Bad Dates

In the category of Bad Dates, you can bet that actress Helen Merino now lists Sunday, March 12. That's when the star of the comedy Bad Dates, still feeling the glow of the show's opening at the Zachary Scott Theatre Center on Saturday (by all accounts a tightly performed delight), was headed to a SXSW screening of The Cassidy Kids at the Paramount and took a bad step into a pothole that left her foot sore and swelling rapidly. A trip to the doctor on Monday – it would be the 13th, ouch! – confirmed her worst fears: a broken foot that would need to be in a cast for six weeks, making the wearing of and walking in multiple pairs of stiletto heels – an essential part of the show – impossible. Zach artistic director Dave Steakley, who directed Bad Dates, quickly cancelled the second weekend of performances and launched a national search for an emergency replacement. Fortunately, he found one close to home: Jill Blackwood, who had that very weekend wrapped up her run as Hope Cladwell in Zach's production of Urinetown: The Musical. Steakley, who had already moved on to rehearsals for The Exonerated, which was set to open at Zach just three weeks after Bad Dates, pulled a few weeks of double duty, reworking Dates by day while prepping Exonerated by night. Both open this weekend. In the meantime, Merino is healing and hoping to slip back into the Manolo Blahniks once the six-week mark is passed. For more information, call 476-0541 or visit www.zachscott.com.