Whistling or wishing someone good luck might be ordinary rituals to some, but to someone in the theater community, these acts are taboo.
More infamous than other professions, the theatrical world is riddled with superstitions that all actors know and respect.
“No one questions them,” said Lorraine Wochna, reference librarian in Alden Library who acted in New York from 1980 to 2000. “They just do them forever. It has become natural.”
These superstitions are even found at Ohio University, as Kantner Hall has some mystery about it.
"We have ghosts in Kantner,” said Paige Barnes, a sophomore studying stage management. “A lot of us work late for rehearsals, and we hear weird sounds and creeks when we are the only ones in the whole building and it’s midnight.”
One of the most well-known superstitions surrounds William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which has supposedly been cursed from the beginning. Actors refuse to say the play’s name aloud and typically refer to it as “The Scottish Play.” If one does say the name, then they must perform a “cleansing ritual.”
“I’m not a superstitious person, but I don’t laugh at this,” said Dennis Delaney, head of the professional director training program at the School of Theater. “If an actor says it, they have to leave the room, spin around three times, spit and ask for permission to re-enter.”
While some are for fun, others have real reasons attached to their existence, Delaney said.
“Sailors used to be stagehands and whistled to communicate letting a sandbag drop or changing the set,” Delaney said. “If someone else whistled, then there’d be a miscommunication and someone could get hurt … So, whistling became bad luck.”
Not all traditions are about bad luck; some become individualized to each actor as they find rituals that suit them.
"Before I perform, I always wear my lucky socks and say Julie Andrews’ name,” said Callie Sour, a senior studying psychology with a sophomore status in acting. “It started as a joke, but it seemed to work; now, I feel like I have to do it.”
Delaney said this reoccurring behavior and superstitious mindset comes from the fragility of an actor’s career.
“Acting is a very precarious life,” he said. “An awful lot of luck is involved … It doesn’t surprise me that people believe in good or bad omens.”
Because acting is one of the oldest professions, Delaney said he encourages teaching students about the traditions.
“We try to instill in our students a sense of tradition,” he said. “We talk about them with students. We try not to go overboard, but it’s about respecting the past and becoming a part of a long tradition.”
mg986611@ohiou.edu
