Oh DEER!

"During the whole of a bright, brisk and strange morning, in the autumn of the year when the clouds were not to be found in the sky, I was traveling in a white van with a group of actors on our way to the theatre and at length found myself as the light of the morning drew on within view of a deer flying toward the van. I know not how it was but with the first glimpse of the shattered glass and deer hair a sense of insufferable 'What the HELL' came over me. I felt as if the van, the passenger AND the deer itself were Freaking...scared about the events that had just happened as the deer hair polluted the atmosphere around us! Nevertheless, propsed was a visit to the repair shop after we did our show. And then...I noticed...the 'Hooters' across the street. We had to have lunch there. 'HOOTERS WE ARE HERE...THE DEER MAULED VAN IS BEING FIXED!...UNBOLD THE BRA's...LET THE BEER FLOW...HOOTERS WE ARE HERE!"

This is a dramatic recounting of today's encounter ala Chamber Theatre writing/monologues. Basically...driving 60 down a highway the windows were suddenly blown out. I didn't quite know why this had happened though I was thoroughly scary. I found our shortly after that a deer ran across the highway and LEPT into the side of the van--shattering the van's huge side window and the small one on the side all the way back. Our van wasw FULL of glass and deer hair (eeeeeeew!) as were all of our personal belongings. We went from there and made it to the theatre where Robbie and I cleaned out the van of our stuff leaving only glass and deer hair behind. We did the show (in a "not so desireable" theatre which housed our set AND the set of ANNIE somehow...grrrr) and left the venue--leaving our luggage behind. We got the van fixed--mostly--and had lunch at HOOTERS.
Amazing!

That was the day...

OH DEER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chicago Weekend! :)

Spent the weekend in good ole Chi-Town and it was great! I stayed in the hotel on Friday night just to relax and catch up on sleep. Saturday I went into the city with Anna and had an amazing day! We got in about 130pm after riding the "L" for around 45 mins or so. We wandered around where "The Goodman" and "Wicked" and 10,000 other theatre companies were. We took a look at what seemed to be a circus made of "ghouls" but didn't stay because it was mighty, mighty cold! We made our way down to Lake Michigan (which looks like the ocean mind you) and then moved on to find "Giordanos". This place is the best of Chicago and we did in fact love it! We took our left overs and booked it down the Red Line to meet Nick and Janelle for sushi out by where Nick's apartment is. The sushi place was really cool! I had a pear martini with Anna before the happy couple arrived and when they arrived we ordered a whole load of sushi! Had a few rolls and enjoyed a great hour or so with everyone there. We then piled into Janelle's station-wagon to go to Nick's apartment---but alas it was locked and we couldn't get in! But we DID get to ride in the back of the wagon without seats!---See Photo!

We continued our eve of eating and drinking by heading over to "Blue Water Grill" to see my friend Marcus who works there. We sat in the Jazz Lounge and got free champagne before we ordered our drinks. After an hour or so--Becca and her boyfriend, Luke joined us! I have not seen Becca in YEARS and was sooooo happy to finally get to see her! We sat for two more hours drinking and chatting the night away. We finally said goodbye and headed over to the Hancock Building to have drinks with Nick and Janelle on the 96th Floor! Clearly--we are rockstars. We got some great views of the city (though NONE of my pics came out ok) and decided to head home.

Our trip home was quite the TRIP! We waited in the "L" station for a little over an hour maybe...but had quite a show! There was a man playing guitar and crazy Halloween costumes and crazy people dancing to the music. We danced a bit as well...what else would we do!?

It was a wonderful weekend. We headed out the next day for another week of shows!

Sorry...No Pictures! :( The hotel I am in won't let me put them up right now for some reason...I'll put them up when I can.

PEACE

St. Louis, MO!

Our weekend was spent in St. Louis and it was spectacular! I loved this city soooooo much!

We got in and I immediately got in contact with Elisa (from college) and went out with her and her friends for her Karaoke Birthday Bash. Now...I was not expecting this...but they took me 25 minutes out of the actual city of St. Louis to what I call the Upham's Corner of Boston to a dive bar in the middle of nowhere. It was AMAZING! Ali Baba was the man running the Karaoke and the drinks were insanely cheap. I paid $2.50 for a Jack and Coke...WHHHHAT? It was quite a night...I was very happy to see Elisa and have a good time with her on her B-day.
I came back to the hotel to find everyone else watching "Waiting for Guffman"---we HAD to watch it here because it takes place in Missouri. Clearly---we made it a drinking game and had a blast!

The next day we woke up and explored the city. We tried to go to the Arch--waited in line and got inside only to find out that the Arch Tram Rides were sold out for the rest of the day. So we made the best of it and goofed off in the "Lewis and Clark Museum". We then went walking around the city---saw 7 wedding parties along the way and made our way to the coolest place on earth. "The City Museum" is the coolest place I have ever been and wish that everyone could get there someday. It is made completely of recycled material or things that had a life before there...It was a three-story jungle gym and it was the most fun I have had in a while. We then went back to the hotel for some free pizza and beer and a night of watching "interesting" stuff.

