Harold Plump, a 30-year veteran of the local amateur stage who steadfastly refused to use a lavalier microphone, succumbed to diaphragmatic exhaustion Thursday.
EVANSTON, Ill. — Harold Plump, a 30-year veteran of the local amateur stage who steadfastly refused to use a lavalier microphone, died Thursday. He was 61. Medical examiners confirmed the cause of death as catastrophic diaphragmatic exhaustion, incurred while perfectly articulating his final, agonizing gasps so they could be heard clearly by the ushers in the back row of the Evanston Community Center.
Plump anchored dozens of neighborhood productions, achieving regional renown for his unwavering ability to cheat out toward the audience during supposedly intimate dialogue. Colleagues remembered a towering presence who once anchored a 2014 production of Our Town by sweeping the same patch of floorboards for nine unscripted minutes to cover a younger castmate's missed entrance.
Even as his organs failed, Harold made sure his consonants were crisp and his vowels resonated in the mask of his face.
Plump is survived by his wife, Eleanor, two adult children, and an impeccably blocked living room sofa. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that well-wishers speak from the chest and stop mumbling.