by Clara Tan & Chris Peterson
Reports are coming out of Buffalo, NY, that an actor was fired from a production of A Christmas Carol after missing a final dress rehearsal due to an injury. The injury was reportedly sustained during a rehearsal for the show the previous day. The incident has prompted questions about workplace expectations in local theatre.
Madeline Allard-Dugan, who was cast in the show at the Imagine Theatre, was injured due to falling through a trap door that was allegedly improperly installed. As a result of that fall, the actor missed the final dress rehearsal. The next day, they were informed they were being fired from the production and replaced with a put-in.
This is one of seven productions of A Christmas Carol that have been mounted this year in Buffalo concurrently. This particular production is advertised as Neal Radice’s Christmas Carol, currently in its forty-third season. It previously was produced by Alleyway Theatre, but was moved to Imagine Theatre. There were only two performances scheduled, both to show on December 20th.
Mr. Radice not only directs the productions but as also adapted the script.
This is important to know because it will contextualize the events we are about to relate. One of the actors was injured during rehearsal. They fell through a trap door that had apparently not been properly installed. Because of this, they took the next day off from rehearsal to recuperate. The day they took off happened to be the final dress rehearsal before opening night. This particular actor had also played the same roles(Shopkeeper, Ghost of Christmas Past, Mrs. Crachit) on the same track of this play for a minimum of three years running before tonight. Mind you, the actor had informed both cast and crew that they would be taking the day off to recover from the shock and injury caused by the alleged improper trapdoor installation.
Before the opening of the first performance, Mr. Radice informed the actor that they would not be going on for the two shows, but would be replaced with a put-in who had joined the company for the final dress rehearsal of the day before.
Mr. Radice fired an actor who took a sick day due to suffering an injury caused on the job. Several of the other members of the company threatened to walk off the job, to protest the unjust termination of their colleague. Mr. Radice proceeded to scream at them, insulting them and reportedly said, “I’ll make sure you never work in this town again.”
One performer in the show, Andrew Brown, posted on Facebook that he quit the production due to Mr. Radice’s actions.
