Theatre Lighting Design, Technical Direction and Consulting

Charles R. Kaiser
Aurora, Ontario CANADA

The Wayward Whopper of Death

Several years ago I had a summer job at the Santa Fe Opera in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Part of my job included running a followspot for all of the performances.

One evening we heard that Leonard Nimoy had been spotted in the audience. In the followspot area we were keeping an eye out for him, and sure enough, he was spotted sitting directly underneath our position above the audience. Several of us, being Trekers, thought that this was very cool.

One of the items that was often brought up to the followspots for snacking was one of the milk carton-sized containers of "Whoppers" malted milk balls. Just before the opera started, I put my hand out to my buddy Rob so that he could pour me out a handful. As he did so, one of the Whoppers fell off my hand and rolled to the edge of the catwalk! I put my foot out to stop it, but I was not in time. I looked down to see if anyone had noticed its fall, and saw Mister Nimoy with his hand to the back of his head looking up with a puzzled look on his face. Oh man! I had just beaned Mr. Spock in the head with a Whopper!

I turned to my buddy and said "Fascinating." We both almost choked to death trying to stifle the laughter. For the rest of the show we giggled like fiends. Mr. Nimoy, if you are reading this, I am truly sorry for having hit you in the head with a Whopper. I hope that you'll forgive me.

If anyone is interested, Mr. Nimoy is a wondeful photographer. You can view some of his work here.