Confessions of a Theater Dork

Anyone with an obsession for theater (and you know who you are) is very likely to develop parallel compulsive behaviors. We're all just a wee bit off, we theater queens, and it's only natural that our singular focus on live entertainment should engender private routines and rituals.

Oh, get your mind out of the gutter. I'm simply talking about perfectly benign yet nonetheless urgent habits that spring up in the normal course of abnormal amounts of theater.

Case in point: Playbills. Of course, I save all of my Playbills. Duh. I also take my ticket stub and insert it between the pages of the Playbill so that it sticks out on two different pages, sort of like a subscription card in a consumer magazine.

Also, about twenty years ago, I developed the habit of asking for two Playbills from my usher. At first, I said it was for a friend who couldn't come. Then I gave up all pretense and simply started asking for two. Only twice in all that time has an usher refused. (Ah, but I have backup plans. See below.) I recall one particularly surly wench at Lincoln Center who became downright belligerent. She spent the next few weeks trying to remove a flashlight from her forehead.

I used to ensconce one Playbill inside the other to safeguard one from weather and wear. Then I started bringing an appropriately-sized shopping bag. The ones for CDs from the late and lamented Virgin Superstore in Times Square were perfect, but since that store's demise I've also made do with the script-sized bags from Theater Circle on 44th Street, or the paper bags from The Drama Book Shop. Since I normally buy a script or two on most of my trips to New York, I typically have a bag on hand, but I also save bags from previous trips and pack one with my bus ticket and theater receipts.

Lately, I've been getting into the habit of appropriating a few extra Playbills for each show. The hope here is that I can eventually sell them on eBay once the show has long since closed. Often, I nonchalantly abscond with a few from the usher's pile behind the back row of any given section. I also have a habit of picking up discarded Playbills from the theater floor at the end of the show. This always feels a bit less illicit: these Playbills will only be thrown away in any case, and I'm actually helping the custodial staff, when you think about it. ("Yeah, Chris, whatever...")

 
Between shows, I used to make regular pilgrimages to Footlight Records and Triton Gallery, but the former has closed its retail shop, and the latter has moved to a location that is not at street level, and most of the time I can't be bothered to make the extra effort. I rarely get my tickets at TKTS, but I do make it a habit of walking by, just to see what's up on the board. I get an extra sort of charge when the show that I'm seeing isn't listed. (It's the little things, you know.) I'm not averse to TKTS. It's just that I'm rather specific about the shows that I want to see on any given trip, and I almost always arrange tickets ahead of time, whether through press agents or through such discount outlets as BroadwayBox, Theatermania, or Playbill.com.

There are certain common behaviors that I avoid: I don't wait outside the stage door to meet my favorite stars, nor do I ask for autographs if I do happen to bump into people. I'm not entirely sure why, but somehow the thought of engaging in these activities makes me feel debased, like I'm somehow beneath these people. I like to think of myself as more than just an audience member: I'm a part of the theater community, and peers don't fawn over peers. I don't judge the people who stage door or seek signatures, but I also don't see myself engaging in those activities any time soon.

Once I get home, I pull out my Playbill binder containing my various editions of the Stubs book of seating charts. Then I mark down which shows I saw in which theater, as well as which seat I sat in. I have four different versions of the Stubs book, because for some reason the people who publish it keep reducing the number of theaters listed therein. The current version lists mostly Broadway venues, but previous editions contained a good deal of Off Broadway as well. I keep the old copies to keep track of theaters that no longer exist (e.g. The Criterion Center, The John Houseman, etc.), as well as venues that are no longer listed (e.g. The Mitzi Newhouse, Second Stage, etc.). I also keep a Word file of all the shows I've ever seen anywhere in the world.

So, dear reader, what are your theater rituals? What borderline-compulsive activities do you engage in before, during, and after the show?

Comments

[Vance]

haha... you too? I always take 3 Playbills. So between my sister who also takes 3 (cause I told her to) and me, we have 6 from each show. So usually when we're flying back to Toronto, half a bag is just full of Playbills that we're hauling back. (For me, 1 Playbill is for display, 2 goes into the backup box for safe keeping).