Sunday we did laundry and relaxed. I took a nap while Anna and Nick watched (and listened) to football. I read a lot of Harry Potter as well and spent some alone time walking around the cool area that we were staying in. I went into the Cathedral and then moved onto the cool coffee shop and had a Nutty Irishman while I read.

It was a great weekend all and all...we go back to St. Louis tomorrow for yet another show--1400 kids it seems and we will maybe spend some time by the stadium as the Cardinal's are playing in St. Louis when we are there!

The pictures from the trip are posted above this...
We had a show today in St. Louis for 200 kids and the crew was drunk...NO i am not kidding...HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Here's to another week!

Jonesboro, AR...grrr

Jonesboro, AR was a HOOT! We played a Junior High School to a whopping 200 children! We also had to use our own front of house lights (which we normally do not have to use). We also had a doosey of a crew...temp workers who could not have cared less about everything that was happening. But what can you do...? The show went as fine as it could considering all the factors. The cool thing about this performance was that Josh went in and did the whole of Quimby's parts after only having the script for 48 hours and only seeing the show one time (I think...). The other thing was that Nick played Sam opposite me in "Red Chief" and will continue to do so for the rest of the tour! :)

The ride to St. Louis from Jonesboro was perhaps the funniest yet. It was field after field after field--pretty though. What was really funny about it all was what we saw when we stopped at the gas station somewhere in Missouri. I will let the pictures below speak for themselves. There is also a picture of me mostly in costume being bored before the show.

YEEEHAAAW!

Memphis, TN! Shawn COLVIN...sort of...

"Hey Shawn Colvin...remember the time you did a concert the night before our show and left all your fruit, soda and cashews?" Cause we do. And we thank you for it.

Memphis was fine...nothing too crazy except the fact that we got the leftovers of the catering from the previous nights "Shawn Colvin" concert. The show went fine...Josh watched the show in full so that he could go on as soon as possible. We loaded out (despite a very talkative, young crew member who wanted to know EVERYTHING about us) and then proceeded to go for reaaaaal southern BBQ! It was amaaaaaaaaaaaazing! After that we hit the road for Jonesboro, Arkansas!

The ride TO Memphis from Birmingham was really really cool as well because we saw the most beautiful sunset ever AND it was in Mississippi. We aren't performing in Mississippi but were very glad to actually set foot in the state for 20mins to take tons of pics.

I have attached a pic of the sunset, the welcome to MISSISSIPPI sign with the sunset reflecting in it, the BBQ place and also a crazy pic I took whilst bored in the van.

Birmingham, AL (Wednesday) --The Day The Tour Changed...

Ohhhhhhh, Birmingham!

First off...the theatre here (The Alabama Theatre) is AMAAAAAZING. Truly an absolutely stunning space. Secondly---this is the day we lost Quimby from the tour.

Here is how it went. Our "off-road" understudy was being flown in to see the show so he could step in for a week to let Quimby rest at home. His name is Josh and we like him--buuuut his flight was delayed and so he missed the show. Robbie stepped in to play Sardis and Dorset so that Quimby could rest during the show and do the more major roles. Apparently, it wasn't enough. In the middle of "The Ransom of Red Chief" Quimby left the stage and did not come back on. We stopped the show and I had to go out and tell the audience we were stopping and would resume in 10 minutes. We did only two of the other stories and packed up to leave. As we were packing up Josh arrived and helped us load out. We all ate lunch and went to the ER to see how Q was. Sadly, we had to leave him in Birmingham so that he could fly out to Virginia to get better. We are not sure if he is definately returning or not and we have another off-road understudy coming in to replace him until when/if he returns to our open arms.

SOOOOO...that was a monumental day in the life...we handled it just fine and keep continuing to roll with the punches.
After the long day we had had we decided to go out to dinner at the Culinard (a restaurant run by a culinary school). We got wine and a wonderful meal.

I have attached a bunch of pictures to this one including a picture from dinner and many from The Alabama Theatre. The picture of Nick is from Quimby's hotel--the far right glass thing is...well...innnntersting...take a look for yourself!

Montgomery, AL! (Tuesday)

Montgomery, AL was a fine show. Nothing to crazy or exciting here. The theatre was very LONG though. It went straight back without hardly any incline meaning we had to speak very loudly to get the show all the way out there. The cast was in full for this performance but I believe this was the day that Robbie played Dorset and Sardis for Quimby because he was not feeling up to par.

The crew here was really cool and made the show run smoothly. They said it was a tradition for them to go out to lunch with the Chamber casts at the Montgomery Brewing House. We went and had a nice meal. Most of us tried Gator Bites (fried aligator) and also tried local beer which was speeeectacular! We got on the road after our great meal and headed to Birmingham, AL!

