a poor player

Evanescence - 6/14/06

2006-06-14T13:44:00.002-04:00

(N.B. - This blog was intended to be an unofficial blog for the American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Stage Company Atomic Fission Tour, designed to allow those with an interest in our touring troupe and its personnel an opportunity to keep up with us, our shows, and our travels. With this post, my entries into this particular blog will come to an end. As I move to my new beginnings, whatever I will be writing will now appear on my own website at A Poor Player, and I invite you to join me there if you have an overall interest in theatre. I still have some videos and pictures left to upload, so be sure to check them out by clicking the links on the sidebar for those locations.

I would like to thank everyone who read the blog, posted comments, and offered suggestions. I never thought that I would get this far, and it was the fact that people were actually reading the darn thing that kept me writing. May the four winds blow you all to safe harbors! -TWL)

Dunkirk, NY - When the big moment came, somewhere around midnight last Sunday, I executed Stealth Plan A. I was having a great time at the house party at 605 from the moment I got back there after final strike. I went downstairs to my garden apartment in 607, vacuumed the rug with what has to be the world's worst vacuum cleaner, cleaned the toilet and the sink, mopped the bathroom floor, did some final packing and checking, and then sauntered over to 605's living room. I had a beer and began watching Sunset Boulevard on the Turner Classic Movie channel. Daniel came in with some Kroger's fried chicken, and offer me a piece so as to live once again that great meal of fried chicken and beer. People were gathering both inside the house and outside on the porch. Alvaro came by to say goodbye, as he was going to NYC for his day off from Rez Company work. I had given him most of my frozen food earlier in the morning. Then I went off on a beer run with Rick Blount, MFA, who needed a driver by this time. While getting some PBR, I picked up a steak and some spritzers. Upon arriving back, Bill Gordon came 10 minutes later to check me out of my room. Things were in order, and I turned in my key. Then I went back to 605 and onto the back porch to cook the steak. Matt Sincell gave me some potatoes, and as I cooked and ate the steak I had a chance to chat with all the people that were floating around the house, including Jaq Bessell, who came to wish us well. After consuming the steak, I went out to say goodbye to Alyssa, who was driving through the night to get to her next job in Indiana dancing in Oklahoma. Then it was time to smoke the big old cigar that Andrew had brought me from the cigar store that is below his new apartment in Philly. That took me up to about 10:00 PM, when I joined in the poker game that had begun about 45 minutes earlier. Tyler was losing for a change, so he asked me to come in so he could win my money. As I joined the game there was a big to-do with the aforementioned drunk Rick Blount about playing Omaha (a variant on Texas Hold 'Em), and so he went all-in, lost, and went off to do other things. As has been the rule of thumb, I lost my five dollars, but this time managed to stay in the game until the end. Chris Seiler was doing pretty well, Tyler also lost his stake, but the big winner was Andrew, who won enough money to pay for his gas to get back to Philly and then have a nice dinner with Jamie (OK, maybe not dinner, but at least two Philly cheesesteaks, which neither of them would eat). As usual, I got ripped on throughout the game for being old, hard of hearing, and a loser, but it's all in good fun and it makes me laugh. I sat a bit in the living room after the game, watching the rest of the Dallas-Miami game, then got up, stole out the back door, went down to my room, spread out the sleeping bag, and went to bed. I didn't really say goodbye to anyone, not because I hate goodbyes as such, but because I wanted the whole evening to feel just like any other Sunday night after the matinee finished. Just a regular good time with friends, living this lifestyle of the working actor in a resident company. Then I got up at 6:30 AM Monday morning to a light rain, packed the car, racked the bicycle, closed the door, filled up on coffee at the Daily Grind, and headed west on US 250 out of town. By 6:30 PM, after a trip through the Alleghany Mountains that included no interstates, I was back in my kitchen at home, where Ann Marie and the boys had just settled in for dinner.

The final weekend of shows was amazing. I have to say that I did not expect to see the outpouring of support we had not only from audience members, but from the ASC staff, Resident Company, and especially the volunteer ushers. Many, if not all, of the actors from the rez troupe came to see at least one of our final performances. Jim Warren peeked in from his eagle's perch on the theatre's third floor. Ron Ramsey, the office manager at the Masonic, came for all the shows. The house management staff and their volunteers threw us a reception Friday night after Planet , and Sarah, one of the ushers, had her scrapbook on display. It was a thing of beauty, and she had us sign by our bios. On Friday night after Planet we got called out for a fourth curtain call, something that had never happened before, after playing our encore. All the other shows got standing ovations as well, with three curtain calls. Saturday night was an impromptu gathering at the Pompeii lounge with touring and rez troupe after Much Ado. Cookies, congratulatory notes and emails, a cake - all this accompanied our final weekend. And my family also came down to see the shows over Friday and Saturday as well.

On Friday night we did a pretty good Planet, which as I mentioned above received a fourth curtain call. There were people in the audience who had seen the show four times, as I found out from Thursday's Q&A. I think everyone was pretty stunned by the fourth call; in fact, some people had gone downstairs already, and Alyssa as stage manager was taking makeup off backstage while everyone was wondering what we should do about all the applause which refused to die down. Finally Alyssa gave the go to go back out, and we sort of shuffled out there in no particular order or arrangement. I was just dumbfounded to see the enthusiasm by which we were greeted; I really did not know what to make of it, as I had never been a part of something like this. I just stared out at the scene in what I think must have been a state of awe, that these people out there could get so worked up and excited about this wild and cheesy Makespeare musical. We did Richard III on Saturday afternoon, and again, although the house was the smallest of all our closing shows, the enthusiasm of the audience was no less telling. The Richard/Richmond swordfight at the end received applause, as well as a lusty "Amen" to Richmond's call. It was the first production to "officially" close, but I don't think as a troupe we felt that as much with this show as with the others because we knew we had an evening performance yet to get through.

That night's Much Ado was a strong one to go out on. Even my son Brian got involved. When Benedick goes out into the audience during the gulling scene, he usually makes his way to house right by hiding behind and going through the audience members, and using one of the pillars in the gallery to hide behind. It just so happened that my family was sitting next to the pillar he uses, so of course he crawled all over them on the way to the pillar. The moment came when he hides behind the pillar quickly, and as he did so, Brian got up from his seat and stood next the pillar as well, as if to hide him better. He got a huge laugh and stopped the show for a minute. I turned to Daniel, who was standing next to me on stage, and whispered "Guess who's son that is?" Then, as the moment died down, Daniel had to whisper to me "It's your line," and I had to think fast to remember where we were in the scene, having actually broken character for a moment. And then, after finishing 4.1, which is the intense wedding scene where Claudio rejects Hero and I go berserk on her, I gave a big heartfelt hug to Olivia backstage just to release a year's worth of doing that scene with her. This production had a lot of emotional energy in it, and so when it finally closed, there was much hugging and congratulating in the dressing rooms downstairs.

Sunday's closing of Planet was something of a repeat of Friday's show. There were at least 300 people in the audience, and by the end the scene was rockin' and rollin'. One wild moment which bears noting was when Tyler, as Ariel, drinks off the X-Factor drug towards the end of the play. Usually after doing that, he plays drunk and sort of screws around with any audience members sitting on the stage right stools. But at this performance, Crystal, our wonderful box office/house manager person, was sitting in the first row of the gallery with her new husband. Tyler decides to go down into the well, and when he gets there he literally lifts Crystal up out of her seat and starts to carry her on stage, much to the shock of Crystal (who played along beautifully) and delight of the audience. Of course she was released and went back to her seat, with her husband looking quite amused (good luck to them both when they move to California in July!) Then, instead of playing the encore, I decided to video it, which you can view right here. Perhaps more than anything I could write about it, the video might say it all. I did start singing, so please excuse my loud, obnoxious voice towards the end.

And then, strike. Costumes to the wash or the dry-cleaning rack. Shoes sprayed with Lysol and put away. Props and road boxes back to the third floor storage gallery. Dressing rooms swept, lockers cleaned out, musical instruments put away. Signing of T-shirts for Olivia and Sarah, and then the traditional signing of the underside of the makeup tables in the dressing rooms. Lastly, surrendering the stage door passkey back to Carie, grabbing all your gear, out the door, and on to the next audition/show. A year has come and gone, 365 days have been lived, and I have returned back to where I started.

If there is one quality of theatre I have always loved, it is the fact that theatre is evanescent, meaning that is it created, experienced, and then disappears. You have to be there live, in the moment, to experience it; it has no permanence in and of itself. Every performance is different, and every production ends, not to be experienced again by anyone. When I have done strikes in other theatres (mostly at colleges), I have always volunteered to be one of those people to take the last job there is, that of painting the stage floor black. When it's done, I like to look into that void which is now the empty theatre space, the space where something had happened and now nothing else exists but new possibilities. Doing a theatre strike never meant to me the end of something, but rather the beginning of something, often a "something" about which at that moment I knew nothing. For all of us in Atomic Fission, we have reached that moment, not of ending, but of beginning. Each of us will come away from this experience with our own impressions, our own judgments, our own reflections, our own memories. Each of us will take away to our new beginning something which is the same, and yet something which for each of us is vastly different. For me, I had to acknowledge in my soul this evanescence of theatre by doing the best I could simply to disappear, to be present and then not present, to be that "poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more." -TWL

Packing it In - 6/9/06

2006-06-09T09:14:00.000-04:00

Staunton VA - This will undoubtedly be the last post I'll write from Staunton. After writing this, I have to get down and start packing my stuff. We begin the final weekend of shows tonight, starting with Planet and ending Sunday after noon with Planet. Then I get checked out of my room, and early Monday morning, it's homeward bound.

The past few days have been filled with activities which are all signposts of the approaching conclusion. Tuesday I spent the day completing much of the writing I had left to accomplish. I am trying as hard as I can to get rid of any food I have left over. One of the things I had to write out was my exit questionnaire for AD Jim Warren. We have the choice of filling out the questionnaire, a sit-down interview, or both. I chose to do the questionnaire only, much as I like rapping with the head dude, because I can better organize my thoughts that way. I also finished getting all my past posts from this blog into a Word document so I can hand it in as part of my "historical record" for the tour. The final form won't be done until I write this post and a concluding post from home, then I'll get it into final form and send it in. I also took in a dress rehearsal of MacBeth by the resident troupe. On Tuesday night the troupe did a workshop for some middle-school kids who were actually quite bright. I started out the workshop by asking anyone if they knew a line of Shakespeare. I expected maybe one reply, so I was pretty surprised when ten hands shot up in the air, and all these kids had whole monologues they had memorized. Turned out they had been working with the Bard in class somewhere and were quite well-versed in WS' plays. The evening was a little chaotic and unorganized, and I wish I had known a little more about the students themselves, but I think they and their parents had a pretty good time.

Tuesday night was a wonderful evening spent "on the town," such as it is. There is a local bar called Marino's, and every Tuesday night is "bluegrass night," when many of the local bluegrass musicians come down to the bar and simply jam on old bluegrass standards. Mandolins, banjos, guitars, upright bass, washtub bass, fiddle - it's all there. The bar fills up with locals of all stripes as well as many young people. Some musicians actually come from over 100 miles at times to take part in the jam. Our acting companies have taken to going down there almost every Tuesday night, and it's great fun because it's so authentic. There are usually two jams taking place, one in the front room (the "lunch counter") and one in the back room (21 and over only). There's a woman who must be about 80 or so who is one of the two waitresses. I've been there a number of times since returning in April and also late into the rehearsal period last summer when Daniel first discovered it and told me about it (if there's something happening musically Daniel will know about it). Over the past few sessions some of us have worked up the cohones to join in the jam. Chris brought his harmonica set and ended up playing the harps. Daniel has been bringing the concertina and is now the squeezebox player. I've brought a set of spoons and play spoon percussion for the songs (new nickname - "Tommy TwoSpoons"). So on top of listening we also get to jam a bit. I brought my guitar but never played it because bluegrass rhythms are actually hard to strum, and I can't play any lead breaks at all. But the whole evening is a good time.

