Though warned in advance of the fire so they can remove their costumes and other belongings, the performers are afraid to leave the theater loaded with baggage lest they be arrested for theft.
NEARLY every morning for 18 years, Millie Beener has descend ed the five steps from her house, taken two subways into Manhattan, pulled open the stage door of the Winter Garden Theater, loaded about 30 sweaty cat costumes into the washing machine, poured in the detergent and started the gentle cycle.
The league has been trying to gain a degree of flexibility in deciding when and how many stagehands are needed for work, particularly during the often lengthy and costly period when shows are loading into theaters.
Just getting the tent to North America was no small feat: 500 tons of theater and props were loaded into 25 trucks, deposited on a ship in January, ushered through the Panama Canal, and finally arrived in the United States in April.
But among the changes the league was able to achieve, according to officials involved in the talks, was a daily minimum of 17 stagehands on the load-in, the lengthy and costly period when a production is loaded into a theater.
So did germinating his vision for a multitasking theater (Mr. Rundgren's roadies loaded in just after a free daytime performance for schoolchildren by the Mermaid Theater of Nova Scotia loaded out).
And what is the New York theater offering to lift the load of woe from our hearts?
The struggles of Chicago public schools seem a world removed from North Side College Preparatory, a gleaming new high school with six computers in every classroom, a 525-seat theandr and a student body loaded with academic stars.
"Lucky Bruce" is about a kid from the Bronx who finds early literary fame; fritters away some of his prime years, dabbling in movies and theater; makes and loses a load of money; eats very well; has close and funny friends; sleeps with more than his allotment of beautiful women; and, agreeably for his readers, has a way with anecdotes.
The league wanted changes to several rules, including those governing how many stagehands must come to work every day that a show is being loaded into a theater; minimum lengths of time for which stagehands can be called to work; and the kinds of tasks stagehands are allowed to perform during certain work calls.
