Funny Story

I've dropped over 71 pounds which would make you think chairs would be safer around me. Not so. I managed to break a chair on stage opening night of my show, Gaslight.

Picture this, the cops have arrested the villain (me) and tied him to a chair so his wife could have a few words with him. The chair broke as soon as I sat on it but stayed together. I believe it was a combination of the glue being old and me sitting a little too enthusiastically.

Anyway, she gives this heartrending monologue as I try desperately to act while keeping the chair from falling completely apart. She made it to the end of her speech just as my strength and the chair finally give out. I fell to the floor and she ran to the door and starting yelling for the Inspector (as she's supposed to do), except I am now free so I made a break for it, only to be wrestled into submission by cops again.

We covered it so wonderfully, the audience thought it was planned that way. One of them asked me afterwards how we managed to get the chair to collapse at just the right moment.

Live theatre, you have to love it.

Ok when I said "break a leg" I did not mean that literally.

Lol! Sounds like you handled it well.

I remember something similar happening in one of the shows we did. Someone ripped a door off its hinges during a particularly heartfelt moment. The actor said something like, "I guess I don't know my own strength." And leaned the door against the wall. Got a laugh from the audience and covered pretty well :)

Awesome recovery!

The only chair I've broken that I recall, aside from a couple of old camp lawn chairs (and honestly, some of those, small children could break) was a drum throne. Good quality thrones are meant to last because an active, gigging drummer uses them most nights of the week and they take a beating even from the little fellas that pound away at the kit.

I was in a music store and I was "testing" a drum kit, and the throne gave out on me. The double-braced leg of it bent under my 391 lb weight, the edge of the seat portion snapped and down I went. I went from being in my happy place, to being completely mortified and humiliated, and downright angry as people gawked from every direction. The drum tech was graceful and didn't make a fuss. I paid for the drum throne that I broke, even though they insisted it was OK and I didn't have to. I was a regular at that store and I've probably put the staff's kids through college, so they were cool but I was not. I took the broken seat with me as a reminder, and I still have it as a motivator. I've fashioned it into a usable chair again with a little work. It was a catalyst for me deciding to take my life seriously.

I look back on it now and laugh, but at the moment it was simply awful. I had quite the range of emotion on the hour-long drive home, but got it out of my system (mostly) before I walked through the door to my family.

It must have been comical to see, and I imagine it's still on some security footage somewhere for people to have a chuckle. haha

Sorry that the chair broke. I have a fear of furniture sometimes.