(My acting class is getting ready to put on a show for a bunch of kindergarteners. We’re all in costume and most of the class is out on stage, playing Simon Says with the kids before the show starts. However, three friends and I are in the boy’s dressing room. Our stage manager is from a completely different class, a little high-strung, and barely knows any of us. Boy #1 is messing around on the piano. )

Boy #1: “Do… Do re mi… F*** it.” *starts playing a very recognizable melody*

(Boy #1 gives up and starts playing a very recognizable melody on the piano instead.)

Boy #1: “Every single day, I walk down the street…”

Girl: *chimes in* “I hear people say, ‘Baby’s so sweet!'”

Me: “Ever since puberty, everybody stares at me!”

Boy #2: “Boys, girls, I can’t help it, baby!”

(Boy #1 abandons the piano and continues acapella. Meanwhile, the girl steps back and leads us into the backstage area.)

Boy #1: “So be kind and don’t lose your mind!”

Girl: “Just remember that I’m your baby!”

(This continues through the second chorus, often blending into harmony, with everyone jumping on tables and chairs, making grand gestures and dancing around until, at just the right part, our stage manager comes back stage and immediately looks confused.)

Me: “No way, can I be what I’m not!”

Boy #2: “But, hey, don’t you want your girl hot?!”

Stage Manager: “Hey, guys, the show’s about— What are you all doing?”

(Boy #1 completely ignores my stage manager and jumps down from his table, right behind where she’s standing.)

Boy #1: “Don’t fight, don’t lose your head!”

(He then drops down to his knees, grabs onto her leg, and looks up at her with puppy dog eyes.)

Boy #1: “‘Cause every night, who’s in your bed?!”

Stage Manager: “Wait, what’s he—”

Boy #1: “Who? Who’s in your bed? Kiss, pookie!”

(Boy #1 fluttered his eyes and made kissy faces at her before finally letting go. We all had to take three minutes to calm down enough from laughing from just the look on our temporary stage manager’s face to actually go out for our performance. When we told our regular teacher this later, she just started laughing and promised she’d show the other class Rent.)

(Our theatre has a lecture series where authors give presentations. One presenter is a Holocaust survivor. I am very surprised to see a large and stereotypical ‘biker’ come in. He has a leather vest, sleeveless shirt, tattoos, and a beard. As the holocaust survivor is presenting, two teenage boys are being very rowdy and whispering to each other.)

Boy #1: “God! When the f*** is this going to be over?”

Boy #2: “I don’t know. Can we just go now?”

(They stand up, and attempt to leave. The biker stands up, removes his sunglasses, and addresses the teens.)

Biker: “Listen here you little s***. This sweet little old lady has gone through more s*** then you ever will in your life. I advise you to sit your little punk-a** down, and pay her the respect she deserves.”

(The boys sit down, intimidated. The biker receives a round of applause and a hug from the lecturer. I refund his ticket, and offer him free entrance to all our lectures. He’s been to each and every one since.)

Customer: “Excuse me, can I buy three tickets?”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, we’re sold out.”

Customer: “Isn’t this [Town] High School?”

Me: “Yes, but this show is sold out.”

Customer: “How many seats are left?”

Me: “None. We’re sold out. There’s another show tomorrow at–

Customer: “Well, next time you should think about being already sold out before you start selling tickets!”

(I’m the only female on the electrics crew for a summer theater company. During this time, the company stays in the dorms at a nearby university. The company works in an old, somewhat converted barn that is locked up all winter and is extremely unclean and hazardous when the theater company arrives in the summer. On this day, my crew is removing lighting instruments from our closet and scrubbing rust off of them with steel wool and rubbing alcohol.)

Master Electrician: *screams like a little girl, jumps up, and runs to the other side of the barn/theater*

Me: “What?! What’s wrong?”

Master Electrician: “BLACKWIDOWBLACKWIDOWBLACKWIDOW!”

Me: “What?”

Master Electrician: “There’s a black widow!”

(Reminder: everybody else on this crew are men. I start over toward the area where the master electrician has seen this spider.)

Master Electrician: “Oh, my God! What are you doing?!”

Me: “I figured I’d kill it.”

(At this point I can see the small, BROWN spider and am going to step on it.)

Master Electrician: *high-pitched scream* “No! DON’T DON’T DON’T! Don’t! It’ll get in the tread of your boot and it’ll end up in my room and it’ll kill me!”

(Our rooms literally couldn’t be further apart; we’re in different wings on different floors.)

Me: “I seriously don’t think that’s going to happ— What the f*** are you doing?!”

([Master Electrician] has come back towards the spider, brandishing a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a cigarette lighter.)

Me: “We’re in a barn! Don’t even think about setting that spider on fire!”

Master Electrician: “BUT IT HAS TO DIE!”

(I grab his lighter away from him and grind the spider to death with the toe of my boot.)

Master Electrician: “That was so stupid and reckless! What’s wrong with you?!”

(I am pleased to report that the common brown spider did not morph into a black widow, did not stow away in the tread of my boots, did not go back to the dorms with us, and did not traverse the building to kill the master electrician in his sleep. Sadly, the master electrician who tried to set a spider on fire is still a certified electrician, licensed to wire people’s homes.)

(I am the lead actress in a play called ‘Man of La Mancha’. During one performance, a small child has been rather vocal during the show, but he was expressing his enjoyment of it, so I didn’t much mind. Later in the show, there is a scene where my character is violently attacked by a group of men. While I’m not in any real danger during the fight, I am acting afraid and screaming for help, so the effect is quite harrowing and the audience is usually hushed. Except for this night.)

Me: *in character, having been thrown to the floor* “Help! Someone please help me!”

(A moment of silence.)

Little boy in audience: *to the men* “You stop that!”

(My fellow actors and I have a good laugh about it backstage for the rest of the show. Afterwards, we go out to greet the audience in costume, at which point the little boy and his parents approach me.)

Mother: “You were all wonderful! And I’m very sorry if my little boy disrupted your performance, but he was very worried about you, and we’ve always taught him to stand up to bullies.”

Me: “Not at all!” *to the little boy* “Thank you for telling those men to stop. You were very brave.”

Little boy: *beaming* “You’re welcome! Are you okay?”

Me: “I’m just fine. It’s all pretend anyway, lil’ guy. We were just pretending to fight, I promise.”

Little boy: *somewhat unsure* “Okay… but if they try to beat you up again, you tell my daddy and he’ll take them to jail.” *gives me a big hug*

Me: *stifling laughter* “Okay, I promise!”

(I heard from one of the other actors who plays the ringleader of the men that he then approached him and told him that hitting girls was very bad, and to never ever do it again. My co-star, playing along, promised not to and told the little boy he had learned a valuable lesson. Now after we play that scene, I always threaten the guys with my pint-sized bodyguard and his policeman father.)