Though I've started taking more too (yes, somestimes leftover so yes, we are just helping clean up!) just to get them signed (I just don't care about how I look).

I do not however have the folders yet. Partly cause I'm too cheap and partly because playbills from the rest of the world don't fit that format size so I have to deal with the annoying factor that I have various sizes and shapes to contend with.

I keep all my tickets separately in another place but hmm... marking down seats and everything is not a bad idea...

[Ericjgb]

When I go to shows with friends I usually make sure we're not sitting together so as to keep them from talking to me and taking me out of the world of the play (nothing is more aggravating). Also it gives me time to digest what I've seen while we're trying to find one another before they can ask me about the show or give their own opinions.

[ccaggiano]

I love that. Although, 90% of the time when I go to theater, I'm by myself. Not because I don't have friends. (I don't, but that's not why...) It's just often too much of a bother to coordinate schedules with other people, and very few people want to see as much theater as I do. Or if they do, they often have their own ideas about what they want to see.

On the rare occasions when I do have company, if my companion tries to talk during the show, I generally ignore it. I loathe it when other people talk in the theater, and I *so* don't want to be that person.

[Scot Colford]

*Technically*, Chris, I believe you're not a "dork", but rather a "geek" according to the Venn diagram below.

http://laughingsquid.com/nerd-venn-diagram-geek-dork-or-dweeb/

But who am I to mess up a perfectly good lyrical allusion.

[ccaggiano]

Oh, poodle, you're a man after my own heart.

I have a bunch of those Playbill binders, but I've stopped filling them, and haven't bought any new ones. The inexpensive binders ($15) have grommets that fray the bindings of the Playbills. It's really irritating and defeats the purpose entirely. But the "archive" binders are too expensive ($30). So I only really use one of the binders, to keep my Stubs booklets in. I keep most of my Playbills in banker's boxes.

[ccaggiano]

I *love* that! And I'm going to appropriate it ruthlessly.

BTW, I'm hoping to make it to your B-day party. I should have known from your invite that "geek" was the more fitting term, but somehow "dork" seemed better at the time. But I stand firmly corrected.

[Scot Colford]

Yay! I really hope you can make it. And you can say "dork" all you want. It's my preferred word of choice for myself when I feel the need to facepalm myself. Geek is more akin to my ... lifestyle, I guess?

[Cara]

Being broke and VERY far from NYC, when I do make it, I buy a window card for the shows I see. I also buy them from tours that I see. My problem now is that I have around 15 window cards with no frames (and no idea where I'd put the frames if I had them...). So I keep rotating. I also keep playbills stored in the order that I saw the show with most recent closest to the top.

[Lacey]

Ha! I have a large cigar box full of my ticket stubs. I don't necessarily keep them in order, but I keep them. It's like a surprise when I go back and look through them!

I also take extra Playbills, when they're around whether from the piles at the back or from an usher, etc. But I do pick up discarded Playbills from the seats after the shows too! And I have thought to myself before, "these are just going to get thrown away.. and I'm helping them clean up! Surely I'm not the ONLY one that does it..." as I sneakily drop it into my bag.

I used to be sure and get a t-shirt from every show, but my closet couldn't handle it. So the only thing I try and be sure to get are the souvenir programs.

I completely understand your feelings on the stage dooring thing. However, I am very guilty of being one of those geeks that waits in the rain for two hours just to meet someone and get a picture with them. I always feel like a stalker when I do.

The only thing I feel incredibly bad about was when I ran into David Hyde Pierce at the souvenir stand at Gypsy (with Patti) and my inner fangirl freaked out so much that I turned to him, even though he was an audience member at the show, and asked quietly if he would sign this random piece of paper that I had in my purse... AND if he would make it out to me. He was actually very pleasant to talk to, and it turned out that he was sitting on the row right in front of me! But yeah.. I was like.. poor DHP; I made him sign an autograph on his night off from Curtains!!

