So, which one of the three here does not belong? Wrong!!
The dog does actually belong. Both the dog and the actor to the right were performers in "Le Nozze di Figaro" this summer at Wolf Trap. The guy on the left sporting the headset was one of my abso-fabulous assistant stage managers who worked backstage.
There are times in a stage manager's career when they're handed a task they'd never dreamed of having to do... I've had several of such moments myself. The most memorable being having to de-wedgie a soprano. Don't ask for details, but apparently having one's underwear ride up one's butt can seriously affect the quality of one's voice...so you see the signifigance of the task.
While not all tasks are as personal as the soprano-de-wedgie, some still fall in the catagory of, "You want me to do what?" I'm speaking directly of the above assistant stage manager (I haven't gotten permission to use names at this point). When the dog was added to the rehearsal process the job of 'wrangling' the dog was handed to him. Funny thing - out of all the stage managers backstage, he was the only one who had no dog experience, and was none too thrilled to have a leash thrust into his hands. I believe his exact words were, "You want me to come down here just to have the dog handed to me when he comes off stage?" Viola! Another eager stage manager is born!!
To his credit, he wrangled quite well. I would recommend him for dog duty again and again... (heh heh heh).
Can't wait to give my assistants the tasks of catching apples as they are thrown off stage by an actor who can't throw in a straight line, or maybe hold a bucket for a performer to spit a chewed up rose and turkey sandwich into, or retrieve the Magic Flute from the bathroom where the singer left it during a performance, or retrieve the tenor from under the rubble once the set has collasped around him, or cue the horses to enter the stage, or cue fighter jets to do a flyby...
or pull a wedgie on cue.
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