Do you hear booing from the blue fairies when you tread the boards? Did your clap trap work on the claque? Did that flash pot set off “Mr. Sands” in the first electric? Do you even know what those last three sentences mean? If not, then you need to read this book!
Authors Mark Brownell and Sue Miner have compiled this one-of-a-kind glossary of offbeat theatrical phrases, words and superstitions. Break a Leg! is a culmination of theatrical lore from more than 25 years in the business. It also represents a collective knowledge that has been passed down for centuries.
This handy guidebook will steer you through all of those floaters, flops, and fresnels. Gaffers, gels, and ghosts. Lazzi, leads, and luvvies. Notes, nosebleeds, and Naturalism. From mid-Atlantic accents to zany zanni, this book has it all!
About the Author
Since graduating from the National Theatre School’s Acting section in 1983, Sue Miner has been working extensively in various aspects of theatre across Canada. As well as having acted, directed, produced, and written, she has also been a designer of costumes, sets and sound. She has been an instructor and guest director at George Brown since 1995 and has been the Program Coordinator since the spring of 2017. Sue is also the co-artistic director of Pea Green Theatre Group with her husband Mark Brownell. In 2010 both Sue and Mark received a Harold Award for “Outstanding Contribution to the Toronto Performing Arts Scene.” Along with many Dora nominations for her direction, Sue made the long list for the Siminovitch Prize for directing in 2007, has been thrice nominated for the Pauline McGibbon Award and has twice been touted as one of Toronto’s Top 10 theatre artists by NOW Magazine.
Mark Brownell is a Toronto-based playwright, actor, librettist, and educator. Mark’s plays include Monsieur d’Eon Is a Woman (which was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award,) High Sticking, Medici Slot Machine (nominated for the Dora Mavor Moore Outstanding New Play Award,) War of the Clowns, Clique Claque, The Barbecue King (with Steve Thomas,) The Martha Stewart Project, and an adaptation of Three Men in a Boat. The opera Iron Road (libretto by Brownell, music by Chan Ka Nin,) won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best New Musical. He currently teaches at George Brown College, The Toronto Film School, and the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. He is also Co-Artistic Director of the Pea Green Theatre Group with his wife and partner Sue Miner, with whom he wrote Break A Leg! An Actors Guide to Theatrical Practices, Phrases, and Superstitions.
