was talk about having to pay what amounted to a fine for this having happened, but I don’t know what the eventual outcome was. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/62 "2011-03-09T23:35:37Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > So the changes vary, the reasons vary, and while there is a general trend to respect the author’s work, after all if you didn’t think they were any good you wouldn’t be putting on the show, it’s neither universal nor ironclad. Right. Forgive me if I get this a bit wrong, it’s been a while since I had to deal with the union rules (you may notice I bring up union rules a lot, that’s my SM experience talking) but there are some rules that govern this sort of thing. If it’s public domain you can more or less do what you want with it. If it’s a new work there is a good chance that you will be working with the playwright and changes that are made with be made in collaboration with the author. If it is a non public work then you can edit out without asking permission (I believe)\*, but can not add or change. Up thread I talked about a production that I worked on where the Director started making script changes without asking permission and the whole production almost sank when the playwright found out. It’s serious stuff, and written into the rights of the production. There is a rumor that I have heard more than once that Jim Jacobs (co-writer of _Grease_) makes his primary living these days traveling around the country to see productions of his play and then suing when they invariably include music from the movie that wasn’t in the original stage play. Stuff gets edited down for time a lot, particularly older stuff. _Hamlet_, for example, is over 4 hours long in it’s entirety and most plays aren’t commercially viable if they are much more than 2 hours long, so you start making cuts. Edit: I see that I am wrong about cuts being ok on all productions. Thinking about it, that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/63 "2011-03-09T23:43:14Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > How long does it take an actor to memorize a play? Depends on the actor and the part. Usually not more than a few weeks. As a director I like to get actors on their feet as soon as possible because I feel that movement helps with memorization and you can’t really start working on performances until everything is memorized. > [@](#): > > And how often do they forget lines? Again, this depends, but everyone goes up on occasion. Hopefully it doesn’t happen in performance, and if it does you hope that everyone is sufficiently prepared so that they can cover. > [@](#): > > Are movie actors worse at it than qpeople who do most of their work in the theatre? > That always seems to me to be the toughest part of the actor’s job, all that memorization. Not really. Memorization seems harder than it is. It’s something that you get better at the more you practice too. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/64 "2011-03-10T00:06:11Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > There is a rumor that I have heard more than once that Jim Jacobs (co-writer of _Grease_) makes his primary living these days traveling around the country to see productions of his play and then suing when they invariably include music from the movie that wasn’t in the original stage play. This is true, although I would amend “primary living” to “subsidiary living”, as I’m certain the money those guys make on royalties alone is enough to sustain a small village for centuries. But (and I don’t want to delve too much into royalties since we’ve had other threads about it) _Grease_ is a good example because _everyone_ wants to do “Hopelessly Devoted to You” in their stage show, but it was written specifically for the movie. So people–ignorantly or not–just get the music from the movie book and add it to their show. Don’t do that. At least not without permission, which they do grant from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/65 "2011-03-10T02:45:48Z")
OK, so the playwright absolutely forbids any mucking with his work, but an actor accidentally skips a whole paragraph of dialog. The show continues, everyone smoothly compensating. Does the playwright get to sue then? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/66 "2011-03-10T03:01:59Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > OK, so the playwright absolutely forbids any mucking with his work, but an actor accidentally skips a whole paragraph of dialog. The show continues, everyone smoothly compensating. > > Does the playwright get to sue then? He can file a suit for any reason he wants. I doubt he’d win that lawsuit, tho. ETA: This is a silly hypothetical. Playwrites aren’t monsters, slavering and ghoulish and prone to lop off heads for a mistake. Would he/she be mad? Prolly. Would some bitching to the actor’s face be in store? Prolly. Lawsuit? No. ---
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/67 "2011-03-10T09:33:33Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > OK, so the playwright absolutely forbids any mucking with his work, but an actor accidentally skips a whole paragraph of dialog. The show continues, everyone smoothly compensating. > > Does the playwright get to sue then? For a fluff? No. Although all sorts of mad things happen in the world of theatre, so I suppose it might’ve happened once somewhere… We have another issue at our theatre. Because we’re in the outskirts of London, we’re usually prohibited from performing a play/show if it’s running (or has recently run) in the West End. (Obviously this doesn’t apply to stuff that’s out of copyright.) ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/68 "2011-03-10T16:49:02Z")
