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Article: At Kennedy Center, Millennium Stage Sets Arts Free; Nightly Events Held At No Cost to Public
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- September 25, 2003
- Author:
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With the African drummers arriving late and no time for a full
rehearsal, the crew at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage figured
a sound check would suffice.
Big mistake.
At performance time, the dancers shimmied and gyrated in grass
skirts. Drums pounded on a grassy stage in the red-carpeted Grand
Foyer. Suddenly, one dancer lit large, fire-dripping skewers.
That sparked the attention of sound engineer Joe Nay. "They hadn't
told us about the fire-eating part," he said, worrying that the
flames might ignite the grass and burn down the whole presidential
memorial.
After that night in April 1997, there have been fire extinguishers
on both sides of the stage. That's one key lesson Millennium ...