Actor's Nightmare?

Question:Most of the actors I know have had an actor's nightmare at least one. Have you had one? What happened in it?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Most of the actors I know have had an actor's nightmare at least one. Have you had one? What happened in it?

I actually had one this weekend!

I was in the greenroom trying to flip through the script of the play to find where we are in the play and if I needed to go on anytime soon, since there was a performance going on.

A bunch of other actresses just got off stage and came back and asked me where I was, since apparently I was supposed to be in the scene they had just done, but I didn't know that. I didn't know anything about the play.

They told me to hurry up and get ready, because I was in a scene coming up. I asked if I had any lines in the scenes and they told me Yes! I had a lot of lines.

I knew that it was opening night at a big prominent theatre and I was already afraid that since I had missed coming on at all in a scene I was in, that I would get fired and never work at that theatre again. And I didn't know anything about the show... and definitely not my lines.

With one of the other actresses, I walked to the wings as we watched what was going on on stage. I turned to her and told her to pinch me. She looked confused, and I told her to pinch me because it was a dream and I wanted to wake up.

Suddenly my dream got extremely vivid and detailed. I could feel the grain of the wood I was leaning against, every detail of the theatre seemed completely real, that I began to doubt it was a dream. Even the other actress told me it wasn't a dream and expressed her concern for me because I had missed a scene, which wasn't like me, and I was behaving oddly.

Then, I began to logically go through everything to prove to her it was a dream. Why would it be opening night and I have no idea what show we're even doing? How come I don't know my character's name? Does it make sense that if we have been rehearsing the play, that I don't know my lines? How come I can never find what scene we're on in the script? It doesn't make sense, I told her. Slowly, she began to agree with me that it didn't make sense and I was beginning to convince her that it was a dream.

Nothing was changing in the dream, the play was still going on, all the details were still there and I was beginning to worry that it wasn't a dream. I remember even telling her, "If it's a dream, it's a really vivid one."

Finally, though, there was a sort of movie-like dissolve, where I could feel myself standing next to the other actress, then slowly I could feel my head on my pillow.

It was strange... and it was the first time I had ever outsmarted a dream like that. Usually my actors nightmares just go on as if they're real until I thankfully wake up. This time I was even convincing the dream characters that it was a dream. Weird.

It was very scary though, to think I had missed a scene at a huge theatre - and didn't know what was coming up next.

I oversleep and get to the performance late- the understudy has already gone onstage. I take over midway through. The other actors are furious, and the show falls apart in front of the audience. Even worse, it's our closing night.

Falling off the stage into a never ending pit.

Forgetting to wear a prop flower in my lapel when there was some dialogue which refered to the flower. It was the main bit in the scene. We had to improvise with a cocktail decoration!

A supporting actress was sick.

The director told us, the student actors, to find and train an understudy on the day of production.

We did.

Upon arriving at the school at call time, he had found somebody else.

And had trained her too.

He was ridiculously inept.

It's not just actors. As a Stage Manager I used to have nightmares about turning up for work and not being able to get into the building, or finding that the show had changed and I didn't know it. A very heavy rehearsal and long technical rehearsal with no meal breaks and working over 70 hours per week stopped that as I was so tired I didn't dream! The nightmares have not returned thankfully.