The restrictions on what can and can’t be performed and what changes can be made to non-public domain material very rigorous. We recently decided on our slate of titles for next season and one of the candidates was Fiddler on the Roof. This particular choice came with a caveat. It seems a couple of production companies are talking about mounting another national tour of Fiddler, to squeeze the last of the life out of a particular leading man, and if they do, then the rights won’t be available for us to purchase a license if our town is on the tour. There are nine major publishing houses listed on the [musical theatre 101 site](http://www.musicals101.com/alphinde.htm)(one of my go-to sites when helping put together a season). This particular link leads to the show breakdown page where it shows which publishing house handles the rights for a particular show. Several have a link which says “see note below” and this is how the note reads. > [@](#): > > Most Broadway musicals do not release performance rights to American amateurs until after their New York runs. Professional producers fear that amateur productions (even in distant locations) may cost them ticket sales. So rights for current hits may not be available to amateurs. By the same debatable logic, Broadway revivals or major national tours of a particular show can result in amateur rights being temporarily restricted or withdrawn. The [Samuel French Company](http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/royalties.php), one of the above-mentioned major publishing houses, has a pretty standard, i.e. very restrictive, license for what you can do with plays in their catalog. > [@](#): > > All Samuel French plays are protected by copyright laws and conventions. It is an infringement of copyright law to give a performance or reading of any such play or excerpt without the prior consent of Samuel French. It is also a violation of copyright law to copy part or all of a play by any means, including mechanical, photocopying, videotaping, scanning, web posting or other digital media formats. > > We are sometimes required to restrict or slightly restrict availability. Slightly restricted means there are certain time and territorial limitations in effect. Restrictions listed in our catalogues and on our website may change without notice. We will be happy to advise you of availability in your area; please check before scheduling a production. > > All productions in New York City and Los Angeles require special clearance and license (royalty) fees. Please apply well in advance of production to the New York or Hollywood office. > > The play will be presented as it appears in published form and the author’s intent will be respected in production. No changes, interpolations,or deletions in the text, lyrics, music, title or gender of the characters shall be made for the purpose of production. This includes changes or updating the time and place/setting of the play. In reference to changing the gender of characters men, will play male roles and women will play female roles. > > \*\*Please note: each title is considered separately and whenever you wish to make changes to a script you must always request permission in writing. Not all authors/authors’ representatives allow changes to be made. Dead people retain a lot of creative control through Samuel French, but at least they’re up front about it. For another take, I’ve always loved the way [Dramatists Play Service handles it’s Frequently Asked Questions](http://www.dramatists.com/faqsmanager/applications/faqsmanager/index.asp). Here’s a couple of examples. > [@](#): > > What does “restricted” mean? > > Restricted means that the performance rights to a play may not be available to you. There are a number of reasons why this happens. For example, if a play is running either on or Off-Broadway or if it’s enjoying a national tour, the rights are generally not available to any group, professional or nonprofessional. Another reason might be that a professional theatre in your area is planning to produce the play, barring all other local productions until its run has closed. And sometimes an author will request that a certain area of the country (like their hometown) be held back. (Critics are one thing, but parents are quite another!) > > … > > May I change the title? > > Please don’t even ask this question. In addition to pulling the rights for shows so we can’t even produce them, sometimes even more bizarre requests come down. A couple of years ago we put on [Don’t Dress for Dinner](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Dress_for_Dinner) and got a cease and desist letter from a production being staged in New York because our promotional material, independently designed and produced, looked too much like what they were planning on using. So we had to go back and re-design our season posters, flyers, mailers, etc. Odds are we could have won if they had brought a lawsuit, since their stuff wasn’t even public yet there’s no way we could have stolen it. But avoiding a lawsuit is usually the best way to go, so we bit the bullet and re-designed our stuff. Luckily we had just posted it online and not sent it to the printers yet. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/69 "2011-03-10T20:18:13Z")
