Tag Archives: theatre

Pre-show ritual – Will Bundy

Text:

CS: We would gather… usually it was before every opening. We would all gather together, um, like, everyone on the crew. And the stage manager, who would be calling the show, would say a prayer to the theatre gods. And we would all have out hands on their head in a circle around them. And then they would say like, “I just hope this show goes well, everyone did so good…” usually it was something along those lines. And once they were done, we would all raise up our arms and go “whoooooooa, Bundy!”

Context: CS is a college student in Southern California who attended an arts high school in Santa Ana. This school had conservatories focused on different art forms, and CS was in Production & Design (P&D), which focused on technical theatre and design elements in live performance.

CS: I have been told conflicting things.My brother, he says that it’s like how in The Mighty Ducks, the movies, they would say “quack, quack!” Like, that’s our “quack, quack.” But, um, the lore that I was told is that Will Bundy was the first P&D student admitted to Production & Design. Like, top of the roster, “B,” Bundy, top of the alphabetical order. And so we’re like, honoring him by saying Will Bundy. And it’s either “whoa, Bundy,” or “Will Bundy,” depending on who you ask.

Analysis:

I think this is a very interesting pre-show ritual. It contains some marks of common pre-show theatre rituals–the standing in a circle, touching hands, a “leader” figure within the group saying some kind of affirmation or “prayer” hoping for a good show, as well as recognizing the work of the people around them–but the chant is one I’ve never heard before. I think the supposed connection to the first student of the program is very sweet, and represents a kind of honoring of the work of the students of the program through all the years of its existence. It’s almost a celebration of the technical theatre program and all the unrecognized work that these students would do.

OCSA Symphony Hall Ghost

Text:

CS: Miss Brown, who was my history teacher in 8th grade, she said that, like, the ghost of “Santa Ana,” one of the conquistadors who came through and, like claimed Santa Ana… She said that he lost his leg in battle and that it was buried under Symphony Hall. And that it’ll hop itself across the stage, um, when people aren’t looking.

Context: CS is a college student in Southern California who attended an arts high school in the city of Santa Ana. Symphony Hall was a remodeled church that had been turned into a school building & theatre on campus. Some classes were occasionally held in the basement library.

CS: I never had anything, like, weird happen, per se, at Symphony Hall. I think she just said that to scare the shit out of 13 year olds, but like… I don’t know why it’s specifically a leg, too, I don’t know how that works, exactly. “They’re going to build a church here, eventually, we need to bury your leg right here!”

Analysis: This is a hilarious legend. I attended this school & never heard this story, but I’m kind of endeared by the idea of a ghost story about a leg. I think an arts school is bound to breed creative myths and urban legends among its students and faculty–especially in a building that is possibly the oldest on campus, with something of a mystical air due to it formerly being a church. The idea of the “santa ana” conquistador with a missing leg, as far as I can find, is not based in any fact, but it makes sense that this would be a unifying, silly ghost story in a school full of storytellers and performers.

Hamlet-inspired Theatre Ritual

Nationality: American

Age: 22

Occupation: Student 

Residence: Orange County, CA, USA

Date: 4/30/2025

Language: English

Description

This is one that I used to do in high school theater. We’d do it before every show as part of our warm-ups, and it was like one like we don’t do the full…I don’t do the full warm-up anymore, but I will always do this portion, because I think it just like helps me kind of get in the mindset and the work that I’m about to do (on stage). So, we were in high school theater, we do all these warm-ups, and we do all these, like, kind of funky, like tongue twisters with a beat, but it was kind of fun. And, you know, got everyone kind of in the mood to work. And then at the end of it, our director would have us, you know, close our eyes and kind of feel the ground beneath your feet. And feel the space around you and all that. And she’d have you just kind of…center yourself, and I feel like it’s very like it’s very yoga, meditative. And so…now I do this on my own. It’s more self-led, but, basically it’s like the final, quote-unquote, tongue twister that you would do, but it comes from…I think it comes from Hamlet. Let me look it up and make sure. So Hamlet in Shakespeare, it says “speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounc’d it to you, trippingly on the tongue.” the speech. And he’s talking to, like the first player. Yeah, I don’t know exactly what happens with Hamlet, [so] I didn’t know that that was from a play. I thought it was just something that she created. And when we do this, she’d have us just kind of first…say it and just say it and then say it and really hear the words. And then you say it as your character, and whatever. 

Subject’s Opinion:

Subject: And I think over the years in that program it had transformed from a tongue-twister to something that I actually really stood by as a performer, which is why I still use it. Because I think it the way that I take it is speak the speech, which is obviously like…honor your text. I pray as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue, and it it almost feels like it’s like a higher power pushing you forward or compelling you to speak. And I feel like that’s a lot of what performance is. You’re just kind of trusting the work that you’ve done, and the preparation, for you to just go and then be prepared and also to honor the story and to serve the writer and to serve the character and to serve the audience. I don’t know, and I always say that and I’ll always stand there in the back with my eyes closed right before I go on stage or sometimes in warm-ups. Now, if I’m leading them, I’ll always help everyone do that and just kind of appreciate the work that I’m about to do and the possibility of it and the unknown. And I’ll always say it because I just think it’s really, I don’t know, it’s just kind of endearing. Interviewer: How should I put this? Let me think about how should I ask this question? Do you think… because it’s from an author text which in it by itself isn’t folklore. But [what] do you think [about] the new life that it took on as a part of the heritage, and as part of the…that ritual. How does that help you? 