Usually the jam ends by 11:00 PM, so after Marino's we continued on to Luigi's, which is a pizza joint/bar and is essentially the "after hours" bar in Staunton. By midnight in Staunton just about every other bar stops admitting people inside and serving booze, except Luigi's. Tuesday was "Open Mike" night, and a number of the troupe members signed up to play. Greg led off the evening with his tunes, although we were a tad late getting there for his complete set. Then Chris took the stage, but he was a bit worn out after Marino's, and the sound system was going a bit haywire, so his set was a little short. Then Kevin busted out some of his tunes, but he had to calm down a house band that wanted to play behind him but couldn't follow his chord changes on his songs. But he did get a good version of "Gorgeous Lies," a great song we've been playing during the R3 pre-show. He was backed up on vocals by Olivia and Sarah, and Chris on the harmonica. Then a young lady named Brooke did two numbers, and she had a fine voice.

But I think the star of the evening had to be Sarah. She got up there and began to play a few numbers, and the house band was easily capable of staying with her, as her songs were pretty standard 1-4-5 stylings. She did a tune called "Chocolate Jesus" to start with, and she really cranked it out. You travel all year with a person and you think you've seen everything, but I had never heard Sarah sound so hot as while she was up there singing away. From sultry to belt blues, she was terrific. There was one really funny moment during that first number. The stage at Luigi's in in the front of the bar, and actually splits the front entrance in half. So while she's singing, a fairly intoxicated but very happy black dude makes his entrance by dancing through the doorway and playing to the crowd with a lot of soul. I flashed back to Chicago and Sarah's evening with bluesman Lindsey Alexander. It was some scene. Sarah did two more numbers, equally as good, and she had two different guitar players who could play a lick or two. She got a great hand from the crowd and a lot of love from all of us there. She also called up Olivia to premiere her brand new song Stone Hard Heart, which Olivia in country-western style dedicated to "her baby's daddy." It was a great tune and very funny - and Olivia can also really belt out a tune! A pretty great evening all around.

So since Wednesday morning it's been pretty much all business. We did the last matinee on Wed., had the last Q&A last night, information about strike has been posted, people are making arrangements to check out, I did my last tour yesterday. Tyler has been learning his lines in the dressing room, and occasionally I've been helping him. We busted on him pretty bad during the Q&A last night about that. After my last dig he went offstage, got a drumstick, and threatened to hit me over the head with it. A very light-hearted Q&A it was. I made a copy of my DVD for eveyone, and still have some production work to do over the remainder of the summer to make a better one than the cheesy commercial product available from Flickr. But I think I'd better wrap this up right now, because there's still much to do today before my family gets here later to see the shows this weekend. It should'nt take long to pack, but getting started is what it's all about. So I will see you all next time from the comfort of my recliner - that is, if I can tear myself away from all the Yankee games I'll be watching on TV! -TWL

Endings and Beginnings - 6/6/06

2006-06-06T15:17:00.000-04:00

Staunton VA - The ASC mandala has circled around, and we are all coming back to where we began. Tomorrow we begin the last five days of performances, and then we scatter, like leaves before an autumn wind, to places familiar and strange. The ending has truly begun.

The past week of shows were all just fine. The houses have been good, and all the performances remain fairly solid. Richard III had two completely different audiences this past week; one which was studiously serious, and another which really got into the humor of Andrew's interpretation. Planet still has them going crazy, and Much Ado ramped it up a notch on Sunday, I think, when director Jaq Bessell came to see the show, sitting right in the front row. I actually didn't recognize her at first, because I'm not used to seeing her dressed up. We had all gone over to Luigi's bar/pizza joint to hear her and her husband Jan's band Sub Rosa (formerly known as Wreck of the Portland) play their punkrock tunes, as well as an acoustic set. They're really pretty good, but they only have about 6 songs, so they did them all twice. Most of the company, rez and touring, were in attendance.

My historian tasks are almost complete. I've got my blog all set up as a Word document, so when I get the last two entries in, it will be complete. Then I will turn it into a PDF document and have it available for distribution, sending in one copy to the ASC as an "official" record of the tour. The DVD I had made of the tour also came in. The music is too cheezy for words, but if you mute the DVD player's music and play your own choice of tunes, then it works OK as a slide show.

The "weekend" was full of events which signaled endings and beginnings. Andrew and Jamie left for Philly, and Andrew had packed a few boxes as was already moving them up. Jessica left for NYC and some auditions. Greg was planning to do to DC. Sunday evening Daniel, Sarah, Olivia and I went to the Staunton Braves game to sing the National Anthem at the start of the game. Sarah and Daniel had done this before last June when we first arrived in town, and I think Olivia also, so I was the newbie in the group. It was American Shakespeare Center night at the ballpark. Sarah and Daniel helped me learn a bass line for the song so we did it in three-part harmony. Then I GOT TO THROW OUT THE FIRST PITCH!!! Wow! It was fun. My throw was just a bit outside (as Bob Uecker would say), but I didn't bounce it and had some speed on it. I got to keep the ball and will get it autographed by the Atomic Fission troupe during this upcoming week. When I got back to the Bev house, I had a nice chat with Tracy Hostmeyer, who was in the last rez troupe and visiting for the weekend, Sarah Fallon and Matt Sincell. Sarah broke out some delicious salsa - so good you can never go back to store-bought salsa - and then a bit of sleep.

Monday I had thought about going to Washington DC with Sarah, Daniel and Olivia. They were going to sign up for League auditions, and Olivia had an audition for The Tempest at the Folger Library Theatre. She got a callback for Ariel! But I decided against going when I realized at 6:30 AM that they were already gone. So I spent the day taking a road trip to Appomattox Court House, the site of Lee's surrender to Grant, marking the end of the Civil War. I found strangely interesting that I had chosen to make a trip to the site where the Civil War ended on the last weekend of my stay here in Staunton, with the end of my contract in sight. The site is pretty much a reconstruction of the original town of Appomattox Court House, and it contains a reconstruction of the court house and the McLean House, the actual building where Lee and Grant met to discuss surrender terms. There are still a few original buildings on the National Historic Park site, one being a mercantile store, and a few law offices. My one-person character J. Herbert George, who was at Cedar Creek, was also at Appomattox with the Sixth Corp of the Army of the Potomac. He records the surrender in his letters. In walking the grounds it was very easy to sense the combination of elation and sorrow that must have been felt on all sides. All the historical writings seem to record the event as a scene of great honor, as the Confederate troops - hungry, weary and defeated - were saluted with honor by all the Union troops during the stacking of arms ceremony, and were given food, clothing and parole passes allowing them free passage home. Humility in victory; honor in defeat. Often when I visit these Civil War sites I am struck by the degree of honor which accompanied the fighting on both sides. So very little of that sense of honor and duty is left with us today, only 141 years removed from those times.

This Monday ended with the "Midsummer Night's Picnic," the annual gathering of volunteers, actors and ASC staff at Gypsy Hill Park for burgers, hotdogs and assorted other goodies. After that was the final night of dollar bowling at Staunton Lanes. My very first Monday night in town last year I went bowling, where I met some members of the touring troupe (Chris, Greg, Alyssa for sure) and the resident troupe at that time (Matt, Rene, and Sarah, who that night gave me my bowling name of Tommy2Ballz). I went out with a bang, breaking 100 all three games, with a high score of 140 for my final game, easily my best game of bowling while here.

And so things begin their end at the same place where they began the beginnings: bowling, picnics, Staunton Braves games. There is goodbye party for us Friday night, maybe a little celebration after final strike on Sunday. I have packing to do, laundry to do, and cleaning to do beforehand. I still have some stuff I want to cram in: one more hike in Shenandoah, pictures to take around town, a few more cups of Coffee on the Corner. One or two more entries on this blog, and that's it! Waiting for the final curtain.... -TWL

But Who's Counting - 6/1/06

2006-06-01T14:07:00.000-04:00

Staunton, VA - June the first. Wow. In 11 days I will be making the meandering journey back to Dunkirk for the last time from here. I intend to take nothing but state roads home through VA, WV and PA as a sort of last lingering look at the Appalachians. But as I look about my modest room, I realize there is much to do before setting out.

Not the least of what is left to do is getting through the remaining two weeks of shows. All the shows are now down to single digits left of performances: 4 Richards, 5 Much Ados, and 3 Planets. The air in the theatre amongst the rest of the troupe is charged with the realization that things are coming to an end. Some of the troupe members I have talked with are torn between the joy and release that will come with finally finishing up the contract, and the fear and uncertainty of not having anything else as solid as this gig in the offing. I believe the current future plans go something like this:

Andrew - moving to Philadelphia with Jamie, doing the Philly unified auditions.
Daniel - some chill time on Long Island with his parents, and then finding work as an educational artist in the city. Continuing working on plans to open an arts complex sometime in the future.
Alyssa - doing Oklahoma until August. Not sure after that
Chris - back to his old summer theatre haunt to do Mr. Webb in Our Town. Probably making the move to NYC in the fall.
Jessica - Moving to Philadelphia for six weeks, doing the Philly unified auditions as well.
Greg - doing the ASC Young Company Theatre Camp second session, then off to San Diego to get the Excellent Motion Theatre Company going.
Olivia - plans unsure at the moment. May go home to San Diego for R&R, may go back to NYC.
Sarah - not sure what her plans are. I would assume she is heading back to California for starters.
Kevin - looking for work to get a financial stake going; will probably go back to NYC and audition for fall season shows.
Carie - I know that at some time she'll be moving to NYC, but I think she'll be stopping in Texas with the parents before heading off.
Tyler - signed on for 2006-07 Tragical Mirth Tour
Me - back to Dunkirk for R&R, resume teaching in the fall at SUNY Fredonia; playing Senex in the Kavinoky Theatre production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (yes, I took that role. Mornings will have to wait a little longer).

News of the week - There was a lot of family happenings over the weekend. Kevin had a bunch of family in; his mom, sister, new niece (about nine months old), and half-brother. Greg had his family in as well, with all his little sisters. They came dressed for Planet complete with space bobble-ears. The shows over the weekend all went pretty well. Friday's performance of R3 was good, with a very attentive and serious audience. The Sat. matinee of Much Ado was also good, with the evening's Planet another adventure in zaniness. People simply go nuts for this show, and every time some new adventure with the audience takes place. Because of the nature of my role (I sort of have a serious melodramatic character going), it doesn't lend itself too well to too much audience interaction. So I miss out on all the fun. But it's still something to see all those people dancing in their seats at the show's encore.

Sunday's R3 was a special occasion, because Sarah went out of town to attend a wedding. So Jessica took over the role of Lady Anne for this performance as well as her own roles, and there was some other shifting of Sarah's minor roles. Greg took on the young Duke of York, Chris the Scriviner, and Alyssa the Duke of Norfolk. Jessica did a fine job, having learned all the lines and done a few put-in rehearsals. Andrew at the end of the show did a nice gesture by calling her to the front of the ensemble bow at the end to give her extra credit, which she deserved. The show went off flawlessly, a tribute to the professionalism of the whole cast.

Sunday evening I lost very quickly at poker. Usually I can make my $5 stretch out the whole night, but this night I seemed to have no focus; I even misdealt a hand. So I was gone - as was my $5 - within 45 minutes. Worst night pf poker in my life, I think.

