Story: Time I Was Sick During A Show

A performer's worst nightmare. You have been rehearsing a show for weeks, sometimes months, and a few days before the show opens, the unthinkable happens. You get sick. We have all been there in one way or another. Either you are in the beginning stages of coming down with an illness or you have an actual cold and are coughing on stage. The latter happened to me about a year and a half ago during a production I was in.

Original Logo

I had started off my senior year of high school by rehearsing for a show that was about three weeks from opening. The show was called CinderOz and it was with the same company I did the worst show I have ever been in with. I had a supporting role as the advisor to the Wizard of Oz and I absolutely loved the show. Everything was going smoothly and there were very few hiccups along the way.

Now, as many of you may know, when school starts there is generally some sort of cold going around. People are getting sick and it just keeps spreading. We fast forward to the week of opening. We opened on Thursday, August 11th and went on until Saturday, August 13th.

On Tuesday, August 9th, two days before we open, I come down with a cold. Now, this isn't just any cold virus that's going around, this is the one that lingers for about two weeks. I woke up that morning and just felt groggy. I knew right away, I was sick.

Of course, I go into slight panic mode because I know I have a performance in two days and I can't be feeling all kinds of awful on stage. So immediately, I start my cold regimen and focus on getting better. I went to school that day and once everything was all said and done, I went to dress rehearsal.

Instagram Photo 

Now I can't fully remember if this happened on Tuesday or Wednesday, but I decided to take a nap
while everyone was rehearsing. Now you may be thinking, "But didn't you miss your scenes during this?" And the answer is, no. My character, Pin, was on in the opening scene of Act 1 and then didn't show up again until the opening scene of Act 2. This meant I had about 30-45 minutes to nap. So I took off the jacket I wore, folded it up, placed it on the edge of the table, and rested my head on it. Now it wasn't very comfortable sleeping hunched over in a chair, but it was the best I could do.

I have to mention that there were many actors in the show who were under the age of 10 and here's why. As I started to try and fall asleep, one of the little girls in the show decided to tell me, "You're falling asleep."

I opened my eye and told the little girl very politely, "I know I am. I just really don't feel good and need to rest." (or something to that extent). She left me alone and I closed my eyes for a bit.

I didn't fully fall asleep as the light in the green room was very bright and my brain was listening for when I needed to wake up. As a result, I ended up just resting my eyes, but felt a lot better after doing so. As my scene approached, I woke up and the same girl told me, "You were asleep for 30 minutes." I just said thank you and went to my place backstage while I waited for my cue.

Fast forward to opening night, I was still feeling awful, but the show must go on. I got into costume and went on to perform my little heart out.

Friday Performance

I was using a different voice for my character during this show, which helped with the fact that you could hear how sick I was while talking. I was able to disguise it a little bit whilst performing but I could still hear how sick I was, plus the fact that I was coughing on stage a little bit.

The second night, I felt much better, but I still had a nasty cough. This was a major set back for me, but I was able to go through the show without any major coughing fits, so I was happy.

Saturday was the worst though. We had three shows that day and the first one really didn't go too well for me and my illness.

I was backstage after my scene in Act 1 and I suddenly felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. I was having a hard time breathing and was wheezing really bad. I told my director and asked if my dad could bring me my inhaler during intermission. She agreed and I called my dad, asking him to bring it to me. I actually almost didn't get my inhaler before Act 2, but thankfully my dad brought it to me in time and I was able to breathe again. And the show went on.

We completed all three shows that day and I have to say, even though I loved the show, I was very happy when it was over so that I could focus on getting better.

Cast

But know I know something very valuable in terms of acting; the show must go on and sometimes you need to act like you're not sick.

Have any of you ever been sick during a show? Let me know your experiences and how you have overcome them via Twitter, Instagram, or the comments.



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