There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, That are dreamt in your philosophy.
Hamlet Act I, Scene 5
Summer days are getting shorter and soon those crisp cool autumn evenings will arrive. Pumpkin Spice will be everywhere, including Pumpkin Spice flavored Spam, Oreos, Red Vines and of course, coffee. Kids will be planning their Halloween costumes and adults calculating how many bags of candy they will need for the neighborhood goblins. In spirit of the season, I’ve collected my top five theater spooks and superstitions to share with you at this spine-chilling time of year!
#5 – Superstitious Actors
Theater people tend to be a superstitious lot, and many famous actors have their own unique habits.
Dame Helen Mirren has a pair of lucky shoes that she wears to every award show. Collen Farrell has a pair of lucky shamrock boxer shorts and belt given to him by his father.
Dame Judi Dench has a lucky penny that she will have sewn into her costume!
Many actors believe sleeping with a script under your pillow will help you learn your lines.
#4 – Don’ts of the Stage!
Don’t use peacock feathers, the “evil eye” of the feather will curse the production! Don’t use real mirrors on stage, they interfere with the lighting! Don’t use real money and jewelry, it just invites prop table theft! Don’t use a real Bible as a prop, its considered disrespectful of the holy text! Don’t light three candles on stage, it’s a fire hazard! And, the biggie, don’t whistle in the theater! In early theaters, many sailors worked the rigging due to their knowledge of ropes and knots. As onboard ship, they would communicate with whistles, and an errant whistle could result in a rigging catastrophe!
#3 – The Ghost Light
An enduring tradition in the theater is to leave a light burning when the performance is over and the actors leave the building. When the living leave, the ghosts take to the stage to perform otherworldly scenes from playwrights long gone. By leaving a ghost light the spirits are pleased and won’t interfere with your production. Can’t find your prop? Stage lights flickering? You may have upset your resident ghost!
The skeptical among us may say there are many practical reasons for the ghost light. A dark theater is full of hazards from tripping over scenery and props to falling into an open orchestra pit. There is even an urban legend that a burglar sued a theater after breaking his leg in the dark!
The Reif Center doesn’t have a traditional ghost light as pictured above. We leave our catwalk lights turned on when the theater is unoccupied. I’m not sure that the Reif Center even has a theater ghost! Although, a few years ago Melanie (a Reif Theater Technician) spent the night in the Wilcox Theater when we had an art installation that required security. She insists she will never do that again after hearing what sounded like footsteps on the roof in the middle of the night!
#2 – “The Scottish Play”
Folklore suggests that Macbeth was cursed from its very first performance! Supposedly, Shakespeare researched the weird sisters and used authentic incantations for their spells in the script. This incurred the wrath of a real coven of witches who put a hex on the play! Ever since then deaths, accidents and near misses have plagued productions over the years. Now it’s considered bad luck to even say the name “Macbeth” in the theater, instead, “The Scottish Play” is preferred by the superstitious.
There is a way to break the curse if you should inadvertently say the forbidden name. Exit the theater, spin around three times, spit and utter a profanity before returning!
#1 – Guthrie Theater Ghost
Chanhassen Dinner Theater is supposedly built on the site of a house that burned down and killed a woman. Her ghost frequents the theater still. The Fitzgerald Theater is haunted by a former stagehand named Ben. Maude used to play the organ to accompany silent movies at the Palace Theater in Luverne. Apparently she still does, even though the old pipe organ no longer functions. But, my favorite Minnesota theater ghost resided at the old Guthrie Theater.
The original Guthrie Theater was haunted by the ghost of Richard Miller (no relation) who sadly died by suicide in 1967. He was an usher at the theater and his final wish was to be buried in his usher’s uniform because his happiest hours were at the theater. The theater gifted his uniform for his burial as they were preparing to change to a new simpler usher uniform the following season.
The following season patrons began to complain about an usher that would walk up and down the aisles during performances. Someone else wanted to commend the usher who pointed out where she had dropped her keys. Both thought that perhaps he was the head usher as his uniform was fancier than the other ushers.
Appearances became more frequent. An actress complained to a stage manager about the usher that nearly caused her to miss her entrance by standing in her way. Some crew members were even on a first name basis, saying “Hi Richard” when they saw the hazy apparition in the old uniform.
In 1993 the Guthrie held a grand reopening after some renovation work and a Native American elder was enlisted to perform a ceremony of blessing and purification. Apparently it worked, as no further sightings of Richard were reported. In 2006, after opening a new theater, the old Guthrie was demolished taking with it one of the enduring ghosts stories in Minnesota theater history.
I’ll confide a little secret. I told you that I don’t think we have a ghost in the Reif Center, well I plan to be the first! Ideally, I would kick the bucket up in the booth during a performance! Ghosts usually stick around because they have unfinished business and I’m sure I won’t finish my “to do” list in time!
I’ll be a friendly ghost…if you leave the ghost light burning! Perhaps I’ll help out the crew when there is a problem with sound or lights. Maybe I’ll greet artists when they arrive in the green room. I’ll definitely be around when Melanie is here late at night by herself!
So if you happen to catch me around the theater after I’m gone, be sure to say, “Hi John!”
