so yesterday rehearsal was cancelled early and the preview was cancelled, because. there was a fire in the theater.
no one was hurt! it wasn't even on a level with humans! the fire department showed up real quick! stage management and production management immediately grabbed fire extinguishers and the alarm went off and called the fire department! it was fine!
but also it was incredibly stupid, because we just added haze the day before, to "make the air heavier" (??? I think the director means to make the lighting stand out more? I'm not sure) so we were standing backstage having just run a cue but listening to the director and designers in the house talking about how to have less haze, because it was a little heavy today, while we waited to see if we were running the cue again or moving on, and the ASMs were like. Damn it's so much haze though. Kind of stinging my eyes. And...maybe smells wrong? Maybe the smoke machine needs more fluid.
Charlie (SR ASM) eventually was like. I'm gonna open the door, this is too much, we need fresh air, and as we all crowded around the open door for a breath of fresh air, Charlie turned around and noticed there was an actual fire. At which point the production manager put down his phone, because sometimes the haze sets off the fire alarm and he was going to tell the fire department it was a false alarm, but. Not this time, Earl!
anyway it was kind of surreal to see flames just licking up a curtain. as one of the actors said: it looked so real that it looked fake. (like the grand canyon in that way, imo)
anyway we had rehearsal earlier and i'm about to head out again for preview, and everything seemed to be fine. i know stage management went in last night (when preview would have been, lol) to clean up but I can't even tell what's missing; all the show pieces are fine and it barely even smells like smoke except right where the fire was.