[ccaggiano]

I used to buy a lot more window cards, but I just got so many of them, and I didn't have any place to put them. Plus, I started seeing so many shows that it wasn't financially tenable. So I just started buying posters that I really liked artistically, like James McMullan's stuff for LCT of the recent Finian's Rainbow revival.

[ccaggiano]

You know, I've never really been into souvenir programs. I bought one for Dreamgirls, which was my first (one of my first?) Broadway shows. But I couldn't really justify the expense, what with all the shows that I see. I did buy a souvenir program at Finian's Rainbow, but only because they had announced that the show was closing and were selling off the programs at $5 a pop. I love the poster art for that show so much I wanted as many versions of it as possible.

[Lacey]

See... I hate that I spend $10-$20 every show for souvenir programs, but then I don't get to NYC a lot, and there aren't a TON of tours that come through.

And I've always been a very visual person. I was one of those little kids that would cut pictures out of magazines just to keep them and look at them again. And if we can't have the show to keep, I feel like the souvenir program is there for me to look through, if I want to look back! ;)

[Esther]

As you know, I love going to the stage door to get my Playbill signed. For me, a chance to meet the actors and tell them how much I enjoyed their performance is a thrilling and unique part of the Broadway experience.

In fact, you'll be horrified to know that this past weekend, I tracked down Douglas Hodge in a bar after La Cage aux Folles. He could not have been nicer. (And I swear I've never done that before!)

I figure in my working life, I maintain an air of professionalism and skeptical detachment. But going to the theatre is a hobby. It's an opportunity for me to shed my cynicism and embrace my inner fangirl.

[ccaggiano]

Esther, my love, as I said I certainly don't judge the people who frequent the stage door. I just don't choose to do it myself.

I do have to admit that while I was at the O'Neill Center for the theater critics workshop, I went out of my way to speak to the numerous Broadway performers/creators in attendance, including Janine LaManna, Bob Stillman, Jerry Dixon, Angel Desai, Mel Marvin, and Stew.

But it was probably because we were all there as participants, and we were eating side by side, and taking the same van back and forth to the dorms. It felt a lot more natural to me.

[Drew J.]

I have no problem supporting a show, that is why I buy the cast recordings and the tickets, but that is where I draw the line. I would love to have a poster/t-shirt for all the shows I see, but I can't afford it, and its a crime the amount they charge sometimes. Instead of buying a poster, I make my own. I print out the shows logo on nice photo paper and put construction paper border on it and hang it up somewhere. Its cheep, but it looks pretty good. Maybe its the Elementary School teacher in me, but I enjoy doing it.

I collect cast recordings, so I have way to many to admit. The cast recording is always my first exposure to a show. The week before I see a show, I always listen to the recording to get in the mood for the show. I have never seen a who where I was not familiar with the score. Being a freelance pianist/composer/orchestrator on the side, I always get a thrill when the orchestrations are slightly different from the recording or they take something a different tempo or something like that. Thats why its no problem for me to listen to a show over and over, or compare different recordings side by side.

[ccaggiano]

You know, I can't believe I didn't mention cast recordings. I'm an obsessive collector of same. I have every Broadway cast recording available on CD. In other words, if it was on Broadway, and on CD, I own it.

I'm not a big fan of digital-only or pirated recordings, mostly because I like the look and feel of a CD. I like having a physical version of the recording, with liner notes and song lists and pictures. If CDs go away, I'm not sure I will ever enjoy making the transition to virtual cast recordings. I guess I'm just too materialistic.

[hitormiss]

Cast recordings are my kryponite. Before the internet made most recordings findable on Amazon (and elsewhere...) and the chase less exciting, I spent way too hours scouring local record shops and cut-out bins for obscure recordings.

