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Be very, very careful if you see a show at the Central Square Theater
By adamg on Sat, 08/11/2012 - 11:13pm
After seeing "Car Talk, the Musical" there tonight, Paul Levy has the bruises to prove it. But he says what's worse is the theater's apparent indifference to a problem that can send people just sitting in their seats plummeting to the floor:
[I]nstead of talking with friends about the wonderful show we had seen and the great performance by talented actors and musicians, we found ourselves talking about the unsafe condition at the theater and what we felt was a poor response to harm that had occurred.
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Comments
Did all the rows of seats look like this?
His injury could have been far more serious if he had fallen off a higher row.
That company is a frickin' joke
They dropped off passes at my trivia night once with a note telling me that I was scheduled to give them away. Sick communication with me before the event. Tossed 'em right in the garbage.
Didnt seem that bad...
I was at that show and saw the guy fall over. I was sitting in the third row at the inside of the same section and saw something out of the corner of my eye, and it was the guy falling over. I looked to see if he was ok, and he and the other patron got up and sat in new seats. He didn't leave the theater or cry out as if he had been injured, so I figured he was fine. I wouldn't be so sure that anyone from the theater company knew about this befor eye told them. The whole event was so quiet that I think unless you were sitting near him that you wouldn't have noticed. Additionally, with the stage lights, I think the cast is effectively blind.
I agree though that they should fix the risers. Perhaps an old person would have broken their arm or something. But I thinks this guy's outrage about the theater's response during the show is misplaced. It seemed like no big deal at the time and he didn't make any indication that it was anything more than perhaps stumbling as you walk up the stairs. (which happened to a guy who came in right before curtain)
BTW, the show was quite a bit funnier than I expected.
You can't judge tha tway
Yes, I sat down on another seat in the front row because I was shaken up and didn't feel comfortable trying to walk away. Also, even though shaken up, I didn't want to disrupt the show for other patrons. At that point, I was disoriented and was not even sure of the route to leave if I had wanted to.
Although I appeared fine to you, I actually "lost" about 20 minutes of the show as I sat there quietly trying to calm down and assess the degree of hurt and/or damage.
Yes, the cast did notice. Later, during the curtain calls, one member of the cast looked directly at me and gave me a signal (twice), as if to ask whether all was all right.
And, I explained in the blog post what happened when I talked to the house manager in the lobby after the show. The response was inadequate.
But, more importantly, please don't write in such a way as to blame the victim. Check the many comments on my blog and see how such things should be handled.
Wow
You really need to get over this. People fall. Accidents happen.
You act as if they intended that you fall off this platform. And, something just tells me you're exaggerating just a bit - even my 4 year old niece can fall, and assess her "hurt and/or damage" in about 30 seconds...all without getting disoriented.
Not that you're clinging on to the "poor me" thing or anything.
You really need to get a log in
And, maybe, learn something about PREVENTION when it comes to accidents.
And, maybe, grow up, too.
re safety:
Ever notice that no one warns against shouting "fire!" in a crowded restaurant? Or church? That's because the willing suspension of disbelief inherent in the theater experience also slows reaction times and inhibits judgment. The standard of care required is beyond other public assemblages. The operator of this theater better hope Paul Levy doesn't have a lawyer in the family.
I'm looking forward to the show
I'll be sitting in Row Two along with my lawyer and chiropractor.
I see Mr. Levy's point, but consider the respective positions
I am just back from that show, and I saw what Mr. Levy is talking about. I actually saw a chair right on the edge of the riser of that row - I was a little surprised to see it given the publicity of the incident yesterday.
I think the issue regarding response is pretty straightforward in my head - Mr. Levy comes from a background, hospital management, that is populated by people who are in the business of being safety conscious and who are quite focused on and receive lots of training about incident management and risk prevention.
The people at the Central Sq. Theatre, including management, are people involved in theatre. Their focus is on entertainment. It doesn't mean that they're less smart or less capable, but in my mind, I can see how the incident wouldn't result in an immediate meeting of the safety committee, etc. (although given the publicity, it probably will result in a bunch of discussions this week). They are just not wired that way, nor do they receive the kind of training that hospital staff, from the CEOs on down do. I think that Mr. Levy probably realizes this too, as he made it clear in the blog post that his perspective was formed as a result of his long experience "in the hospital world". He would have reacted differently, presumably a large property management company would have reacted differently, but even though it doesn't excuse it, I am not surprised that the 20 something year old thespians and their theatre managers didn't react like a CEO of a hospital or a huge property management company.
All of that said, I would have, and they should, remove the last chair at the end of each of those rows to ensure it doesn't happen again. The should also apologize to Mr. Levy and inform him of the remedial actions taken.
Surprisingly un-bad
We're repeat subscribers to the theater. It's a better choice now that NewRep has gone all gushy, cliché and suburban. We also saw Car Talk, but because it was in the package. It's far better than we expected — LITE but still funny.
This theater changes seating per production. However, the pattern generally includes an open second row end to allow people to exit without bumping into those in the front row by the stage. It does require a little...but only a little...sense of your position in space. It's always wise to keep a minimal awareness of where your body is. Perhaps Dr. Levy was distracted by the scantily clad women on stage.
The good physician's sense of self-pity aside (although he does seem very good at that), he goofed up, he fell clumsily, he wasn't hurt, and he thinks all the blame falls on the theater crew. Plus he thinks there's blame that needs to be ascribed.
Let's set aside his claim that it took him 20 minutes (20 minutes?!) to collect himself from non-injury. It must have been embarrassing, but cut me a very thin slice of that.
I've sat in the first and second rows of that theater many times in various configurations. That includes the second row at the Car Talk show. My wife and I didn't have problems, no one else did, It's unfortunate that he did, but that's that, sports fans.
Minor correction
Paul Levy is not an MD. He was CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, though.
hmm there seems to be a bit
hmm there seems to be a bit of blame the victim here... I am not familiar with this space but as a theatre technician that works at some of the larger playhouses in Boston the fact that there was no lip to prevent a chair from falling over the edge is inexcusable.
They make plastic lips that must be placed on the edges of these types of risers especially if audience or performers are sitting in chairs (band members especially, I remember how important it is that risers have these for band members). They are easy to fit and clip right on. If you don't have that or want to spend the couple bucks to get one, you gaff tape the heck out of the end chair so it will not move and you also add reflective/glow tape to all edges of the risers.
I am sorry this happened, it is the responsibility of the house manager to be aware of any problems or potential problems that could happen in a theatre space. She should have seen this potential risk before it happened. I have basic health and safety as well as risk management and prevention training and many technicians and management staff do. Preventing a problem like this is risk management 101, its like an easy 10 point question on the test. I don't know if she did but that issue should have been fixed that night because anything less than that is asking for a whole host of problems.
I have ushered at almost every show there for the past 2 seasons
and as for "staff"? That woman you spoke to after the show? She's it and the most authority she has is to decide whether or not a latecomer should be seated.
The ushers are all volunteers. We're not trained in the theater arts nor are we EMTs. I work in banking and volunteer with friends for the heck of it.
It's unlikely an usher saw you fall since we're either in the lobby or way up in the back row in the corner seat. If I saw someone stumble, I'd probably would watch to see if the person got back up. If the person did right his ship, on with the show! If there is truly a man down, then it's 911 time!
I read the comments on your blog about liability and patient care and love and free tickets and how horribly terrible it is that this happened to you. Comparing Central Square Theater to Beth Israel? Are you kidding me?