The Unspoken Rules Professionals Swear By But Rarely Explain

A whistle sounds harmless in most places, but backstage it once carried a very practical meaning. Long before headsets and modern cue systems, theaters often hired sailors as stagehands because they knew ropes, knots, pulleys, and rigging. Those crews sometimes used whistles to communicate scene changes, which meant a casual tune from the wrong person could cause a backdrop or piece of scenery to move at the wrong time.