H1N1 fears create more understudy backups in theatre department

With the upcoming theater season, and the ongoing threat of swine flu, theater directors have been forced to take action before the actors start oinking out of character.

Usually, theater junkies push through the pain and sickness on performance night. However, the contagious H1N1 virus has them rethinking their policies.

University Theatre directors Tice Miller and Virginia Smith have rethought their understudying norms to better accommodate a possible outbreak in the theater department and the new policies mandated by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's administration.

"I just won't let you stay," Smith said of her plan to turn away ill actors.

Just as professors have revamped their attendance policies, theater directors have added extra understudies to ensure there will be no gaps in their shows.

Compared to the regular flu, H1N1 only lasts a few days, but it is because of its contagiousness that ill performers will not be able to take the stage.

Yet the show must go on.

"Understudies are probably a smart decision, especially lately with all the swine flu," said freshman Jessie Tidball, an actress in the university's October production of "You Never Can Tell."
"Sometimes you're just too sick to perform and it's a relief to know that someone's got your back."

Miller has placed two actors, one female and one male, in charge of understudying the entire cast of "You Never Can Tell."

"The man will be understudying six roles, which is ridiculous," Miller said.

Miller still needs to find a male understudy from outside the cast. However, Tidball will understudy the female actors.

"I'm playing the part of the parlor maid in the show, who only appears for a short time in act one," Tidball said, "but since I'm also understudying all the female roles, I have to attend most of the rehearsals so that I can learn the blocking and write it all down.

"I'm going through the script and learning each part one by one. It's tough to keep all the lines straight when you're trying to learn several at once," she said.
If any of the female cast members are diagnosed with H1N1, Tidball will take the stage with a script in hand.

"I love the chance to perform, but it's a scary thought that I could have to fill in at a moment's notice," Tidball said. "I'm doing my best to learn all the lines and blocking, but it's no substitute for all the actual rehearsal time the ladies have put into learning their parts."

Smith, who has a much larger cast for the November production of "King Lear," has taken a different approach: She has crisscrossed the understudying from within the cast.
"Virginia is understudying from within because she has such a large cast," Miller said. "If you take one out you have a big hole that would need to be replaced."

If one of the main actors were to be out for a few nights, his or her understudy, someone who has a smaller role, would step in. Another actor would then take over the understudy's role while still playing his or her own small role.

"Everybody has to come to more rehearsals," Smith said of the responsibilities that her cast will be required to adopt.
Even though the overzealous understudying will mean more work for the cast, Smith believes it will also benefit them as well.

"It is like doing two roles," Smith said. "They can put that on their resume. It is an opportunity to do a really sizable role without the pressure to be perfect."

The H1N1 virus has Smith not only worrying about her actors, but about herself.

"I'm thinking abut having an assistant director."