BALTIMORE (AP) _ After singing several robust choruses of ″Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone,″ an actress collapsed on stage for her death scene, and died of an apparent heart attack.

Edith Webster, 60, was rushed Saturday night from the stage to St. Joseph Hospital, where a spokeswoman said she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Mrs. Webster, who played the role of the grandmother in a performance of ″The Drunkard″ at the Towson Moose Lodge, fell to the stage amid applause from an audience of more than 200 and remained there as startled actors called for a doctor and phoned paramedics.

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″There was tremendous applause,″ said Richard Byrd, veteran director of the comedy. ″Hearing that, she died.″

At first, the audience thought the calls for aid were part of the script, Byrd said. Afterwards, he said, the audience sat quietly for almost an hour, and many prayed. The performance, to benefit the organization’s charity efforts, was not continued.

Mrs. Webster had played the role for eight years, Byrd said Sunday night.

Her daughter, Merri-Todd Webster, said the manner of her mother’s death was ″not a bad thing ... a lot of people have been saying it. It’s the first thing I thought of when I was at the hospital.″

Ms. Webster said her mother had had no problem with earlier scenes in the Saturday performance. She said that at a performance several years ago, Mrs. Webster apparently suffered her first heart attack before her entrance. She went on with the show and sought treatment later.

Mrs. Webster, a Baltimore native, had been a supporter and participant in community theater for many years, according to her family. ″The Drunkard″ is a spoof of an 1844 play commissioned for a women’s temperance group.