The Ultimate Special Effect

There was a significant earthquake Easter Sunday, April 4, about 3:40 pm Pacific time in Baja California.  We were just getting ready to start the second act of Into the Woods at OnStage Playhouse.  Now, for those who don't know Woods, it's an amalgamation of various fairy tales:  Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and includes a story of a Baker and his Wife.  At the end of the first act, everything seems to have been wrapped up:  Cinderella and Rapunzel have their Princes, Little Red is saved from the Wolf, and Jack has survived his trip to the land of the Giants in the sky.  The "happy ever after" is so complete that during the original run of the show, many people never came back for Act II because they thought the show was over.  They added a line to let people know that the show as "to be continued."

Alas, one of the magic beans is still around and another stalk grows into the sky.  At the top of Act II, the characters are expounding on how happy they are (despite some minor inconveniences) when there is a huge rumbling and what seems to an earthquake tosses everyone around.  It's the wife of the giant whom Jack killed coming down the second stalk and looking for the lad who killed her husband.

So we're walking on stage to start Act II...when an actual earthquake hits.  Now, we're all Southern Californians.  Earthquakes happen.  And there hasn't been a big earthquake in the San Diego area for quite some time.  So it started off as usual...people looking at each other thinking, "Was that an earthquake?"  And then it kept on going.  And going.  "Um, I don't think we want to be underneath the lights," and we all evacuate the theatre.  After about 15 minutes, it's clear that it's over, there's no damage, and we all go back in and start Act II.

Now, the timing was either just off or absolutely perfect, dpeending on how you look at it.  If it had happened about five minutes later (and we did need to hold both opening and intermission a bit longer because of slow patrons), it would have struck exactly when the giant was supposed to be attacking.  But if it had, we would have had to have evacuated in the middle of performing and then restart somehow in the middle.  As it was, since it happened right when intermission was over, we were able to start up Act II without any interruptions.  And when the characters experience the giants attack, thinking it was an earthquake, the audience got a good laugh...though there was one child in the house who got scared, thinking that another earthquake was happening, this time much more violent as the actors are thrown to the ground.

This was better than the last intermission interruption I had.  I was doing The Fantasticks at the Coronado Playhouse.  It was July.  Independence Day weekend.  So Act II is starting up, the audience is coming back in, when BOOM!  What the...?  BOOM!  CRACKLE!  Ah, yes, the fireworks display.  The Coronado Playhouse is on the bay and the city's fireworks display has just started.  Everybody leaves the theatre to watch the show.  Well, we're not going to start the show without the audience and even if we did, it's so loud that we really couldn't perform.  So the cast goes out the back to watch, too.

This is why I love live theatre.