Playbill Bio Includes Date When Actor Will Die
by Zach Raffio. @zachraffio.
ORLANDO - This weekend saw the premiere of the Orlando Repertory Theater’s production of Bye Bye Birdie, but among the fanfare and rave reviews came an odd detail in the show’s Playbill bios. While the bios all included the cast and crew’s names, credits, and a fun fact or two, actor Lawrence Tollbeck’s bio also included what is, presumably, the day he will die, sources confirmed.
“I did not submit that part of the bio,” noted Tollbeck, who plays Hugo Peabody in the production. “I sent in my regional and tour credits, where I went to school, and a funny anecdote about my dog, Runny. But when I read the printed Playbill, it said ‘Lawrence Tollbeck, 5/21/89 - 8/4/26’. Who added this? Why do they think I’m gonna die that day? Am I gonna die that day? Mine was also the only one that had a birthday as well.”
No other details of the bio were altered - however, in the Playbill’s “Local In Memoriam” section, there was a space with Tollbeck’s picture, with a caption reading “coming soon”. Caroline Lewp, the show’s director, provided her insight on the disturbing phenomenon.
“I’ve never seen something like this,” noted Lewp, a pillar of the Orlando theatrical community for the last 30 years. “Sometimes there’s a stray typo or a blurry picture, but I’ve never seen the exact date of someone’s death so confidently predicted and printed on over 500 booklets. I mean, with that kind of surefire attitude, it really does make you wonder… are they right?”
The Broadway Beat managed to catch up with the show’s graphics editor, Rick Corrin, for his take on the anomaly.
“I swear when I sent the Playbills to printing, they didn’t include the day Lawrence will die,” noted Corrin, visibly shaken and clutching rosary beads. “Now that I think of it, our normal printer was closed, so I sent the documents to another printer that just happens to be in the cellar of an abandoned orphanage. When I went to pick them up, there were men and women in grey robes, all laughing, and a framed picture of Lawrence sitting on a golden table. Didn’t strike me as weird until right now - but I don’t know, probably unrelated.”
At press time, Tollbeck claims to have received multiple calls congratulating him on an exceptional performance, as well as one repeat call, always at 3:33am, that sounds like a large group of people laughing.