I made the mistake too many times of repurchasing recordings I already owned, so I created a simple online "card-catalog" of my collection. It grew in complexity and I figured other people might be interested in using it, so it eventually become http://castalbums.org (the online cast recording database). The website has really become a Frankenstein's monster... as I'm exposed to more and more recordings, I'm less inclined to collect. Since moving to NYC, my policy has been to buy the recordings of every show I see, which (after theatre tickets) doesn't leave as much money to buy CDs...

[Jay]

I've stopped keeping most of my playbills, because after more than 10 years of theatre going in NYC, I've amassed some 800. Plus with precious little space in my NYC apartment, I have to purge things every once in a while. I do keep all my ticket stubs and - like you - have an electronic record or what I saw on what date and which theatre.

I do have a massive playbill collection, but have also had to define some perameters due to space: Only Broadway musicals (+ some special events like Broadway Cares events and Tony Awards); and while cast doesn't necessarily matter, the cover does - so if Hello Dolly had 15 different covers throughout its run, I need all 15. Those records are kept electonically in a spreadsheet as well, as are the covers scanned.

[Zach]

As an audience member: The moments the lights dim, I remove the battery from my cell phone and put the battery and the phone itself in separate pockets so I can be absolutely sure it doesn't go off.

As a Performer: This next ritual has an odd story behind it. When I was twelve, I was in a talent show and was singing the song "Superman" by Five for Fighting. My voice had yet to change, so the C5 toward the end was a C6 instead, which was at that time easy for me. However, the night of the dress rehearsal my voice was off, and I cracked on the C. Forgetting that there was a microphone in front of my face, I muttered "Shit!" to myself. This got quite a big laugh, to my embarrassment. Starting at our performance the next day, every time before I go on stage I go into the bathroom and yell "SHIT!!" at the top of my lungs so that if I do screw up I don't say it on stage. It's been surprisingly effective!

[Linda]

I love reading all these comments about theater rituals. I need to organize my Playbills because they are in boxes at my parent's house in California (I actually take a new stack of Playbills home on every trip because I just don't have room to store them in my New York apartment). I'm too cheap to buy binders, because I would need a lot of them. I usually just ask for one Playbill, but if the usher hands me a Playbill that is torn or in bad condition, I'll ask for a new one. I like the idea of getting two and protecting one with the other. I'll have to try that. I know many people collect Playbills, but I am only interested in Playbills of shows that I've seen. I also only buy recordings of shows I like and know that I will listen to again and again.

[Kevin]

This is exactly how I am. Luckily, I'm partially deaf, so I just pretend not to hear my friend whispering to me during a show.

I also tend to go to the theater by myself as well, for the saem reasons. I can also be a bit impulsive when it comes to theater tickets. If there's something I want to see, I'll see it as soon as I can.

[ccaggiano]

I can't believe all of the things that I left off this post. I, too, have a database of my cast recordings. Like you, I was overbuying, and wound up with too many duplicates.

I'm a big fan of your site, and link to it over to the left. Although I do have to say that I get entirely too many requests to trade recordings that are commercially available, even though I make it clear in my profile that I won't do it.

I know that your site makes it very clear that you frown on that officially. But I'm sure that you understand that we need to continue to buying cast recordings if we want to be able to have cast recordings to buy.

Sorry to moan, but it's kind of a sore spot. Again, love your site.

[ccaggiano]

Wow, you scan the covers. I bow to you. But if I were in a New York apoartment, I might do the same thing. On the other hand, I might just live among piles of Playbills, like a crazy cat lady.

[ccaggiano]

I don't quite understand cell phone rings. My cell is always on my person, usually in my pocket, so I always have it on silent/vibrate. So I never have to worry about the whole "turn off your cell phones" thingy. The only time I could imagine having an actual ring on my phone is when I'm charging it during the day. Plus, I'm never really in any hurry to answer my phone. It usually just means I have to work.

[ccaggiano]

My cousin once asked me why I would buy th cast recording to a show that I haven't seen. I sputtered. I didn't quite understand the question. If I drew that line, there are so many shows that I wouldn't be familiar with, mostly because the never get performed. I guess it's because I teach the history of musical theater, and there are quite a few significant shows that never see the light of day.