Monday was Memorial Day, and it was all about partying. Some people went over to a house where M.Litt grad Rick Blunt was house-sitting to play football and swim; others went to a party where Brian, the publicity honcho for the ASC, was the host, and everyone finally met up at the Bev House for BBQing in the evening. The heat is back here in the Shenandoah Valley, with temps now running in the 80s and 90s, and Monday got to about 93 degrees. I got some buffalo meat to grill and it was very good. There was plenty of food, with Jamie making a great macaroni salad. Then on Tuesday I got up late but managed to get in an afternoon hike and some relaxation at Sherando Lake, a beautiful spot just into the George Washington National Forest. It has a nice swimming lake, some easy trails for hiking, a bathhouse, camping; everything you need and nothing you don't. They should tell more people about this lake in the company, because it's a perfect summer getaway location. I'm sorry it took so long to discover it.

I am spending some time finalizing my historian duties. The picture book came in, and everyone seemed to like it. It really is something; I may have to order another one just for myself. I also had a DVD made, which will be coming soon, and I want to get this blog into PDF form so there is a complete written record of the company. I had also wanted to make a movie, but I think that's going to have to wait until I get back home. Time is just running out, and I've had some formatting problems with the movie.

I can feel the anxiety building as I anticipate getting home. Some days I can't wait to get back home; other days I feel like I never want to leave. Our last weekend here has a couple of activities scheduled. One is a company picnic on Monday evening at Gypsy Hill Park. The other is an evening workshop on Tuesday. I also get to sing the National Anthem at one of the first games for the Staunton Braves, who open their season tomorrow night, I think. It's winding down, folk! -TWL

Signs and Omens - 5/26/06

2006-05-26T10:35:00.000-04:00

Correction - I originally refered to the director of The Tempest in this post as Giles Scott. His name is Giles Block. I regret the error, and have corrected it below. -TWL

Staunton, VA - Tuesday was a pretty good day. I did something I have wanted to do for some time now, and that's get up early and watch a sunrise over the Shenandoah mountains. I got up at 5:00 AM, got to the main entrance to the park by 5:30, and saw a very beautiful sunrise. Inwardly, I harbor a longing to be a morning person, but all my life I've been a night person, due mostly to working in the theatre. Watching a sunset is nice, but by the time it's ended you feel somewhat reserved and even a bit mournful. Watching a sunrise, though, is enervating. Feeling that dawn light hit you just begins to renew your pysche and helps you get going for the day.

Because I managed to get up so much earlier, Tuesday seemed to be a richer, fuller day than most any other day I've had since coming off the road. By 11:30 AM I had gotten so much done that I could have sworn it was closer to 4:00 PM. In the afternoon I took Sarah shopping for her ingredients for her dinner party, and then went to see the RenRun of the Rez Troupe's The Tempest. They did a good job, with some funny and ingenious choices. Renaissance runs, for those of you who may not have remembered, are complete runs of a show produced and directed by the troupe. They are usually put together in two-and-a-half days or so, and then presented to the company at large. They are meant both to display the initial choices or ideas a troupe might have as they approach the show, and often have some eclectic elements to them. This one had sort of a Hawaiian island feel to it, complete with fishnets, a plastic palm tree, Hawaiian shirt for Ariel, formal wear for the shipwrecked travelers. etc. The show will probably not look like this in its final incarnation, as it will be directed by Giles Block, who is British. It appears the American Shakespeare Center is having a British invasion, what with Jaq Bessell and Giles Block coming in to direct. How "American" is that? Aren't there any American directors of Shakespeare out there with any stature? Later in the evening Sarah had her little dinner party. She made a vegetable pie with mushrooms, onions and such, and some spicy pork meatballs. Wine and champagne was available, and some fruit and whipped cream for dessert. A nice get-together, and a nice gesture on her part.

Wednesday was a two-Much Ado day, with a 90-minute version in the morning for students and a full show in the evening. Matinees are so tough sometimes. I think actors complain about them because students tend not to know how to conduct themselves, and it becomes a competition to get their attention for the show. Some kids like the show, some sleep through it, others continually chatter and find ways to see if they can provoke a reaction from a cast member. You have to do matinees to build any sort of audience for the future, but the practical reality of the whole experience is that few of them will ever go to the theatre again. I still have to say that the Virginia student audiences are far and away much more attentive than any New York student audience I've ever seen. During the evening performance, someone's cell phone went off in the last scene of the show, which Tyler cleverly turned into a good live theatre moment. He does a tiny little dance with Alyssa during "man is a giddy thing," and he used the music of the cell phone's ring to dance to the rhythm of the ringtone. And when he says "play music," he pointed out to the guy with the cellphone, who was most embarrassed, as he was desperately trying to hide his phone. Now, you don't get that in the movies! In between shows I went to Blue Mountain Coffee with Daniel for lunch, and then pretty much slept in between shows.

Thursday turned out to be a fairly frustrating day, because I began to work on my post-ASC blog site, which I hope to move to my own server space. If you want, you can preview it here. Nothing much is there yet, and I don't plan to have it go live until late June. But the frustrating part came when I tried to activate a spam blocker and also to figure out some CSS coding to place a picture in the header. I am going to try to use Wordpress, which is a self-contained blogging system you install on your own server. It uses MySQL and pHp languages, and is pretty powerful. But I don't know as much CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) as I should, so I got a bit frustrating trying to translate the code and insert the picture I wanted. After about 4 hours in the morning fussing with the thing, my right thumb became sore, so I gave up and went out for a bikeride, and then treated myself to a sandwich at the NY Deli in town (they specialize in making NY-style deli sandwiches, piled high with meat, and all with a NY Yankees theme). After a shower I got ready for last night's Planet which was pretty good. There was another funny moment in the play with Tyler. One of Tyler's lines is "No shit!", and we've been playing that up where, after he says it, he apologizes to the audience, usually to some little kids in the audience. There have been numerous funny moments with that, but last night someone in the audience actually said "Sorry" before he could, which broke everyone. Greg when downstage and offered the young lady a job, and Tyler could barely recover. There was another little girl on the stools stage left, and during the "trial of Cookie," there must have been another moment with her, but I am offstage then, so I don't quite know what happened (check Tyler's blog, he'll probably have all this in). Q&A followed (I still dislike them), and then home. I've been getting to bed before midnight these days, trying to be able to get up early and get the day going, such as it is.

It occurs to me in writing this that I have no real news about anyone else in the troupe other than what happens backstage. The backstage chatter tends to be innocuous enough. But I don't see everyone most of the time other than at the theatre or social gatherings at 605. When I get home I tend to go into my room, have a cup of tea or a spritzer, check a few things out on the web, catch the end of a ball game, and go to bed. The basketball playoffs are still going on, and sometimes I wander upstairs to catch a little of the action, but basketball is still not my game. Of course, many in the troupe are still pondering their next move. Kevin has his half-brother in town, and more of his family is coming in soon. Several are still trying to set up auditions. As for me, I am still trying to work out my own future of sorts. I did turn down The Birthday Party, because it simply didn't pay to tie up my entire winter break with such a small role for such little money, but I have yet to decide about Forum. I have downloaded the two songs which Senex sings, and talked to Chris about it, who played Pseudolus in college (his signature role) and really knows the show. The money is actually good, but I still don't know whether or not I want to tie up all that time and be cooped up in a theatre again. Because of having to direct the opera at Fredonia that would mean I'd be committed to a production the entire fall, up to Thanksgiving.

The more I think about that and write about that, the less inviting it sounds. I think it's indicative of the changes I've been going through lately in terms of my attitudes towards theatre. Has this gig with the ASC burned me out totally? Or is it just the natural process of aging, that feeling that you've gone so far and there's little point in going further? And yet, there remains the small, shrill but still audible voice of the actor, which can never refuse a part. In this business, sometimes you develop a real fear that if you turn a role down, you'll never get another one. I hate saying "no" to people I like and enjoy working with. It remains to me a constant source of amazement that your life continues to change no matter what transpires. As I was taking my bike ride yesterday I went past one of those church roadsigns, and while I don't recall the exact quote, I do remember it being something about following the changes in your life. I've been trying to be attentive to signs and omens like this over the past few weeks. Does wanting to see a sunset mean that I look forward to a "new day, a new time?" Is it time to become that "morning person" I've always talked about wanting to be? -TWL

No Man's Land - 5/22/06

2006-05-22T23:09:00.000-04:00

Staunton VA - OK, I'll admit it - I haven't felt much like blogging over the past week. I sort of feel as if I'm in this no man's land; with three weeks to go it's hard to fend off the feeling that the gig is up. The days have become rather repetitive and routine. It feels as if there really isn't anything to look forward to except the end of the contract and what comes after that. We're playing the shows with the same energy and commitment, but it's no secret that everyone can see the end coming. It's sort of the same feeling I get when I sense the end of a semester coming, but not exactly. I think the difference lies in the fact that, even with the semester ending, each day brings with it something a little new. whether in the classroom or in rehearsal. Here, the only thing different might be which play you're doing on a given day, but it's still one of three plays you've now done about 50 times each. Each audience is new, and of course that's what you always have to remember. That's what being professional is all about.

As always, I am tired by week's end. I've tried to employ different strategies, but no matter how much rest I try to get or energy I may try to conserve, I still find myself somewhat wiped out by week's end. I would love to be able to play volleyball on Mondays with the company, but I find I can't risk adding more physical exertion to my week. So I tend to take it slow on Mondays and get some exercise on Tuesdays to have a reserve of strength beginning Wednesdays. And then off to the races one more time.

So - what's the news? Well, last weekend I was up in New York City to take care of some personal business, and brought Olivia up there so she could do a few auditions. I also went over to Tyler's apartment in Manhattan to get his TV for him. He is moving out of his NYC place because he's joining up with the next tour and all his other roommates are also moving out. It turns out he lives one building away from where my mother used to live with my grandmother while she was going to college, on 141st. St. I was born three blocks away, on 144th St. I went by both buildings, but unfortunately did not have my camera with me. The building on 144th had a very, very mysterious aura about it - so dimly familiar to me. I had no means to get in, but recollections of playing with a slinky down the hallway stairs, a long corridor leading to rooms off the side and one large room and a kitchen at the end (which is the configuration of Tyler's place), the front courtyard - it all had an echo in the back of my head. I took a quick walk up to City College, where my father got his bachelor's and Master's degrees, and also was an assistant wrestling coach for a time. He would take me there on occasion after we had moved to Long Island, and that also had a strong resonance with me. The Jewish deli where we used to get hot dogs after a Saturday's practice is now a Spanish bodega. It was a stroll down memory lane, a time 45 years ago when the neighborhood was filled with small neighborhood businesses. It's still an Hispanic area, and I went to a restaurant called Gundy's and had a bowl of mondongo (beef tripe soup) and tostones (fried bananas) and practiced my Spanish. The soup was good, as were the tostones. I got along OK with the Spanish, but they had some trouble with my credit card, and since I began talking in Spanish they explained the problem to me in Spanish. I understood what they were saying, but I lack sufficient skill to converse fluently in return. But we got it all straightened out OK in the end. Then back to Staunton with Tyler's TV and Olivia for last week's shows.

