The Missing Costume Caper

A huge part of what we do for a living falls under the heading "Damage Control".  This is a phrase I coined years ago that has covered a huge array of scenarios that have included stroking egos, first response medical care, all kinds of creative problem solving, and just generally just making sure that the old phrase "The show must go on" actually gets applied and executed.
Luckily, when you surround yourself with a great team, the Damage Control becomes a team affair.  Today is a perfect example.
Today at the half hour call our lead actor brought it to our attention that various pieces of his costume were missing from his dressing room.  His socks, undershirt, and button up shirt were all MIA.  It just so happens that he had put these items into the laundry basket last night to be washed before today's matinee. 
Our wardrobe maintenance person had no recollection of having seen them in the laundry, and the items were not to be found by a more thorough search of the dressing room.  It is important to note at this point that we are up in Penetang where there is no onsite storage and little things like spare costume pieces often take 3-5 days to arrive.
  It was at this point that our technical director noted that the laundry basket sits right beside the garbage can in that dressing room. What are the odds?  Unfortunately the waste basket had been emptied by the cleaner earlier in the day.  On the up side the cleaner also wears two hats and is on our show call as a technician.  While I went upstairs to double check all of the washing machines and dryers, our 2 technicians went out to the onsite dumpster to attempt to find the large garbage bag that might contain the missing items.
Sure enough, having gone through the entire dumpster, they were able to find all of the missing items and return them to the backstage area by the 15 minute call.  We were able to get them laundered and dried in only 20 minutes, which meant only holding the show for 5 minutes.  Our actor started the show with a shirt that was a little damp, but he didnt mind.  Not so bad when you consider some of the possible alternatives.
Our poor actor was mortified at his honest mistake.  The rest of the company had a pretty good chuckle at his expense.  A big kudos goes out to Dan and Tristynn for diving into the dumpster to take one for the team.  Damage Control at its finest.