Tale #16: Holy Firemen

VACT’s youth shows have the biggest cast sizes in the area. Our 2016 production of A Seussified Christmas Carol had almost 70 performers between the ages of 8 and 13.

As I’m sure you can imagine, dress rehearsals with kids are difficult enough when things are going smoothly, let alone when things start sparking.

The Verona Area High School Performing Arts Center (now the Middle School Performing Arts Center) was built in 1993. While it was a revelation in high school theater construction when it was opened, it started to have some problems after twenty plus years of operation.

Right next to the giant blue stage doors you use to enter the shop is an electrical control panel encased in a red box. It was not meant to get wet obviously as it is an electrical control panel. However, the ceiling had a fun little game of leaking in random spots all throughout the backstage area when it rained. Therefore, in 2016, the box had been covered with a sheet of plastic to keep it from getting wet.

I think fixing the ceiling would have been the safer option, but that’s just one woman’s opinion.

I was the stage manager for A Seussified Christmas Carol. During our second dress rehearsal, a parent volunteer came and grabbed me. She told me she could smell something burning. We walked into the shop and I could smell it too. I immediately went to the plastic covered electrical panel to find it smoking and sparking.

Now smoke and sparks coming out of an electrical panel are never good signs. However, we didn’t want to turn a molehill into a mountain and cause a panic among the eccentrically dressed cast-members. We had all of the kids calmly leave the backstage area and move to the lobby while I called the fire department to explain what was going on.

Next thing we knew, sirens were blaring as a giant fire truck pulled into the high school parking lot.

Now, VACT is in a decently small town. The firefighters are often volunteer or part-time and usually in their 40s or 50s.

But for some unknown reason that night, the group of firemen that walked in the door, I kid you not, looked like they had popped straight out of the NYFD calendar.

Three dashing young firefighters came through the blue doors in full gear and said, “what seems to be the problem here?” Being slightly taken aback by the sheer prettiness of these firemen, I realized that they were waiting for me to respond. I stuttered out that the electrical panel had started smoking and sparking.

They inspected it, removed the plastic, and turned off some things. This prevented it from being an immediate issue. We were able to bring the kids back in and continue with our dress rehearsal. 

The main takeaway from the story though should be that all three of the hot firemen agreed with me: covering an electrical panel in plastic was definitely not the smart option.