There was a very cute incident during a performance of Planet this past week, but since Tyler has already blogged it and was onstage when it happened (I have committed "galactic suicide" by this time in the play), you should read his account of it. This little girl was enjoying the play the whole time; it's worth reading. The Q&As this week have sort of irritated me a bit. I never say much at all during them unless directly asked something, because there's just too much competition by everyone else to answer questions. An audience member asks a question, and by the time seven people on stage have answered it and taken 9 or more minutes to do so, very few other members of the audience get to ask questions, and it's hard to ascertain if the question was ever even answered in the first place. We also have begun to do put-in rehearsals for the time when Sarah attends a wedding and will not be here for a performance of R3. It doesn't affect me much at all. Jessica will play Lady Anne and there are some other role shufflings going on. We should finish the process this week. One wild thing did happen: Sarah's friends, who were on this season's episodes of Amazing Race, actually won it! They were a team of two, and they won a million dollars, which comes out to $600,000 after taxes, split two ways. We all tried to talk Sarah and her brother Ben, who was visiting her, to drive all the way to NYC for the celebratory party, but they didn't go. Sarah's brother Bill, who was there, came down from the party and gave us all a report. Bill says they are now in there 16th minute of fame, which is of course nothing, and we both thought a movie entitled The 16th Minute would be an interesting idea for a movie.

As for me, I got offered two parts back in Buffalo over the week. One is the role of Senex in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and the other is Petey in Pinter's The Birthday Party. I am actually having a hard time deciding what to do with these offers. I probably will turn down Petey, since I doubt I can make any money off the offer, but in doing the financial calculations it appears acting in Buffalo anymore might be prohibitively expensive. But two offers in one week; I had thought the year down here would mean I would disappear from the Buffalo radar a bit. Apparently not so - it's casting season there, and if I took both roles, combined with my directing responsibilities in Fredonia I'd be busy from late August until the first week in March. Do I want to be that busy? Something to ponder on. And so I leave you. -TWL

Audioblog - 5/16/06

2006-05-17T00:26:00.000-04:00

Week 47 - 5/12/06

2006-05-12T09:40:00.000-04:00

Staunton VA - All of a sudden there seems to be so much to do, and unfortunately most of it keeps me chained to my desk and computer. I've been spending my time trying to get all my photos and movies organized, so I can prepare the troupe's DVD and scrapbook. I started on Yahoo and moved to Flickr and now find I have to re-cation a lot of stuff. O memory, how cruel and fickle thou art!

In the meantime, here's a rundown of the past week's events. Sunday we did the two Planets, and the second one, which was a benefit performance for the Augusta Medical Center's new hospice facility, was probably the best Planet we've ever done. Not only was it a good show, but it raised $33,000 in pledges for a good cause. There was one young boy sitting on one of the stage left stools whose leukemia had gone into remission, and he had a rollicking good time. And after all the Willard Scott/Al Roker jokes that flew around in the dressing room, the report is that he was quite good, very funny. I did not pay attention to him because I was down in the dressing room and just wasn't listening to the monitors, but even Tyler said he was funny, so there you have it. Ralph went before him and gave a pretty good "Shakespeare weather report" to warm up the crowd. So i went home tired, but feeling good about the evening overall. For a cause like that I'd do a double-show day anytime.

The "weekend" of Monday/Tuesday saw some pretty rotten weather. Monday night was a planned "Ochco de Mayo" celebration (since on the cinco we had shows), so I went out in search of some cheese. There is a Mennonite cheese shop in the area, as well as a Trappist convent of nuns who make gouda. I found the convent and got a wheel of gouda, which was sensational. I also squeezed in a hike up at Shenandoah National Park along the Doyle River Trail. Very scenic. I splurged on a new walking stick for its varnish finish. The party was pretty good. Daniel and Andrew slaved over a hot stove and coals and turned out some steak fajitas, BBQ shrimp, and a spicy fish chowder. They were making some rather strong margeritas, but I stayed away from that stuff. There is nothing on earth as bad as a tequila hangover - I know! Tuesday I began the organization of pictures and movies, and posted some of the last movies on my movie web site. I did not realize how messy the Flickr pictures were. I tried to create a set with the Complete Tour, and though I could create it, it is hard to manage because there are over 2,000 pictures in the set. So I've gone back to editing the months, and hopefully that will translate to the complete set, which I can have printed and backed up on DVD. I also did some shopping, and in the evening went down to Marino's for their Tuesday bluegrass night. I brought my spoons and jammed out with the group, and Daniel played his concertina and got in a version of "Johnny Come Lately," which is a song we're doing for the Much Ado interlude. Sarah found a five-string guitar in the bar and joined in as well when she could.

Wednesday we had a matinee of Much Ado for a full house of students. After the show, Chris was supposed to do a tour, but it turned out that one school with 60 kids had asked for the tour and no one told us. So Chris called me up and I got Tyler to go with me to help out with three tour shifts. Then a nap and R3 in the evening. Yesterday during the day I went to see Mission Impossible 3 with Tyler up in Harrisonburg. Not a bad movie - I like action movies and the MI-3 idea. Pretty good cast too for the picture. X-Men is coming out next weekend, trying to get a jump on the summer movie season. And Planet last night. And you're up to date.

I'm going to leave it there for now, as I really have to hunker down on these pictures and such. I know I'm forgetting something, but that's a patter that's been developing over the past few days. I plan to take things with me, like my plug for my computer, and leave them on the desk or dresser. Right now in my dressing room locker are my sweatshirt and my jacket, which I could use at the moment. So hopefully I'll remember what I forgot and add it later. Ciao! -TWL

Cruise Control - 5/7/06

2006-05-07T10:01:00.000-04:00

Staunton VA - Well, here it is, Sunday morning, and I've got a little classical music on the XM going, as well as a cup of fresh-pressed coffee. This weekend we have five shows over 51 hours, from Friday night through Sunday night. The extra performance this week is a benefit performance of Planet for a local hospice group featuring an introduction by Willard Scott. So it's a busy weekend, but I find spending some time writing in the blog is actually relaxing and takes my mind a little off the work.

Events of the week are as follows: Wed. morning we had a matinee of middle-school children. There were some of the kinds of reactions you'd expect, but I think they had a good time. We then had Planet, Much Ado, and Planet over the next three successive nights. The Much Ado felt a little stale to me, but the two Planets seemed OK. The music is really settling into a nice place in terms of dynamics. And audiences continue to dig it - the dancing in the seats at the end still gets me every time. We only have one performance of R3 this week, which we did yesterday afternoon. Then another MA, followed by today's two Planets.

The shows themselves are pretty much on cruise control. We have them at a pretty good place, and we basically come in and get them done. Of course, this can as much be a trap as a good thing, and I think I got a taste of this on Thursday's Much Ado. The gulling scene seemed off, and I don't know if we are judging it by audience reaction or how we're executing the scene. Audiences on the road, which generally skewed a bit younger than at Blackfriars, really had large reactions to the gulling scene, but in the Blackfriars it has been a bit more subdued. It might be the scene is exactly the way we've always done it, but the reactions of the audience has changed a bit. I think we have to adjust to this and not have too many expectations going into the scene. I find myself that when I do my "bad actor" bit as Leonato, sometimes I am waiting for a certain reaction rather than just executing the action. But this is one of the challenges about long runs, the attempt to keep everything fresh. I have discovered in the past few days I am losing the ability to surprise myself on stage, as my head seems to be clogged up with anticipation. It's partly fatigue, partly boredom, partly the curse of routine. It can't be denied that, after a while, a long run can become as repetitious a job as assembly line work. Now, doing that well means the audience cannot know that's the case, but I think the only way to guard against that feeling coming on stage with you means you at least have to recognize it exists. I think once I actually walk through that curtain I am present and ready on stage, but I need to take that five seconds beforehand to get in the right place. Cruise control is not necessarily a bad thing as long as you stay alert, and shows have to be repeated so that everyone is on the right page. Staying alive and alert while on that stage is the key, of course, and I think the best tool I have found for getting that done is listening.

With only one school performance this past week, the daytime schedule was pretty open. So on Thursday I finally got to make my pilgrimage to the Cedar Creek Battlefield up in Middletown, VA. It's about a 75-minute drive down the valley, close to the area where Interstates 81 and 66 converge. I have an interest in that particular battle, because the subject of my one-person show, J. Herbert George, Principal Musician 10th Vermont, participated in that battle. The battle is a famous one because it represents the final defeat of the Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley and is cited as one of the reasons the election of 1864 swung to Lincoln. Confederate General Jubal Early had launched a successful sneak attack on Federal forces camped in the area, and had succeeded in routing the enemy, but regrettably chose to halt his advance of the Federals and re-group. This gave time for General Phil Sheridan to dash back from Winchester VA (he was heading to a meeting in Washington DC), rouse the Federal forces, re-organized his troops and counterattack. His charge routed the CSA forces in return, and Early was forced to take his troops back up the valley to Fisher's Hill, having lost too many men and equipment to ever become an effective military force in the area again. The war would be over six months later.

I went to the battlefield and first stopped at the Visitor's Center. They re-enact this battle every year on the weekend closest to October 19th, and the visitor's center is across from the open part of the field. The battle itself covered a large area of ground, and much of where the battle took place is actually private property, but a large open area between the visitor's center on the east and Belle Grove Mansion on the west is where the re-enactment takes place. I got a very well-written guide book, which takes you on an auto tour through the area and points out in chronological order the progress of the battle. I concentrated on the area where the 10th Vermont would have been, which was about half the tour. I took a bunch of pictures as well. I also took a tour of Belle Grove Mansion, which was General Sheridan's HQ in the valley and saw a good deal of the fighting. You can follow my tour a little bit through the picture here as well as following the online version of the guidebook here (I started at Stop 8). It was a great experience. Whenever I do these battlefield visits, I can always feel the events inside me, with that sense of being connected to the lives and deaths of the soldiers who once fought here. This particular battle is rightly famous for its tactics and its displays of courage on both sides. It raged from 4:00 in the morning until 7:00 that night, close to 15 hours. There were several significant actions in the battle, most notably the Second Division of the Third Brigade, Sixth Corp of the Federal forces, who held off Early's charge for over an hour with significantly less forces on a hill which is now a cemetery. My man Herbie was probably located with the supply chains and hospital, as musicians also served as nurses, and was thus probably stationed rearward, but no doubt he saw much of the action as it unfolded before him. Anyway, it was a good visit, one I had been wanting to make for a long time.

Friday was nothing but a lazy day, with everything done on the spur of the moment. I went to Lowe's in the morning to get a screen for my broken window, as it appears the landlord isn't going to do anything about fixing it while I am here. On an impulse I was going to go up to Sherando Lake to explore the area, but as I was driving I changed my mind and headed for Crozet, to try to find a convent of Cistercian nuns who apparently make a very good gouda cheese in the French fashion. I did not find them, but I did find an awesome whole foods store, a nice-looking Mexican restaurant with outdoor seating, other places to eat, and a back road to the Charlottesville reservoir and a trail leading into the back country of Shenandoah National Park. I later found the trail on a park map, but no indication of the type of trail it is. I have an urge to do some backcountry camping in the park, but they don't allow campfires in the backcountry (WTF?), and Ann Marie says I can't spend any money to buy a tent. So I may have to settle for a hike this coming "weekend," although the weather does not look promising.

Some more illness is starting to creep back into the troupe: Chris has been battling laryngitis all week, and Kevin seemed a bit hoarse last night. Let's hope this doesn't spread too far. Still five weeks to go! -TWL

Daze Off - 5/02/06

2006-05-02T22:18:00.000-04:00

Staunton VA - It's been a good two days off, and there's really nothing to write about except the time off. The only thing I've had scheduled since Sunday evening has been an 11:00 AM tour today, but as no one showed up for the tour, I've essentially had a good chunk of time off with not too much to do. I think it's been the largest chunk of time off where I just stayed in Staunton and relaxed.

