Term of the Day: the Great Local #1 Headcase

the Great Local #1 Headcase--a Broadway head, famous for hiring old timers on his crew, promising them the world, then dumping them. "Be careful of that head-- he's the Great Local #1 Headcase...he'll give you work, but he'll break your heart. You can almost put the screwing on your calendar."

Stagehand Nickname of the Day: Quack Quack

 Quack Quack-- nickname for a stagehand who talk too much. "The 45-year-old apprentice would talk your ear off. The older stagehands started calling him Quack Quack."

Ghost Story of the Day: Mark Ruffalo's Wet Willy from David Belasco

The straight play "Awake and Sing" by Clifford Odets was at the Belasco in  2006. The ghost of the theater owner and impresario David Belasco is known to play benign pranks on visiting actors. Mark Ruffalo played a gangster in the show and as a method actor, when his character went into the bedroom to take a nap, Ruffalo would walk through the set and lay down on a cot outside the set wall.. Of course, the nearby carpenters, Big Al and Little Al,  would harass him. One night, Ruffalo got a wet willy. He brushed the finger away and said, "Big Al, stop it!" No one was there. We believe that the ghost of David Belasco gave Mark Ruffalo a wet willy.

Term of the Night: production meeting karma

production meeting karma--when difficult production people get flayed alive at post-preview production meetings. "The famously backstabby production stage manager was called out by name at the post-show production meeting and reamed out by an angry director. She experienced some production meeting karma." 

Term of the Night: cross-hire

 cross-hire--in one theater, where one head hires a stagehand who works in a different department. "The electrician refused to let his stagehands be cross-hired by the other heads. If you worked for the carpenter or prop man, he would not hire you again."

Term of the Day: shaping while baked

shaping while baked--when a stagehand shows up looking for work stoned. "The 40-year-old stagehand smelled like skunk weed when he came by looking for work. I've dealt with drunk men looking for work before, but this was the first time I had a guy 'shaping while baked.'" "shaping" is an old stagehand term for showing up a job site, looking for work.

Grim Site of the Day: murder bathroom

murder bathroom-- famously grim Broadway bathroom. Exposed concrete, the smell of urine and a creepy environment.. Nicknamed the "murder bathroom" by wardrobe. "There hasn't been a murder in the murder bathroom yet, but one day there will be." Bathroom was featured on Instagram. Also nicknamed the "saw bathroom," after the horror movie.