Some Easy Breathing - 2/20/06

Monroe, NC - First off, I must make a correction to my last post. Our Fearless Leader, SuperDude himself (a.k.a. Artistic Director Jim Warren), is fanatically attached to my blog. He eagerly anticipates every posting, anxiously awaiting news from his devoted junior dudes out in the field carrying the ASC banner. Upon reading my last post, he noticed a factual error and immediately corrected me. Because I have sworn loyalty in blood unto my kind and loving head dude, I must now inform all two of you who read this thing that, under the touring rules, our travel limit on a day where we have no show to perform is 10 hours, not 8 (as I so incorrectly reported), or 500 miles. We have not exceeded that limitation. Please forgive me, O mighty SuperDude, lest I be banished forever from thy dude-ly sight! :-) (Note to the uninitiated: "dude" is Jim's favorite word. I fear that one day, upon returning to Fredonia, I will inadvertently call my new Vice President for Academic Affairs "dude." That's how often I now use the term.)

So - having pissed and moaned in the last post, with this one I am most pleased to report that things on my end have been rather pleasant these past few days. The remaining stay in Daytona Beach was very nice. R3 went over as well as Much Ado, although there was one sort of intense woman in the audience who had something of a one-person audible running commentary going throughout the show. Every time Richard opened his mouth to say something she would call out "Liar" or something similar. She really hated Richard, and had no hesitancy in letting us all know about it. Quite Elizabethan in many ways. So we all had to work through that. During the battlement scene when Buckingham convinces the citizens of London to acclaim Richard as king, Tyler (who now has his own blog), as Catesby, went up into the crowd towards this woman. Undaunted, she threatened Tyler with some sort of vague bodily harm. Hard looks were exchanged, but nothing ensued. Quite a weird incident. And kudos to Olivia (whose birthday is today as I write this), who came up with a brilliant suggestion to close off the rather open space in which we performed by having some black expandable travelers brought into the space for us. Exits and entrances were rendered much easier by this piece of genius. Speed Week did not pose as much of a problem as we thought it would, either, but it was too bad that I did not get much of a chance to explore the raceway area. I tried to sit out in the sun to get my neck a little redder but only succeeded in burning my baldness. And of course, on top of some good performances and good audiences (in particular the theatre students there, who fight against all odds to provide theatre to the local engineers and mechanics who make up the student body), the relaxing setting of the Atlantic Center for the Arts was wonderful. Even though the second day was not as bright and sunny as the first day was, the air temperature was still pretty warm, and it was invigorating to be in the semi-tropical lushness that is Florida. I don't know what it is about the state, but every time I go there I get this tremendous urge to retire! All these little communities welcome those 55 and older, so I've got one more year to go and I'll be of age. Not quite like hitting 21, but it has its own special charm.

So into the van again this past Friday and an all-day journey to Monroe NC. We have just completed our tour stop at Wingate University, yet another small, private, religious college, and here again the lodgings were good - a Hampton Inn with all the nice amenities (wireless, breakfast, etc.) This particular stop had a day off in between a Saturday performance of RTTFP and tonight's performance of R3. So I decided to rent a car for the weekend, and got a great deal at the local Enterprise about half a block from the hotel. Chris and Daniel both rented cars there as well, so they gave us a "company deal" of $20/day. Not bad. So on Sunday I decided I needed some serious solo time and took off in the car for some adventure. I spent the morning and early afternoon at King's Mountain National Military Park/State Park. It's the site of a famous Revolutionary War battle, and has between the national park and the state park adjoining it a 16-mile hiking trail, of which I did a little less than 8 miles. The trail went through some hilly terrain and followed a small creek in which I saw some blue heron. The park was deserted for all intents and purposes, and I saw not one other human being during my hike, for which I was most grateful. There was one beautiful spot at which I took a moment to breathe and be still. Then in the afternoon, I drove over to Charlotte and took in an exhibition of The Dead Sea Scrolls on display at their Discovery Place science museum. The exhibit itself consisted of no more than 12 small fragments of the scrolls, but even to behold those small fragments was a wonder to me. I was so surprised at the tiny script I saw, thinking about the men who sat for hours writing these scrolls. Of even more wonder was to see such an ancient fragment of the earliest known copy of the Hebrew Bible handwritten. Their very presence in your eyes, dim as they are, just touch off an echo in your mind and soul which reverberates over the 2,000 years gone by from their creation, and you wonder if modern humanity will ever again see a group of people so singly dedicated to a calling higher than themselves, in similar fashion to these Essenes. You are struck at once with the thought of how far we have progressed and advanced technologically, yet how little we have progressed and advanced spiritually and ethically as compared to the Qumran community. It's somehow also analogous to doing Shakespeare with original practices as opposed to modern practices; have we really advanced the theatre in modern times, or is the past really the heart and soul of the art?

It turns out that Charlotte has a very small downtown, because I ran into my fellow travelers while looking for a restaurant in which to eat. So Tyler kept me company for dinner (although I made him talk about his SUNY Purchase experiences to my son Eric, who had his second audition for Purchase this past weekend and was stressing about it), and then we joined the rest of the group at a nearby Irish pub. Olivia was celebrating her birthday, and we heard a nice Irish traditional group, but I cut out early because I was hoping to catch a moonrise. The sky turned out to be too cloudy, however, so I ended up just driving back to Monroe after the end of a pretty nice day off.

I have been kept busy during non-working times these past few days preparing a lecture for our next gig at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. This is another "season ticket" stop, and they have a tradition of giving 30-minute presentations before each show to those interested in attending. The lectures prepare the audience for what they're about to see, and are generally given my UA-H faculty. Planet, however, posed a unique situation in that no one there felt qualified to speak on the show, so they asked if a member of the company could do so. Due to my oh-so-high standing as a college prof on sabbatical I was summarily pressed into service as the lecturer for RTTFP, so I get to do some yakkity-schmakkity later this week. I'm preparing a Powerpoint presentation, so when it's complete and done I will put in online and you, o faithful reader, may peruse it if you are so inclined. I also got my taxes somewhat done so as to complete the FAFSA form to get financial aid for Eric's continued education (while Brian graduates! Yay!).

Anyway, the past few days have been the complete opposite of pre-Daytona; restful, not overly busy, good shows, almost all good houses (Sat. evening at Wingate was a very small but very enthusiastic crowd, as we've had other places), and a good day off to boot. From here it's on up to Alabama and back into the Midwest as we approach the halfway point of this winter leg. We have much travel left ahead of us, going from here all the way up to Platteville in WIsconsin before we return back down to TN, NC and WV and eventually nearer to home. But one full day of travel to spend three or four days in one location is something I will easily take in stride every time. My poor sore behind is extremely grateful for these few days of easy living! -TWL