The only thing remarkable about Sunday's matinee was the presence of a little girl sitting with her family on the stage left Lord's Chairs. She was so quiet and attentive, couldn't have been more than 4 or so. During the interlude she came out on the stage while we did our musical numbers, and at the end of the play, as I was striking some stuff from backstage, I saw her still there. I couldn't resist going out and congratulating her for being such a great audience member. It was her first play, her parents said, and she really wanted to meet Hero, although she was too shy to talk to me. So I got Olivia out from the dressing room and she went out to say hello. Very sweet.

For the life of me I can't remember what I did Sunday evening beyond coming home and sleeping. The Sunday night baseball game didn't interest me, I know that. I truly can't seem to remember. Usually a performance of Much Ado leaves me little energy for much else. Oh wait - now I remember!! Duh!! We had a poker night at 605. Jake, Susan, Matt and Rene from the Rez troupe came over to play with Tyler, Olivia and me. It was a pretty fun night. Matt went out early, and the rest of the players hung on for quite some time. Lots of laughs. Jake is one of the new members of the Rez troupe (he's an American Indian and he's given me a new Indian name: Sky Mirror. Think about it.), and he tried a Jacks-or-better-Trips-to-win session, and it went outrageously bad. The game went on for 20 minutes with no winner, and I kept shuffling the cards all that time. Finally, after all that time, Olivia and Jake decided to split the pot that was in there and call it quits. Tyler - that lucky bastard - got to win back his money in that game under some rather suspect conditions (I suspect that in the 1870s he would have had to have been pretty quick on the draw) and then went on a win streak. I ended up losing about $4 out of five, so that's a good night for me. Rene took me out on a pretty good hand, and I went downhill from there. But it's hard not to have fun playing poker. The game finished at a good hour - midnight - and THEN I went to bed.

Monday was a hiking day with my hiking buddy Jessica. She had scouted out a trail at the Todd Lake Recreation Area in the George Washington National Forest, which is only about 25 miles from here. We intended to do the Trimble Mountain Trail, but we had some difficulty getting there due to the paucity of directions. The first time we tried to drive up there, one of the roads ended up being a logging road, so we had to turn back and go in from a different direction. Once we got up to the campground, we had an even more difficult time finding the trailhead. We had no map, since the US Forest Service does not have any maps on their websites. The information said only that the trailhead was "near the campground." Well, we walked about the area for at least 90 minutes, covering about 3.3 miles before we finally found the trailhead. Turned out the Todd Lake Trail and the Trimble Mountain Trail shared the same trailhead, but only Todd Lake was labeled. It was also hard to find any trail markers. So by the time we found the correct trail, we'd already put in over 3 miles. But we sucked it up and determined to do the Trimble Mountain trail, another 4 miles, and it was pretty worth it. The trail offered some spectacular views both of the Alleghany Mountains to the west and the Blue Ridge off to the east. It was a ridge trail, following deer tracks, which meant it was narrow and steep. The nice thing about it was it is a circuit trail, so no backtracking. By the time we finished the trail Jessica had a bit of a heel blister from her combat boots. All in all we walked a bit over 7 miles. On the way back we drove some scenic roads for some more great views. The greens around here are really something else, and in the forest the way the light comes through those different shades of green is nothing short of spectacular. Everything is just about in full bloom down here, and the lightness of the leaves in the forest interior and along the mountainsides really looks lovely. Our drive took us to the Natural Chimneys , another natural site similar to the Natural Bridge. I did not know this, but the park surrounding the chimneys hosts the largest jousting tournament in the nation. I got to see the jousting ring, which was pretty nice, although I think the one at the Renaissance Faire in Sterling NY is larger.

After a shower and a nap of sorts, all of Atomic Fission that was in town went to John Michael Shott's house for a dinner party. His housemate, Jenner, is a costume designer at James Madison University, and prepared some outrageously good food. I don't know why this is, but I have never met a costume designer who wasn't an outstanding cook. John Michael has been a house manager for the ASC, and has recently been promoted to Director of Tour Operations, so he'll be the one managing the Tragical Mirth's tour next season and beyond. It was very kind of him to open his house to us. He has a spectacular location for sunsets, and last night's was of high quality. We had a fabulous meal, some tea, and a fire in the firepit. Although I was having a good time I left a little early to be able to bowl one game over at Staunton Lanes (lest you have forgotten from last summer, Monday is dollar bowling night and is a tradition with ASC actors). Obviously I brought some good luck with me, but not for my game. Rez troupe actor Sarah Fallon (Miss Texas) bowled something like a 174 in her last game when I got there. That's pretty awesome! I think the only person who bowls better than her is Chris Seiler, who holds the record somewhere around 235 or so. She looks like she has no idea what she's doing, but she had a triple in the game and several spares. Amazing. So Monday was a pretty active day off.

Today was a much more mellow day. I went downtown to the ASC office and paid off the poster I had made up for my dad of Planet, then basically waited about until my tour was cancelled. I had ordered a refurbished Airport Base Station Extreme, so I picked that up on the way home, as well as getting a haircut and a cigar. I set the Airport network up, so now both houses have good coverage, since I linked up my Airport Express with the network. Then I got my car washed, did a little shopping, listened to the Indians/White Sox game, took a little nap, uploaded some new photos to my Flickr site (click on the sidebar to see them), watched Sarah try to feed her duck again (this duck arrived in the back yard yesterday for no reason, and Sarah has been trying to get her to eat out of her hand), and got set to watch the Yankees/Red Sox game. I discovered that MLB.com offers a month-by-month subscription to watch baseball games on the web, so I bought a month's worth ($15) and was hoping to watch the game, having missed Monday night's contest. Unfortunately the game was rained out in Boston, so I settled for Blue Jays/Orioles. I wish the picture screen wasn't so small and surrounded by so much other stuff, but it's not too bad. This is going to be a bad thing to have in the dressing room!

And that brings you up to date on my two days off. Tomorrow we start off with a matinee, like every Wednesday, but I think there are no added matinees this week. We do have an added performance Sunday evening, a benefit for a local hospice, with Willard Scott as guest host. So another 8-show week. But after two good days off I feel far more prepared to tackle it. Only six weeks left! -TWL

Transformation II - 4/29/06

2006-04-29T23:21:00.000-04:00

Staunton, VA - Well, there went another week without writing. How time gets away from me so fast, I cannot explain. I can tell you that some of that time went towards driving home to surprise Ann Marie on her birthday, which was this past Monday. That was a complete success. I walked into her office while she was finishing up a meeting with an accrediting visitor, and I think "stunned" is perhaps the best phrase to describe the look on her face before she burst into tears. We had a nice day together, going out to lunch and then having Eric home while I made her birthday dinner. A wonderful carrot cake from her good friend Peg topped the festivities. Then back here on Tuesday.

This week's collection of shows were pretty much without incident. We had an extra morning show on Thursday, and it caused a bit of pre-show concern, as these students from Albermarle High School (which I presume is in Charlottesville) had a reputation which preceded them. Apparently there had been a spitball incident and some other rowdy behavior from this school in the past, so we were on our guard. But I thought they were a fine audience in the end. Interestingly enough, they enjoyed the music and the comedy, and when the play turned dark, they were quite hushed; it was as silent a house as we've ever had. In fact, there was one young man sitting on the stage right stools, and right after the moment where I throw Sarah to the floor and stagger away, he flinched and cried out, thinking I was going to crash into him. That's when I knew I had him. It was also nice to have a culturally diverse crown in the theatre for a change. It's a great feeling to know you did have some effect on kids from different backgrounds.

The two-show combination Wed. and Thurs, wore me out a bit, so I loosened up a bit (maybe a bit too much) on Thursday night while watching a basketball game up in 605. I've been doing a lot of computer repair lately, and I've been working on the barter system - beer for repair work. First Tyler, then Andrew, and earlier this evening, Chris. So Friday I had to take it slow, but I did manage to go out to lunch with Jessica, where we got some good hamburgers and Cajun fries at 5 Guys. It's a chain in this area that makes fresh hamburgers and fries their potatoes in peanut oil. They were quite good. I took a nap and then went to the theatre to begin the weekend of shows. Today we had a workshop called Teaching Shakespeare before our R3 matinee, but I had no workshop responsibilities. So an R3 and then a Planet this evening, which was another audience of baby boomers who had a great time. During the encore they got up and danced in the theatre, a pretty amazing sight. As I search through my memory I think there have been no other incidents of note for the week.

But now I have to backtrack a little and go to this theme of transformation (if you did not read the previous post, you might want to do that first). Last week I took a hike up in Shenandoah National Park, and it was during this hike that w few thoughts came to me. The first thought that came was how much I was enjoying the hike. The simple act of walking in the woods alone with my thoughts these days gives me a great deal of pleasure. I really think I would like to take up hiking as a hobby of sorts, with an eye towards doing the Appalachian Trail or some other major route. This particular hike I planned as a lunch hike, and when I got to Calvary Rocks, I sat and had lunch, enjoying the 360-degree view around me.

It was while I was enjoying this experience that the thought came to my mind that I would rather be doing this sort of thing more than anything I could think of at that moment. And it also occurred to me how many summers I had given up over the years to act in theatres. It was at that moment that I had that sense of transformation - that I could see a life for myself which was one other than this life. I saw it pretty clearly: a life out in nature, walking, maybe canoeing or kayaking, but one where the outdoors became dominant, not the dim backstage light of the theatre. I asked myself at that moment - what is left for me to achieve in the theatre? What's left to accomplish? And the answer came back - nothing much. At that moment it seemed to me that finally, there was nothing more I needed from the theatre itself. I have performed or directed in over 100 shows, I have now toured, I've done numerous Shakespearean roles, and I could think of nothing at all left that I was really desirous to achieve. I really don't care whether or not I get into Actor's Equity, because even if I did, it's not much good to me now. I've no intention of turning fully professional. There are still roles I'd like to play out there, yes, but somehow it no longer seems so pressing or urgent that I do so. I'd rather hike, I think. You see, it's the need that has begun to fade. And this is where the transforming process is happening. I sense other needs that have to take more prominence - like hiking, and writing.

Does this mean I would never do theatre again? No, I don't think so - but it does mean I no longer feel that urgent need to do theatre again, and if I never did anything else in theatre again, it wouldn't matter to me at all. I can see another life I can live, one a bit more introspective and quiet, one away from all the hustle and anxiety that theatre seems to produce in people. And I also feel a need to begin to do something that truly matters. When I look at the state of American theatre, I realize that it's fun, some of it is good, but little of it seems to truly matter. Perhaps by seizing the opportunity that this transforming moment is offering, I can begin to find my way to that place where I can do something that matters to me.

One thing that's critical to understand about transformation, both in the theatre game itself and in life, is that a transforming moment does not reveal the entire nature of what you're about to enter. You can only see possibilities, but it remains up to you to leap in and begin the exploration and creation of those possibilities. And amazingly enough, as I began to continue my hike, this idea was enhanced by nature itself as it presented a metaphorical journey for me. At one point in the hike I began a steep descent into a valley, I knew that the trail eventually led up to some sort of river, but I was not sure how far that was. As I got to the bottom of the valley, it was apparent that the formations around me spoke to the existence of a stream somewhere, but it looked dried up, no more than a path for rainfall or snowmelt run-off to follow. But I kept on walking, remembering that the trail map did indicate a blue line. I kept my eyes open, and finally I saw some rocks which appeared moss-covered, a sign of moisture. I went off-trail and down into the stream bed, poking about until I found a small underground stream bubbling to the surface. Within about 25 yards it became a small flowing stream, and the water was cold and refreshing on this 80-degree day. I took off my shoes at a convenient spot and sat a bit with my feet dangling in the stream. I wet my hat and put it on my head for the natural air-conditioning it provided.

