Accidents From Past Shows
Last updated April 12th 1997

1. Kerry hit by riser (9T0)

When the lights go down sometimes it takes time for the eyes to adjust. At end of a sketch and after the lights went down, Kerry trying to get back stage and walked into a riser carried by the stage crew. This riser is a 2' x 4' x 18" box of wood that is positioned by the crew to give the stage the appearance of different levels. This put a small dent in the middle of her forehead. This gave her a splitting headache and there was a bit of bleed but it stopped quickly. Being the trooper she was she finished the show in excellent style, although she played a bit with her hair to cover the wound.

2. Lydia falling off stage(9T0) [oops wasn't 8T8 as advertised earlier]

I think it was during this show that when the lights went down Lydia got disoriented and fell off the stage. Yes it hurt a bit but she was really embarrassed about it and can now laugh about it

3. Marco running into wall of alcove (9T0)

Another case of the lights going down and not seeing where you are going. "Splat" is the key word. As a note there is glow tape on the stage that glows in the dark. This marks areas for sets and stuff but also aids the cast in moving around in the dark. The crew also helps with flashlights to help move the cast safely, but with the intensity of the stage lights when they go down it is hard to see anything. Sometimes the crew has to physically grab the cast member

4. Matt caught with lights up ( had duster)

Professor Matt was a crew member who always had a duster in his back pocket. The reason has obvious when he was putting a table on stage and the lights came up on him sooner than he expected. Did he panic?? No, he just pulled out his duster and dusted his way off stage

5. Rajko & wrong pants (9T0)

In several quick sketched right after another Rajko had to do several costume changes. For one sketch he was a barbarian and in the next sketch he was the Phantom of the Opera and the next sketch he was in a watch commercial. Normally after the first sketch he pulled off these red pants to show the black ones underneath. For one of the shows he forgot to take the pants off and had the red ones for the Phantom sketch. Of course the costume designer noticed and shouted "He's got the wrong pants on"

6. Sling & bearskin short falling off(9T2)

During this sketch there are a bunch of cavemen who do a dance number. Unfortunately for Sling (John) his bearskin costume started to fall off. So for the rest of the dance number he was struggling to keep it from falling off. So we saw one hand hold the costume on while the other was following the dance movements, ever so often switching hands.

7. Heather and Waldo glasses (9T2)

During this Waldo sketch every actor on stage has a Waldo costume on. Part of the costume is a pair of glasses. Near the end of the sketch Heather makes this long speech. In one of the shows at the beginning of her speech the glasses start to fall off. Instead of stopping she keeps to the script, by the end the glasses are almost hanging by one ear.

8. Greg 007(9T2)

In this sketch Greg as 007 sits down on a bench as he waits for a hidden bush. On one of the show nights he sits down on the back edge of the bench. As if in slow motion (with arms flailing) Greg and the bench fall backwards. Next thing we see are these two legs up in the air. Being the professional he is he kept delivering his lines.

9. Chris and the french book (9T0)

In the sketch Chris is a police officer who was found a diary in a murder case. Usually he would pick up any book available on the props table. On one of the show nights he picked up a french book. Chris realized this and was afraid that the audience might notice. So instead of saying "Look I found his diary" he changed the lines to "Look I found his diary...and its in french!!"

10. Dan and Dodge Dart (9T4)

In this sketch as few cast members are trying to steal a Dodge Dart. Dan is supposed to hide behind the car when another cast member points to it and a spot light comes up on it (other thieves run off stage. This was a 2D car made out of plywood with a small stand. On one of the nights as Dan ran behind it he accidentally knocked it forward. Dan saw the car falling forward but it was too late and it fell down. In a panic Dan reached forward to try and pick it up. Unfortunately at the same time he was stepping on the car as he was trying to pick it up. All this in a spotlight.

11. Smooching in Batman (9T0)

During the Batman sketch a quick stage set had to be put up. This consisted of a standing entrance with door and a desk and chair. The Jokers goons are running around with the Joker (Greg) and Catwoman (Carla) at Halloween snatching engineering students. Normally when the goons knock on the door the student (Sheena) comes out and complains that she is trying to study alone and doesn't like all these interruptions. On Saturday during the quick stage change, one of the stage hands (Eric) got caught on stage with the lights coming up. Instead of running off stage he decided to stay on stage and smooch it up with Sheena. So when the goons ring the door bell she answers the door and replies that she is still trying to "study alone and wants to get back to her homework".