Can you talk about dramaturgy a little bit? An old friend of mine is a scenic and lighting designer (and now is a theatre professor at a midwestern university)\*\* and has often gently prodded me to get a PhD in dramaturgy so that we could work together, but she’s never quite explained to me what it is, and the [wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramaturgy) makes my eyes glaze over for some reason. I gather it’s the staging and design of the play? My friend made it sound like it involved a lot of knowledge about history (e.g., when you’re designing a room for the stage, you need to know what kind of furniture was in vogue at the time of the action, was electricity available to people of this social class…that sort of thing). But isn’t that the scenic designer’s job? You need to know about the context in which the play was written, its social implications, and so forth…but isn’t that also the director’s job? So what’s it all about? 🙂 \*\*The question about the file folders at the end of _Democracy_ reminded me: this friend moved to NYC a few years ago (before her current job) to work in theatre there, and one of the jobs she got was cleaning up the fake blood for the musical version of _The Evil Dead_. That’s all she did – mop up puddles of fake blood. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/70 "2011-03-10T21:55:10Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > \*\*The question about the file folders at the end of _Democracy_ reminded me: this friend moved to NYC a few years ago (before her current job) to work in theatre there, and one of the jobs she got was cleaning up the fake blood for the musical version of _The Evil Dead_. That’s all she did – mop up puddles of fake blood. We are still finding blood in my theatre from that show…☹ Funny story, one day after that show we had our group of people mopping up blood when a police officer happened to wander by. Well he sure did think we were cleaning up a crime scene, and the crew had to bring him backstage and show him the whole rig and prove there was not some mass murder. The funny thing is that before the show opened we let the police know that there would be groups of people leaving the theatre covered in fake blood and not to worry. Apparently that message didn’t get passed along. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/71 "2011-03-10T22:10:51Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > I have done every job there is (I think) except costumes, and I dated a costume designer for 5 years, so I can probably answer those questions too. How did you get in a relationship with a costume designer if you’ve never worked in costumes? ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/72 "2011-03-10T22:46:16Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > Taking as an example some of the shows you have worked on, how much money is spent on costumes and sets? Is there a lot of reuse of items or do you order everything brand new? It sounds like I may be the only producer in the thread, and while directors, technical directors, etc. definitely have budgetary responsibilities, it’s really the producers who manage the financials. We’re a large community theatre, with a regular five show season, and are resident artists at our city’s arts center. We also produce “edgy” art-house style shows in our studio space. We have a children’s theatre arm, and are generally pretty mainstream and family friendly. We don’t pay our actors, although we do offer a gas allowance because we are in a very sprawled market. We do pay our directors, designers(scenic, lighting, sound, costume), and carpenters a per-show stipend. This is generally not enough to require us to issue 1099s unless you work on more than one show per year with us. Our musicians are union, so they make union money and are generally paid hourly. They supply their own instruments with the exception of the piano. Pretty much everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, else is highly variable. Budgets are set by show and what the show requires. A musical is generally much more expensive than a straight play, and some shows have huge costume requirements while others are straightforward on costuming but require ornate sets. In the past year we’ve had budgets for costumes range from $250 to $3,000, and for sets ranging from $500 - $4,500. It’s entirely driven by the show and the artistic team, led by the director. Here’s a couple examples. The Diary of Anne Frank. This show doesn’t require much in the way of special costumes. A couple trips to thrift stores would do it, or if the company was a long established company, they could probably pull the costumes from stock. We were considering this one for our upcoming season and costumes weren’t something we were worried about at all. A minimal budget for some time for our costume designer to alter some stuff or do incidentals like a Nazi armband and that’s about it. The set on the other hand needs to have that “confined space” feel, so the walls need to be fully built and the boundaries of the Franks world need to be solid in a traditional interpretation of the show. Set dressing and props would be a very high budget area too because you have people who live their entire lives in this room and you need groceries, toiletries, bedding, etc. A Few Good Men. This show requires enormous costume commitments. Military dress uniforms aren’t just something you can pull out of thrift stores or fake easily. You’ll probably need a military costume consultant, or even more than one because multiple branches of the military are involved. Rank insignias need to be acquired or fabricated, there’s just an enormous amount of detail that goes into the costuming for this show. The uniforms need to be tailored to the performers because they would be tailored on a real JAG or Marine. The set can be a couple of tables and a few chairs pulled in from the lobby. Literally. > [@gallows fodder](#): > > Can you talk about dramaturgy a little bit? It’s