The pictures here are a little weird. The "normal" on is of Troy University (which was where we performed). One is of me goofing off with my color swap and the other is of the theatre in color swap as well.

PEACE

Show in Macon...Now in Montgomery, AL!

The show today in Macon went well. The theatre was stunning. It was the "Grand Opera House" that is owned by Mercer University. I have attached a few pictures of the theatre below. The load in and load out was...interesting. We had to use a scissorlift that was about 11 feet up in the air and so it took a little longer. And the crew was...sort of...broken...and really...southern...that is all I have to say on that.

For more on Macon read the post below.






We drove to Montgomery, AL today in what seemed like five-mintues. Don't know why. But what I DO know is that we entered the Central Time Zone and gained an hour in life! AMAAAAAAAAAZING!

Time to go now...watching "Heros" in the hotel here!

PEACE

Why are you "Macon" me stay here!?

Macon is NOT the cute, vacationland, southern hospitality, warm and fuzzy place I thought it would be! Oh NO NO NO!
The most fun I think we had all weekend is when Anna and I went to the car was and witnessed the multi-colored soap!
Saturday some of us took and adventure into downtown Macon and much to our surprise witnessed what seemed to be a scene out of "28 Days Later". "WHHHHHYYYYYYYYYY!?!?!" I asked myself. Every store looked like it had been blown out and we seemed to be the only people out...at ALL! MY MY MY!

We did however have a kick-ass meal at "EL AZTECA". It was cheap and wonderful!

The first night we were here we decided to get drunk...as drunk as we could! And we did! It was a blast...I have put a pic of it below. I also put the pic of Robbie looking like he is naked in the van...don't get all hot and bothered yet, ladies--he was in fact FULLY clothed!

We acutally play Macon tomorrow and then head out to good ole ALABAMA!
YEEEEHAAAAWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Good LORD!

ATL!...HOTLANTA...Wish I saw more!

HOLLA BACK!

We played the coolest, nicest, FLYEST (if you will) place in Atlanta. We were at the huge Civic Center which holds the Alliance Theatre, a few other great spaces AND the Atlanta Symphony. We played "Classics!" in Symphony Hall to about 2000 kids! It was amazing to have a hall as huge as that and as nice as it was!

We had no actual curtain to mask the set and the house lights remained on at half for the whole show because they didn't want the kids to get out of control. It was slightly terrifying but also pretty cool to be able to command an audience of that size. Kids can be scary...but we did alright I think!

After the show we stopped at Panera for a well deserved, long awaited lunch. We almost got killed a few times by AWFUL Atlanta drivers but remained alive nonetheless. We also got a glimpse of "P-Diddy's" restaurant "Justin's".

The night before the show I got to spend time with Gaelyn. She came over to the hotel for a visit and we had a nice glass of wine together while we chatted and caught up.

Here are a few pictures from the short time we all spent there.

Sumter--South Carolina!

Sumter was...sumthin'. The hotel was sort of motel-ish...but not awful by any means and we were staying in a stripmall-esque area again. I feel like we may be experiencing more than our fair share of stripmall areas of the country! We had dinner at The Outback and I had the most phenominal salad I have ever experienced--the blue cheese "something or other" amazing salad. We went to bed and woke for our show at the arts center thingy in Sumter.

The theatre was in some kind of arts complex that was hosting a wood carving convention it seemed. We didn't have dressing rooms because of this--a band room was our "nakey time" home. Here is a pic of the...."wonderful" wood carvings...you can judge for yourself.


The show went fine. The tech crew was hysterical...having names like "Bubba"--NO i am NOT kidding!
South Carolina is very pretty and we were able to enjoy some nice weather there.
We headed out to Atlanta from here!

Wilmington, NC!

Second show found itself in Wilmington, North Carolina. Great theatre...GREAT crew to help us out and a rowdy ROOOOWWWWDDDDY crowd of kids. They were all very vocal and overall I think they loved it--which is great! At one point I had to yell my lines in order to settle them down and it seemed to be the right way to handle that. It's either that or stop talking until they quiet down...but I don't know if that is as effective...OR FUN!

We are now in our lovely hotel (which seems like a motel...but no worries...cause it ain't dirty!) in Sumter, SC! Yep...SOUTH CAROLINA! EeeeeeEeEeEeeeeeK!

And now it is bedtime...because I cannot even think what else to write...
Here are a few pictures from today.

Winston-Salem NC----FIRST SHOW!

And so it goes...
The first show happened in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and of course there were a few snafus...
But it is going to be ok! We will survive...
With a little humor and a lot of perserverance we will all be just fine!

The show went as we expected...good enough for a first show with random problems. It also took 3 times the time it should take to get out of the theatre after the show--again...What can you do?

We jumped in the car after the show and headed to Wilmington..

Pictures from the first day

Here are the pictures from the first day...these are only a select few...favorites if you will!




Here are the pictures from the first day...these are only a select few...favorites if you will!