I was about ready to go and return the way I came, when a fellow hiker and her dog came up the trail from the opposite end. The dog took a bit of a drink, and as she saw me soaking my feet, she mentioned there was a good swimming hole ahead. I put my socks and shoes back on and continued to follow the trail a bit more. As I did so, the stream became wider, more varied in its path, and stronger in its flow. When I came to the swimming hole, I found much more than a swimming hole; it was a beautiful canyon of rocks and trees amidst this cascading waterfall. I stood at the top of the falls, surveying the scenery around me. I had gone from a hot, dry descent into a small valley, followed a dry stream bed until I found its source, and witnessed it as it grew and expanded into this magnificent waterfall, a view I assume very few people who visit the park actually see. And there I sat for about 20 minutes, just sort of entranced in it all. Transformation does not take much to reveal itself, and often looks like nothing at all, like a dry runoff bed. But if you have the wisdom to follow where it will take you, the payoff can be well worth the journey.

It would have been better has I been able to follow the trail in its circuitous path, but I was getting pressed for time and found it more prudent to return the way I came. The metaphoric sense of that decision did not escape my attention, however, as I found that reversing my journey and going back the way I came was not as rewarding. I had to go back to do a show, and knew at that moment I did not want to. But it was quite an experience, liberating and exhausting, heady and physically taxing. And I think this transforming experience is going to make a difference once I finish this contract. It has already begun to make a difference, as I now seem to find all the things that people around me take so seriously to be just so much foolishness. While there is a great deal of foolishness and pettiness in the world of theatre, it's no less so in academia (or probably in any other workplace in America). But what I have come to realize is that I may finally have hit a place where I do not have to endure the foolishness because I have some other need to fulfill; I can simply walk away from it, figuratively and literally. Come mid-June, I think I'll begin to do more walking than I ever have before. -TWL

Transformation I - 4/22/06

2006-04-22T23:20:00.000-04:00

Staunton VA - It's Saturday evening, and Saturday is always a long day. With my parents in town, it was a little longer today than most, as I got up to meet them at 9:00 AM for breakfast. That generally isn't so bad, except when you don't get as much sleep as you'd like the night before. I'm running a little short on sleep this weekend, and so having to get up at 9 when I probably did not get to sleep any earlier than 3:30 AM was a little rough. But I do know that I was fast asleep at 6:30 AM, because everyone in the troupe except me heard a massive thunderstorm go through town at that hour, while I heard nothing. It has been nice to have my parents in town to see the shows. I took them out to dinner last night for their 55th wedding anniversary. They both like the baby back ribs at the Mill Street Grill, while I had a seafood pasta, which was pretty tasty and generous. They saw the Friday night Much Ado and then the two shows today. Tomorrow they head back to Long Island, and for me another bit of time off.

This week has been a Richard week, with back-to-back R3s on Wed. and Thurs. night, and again tonight. We also had an added performance at Veritas Winery, the same place where we started our tour back in September. Apparently we were a little out of practice in traveling, because we sort of forgot a few things. I forgot to "dress up" for the affair, and had to go back home to get my dress clothes on. WHen I got back I assumed, because everything was sitting on the sidewalk by the van, that my garment bag with my costume had been grabbed by someone and packed. Wrong. I did not discover this until about 90 minutes before showtime, so I had to drive back to Staunton (approx. 20 minutes away) and get it. Greg had made the same mistake, so I grabbed his as well. Tyler thought he had forgotten the thundercan, but it was packed. And Carie forgot the tentacle, having taken it home to do some repair work on it. They also shifted the schedule on us here and there. First we thought dinner was going to be after the show, but it turned out they served dinner before the show. Confusion reigned as to when the troupe would eat. I ended up eating after the show, because I was driving when dinner was served. Cold chicken, cheese and grapes was my dinner. And we got a bit of a late start because the patrons we lingering over their dessert and wine. The crowd had fun, I think, but it was not a re-creation of the September event, where people were slightly tipsy. The crowd felt like a mid-60s and up crowd, a bit older than baby boomers, and they were nowhere near as raucous. And there was no event after the show. So we didn't really need to dress after all because there was no mingling. But aside from all these small mishaps, the show was OK. Hopefully Veritas thought so, and will continue to sponsor the Center.

The R3 crowds this week were sparse, although tonight was a healthy crowd. I think it was Thursday when the count was 39 people. I would expect weekday crowds for Richard will be small. One very happy thing to report - the Richard pre-show is new and vastly improved. I have always been very embarrassed with the R3 pre-show, which Greg and I had been charged with creating. Our original idea back in September proved to be unworkable, so during the tour we did nothing but a straight delivery of the information. But someone (I forget who) gave me the idea of writing pre-show catches, and so I did. I took tunes from three of the catches I sing with the Fredonia Catch Club (Mac Nelson is our kappelmeister and catch guru), wrote new lyrics for them, and what we now do is create a small skit where I am introduced to get the Blackfriars Catch Club to perform, even though we aren't quite ready. Daniel, Greg, Kevin and I constitute this erstwhile Catch Club, and it's been fun to create, much more along the spirit of what pre-shows for the ASC should be. So now I am very happy to do the R3 pre-show, whereas before I was always embarrassed at the lack of anything interesting.

I was scheduled to do a tour Wed. PM but no one showed. We have only done one Planet this week in the Blackfriars, which was today's matinee. Not as large a crowd as we have had, but respectable. There was a group of giggly girls for Friday night's Much Ado and they got the crowd going as much as we did. And it feels good to report that everyone is again healthy, suffering only from the usual wear and tear of long runs.

Thursday afternoon was a gorgeous day, with temperatures reaching into the low 80s by the afternoon. I took the opportunity to take a hike in Shenandoah National Park, along the RipRap Trail. I packed up a lunch to eat at the Calvary Rocks area. While on the hike, I really had the feeling of having a transforming experience. Nothing deep or profound, mind you; only a sort of coming-together of a lot of seemingly unrelated thoughts and events which seemed to coalesce as I walked through the woods. Now, in order to get some sort of understanding of what I mean by this, I'll tell you about a theatre game that, when I teach aspiring students, I usually play as a culmination of a lot of other smaller games that lead up to it.

The game is called "Transformation," and the rules are simple enough. Two players start an improvised scene. As they play the scene, they must stay alert for the possibility that the scene will have a "transforming moment," and become a completely different scene. The scene will present itself as an opportunity to the players; the players cannot do anything to force a change of scene. Both players must sense the possibility of transformation together; one cannot sense it and force his/her partner into the new scene. The game is designed to train the actor to be aware, not only of him/herself, but of their partner in the scene. The rules may be simple, but the game itself is very difficult. Often very seemingly disparate elements will signal a transformation - a physical gesture, a vocal inflection, a particular physical relationship the partners find themselves in. The trick is to recognize the transforming moment and be prepared to leave everything about the former scene in the past and plunge fully into the new scene.

Even though I was hiking by myself, the feeling of transformation came through thinking about many disparate elements which I've been mulling over in my mind and heart these past few weeks. I have, however, decided to post these things in parts, because I do not want to write one big long convoluted post. Rather, smaller bits I think will be easier to read. It may also be easier to mix shorter posts along with the general company news, which I know some readers like to get. And hopefully it will let me post a bit more often. Rather than trying to write one long post in one sitting, I can write a little bit here and there to make the total over time. So for now I'll leave you with what's here, and sometime next week take you into Part II. -TWL

The Long Run - 4/17/06

2006-04-17T11:50:00.000-04:00

Staunton, VA - So, I was walking back from yesterday's matinee and M.Litt. dinner party, and as I approached the front door if the BevHouse, a woman walking across the street in the opposite direction saw me and said, "I loved your performance, and I love your blog. Get some rest!" I told her I was on my way to do just that. Today happens to be an excellent day for blogging; rainy, fairly chilly, a day which encourages you to stay indoors and lounge around. I've now made my second cup of coffee, and so on to this entry. I do regret that I cannot seem to muster the energy to blog more than once a week. I realized in getting set to write that it's been a week since the last entry. But the week went fast, I think, and if it continues to go as fast this one went, I'll wake up one morning and bam! - someone will be telling me I have to move out.

I think I'll start this morning by thanking the Mary Baldwin M.Litt/MFA students for their wonderful Easter dinner party. They invited us to a pot-luck Easter feast, and all the food was very good. There was a wonderful leg of lamb with fruit compote, ham, chicken, pot roast, salads, veggies, baked beans, green bean salad, and a strawberry cake shaped in an Easter bunny, which was pretty much half-eaten by the time I got there. This same group of people did a nice Twelfth Night last week as their M.Litt project, and it was a very convivial atmosphere. So hats off and thanks to the M.Litt crew! You've been very supportive of our company, and we appreciate it.

The next order of business should be to give a health update. All last week a good two-thirds of the troupe was suffering from some sort of ailment. Alyssa, who gets the Super-Trouper Award for last week, fought off her broken toe and bronchitis to keep performing on the stage. We did make some alterations in the shows to take as much stress off her as possible, such as going with only two members of The Watch in Much Ado (I adopted her character and Tyler and I split the lines between us), and eliminating Mr. Spaceman and modifying Robot Man in Planet. By Saturday, thought, she was pretty much up to speed, and did Much Ado without her cane, sang all her songs in Planet, and returned as the mighty George Seacoal, leader of the Watch. The remainder of the sick list slowly but surely got back up to speed, although Andrew still has a somewhat sore back, which I assume he is resting today. Kevin's back is better, Olivia seems up to speed, Jessica is doing OK, Chris and Tyler seem fine. I think only Greg, Daniel, Sarah and myself got away with not getting sick, so knock on any wood you can find for us. The bug also found its way through the resident troupe, as Matt Sincell, Rene Thornton and others seemed to pick up the bronchitis bug to some degree. Better now than in June.

Apart from doing the shows all week, we are now beginning to work on other projects. I did my first playhouse tour on Wednesday, which went just fine. We are preparing for Shakespeare's Birthday celebration, an annual event held here on the Sunday closest to his birthday (April 23 this year, which is the day he is assumed to have been born). We also have to prepare something for Jamestown 2007, the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown VA, but as of now I have no clear idea what that means. And tomorrow we take another trip to the Veritas vineyard and Winery to do a performance of Planet once again, same as we did in September.

A couple of reviews have come in for Much Ado. You can read them here and here. They're really not much to speak of in the way of reviews. Both are positive, and will serve to attract audiences, but in terms of good theatre review writing they leave a lot to be desired. The state of theatre reviewing at most newspapers tends to be abysmal outside major cities like Chicago or New York, as often the people picked to do reviews are staffers with no particular credentials in the arts at all. But at the last podcast I did, Ralph showed is a copy of Theatre Week from Washington DC and said some people from that publication might be coming down to check us out. I'll be interested to see what shows up in there, if anything.

Apart from all this news-y stuff, there's been a lot on my mind in terms of how I'm adapting to running the shows at the Blackfriars. In some ways. I've begun to think of this whole gig in relation to a long run of a show, and interestingly enough, I am not sure I like long runs. This is by far the longest amount of time I have ever committed to a set of shows, and often I find myself during the day thinking that I should be in rehearsal or something for another production. My brother Jim, who plays in the jam band moe., always has side projects going, because he says after touring for some time and playing the same songs from venue to venue, you have to have something else to keep your creative juices flowing. I understand that now, because keeping up the commitment to a long run is difficult. Of course, the days are pretty much gone when great stars actually do perform long runs on the Broadway stage. Usually you get a name star for a limited run, and then hope the replacements can keep the thing going long enough to make a profit. And most regional theatres today have a definitive season where the shows run only a set amount of time. But it's deceiving to do a tour, because you tend to see all the various venues you get to play at, but what's a little hidden from sight is the fact that the shows remain the same for the entire year. Of course, to the Blackfriars audiences these shows are all new; it's the spring season of shows after the Renaissance Season. And that's the way you have to play it, even though you've been at these shows for nine months now.