Now I have been told that this was actually a Saturday Prank and it could have been, but I swear that this was an accident.

12. Ann-Marie and her contact Lens(9T1)

During a dance number Ann-Marie (The lead singer/dancer) was accidentally hit in the head by another dancer. What is remarkable is that this popped out one of her contact lenses which fell on her cheek. Keeping her cool she calmly put it back in as if nothing happened

13 Background in subway scene(9T1)

In this song number about the Toronto Subway system the focus was supposed to be on the three singers. The background was the inside of the subway with patrons just sitting. As the rehearsals went along the cast members in the background got bored and started to do little things. By show time the people in the back were almost rumbling. Of course this made the audience ignore the singers to concentrate on the people in the back. A great song but those subway patrons made this a very funny sketch.

14. Jen P Miss Saigon(9T5)

In this show Jen is supposed to get to the middle of the stage to be in position for her cue. However the stage is in total darkness and there were riser all over the place. This made the short trek very dangerous as it was hard to see where she was going in the total darkness. During the dress rehearsal she accidentally tripped and hit her head on one of the risers. Needless to say everyone was worried as she took a very hard hit. Fortunately she is fine and performed in the rest of the shows, but she now has a phobia about risers (just kidding). As a side note the dress rehearsal is performed as if the show is really going on. This means that no matter what happens the show must continue (even if you fall off the stage) In all the years I have been involved in the show this is the first time I have seen a dress rehearsal being stopped for something like this. Way to go Jen ;-)

15. The Briefcase(9T6)
During the Ballad sketch the two actors (Vince and Selda) are supposed to open a briefcase. This briefcase was equipped with a halogen light inside to give it that special glow. On opening night the briefcase was totally turned around with the wire and it took them a couple of tries before they could open it. Of course the plug for the power came loose but no problem since Vince just picked it up and plugged it in.
On another night they had trouble opening the suitcase. To cover this Vince came up with the line "What is this a combination lock?"

16. Curtain Number...(9T6)
In the ballad sketch again Selda said "Why this restaurant right behind this curtain " and the curtains are supposed to open up and show you a restaurant set. On Wednesday the stage crew were a little late and the actors (Selda and Vince) were left standing there with a non-opening curtain. To try and cover this up the two started some small talk along the lines of "Gee this restaurant is never open" and "It's a good restaurant when they are open" etc. Very hard thing to do for an actor but they pulled it off well

17. Don't step on my toes(9T6)
In the donut shop scene of Ballad the cops have put their guns on the floor and the robbers are fleeing. One robber (Kia) holds the donut shop worker (Karen) hostage and warns the cops not to follw them. As the two girls are backing off stage no matter where the cops have placed the guns Karen manages to step on one every night.

18. Condom machine(9T6)
During the song and dance Hanky Panky a couple are supposed to be doing the nasty off stage. To emphasize this the girl (Selda) buys a condom from a condom machine. For Saturday instead of buying a condom she took the whole condom machine with her.

19. Missile(9T6)
During a Kung Fu sketch the bad guy tries to kill the master with various weapons. One of the weapons is a missile launcher. This was built for the 9T5 show and worked then. Maybe due to the age of the surgical tubing used the unit didn't function as planned. Every night the missle launcher did a different thing. One night it didn't fire. The sound guy was on time with the sound effects but no missile came out. Another night it slowly fired about 3 feet. For the final night the missle wasn't in the launcher but was thrown from off stage

20. Spanish Ayes curtain (9T6)
This sketch had a huge ship for the main set. Before the curtains were supposed to open to reveal the ship a canoe goes across the front of the stage. On one of the nights the curtain opened before the canoe came on stage. The surprised actors on the ship couldn't do anything but act surprised and point at the canoe.

21.Falling Polka Pot Door(9T6)
During the Polka Pot Door Sketch the actors come out of this door frame which is the Polka Pot Door. On one of the nights after they went through the door the frame almost fell onto the actors. One of the actors (Candace) saw this and quickly stopped it from falling onto Travis

22. Baby Monitor machine gun(9T6)
There was a sketch called baby monitor. The stage starts in darkness and the sound effects guy is supposed to start the sketch with a crying baby sound. For one night the sound guy got the sounds mixed up with another sketch and started with machine gun fire and screaming people. The actor (Mike) was supposed to say "Honey the baby is crying again" and tried to cover by stating "Honey the baby is shooting someone"