CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Stagehand Dies After Avenged Sevenfold Concert In Stuttgart, Germany

Blabbermouth.net: "We have some very sad news to report. Last night after our show in Stuttgart, Germany, a 26-year-old stagehand fell from the rafters while breaking down our stage. He fell a very far distance onto a 19-year-old man on the local crew. Tragically, the 19-year-old died from his injuries. The other man is now in critical condition at the hospital.

"This is beyond heartbreaking to everyone in the band and on our crew.

5 comments:

Kelly Simons said...

This is truly tragic. I can not begin to even understand how the family and friends of this stagehand feels, much less the touring company who hired them. Nineteen is too early to die, and to die in such a way that completely blindsides you. I know a lot of my friends who want to join a touring circuit, and now I’m even more terrified for their health. I wish the article had included why a stagehand fell to begin with, and I’m wondering if they’re just playing ignorant in order to negate bad press. Either the stagehand that fell was doing something wrong, or the take down of the scenery isn’t built in such a way to do it safely. I hate thinking about accidents like these, they’re so senseless and could be easily prevented if employees would take their time to make sure that they are being safe.

Sabrina Browne said...

This story is a true tragedy. It is a dark day when the world loses a family member, friend, and artist. What hits home for me is that this 19 year old stage hand could be any of my friends and classmates this summer while working any number of internships. In addition to a tragedy, it would be foolish not to look at this horrible accident as a lesson and a wake up call. Safety is crucial, and that can’t be said enough. Many of us, myself most definitely included, do things like step on the part of a ladder you aren’t supposed to or even just don’t wear ear protection in the shop. Disregarding safety precautions because they seem unnecessary or time consuming is something that we often let slide, but this just goes to show that sometimes all it takes is one person who doesn’t follow all of the proper steps to make a monumental mistake. My thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims and all others involved. Let this be a lesson that there’s no telling what could happen when we go to school or work on any given day, so we should all do our best to make sure we are able to come back the following day.

Alex Talbot said...

I've seen this posted around the internet, and it is such a tragedy, and it's really upsetting that this occurred. Not out of any morbid curiosity, but I'm very curious to read the accident report as a followup to this, and I'd really like to know what went wrong. As much as it is upsetting, I think anyone in the industry can benefit from learning about the problems here, so that we can prevent a tragedy like this from happening again, in any venue or situation. Not to treat a death and injury as a learning experience, but I think it's important to review these things in order to minimize the risks next time and see what can be changed. I'm sure, as the article said, that analysis is already happening. Overall, I found this article interesting yet deeply upsetting, especially because, as much as we think we are invincible, these people were the same age a lot of School of Drama students are. It can happen anywhere to anyone, and we should be vigilant in terms of safety and precautions.

Ali Whyte said...

These types of accidents are always tragic, and I am very glad to see that there is such an outpouring of support and care directed towards those involved and those affected by this. I do think the last point of the article, that someone will reconstruct how this accident occurred is a really important one. When things like this happen, I always think the best way to move forward is to future out how they happened and put measures in place to make sure they never happen again. I think once that is determined, that could be a way to find some positivity in all of this, by learning from the mistakes, though very tragic, and making sure that something like this does not happen to anyone else in the theatre community. I also appreciated the solemn and serious yet caring tone of this article, focusing heavily on concern and support for those involved as opposed to the more technical side, which I think is more appropriate after a length of time and processing.

Megan Jones said...

This is a such a tragedy, not only because of the loss of life but because he was so young. I hope that the support from the band and the community around it helps the stagehand's family to heal, and something can be done to prevent something like this happening again. The fact that the other stagehand was able to fall 20ft means that the proper safety precautions were most likely not being taken. This accident also took place at two in the morning, which could mean that everyone wasn't being as alert as they could have been. Hopefully when more details come out about what actually happened we'll be able to know what went wrong. So many times I've seen people in dangerous situations working on load ins or strikes, and if anything happened to them I would be devastated. We need to take a step back and realize just how quickly what we're doing can become a potential accident.