The shows themselves have now settled into a good place at the theatre. We have gotten Planet down to a place where the sound is good in the space without being overpowering. The audience reaction to Planet I think has been off the scale; it's like nothing I've ever seen in a theatre. The mood of the show actually runs from a sort of polite and enthusiastic initial response to something more resembling a rock concert by the end. When the audience is filled with baby-boomers who recognize all the songs, it's really fun, because they groan and laugh within the first three bars or so. Encores have become commonplace, and people get up and dance and sing along and everything. It is such a wild and intense sight to see all these people sitting in a recreation of a Renaissance indoor theatre behaving like they are in a concert venue. And every time it happens I find myself surprised that it's actually happening. It's both fun and incongruous at the same time. Maybe one of these nights I will bring my camera out on stage and record some of this for you to see. The other shows do just as well. Much Ado still gets that same reaction of a fun comedy which all of a sudden turns tragic only to resolve back into a fun time at the end. And Richard III I think has benefitted the most from returning to the Blackfriars. The words seem to fit best in that space of any place we have played, and I think playing this piece in the Blackfriars gives it an authority and presence that all the other venues on the road lacked. When that magnificent language bounces around the walls of the Blackfriars, it just seems right and proper, much more so than in a transformed gymnasium.

Well, that's enough for this morning. It's still raining, so maybe this afternoon I will get on to doing some movies and uploading stuff on the movie page for you. I keep promising but I keep failing. So please forgive me, because I've been trying to get as much rest as possible to stay in shape - for the long run. -TWL

Open and Running - 4/11/06

2006-04-11T20:09:00.000-04:00

Staunton VA - It's Tuesday evening, and after these past two days off I'm feeling OK. By Sunday evening, after our official opening weekend, I was pretty beat and my throat was a little weak, but two days of rest has been good. Monday I took a road trip into the Alleghany Mountains from Lewisburg, WV up to Cass, WV, and then back across to Staunton VA. I got a look at the Greenbrier River Valley, and there is a nice 60-mile trail which runs along it, good for bicycling or hiking. And you can also rent river tubes for a day of tubing down the river. May have do some of that before long. I also caught a sunset over the Appalachians, while the moon rose in the east. Some beautiful scenery. Today I finished my taxes, wrote out my index cards for doing the Blackfriars Playhouse tours, and am set for the catches we'll be doing in the R3 pre-show. Then I spent the afternoon listening to the opening day game at Yankee Stadium against the KC Royals. The temperature was in the low 70s. Very, very good for the soul.

The opening weekend at Blackfriars went well overall. There wasn't much of an "opening weekend" atmosphere around, but that seemed to trouble other people more than it troubled me. It somehow seemed anticlimactic to me to think of shows we have been doing since September as "opening." So I did not concern myself too much with that issue. Planet seems to be a show which really has gotten people going. We have learned to play the show with more restraint out of necessity at the Blackfriars, because that space is just so acoustically alive. Nevertheless, audiences large and small so far have really enjoyed the show tremendously. Much Ado went off well on Saturday evening, and the Sat. matinee of Richard III also went very well. I have noticed particularly with R3 that it plays so much better in the Blackfriars. Perhaps it's just the atmosphere, but the words seem more natural and alive there, making the show more accessible, I think. Anyway, I think it all went very well. The Sunday matinee of Planet had a small but no less enthusiastic audience. There was a row of middle-aged women in the rear of the gallery that were just rocking with every song. That's how it seems to go.

It's also been a good week for my children. My daughter Jenna just bought a house in Framingham MA and moved in over the weekend. My oldest son Brian won a playwriting contest at Oswego which came with a $100 prize for a play he wrote. And Eric, who is rehearsing the role of Bill from The Hot L Baltimore up at the University of Buffalo, was put on the wait list for Carnegie Mellon's BFA Acting program as well as being accepted to University of Northern Illinois. He had to write an essay for CMU and got that done and sent in. So we shall see.

I have a funny feeling that a lot of my posts from here on in might be a bit shorter. Since there is no new locale to report about every other day, there is nothing much to write about but the shows. Since the shows are now in rep, they probably won't change too much over time. Being located in the actor housing complex, there may be more to report there, but I tend to doubt I'll be so much in the mix that there will be anything to report. And I find that I am not taking as many pictures as I have been. So this blog may either become quite boring, or it may begin to turn into what it will eventually become once my contract ends; just general musings I have about theatre in general, and events and situations at SUNY Fredonia once I return there in the fall.

I can say that talk has already begun about what people will be doing once they complete their contracts: where they will live, where they will work, etc. Often I tend to forget that this gig is the sum total of my colleagues' lives, and once it's done they have to go back and find the next thing to do with their lives. Some people have plans set: Alyssa will be joining a company doing Oklahoma, Chris is going to a gig in Ohio doing Our Town, Greg will be joining another touring group similar to S2 run by his friend Dennis (an alum of ShenShakes), Tyler will be doing the Tragical Mirth tour next year as Cyrano, Puck and Casca. Kevin, Jessica, Sarah, Olivia, Daniel and Andrew have less certain plans, although I think Jessica and Andrew will be doing the Philadelphia consolidated auditions two days after we close here (both have connections in Philly). So they are all in the process of finding "the next thing." I plan to take the rest of the summer off and perhaps do a little traveling before I return to teaching.

Finally, the Blackfriars Backstage Podcast for Planet came out the other day, so if you want to get it, follow the instructions from the last post. It's pretty good, and I'm on it! -TWL

Germs A'Plenty - 4/6/06

2006-04-06T17:34:00.000-04:00

Staunton, VA - Well, now that we are back and all settled in, everybody, it seems appears to be getting sick. Chris first came down with bronchitis, and now Tyler has a cough, Jessica has something going on, Kevin threw out his back, Andrew has a sore throat and has trouble talking, and Alyssa, on top of still recovering from (and performing on) her broken toe, is lying in her room sounding miserable. I am a little nervous trying not to catch any of this. While I have pretty much recovered from my general soreness, I find each show saps some energy from me, and I have to make sure to get full rest to get ready for the next day. Chris actually brought masks into the men's dressing room to help us avoid catching any germs. I think I may start to upgrade my daily dose of Vitamin C and get some of that wellness stuff my wife likes from the health food store.

The past week has been sort of hectic. We are scrambling a bit to get our interlude stuff together, which includes music in between acts (our intermissions are called "interludes"). We're learning new stuff, and we are trying to squeeze it into 30-minute rehearsal blocks before call for each show. I'm playing percussion (which is cymbal and snare) on some MA music, and I am also trying to put together a R3 pre-show composed of catches. I am using catches I already know, and writing new words for them. We're a little behind in it because the other shows have taken precedence, and today I am missing Kevin(sick) and Greg (nursing Alyssa), so I canceled a scheduled rehearsal and am waiting until tomorrow. I don't feel too much of a rush, as we still have more than 2 months to do pre-shows, but I would like to get it over and done with ASAP. The current R3 pre-show, which Greg and I do, is a boring, straightforward announcement type of preshow, and is rather dull. So the sooner I can get something there that's more clever, the better I will feel. We don't officially open until this weekend (starting Friday night), so there is still time.

The past week of shows has been great. The first weekend home the audiences were loving the shows. Adjusting to the space has been the hardest thing. The Blackfriars Playhouse is so live that modulating sound can be very difficult.My high-frequency hearing impairment has made it even more difficult for me. Our first Planet performance was too loud, so we adjusted by bringing everything way down instrumentally, and that made the situation better. It doesn't feel like you're rocking out too much in restraining the instrument, but it does give a better sound. So it has been for the other shows, trying to find adjustments as needed both vocally and in the pacing. I must admit, being back on the Blackfriars stage is a good feeling, although it did seem a little unreal at first. I caught myself a few times in a sort of surreal trance on the stage, thinking maybe I was dreaming, and that at any minute it would all turn back to some auditorium or conference room. it's interesting how everything feels more at home here than it ever did on the road.

I am also now mostly settled in my room, and I have had visitors come to my window and admire my set-up. My XM radio gets great reception with the antenna set right between the houses. I still have my microwave and hot plate from my Belle Grae place, but I mostly use the kitchen for cooking. I did indulge in one splurge and bought a very small electric car cooler so that I can have cold drinks and keep my half-and-half downstairs. I can make coffee in the morning either from my Belle Grae drip pot or my French press. I have an electric water kettle for tea, and I bought a few crates and storage tubs for storing things. So it's not too bad at that. They still have to fix my window, which I can take right out of the sill and which won't go up on the track. Good luck getting that fixed in a timely manner. The landlord of these Bev houses is not exactly swift in terms of repair. The one thing still missing is a solid internet connection. I can use my modem, but hopefully the houses will be getting together to get a cable connection into the house. At least Paul Fidalgo will be getting internet into his place, which is right next door to me, so within the next week I hope I can get some sort of cable connection. Otherwise I'll be spending a lot of money down on Coffee at the Corner.

This past Monday was a day off, as well as most of Tuesday, so I did find the time to relax. On Monday I traveled to the Natural Bridge, which is exactly what its name implies. It is a huge rock structure which rises from the Cedar Creek valley straight up over 200' on either side, and has a bridge spanning the top. Cedar Creek flows under it. The height of the structure is taller that the drop from the top of Niagara Falls to the bottom. it's actually pretty imposing when you get right down to see it. I took a number of pictures and a small movie (I know I'm behind in updating my movie page), so you can check them out under the April set on my Flickr site (click the badge on the right sidebar). I had lunch at a small cafe in Natural Bridge Station, VA (not to be confused with Natural Bridge, VA), and the cook there kep trying to push the ice cream on me (I did give in to the peach cobbler). On the way back home I drove the Blue Ridge Parkway, and man, what a great drive! I had the parkway pretty much all to myself, seeing maybe one car every 45 minutes or so. The views were incredible, and towards the end I got caught in some passing thunderstorms. It was cool seeing the clouds roll in from all across the mountains. By the time I got home, though, I was pretty tired, having drunk a bit too much wine the night before (thanks, Olivia!), so I took a nap at 5:30, got up at 8PM and listened to the opening game of the NY Yankees, who are out in Oakland (lost 2 of 3). Tuesday I was supposed to go on a practice tour with Greg, but no one showed up to tour around. Then I rehearsed some music with Olivia and Kevin for MA, and the night was free. Wednesday we had an MA matinee, after which I did the Q&A with Tyler, followed by an evening R3. And today (Thursday) I have spent getting a lot of busy work and personal errands done. So that about catches you up on events here.

Tomorrow I will be doing a podcast for the ASC on Planet. These podcasts are new, and you can subscribe to them through Apple iTunes. Open up iTunes and click on the Music Store. Then go to podcasts and seach for American Shakespeare. You should get a search return with the ASC podcast on it. Hit the "subscribe" button and you should be all set. If you don't have iTunes, to go to the American Shakespeare website and get them directly by clicking right here. iTunes is availabe free for Windows and Mac. Give us a listen and let me know what you think! -TWL

Act V: Residency - 3/31/06

2006-03-31T23:55:00.000-05:00

Staunton, VA -

Sometimes the light's all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long strange trip it's been.

-"Truckin" , Grateful Dead

It's all over, including the shouting. Tonight we opened Planet in the Blackfriars, and last night we did our final official gig at Virginia Military Academy. We actually do have one more travel stop - an added return trip to Veritas Winery in mid-April, where it all unofficially began back in early September. But for all intents and purposes, the tour is officially over. Hardly seems real.

