The Green Room

This occurred in July 2003, I was performing in a show at the Hills Centre in Sydney.

I had been turning up there every Sunday prior to the show for set building and this took place in the basement of the theatre, and I had no idea about any haunts or anything that went on there.

About a week or so before the show was due to open, we had bump-in (moving the set onto the stage) and it was at this time where I started to get strange feelings. The set was transported from the basement by means of a storage lift. At night, I thought I could see someone standing in the lift when there was nothing in there, despite the fact that nobody was allowed to ride in it.

I also hated to use the stairs between the basement and backstage alone, I always had to go with a friend because every time I used them alone, I felt like someone was following me.

The auditorium itself has about 4 levels, and the cast were not allowed to go above the 2nd level, and on one of the evenings, after an all day rehearsal, and on several other occasions, I saw a figure standing up on the 4th level. Of course it could have been one of the lighting guys, because they were the only people allowed to go up there.

I suppose I'd better get to the point, because you're probably wondering why I titled this story "The Green Room" when I have in fact not mentioned a green room.

The Green Room was a room beside the back stage area, where the coffee machine was and such, it was an eerily quiet place with a black curtain running halfway around the walls, and it lead into another room which I'm not sure was its use, it had a closed up canteen, and from that room it leaded into the auditorium.

During rehearsals, if some of us were not involved in a scene, we could sit out in the auditorium and watch it. Every time I walked back through the Green Room to get ready for the next scene, I swear that I would often see someone staring at me from the closed canteen, but I have been known to have a rather good imagination.

Back to the Green Room, several strange things had happened over the course of rehearsals and performances.

During bump in, one of my friends and I had been fixing up a cabinet for one of the scenes and we were working in the Green Room. Later on, I heard this huge crash coming from the Green Room and I went in there. The cabinet had crashed to the floor not 10 seconds ago, and there was nobody in the room when I entered.

Then, a few days later, when pretty much everyone had gone out to dinner before the show, apart from myself and a few others who had stayed around. I had gone into the Green Room to get a hot drink, and while doing this, my back was to the curtain around the walls. Suddenly I was tapped on the shoulder, I turned around. Nobody there. This freaked me out a bit, but then I shrugged it off and went back to making my drink. I then heard something breathing in my ear, I turned around, and made to walk away, and out of the corner of my eye I saw someone moving around behind the curtain. I was freaked, because everyone who had stayed back were all in the change rooms. I could hear the distant sound of laughter to prove this. I was too scared to look around behind the curtain, and all I could do was just get out of there.

I ran back to the change rooms, to the safety of company, and I didn't mention my experience to anyone. I made a point of avoiding the Green Room for the remainder of my time performing at the Hills Centre.

The change rooms were also quite an interesting place to be alone in. The toilets seemed to flush regularly but nobody would emerge from them. And at one point when I was sitting in there listening to my discman and reading a book. I had uncomfortable feelings, like I was being watched, and sometimes I heard sounds which caused me to take of my headphones and take a look around. Things like footsteps when no one was there, etc.

So I started asking people if they had ever heard of any ghosts haunting the auditorium or backstage. Most people said they'd heard something, but not enough to know exactly what it was. Then my friend Mark told me that about 8 years ago, they used to have discos on the stage, I think, and on one particular night one boy was confronted by some people for his money, and he was stabbed in the prompt corner on the side of the stage. As soon as I had been told this, I wish I hadn't been, because at that time, we were standing in the prompt corner.

Perhaps it was my imagination, but sometimes when I sat alone in the promt corner during interval, I would see someone standing there in the corner of my eye, but once, again, it could have been my imagination.

Basically, I didn't like being alone in any part of the building, not one bit, because all those dark rooms were just too dark, and too quiet, but that wouldn't stop me from performing there again.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my story.