appendiX C: u s e le s s Fa C tOi d s Opening night and paying CustOmers There is a superstition in theater about the opening-night customers. As we all know, some tickets are given away through various connections with the production. These are called "comps" or complementary tickets. Supposedly the first customer to be admit- ted into the auditorium must be a paying customer. This is said to ensure the finan- cial success of the production. House manag- ers have been known to refuse admittance to someone with a comp ticket prior to seating a paying customer first. in luck, because there is a way to break the curse. If you say the name, you must spin around and spit on the floor. They say the spin turns back time and the spit expels the poisonous word from your system. Break a leg One possible explanation for this expression is its relation to "taking a knee," which itself has roots in chivalry. Meeting royalty, one would "take a knee"--in other words, bend down to one knee. That breaks the line of the leg, hence "break a leg," a wish that the performer will do so well that he or she will