a very broad field and I guess the best I can do is to give examples. In Julius Caesar, if Shakespere had been working with a Dramaturgist, there wouldn’t have been a mention of a striking clock. In West Side Story, had Sondheim been working with a dramatist, this poor, nearly illiterate in English, sweat shop worker would not have had these lines in the song “I Feel Pretty” > [@](#): > > I feel pretty > Oh so pretty > That the city should give me its key > A committee > Should be organized to honour me > I feel dizzy > I feel sunny > I feel fizzy and funny and fine > And so pretty > Miss America can just resign That kind of complicated rhyme and wordplay just completely isn’t appropriate to the character, and Sondheim says this himself in his book, not to mention some of it may not even be in her limited English vocabulary. Dramaturgists are the detail-oriented people. The ones which say “you can’t put a Navy JAG dress uniform on a Marine Corporal. This is what a Marine Corporal dress uniform looks like, use this instead.” They need broad knowledge bases, good investigative skills, and a lot of attention to detail. It’s a very specialized field, and if you’re your friend’s go-to guy for obscure bits of knowledge about a huge range of topics, that may be why she’s recommending the field to you. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/73 "2011-03-10T22:52:11Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Can you talk about dramaturgy a little bit? > So what’s it all about? 🙂 > \*\*The question about the file folders at the end of _Democracy_ reminded me: this friend moved to NYC a few years ago (before her current job) to work in theatre there, and one of the jobs she got was cleaning up the fake blood for the musical version of _The Evil Dead_. That’s all she did – mop up puddles of fake blood. It is essentially a researcher. It’s actually very cool, and if I am able I want to go back and get my masters in dramaturgy (sort of. The program isn’t exactly that, and I would then follow it with a doctorate in criticism. And a Directing MFA…). Sort of a pipe dream, but I dig dramaturgy a lot. It’s more than just historical verisimilitude, it’s also research into the playwright, historical context of the show, etc etc. Anything you might need to research about a play is the purview of the dramaturg. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/74 "2011-03-10T22:54:50Z")
> [@Kozmik](#): > > How did you get in a relationship with a costume designer if you’ve never worked in costumes? Well, we met when I was directing a production of the dream while I was starting college, she was brought on as the assistant designer and one thing led to another. I ended up dating a playwright for a while after meeting in similar circumstances. Actually now that I think about it, I met my wife because of a show I was working on too (she was my ASM’s best friend). I really didn’t have anything that resembled a life outside of the theatre for a long period of time. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/75 "2011-03-10T23:23:13Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > Our musicians are union, so they make union money… Want to hire an awesome music director/pianist? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/76 "2011-03-11T00:05:34Z")
We only do one musical a year, much to my dismay because I’m a huge fan of musical theatre. I have season tickets to all the local groups who do more than we do and hardly ever miss a chance to work on one. But they’re a bitch to put together and I completely understand why we only do one a year. Sorry, Steven ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/77 "2011-03-11T00:22:28Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > It is essentially a researcher. It’s actually very cool, and if I am able I want to go back and get my masters in dramaturgy (sort of. The program isn’t exactly that, and I would then follow it with a doctorate in criticism. And a Directing MFA…). Sort of a pipe dream, but I dig dramaturgy a lot. It’s more than just historical verisimilitude, it’s also research into the playwright, historical context of the show, etc etc. Anything you might need to research about a play is the purview of the dramaturg. What is done with the research, then? Does the director use it to frame his/her approach to the play, or is it just used as background info? ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/78 "2011-03-11T02:18:19Z")
> [@Ludy](#): > > The funny thing is that before the show opened we let the police know that there would be groups of people leaving the theatre covered in fake blood and not to worry. I am not familiar with this show. Is the _audience_ splattered with blood, or do you just not have showers for the actors? ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/79 "2011-03-11T06:06:01Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > I am not familiar with this show. Is the _audience_ splattered with blood, or do you just not have showers for the actors? Both. The cast ends up saturated at the end and there is a section of the audience that pays a premium to get splattered. We are talking about singing and dancing zombies here. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408/80 "2011-03-11T06:14:16Z")
> [@Ludy](#): > > Both. The cast ends up saturated at the end and there is a section of the audience that pays a premium to get splattered. We are talking about singing and dancing zombies here. Those damn Candarian demons… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-former-stagehand-stagemanager-director-and-all-around-theatrical-jack-of-all-trades/573408.md?page=5)