Moments after the spring musical The Drowsy Chaperone broke for intermission Friday night, a tornado siren blared through Lake Forest all the way to the RMA. 

The first person to realize what was happening was fittingly The Man in the Chair, played by junior Brady Stadolnik, whose character watches over events occurring in the musical from the comfort of his chair. 

“We finished act one and it was normal. No one knew anything that happened except for Brady; he heard someone’s phone have a tornado alarm go off in the middle of the act,” said junior and lead actress Lauren Hanson. 

Before the official announcement was made, some of the cast believed they would keep going with the show. 

“None of us really thought anything of it because I feel like [tornados] kind of happen a lot around here and the RMA has no windows in it, so we thought we would just keep going,” said Hanson.  

As audience members rose out of their seats for intermission, though, Activities Director Mrs. Ashleigh Malec’s voice came over the loudspeaker and instructed everyone in the theater to go to the lower level of the building. Director Mrs. Kelly MacBlane explained that the cast and crew were put in one hallway while the audience was led to another part of the basement. 

“We knew that there was bad weather on the horizon, so as directors we had talked about a plan if something happened before the show,” said Mrs. MacBlane. 

The shelter in place that followed turned into an unexpected bonding moment for some of the cast, crew, and audience members.

“Because we were all confined to such a small space, I ended up talking to some of the freshmen I don’t normally talk to and got to know everyone,” said actress Eloise Fairchild. 

Trying to find joy in a situation many found disappointing, the cast, crew, and audience members broke off into different groups to entertain themselves with various activities during the shelter in place.

“The students who were involved in the show had different card games going on … lots of the different classrooms started spontaneously having different activities,” said Mrs. MacBlane. “In one room, there was a game of hangman going on; in another room they were watching the weather channel. I think in another room they were [singing] karaoke and [playing] Just Dance. It was just random groups of audience members, people’s grandparents, and other students hanging out together.”

During the unexpectedly long intermission, nearly everyone had the same question in the mind: will the show go on?

“It was almost perfect in a sense that [the tornado warning] happened right at intermission, but then I also was hoping that I’ll be able to watch the rest of it,” said audience member Sawyer Rice. 

After staying in the dressing room for over 40 minutes, most of the cast and crew began to suspect that the curtain wouldn’t open back up.

“By that time we knew that we probably wouldn’t start again because the tornado warning kept getting pushed back further and further,” said Hanson.

During all the fun the cast, crew, and audience was having, the directors and other adult faculty determined the best move forward to ensure everyone’s safety.

“We were in conversations with Dr. Montgomery, the Superintendent, and he ultimately made the call that, because the weather was still looking so bad for the rest of the night when the warning expired at 9:15 p.m., we just had to send everybody home,” said Mrs. MacBlane. 

Members of the cast and crew who had worked on the show for months were disappointed that one of their three shows would not be finished. 

“The second act has a good amount of numbers–it has one of my songs in it–so I was upset that no one got to see that or see how the show ended,” said Hanson. “No one got to see if I got married or not!”

It wasn’t the last show that got cancelled, though, which was a relief to many of the cast and crew who wanted to end with a strong and complete performance. 

“I think we were all grateful that it wasn’t our last show and that we still had another day. It kind of helped us have energy going into our last day: this time we knew we’d bring all the energy,” said Fairchild. 

Hanson also regarded the choice as the right one given the circumstances. 

“I was pretty disheartened that the second half of the musical was canceled after all of our hard work, but it was probably the right choice to be made given the situation. Obviously I’m so grateful for everyone keeping us safe. I’d rather be safe than perform the Second Act,” said Hanson.

Mrs. MacBlane explained that all of Friday’s audience were offered the chance to see the show on Saturday for free to make up for Friday’s show being incomplete.

“We blocked off a bunch of seats on Saturday so that people couldn’t buy them ahead of time. Obviously, they couldn’t have the same seat because people had already bought those seats, but we were able to accommodate everyone,” said Mrs. MacBlane. 

Rice was thrilled that he could come back and see the show’s ending.

“I had to [go back] because I was so excited and wanted to finish such a great show. I’m so glad I did,” said Rice. 

The situation came full circle when, in Act Two of Saturday’s performance, the power went out on stage as part of the show. 

“Brady’s line is supposed to be that the apartment [he lives in] has bad wiring, but he added that the power shortage might have been due to a tornado,” said Fairchild.

When the audience laughed, it was clear that, despite anything-but-drowsy obstacles, the show must go on–and it did successfully.