Subject: I think what’s funny is that when I first started using that, I didn’t know it was from something, so I didn’t like have the predisposed notion that I was just reciting a Hamlet line. Instead, it felt like it was something larger than myself, like larger than the company. Because it felt so ethereal. So, I think, like? When you’re taking things from works, when you’re taking something from something as well known as Hamlet, but you’re still trying to make it your own, you’re weaving so much of your own personal experience for the personal nature behind why whoever created that Mantra or whatever created it or took that line specifically and used that. And I just think that, like, within that program when I was in high school, part of it was understanding how to not be selfish in your work. And I think using that line, like, using that text was kind of a way to bring it up forth and also just honor yourself as an honest artist and like, I don’t know, like, keep moving. So, when I think about it now, I don’t think about the fact that it’s a Hamlet line. Because for me, it, it’s separated from that completely. It has nothing to do with Hamlet. It is everything to do with what that experience was in high school, and what that professor did before with students before me, and it was something that she had done for years and years and years, and I was just another batch of students who came to learn that and came to appreciate that, you know. 

Analysis: 

The most fascinating part of this collection is the folkloric nature the authored text took on after generations of repurposing. As the subject put it, though she understands that it’s from Shakespeare’s text, she never associates it in its original context, and instead upholds the oral tradition of the ritual and attends to the source of how she knew it instead of what she knows it is from. She also highlighted the fact that rational knowledge of it being from Hamlet is always overshadowed by the memories and emotions that are brought up when the words are uttered, which points to the adaptive, dynamic, and affective nature of a piece of oral folklore such as this one. 

The “Shit Damn Motherfucker Motherfucker Damn” Ritual

Nationality: American

Age: 21

Occupation: Student 

Residence: Mason, OH, USA

Date: 4/29/2025

Language: English

Description

This is a a theater ritual that the people at USC do. And there are different variations of this at other schools, but there’s one very specifically that USC does which I really, really like. It’s [done] before a theater performance. Everyone gets together in a circle. Every actor gets in a circle. And you start really low and very quiet. And you say: “shit damn motherfucker motherfucker, damn! This dumb bitch just stole my man. Gotta find another fucker better than the other fucker, shit damn motherfucker motherfucker damn!” You do it four times, and you get louder and you get higher off the ground until you’re like jumping and screaming. And after that, it’s, like, okay, let’s go. And everyone goes back to their dressing rooms, gets focused, and begin the show. That’s the ritual. 

Subject’s Opinion: 

Interviewer: Do you know where that came from? 

Subject: I don’t know at all where it came from, but I know at other schools, there are variations of this. So I assume that it came from some sort of like, bigger, more professional thing, and then people sort of took from that, like took their own versions from that. From that original typical folklore. 

Interviewer: Why do you you think it’s such a significant thing that’s done here? 

Subject: Well, I think there’s multiple things. I think one people just love saying swear words. And, and also before a performance, you have to get very, like, energized. You have to be very active, even if you’re playing a very inactive and unenergized character. You, as the person who’s playing that character, need to be sort of heightened. Um. And there’s something about the consonants as well…shit damn motherfucker motherfucker, damn. Like the consonants of that are very activating. Um, and also just the community bonding aspect. We’re all like having fun. We’re all like… it’s silly. It’s ridiculous. You can’t take it seriously at all. Like, you cannot take that exercise seriously and getting yourself into that sort of like heightened, heart-beating state, and then having to take it down to like a performance, and having to have all that energy inside of you while you’re like…rocking it with whatever you’re doing. 

Analysis

As an active participant of the theatre community, I’ve seen the ritual performed many times, and can attest to the strong impression it leaves on anyone seeing it done for the first time. Witnessing or taking part in it being performed is a rite of passage for all theatre-makers at USC, as it means you’ve completed a show ready for performance, marking an important moment not only for the actors, but the people behind the scenes. And as one’s theatre career unfolds at USC, they will see this ritual done again and again, each time more meaningful than the previous, as it is symbolic of the camaraderie and pains and joys of telling a meaningful story together.

BREAK A LEG!

Nationality: American

Age: 20

Occupation: Student 

Residence: San Diego, CA, USA

Date: 02/20/2025 

Primary Language: English

Language: English

Description: 

“I thought this was common knowledge, but apparently it’s not in theater. You’re not supposed to say “good luck”. You’re supposed to say, “Break a leg”, uh, apparently saying, good luck is bad luck. Actually, I don’t remember why that is, but I know why you’re supposed to say, break a leg. I was told that in the old days, there was a piece called the leg that held up the curtain. And if in the olden days if it was too fragile, or if you were too loud, you would…you could actually break the leg and the curtain would come down. And so if you were to nail it, you would be so good that the curtain would come down. So, that’s why people say, break a leg.”

Subject’s opinion: 

Interviewer: Can you talk about how you you might have used it in your personal experiences? 

Subject: Yeah, I, I tell my friends break a leg all the time, even if it’s not in a theater related context. If someone ever says good luck to me before I go on stage, I correct them, because I do not want that bad juju. 

Interviewer: What would you say to me, exactly, if I said good luck to you before you go on stage? 

Subject: I’d say…actually, I probably wouldn’t say anything, but it would bother me. It would actually bother me, and I’d go on stage and be thinking about it. It’d mess me up. 

Analysis: 

A student actor himself, the subject expressed surprise regarding how little people knew of the origin of “break a leg.” Many in the theatre space take the phrase for granted, but few investigate the spirit from which it originated. In fact, most have made their own speculations, drawing links to origin stories that involve the literal breaking of legs—sometimes even monogenic—rather than acknowledging the phrase’s roots in stage logistics. It’s interesting to consider how the oral history of the phrase shifted in this case. “Break a leg” is a visceral image; the opposite of what a performer would want. Once its supposed original reference to the legs of a curtain became more obscure, the phrase’s intensity and ironic appeal may have been a key factor in its longevity. Perhaps if the context was understood more widely, the phrase wouldn’t have the same popularity.