Its Friday the 13th in a haunted theatre named "Good Luck Macbeth" and we're performing tonight. WHAT UP, FATE!

What the hell is wrong with you people?!

   One of the questions we're asked all the time, (aside from "Are you guys really insane?" Yes, we are. Stop asking) is "Why would you ever name a theatre Good Luck Macbeth? Theatre superstition dictates that there are two phrases which can never be uttered inside the theatre space; two phrases so completely terrifying, accursed, blighted, and ghastly their very mention is said to bring catastrophe upon the cast and crew. These phrases are "Good Luck" and "Macbeth". So that's what we named our company.

  Why can't you say Macbeth in a theatre?  Its been a superstition as long as the play has been performed, and we've heard many different explanations for why.

• Theatrical folklore has it that, as revenge for Shakespeare's inclusion of a number of accurate spells within the play, a coven of witches cursed it for all eternity
  

• The story I heard was that if a new play bombed the theatre owners would replace it with a sure success. Macbeth was the most popular replacement so if you heard someone rehersing Macbeth in the wings before your play opened you knew that confidence was low
• Macbeth is not unlucky, merely dangerous because it is so full of action scenes and special effects. The fear of personal injury through mishaps when performing the piece has evolved into a superstition about the very name.
• The superstition seems to have arisen, in part, from the play’s depiction of witchcraft, still a vital (though contested) belief in 1606, when the play was first performed. Like Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, in which staged incantations were occasionally reported to have raised real devils, “The Scottish Play“ was believed to flirt dangerously with the “Powers of Evil,“ bringing catastrophe down upon productions over the succeeding centuries.
  

Do you not believe in the curse?!

  Oh believe me, we're a bunch of superstitious weirdos. Our Theatre is housed in an old building with a creepy basement, our address is 713 (good luck/bad luck) and is haunted by a Urinal Ghost.  Yeah you heard that right.  Our ghost likes to randomly flush the toilet, often after a very good scene.  In fact, the ghost likes Dirk Miller's portrayal of Cornwall removing Gloucester's eyes so much, that we had to disconnect the plumbing to keep it from flushing during performances.  Our theatre is so weird, so haunted and tattered and bizarre that we simply shrug.

So why Good Luck Macbeth?

From our "About Us" page we were founded in 2009 at the height of the economic recession in the heart of Reno.
 
  Our beloved city was so deeply impacted by financial hardship we led the nation in home foreclosures, bankruptcies, and unemployment, and artistic opportunities were as difficult to come by as business loans or stable jobs.  This terrible time also provided us with an interesting bright spot in the form of plenty of creative time, and it was then that we decided to create our theatre company; an affordable and accessible space where we could provide a voice, a venue, and an artistic home to playwrights, poets, singers, songwriters, actors and artists.

  With every disadvantage against us, from the city we were living in, to the amount of money we had (none), to our lack of a space to perform in, we forged ahead, powered by a can-do spirit inherent to all Renoites and plenty of whiskey.

  We are named "Good Luck Macbeth" not because we don't believe in the fates, but because we do. We believe that fate will sometimes put up an obstacle just to see if you're determined enough to get around it, and once you've succeeded, you will own your fate and make your luck.

So when we're performing "King Lear" tonight, in a haunted theatre with an address of 713, named Good Luck Macbeth, if you hear a toilet randomly flushing, its just our urinal ghost.  He's cool.  He can stay.

purchase tickets to King Lear