Theater Theatrics

There was a lot of drama at tonight's production of [insert name of show here]. First, there were three substitute ushers who didn't know what they were doing, working house right mezzanine. The situation was so bad that the patrons had to wait in lines to be seated. This could have been resolved earlier on in the evening had one of the several people in charge of the ushers bothered to explain the goings on of the [insert name of theater here].

Then a patron insisted on being seated after the overture started. The ushers have specific instructions to wait until after the second song of Act I before they can seat latecomers, yet this patron started screaming that she wanted to be seated immediately. She had to be ushered into the lobby where not only one, but two house managers tried to calm her down. Eventually she was calmed down and joined the rest of her party.

But the drama didn't stop there. During intermission a patron came up to me in a panic asking me if I was an usher because someone needed a medic. I pointed her in the direction of one of the more experienced ushers so she could get the house manager. Turns out the woman had fallen up the stairs on the way back from the ladies' room and hit her head. It was bleeding but she was a trooper. The house manager was very diligent and made sure the woman was okay. She kept asking the woman if she wanted an ambulance and the woman declined each offer of medical attention. The house manager gave her an ice pack for the swelling and some Bacitracin and band aids for the bleeding. Then she gave special instructions to two different people to watch the woman from the distance to monitor her condition.

Very exciting evening. And I didn't even watch the show.