I am sort of at a loss for words, as I don't really think I have fully incorporated the fact that the tour is complete. I've settled into my room at 607 Beverley, been grocery shopping, got my printer and all sorts of kitchen materials out from the boxes. I retrieved my bicycle from the heavens over at the theatre, and everything has been unloaded from the vans. I'm not quite into a routine as of yet, as we have some further orientation to go through in the next few days. Of most importance is learning how to do the tours of the Blackfriars theatre. We have a weighty tome to memorize (although we can use cue cards), but once that's done we're pretty much on a regular schedule. The weather has been lovely - in the high 60s/low 70s yesterday and today. So, there it is - home.

The gig at VMI last night was quite funky. We had not done Richard III since Platteville, back on March 9, and so we had to dust the rust off. The space at VMI was completely makeshift, a large open ballroom, and there was no room backstage, so we had to do the neutral walk thing to the kitchen, which served as the dressing room. At one point one of the platforms in the most upstage row gave way, almost collapsing, and Tyler (corrected 4/4/06) had to go out and fix it up. We were all a little skittish after that, I think. The stage was not very deep, so we had to adjust on the fly with spacing and such. On the whole the performance was serviceable, but not much more. Too much rust for one run-through to dust off, I think. The audience was a mix of cadets and civilians, and they seemed to take it all in. VMI does this as part of their first-year educational curriculum, and Alan, the English professor who organizes all this, always brings the troupe in for this program. It appears, though, that the fund which pays for this is becoming thin. I hope he manages to keep it going.

I did manage to take in a few ceremonies while there. The lowering of the colors at 5:00PM featured the firing of the cannon - a loud boom indeed. I think I have it recorded on my camera. I also caught a little bit of the cadets marching off to dinner in full formation. VMI has been around since 1839, and it just seemed weird to see the name of Stonewall Jackson in the background as the US flag was lowered.

Prior to this stop we traveled to Western Carolina State University in Cullowhee, NC. We traveled on Monday, did two shows on Tuesday (I did a workshop as well), and traveled back on Wednesday. Monday night after we got settled in, I went with Jessica and Andrew for some Chinese food, and it was really quite good. We got a story about this place: apparently the restaurant had been robbed and the owner shot to death a few weeks back. The whole community rallied around the family to support them, and in return the restaurant is throwing a free buffet day for the city tomorrow (April 1). Both shows went very well, especially the evening performance (Much Ado), which was very well attended - about 450 people. They had actually closed their club section but re-opened it because of the attendance. And there was this one guy sitting dead center in the second-to-last row whose full grey hair and beard totally surrounded his face. He sure enjoyed himself. Tyler said he looked like Walt Whitman.

WCU is actually quite a lovely campus, and Andrew, Sarah and I got to stay at the University Guest House, a beautiful old stone house with deep oak interiors and some 1950s furniture. I grabbed the downstairs bedroom while Sarah and Andrew each had a bedroom upstairs. There was a back porch as well, where I spent some time sucking on a cigar after Tuesday's show and meditating on one wandering star peeking through the trees. Andrew bought some groceries and we had a nice breakfast of eggs, juice, coffee and ham on Wednesday morning (although Andrew was getting a bit sick and phlegmy due to the overheating of the house). The view was quite nice; mountains in the distance, the campus down at the bottom of the hill. Apparently this part of NC is big into retirees, and I breezed through a little booklet featuring all these retirement locations within 40 miles of Asheville, NC. Cullowhee apparently has that "earthy crunchy old hippies" reputation (although I did not see any other hippies around), and if the bakery we spent time in between shows on Tuesday is any indication, I could believe it. I had some coffee and a sticky bun while in there, and it was good! I spent time fixing Andrew's computer (he had captured a little worm), but did not get to spend as much time as I would have liked because of the workshop. I did get to talk to one of the acting teachers before the workshop, and unfortunately the theatre program there is suffering from a lack of students and dwindling attendance at plays. But they do have an unusual situation in that their Musical Theatre program is in the music department and not in the theatre department. So they may have to downgrade their acting BFA to a BA, and lose some jobs. Too bad, as the location of the college is so ideal and a nice place to live. Daniel and I had a chat about the possibility he may return sometime to open his performing arts center there, and he even offered me a job! I could be sort of a wandering artistic consultant, pulling down a small salary to supplement my retirement. He has my number!

So that's it for now. At some point I will try to digest the tour and write a little about it. I do know one thing - I will miss the traveling. Touring may not be the most ideal way to travel, as you do lose a lot of independence and you can be sort of cooped up, unable to enjoy where you're at. But I did like seeing all these venues and colleges and traveling through this really beautiful country we live in. I've come to appreciate the south more than at any time in my life, and hope to come back through as soon as I can to really get into the parks and the cities without the necessity of having to go to "work." Wouldn't touring be great if you didn't have to do shows?? Wow! -TWL

Home Stretch - 3/26/06

2006-03-26T12:06:00.000-05:00

Staunton, VA - Only because of the fact that it is a Sunday morning am I sitting in the Daily Grind in Staunton VA pounding out this particular post. Were it any other day of the week I'd be over at Coffee at the Corner, but Dave does not open on Sunday. So it goes. We got here Saturday at noon after driving through quite a little spring snowstorm in the Appalachian mountains between Lewisburg and Staunton - up to 4" at the top of the mountains. Ironic to have avoided snow during the entire winter leg only to have to drive through it to get home to Staunton!

I am slowly recovering from a pretty hard few days. On the 23rd we travelled to Lexington VA to do Much Ado for the Virginia Military Institute, then after the show we traveled another hour to get to Lewisburg, WV. We had a 7:30 AM call on the 24th for Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg, where we did a 10:00 AM NEA 90-minute Much Ado and then later that night we did an 8PM Much Ado for the city. Then yesterday morning we travelled home to Staunton, arriving around noon. Everyone was relieved to be home in time to see the last performances of the Renaissance season. But I chose not to go, opting instead to try to lay down and heal from the last week. We are not officially done with the tour, as we leave tomorrow morning for Cullowee NC and Western Carolina University for two shows on Tuesday, and we still have one final gig at VMI doing Richard III. Then on Friday night we open Planet, and that begins our official residence in the Blackfriars.

I am really pretty frustrated and depressed because my body is not holding out as well as I wanted it to this past week. I was psychologically ready for the week ahead, knowing there were going to be many Much Ado shows, late nights and early mornings and 2-a-days. No alcohol, no going out after shows. I kept up my vitamins and tried to eat well, and also tried to keep up some light exercise by walking around Raleigh. But nothing helped, I guess. At NC State we did two Much Ados, and that was the beginning. Two MAs is a bit rough for me, the hardest physical show I have, because I expend a lot of energy between the Watch and the worked-up Leonato in the wedding scene and beyond. And I have found traveling to be wearying too as of late, so the drive from Raleigh to Lexington, followed by a full MA, pretty much did me in. The early morning MA and the evening MA in Lewisburg were the coupe de grace, so that by the time I got back to the hotel room I was dead to the world and sore in so many places. I think in the two nights I roomed with Chris during the Lewisburg stay I didn't say more than 10 words to him. I slept between shows for about 3.5 hours, and tried like hell to conserve as much energy as possible, doing little talking and looking for quiet places to sit, rest and be still. I got a lot of rest yesterday, got to bed relatively early, and today feel a bit better, although my neck is still hurting and my back is still a bit stiff.

All this physical discomfort has led me to begin to ask the question of how long I can keep doing stage acting. The tour is rough, sure, but I think it goes beyond merely touring. I remember feeling like this in the summer of 04, when I was doing Grumio in Delaware Park. I was not in as good a shape weight-wise, but still, doing 6 shows a night for close to four weeks with all the running around I did back then had me pretty exhausted, and one day off a week was not enough. Add to that the two hours of commuting, and it was tiring. On this tour I've lost weight, did walking and bike-riding to help improve my stamina, and the first leg, as I recall, went OK. But Christmas Carol was exhausting (many 2-a-days with one 3-a-day), and this latter part of the tour has been tiring as well.

One of the things I try to drive home to my students in my acting classes is that someday, at some point in time, 95% of them will have to face the mirror and realize they will not make their living solely as a professional actor. Only a very small percentage of people get to do so, and sometimes coming to that realization helps people move on. I remember so clearly that day for myself, when I began to see my hair thin, realized I was never going to be taller than 5'9", and was not a ruggedly handsome man with ripped abs and a tight butt. So I pursued a teaching career, figuring I could do some summer acting on the side that way and not have to worry about making a living in the theatre. Besides, I was never able to sell myself effectively as you have to do to get an agent and be seen. I hated the commercial end of it all, and that was another factor in deciding to get out from a fully professional career. But these past few days, combined with the past few years and jobs, has led me realize that another day comes - the day when you can't do anymore the things you used to do. During the rehearsal process I was doing all these somersaults and jumping over boxes, but a lot of that got cut (and rightly so) for fear of my hurting myself or overextending myself. I thought then how silly that was, that of course I could still do all those things. But this week has really got me to realize that perhaps, no matter what I do and no matter how good a shape I can get myself into, I'm never going to have quite the strength and recovery ability as I had 20 years ago. It's even been some time since I've done an 8-show-a-week full rep season (probably not since WSF 1995), so the upcoming residency has me, shall we say, concerned. I find myself envying the energy and recovering ability of my younger colleagues. They say about athletes that they know the time comes to retire when the rewards of playing are trumped by the pain of getting it together to play. As much fun as it is has been to play, the pain of playing is no longer bearable. Witness someone like Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros, whose shoulder is so full of arthritis he can no longer throw the baseball, and can barely swing the bat, yet as of this writing has still not retired and is still trying to play under his current contract. It's hard to recognize that day, but I find myself staring at the rising sun of that day myself.

Of course, I've whispered about "retirement" from the stage before. If my wife had a nickel for every time I said I would quit acting, she'd retire herself. Then that call comes with the great role you've never played, or a chance comes to do something you've never done (like touring?). I could say I'll quit at the end of this contract, but when someone comes around to offer me Malvolio - the only male role in Twelfth Night I haven't played - or King Lear, I'll probably crawl out of my Lazy Boy and get back in the saddle. The stage for me is an addiction, not because I particularly like the attention or any of the exterior trappings, but because it's such damn fun. And exciting. O Theatre - I wish I could quit you!

But enough whining. I should report that the shows did go well. Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg was a very nice venue, and the food we got there was fantastic. Most impressed were the vegetarians, because the dinner offered was a tofu-broccoli stew in a peanut sauce with brown rice. There was no meat dish. A nice salad, raw veggies and rolls complimented the dinner. Lunch was just as good, with some fantastic whole grain rolls, chicken salad and hummus, salad, veggies and great cookies with milk. As Kevin said, "These people get it." But we did have one unfortunate incident - during the performance Sarah stepped hard on Alyssa's foot and broke a toe. So Alyssa went to the emergency room, and is now again limping around with a soft cast on her foot. We will have to make some adjustments for the upcoming performances on the road, and no doubt during the opening weekend of our shows in the Blackfriars. And Jessica has also been limping about with a sore foot, keeping it wrapped up during performances. So a few minor injuries are out there, along with my general soreness. Would it be the Atomic Fission Tour without a few injuries here and there? Of course not! - TWL

Thrown to the Wolves - 3/22/06

2006-03-23T00:36:00.000-05:00

Raleigh, NC - I've just come in from walking to the hotel after this evening's performance of Planet, and boy, am I tired. I could have ridden in the van, of course, but I wanted to stop along the strip on Hillsborough St to see if there were any food establishments open. Only a pizza joint was open for business, so pizza and an ice tea it was. And now, time for a quick blog before the next few days of insanity hit. I am sorry the last few blogs have not had many pictures, but for some reason Blogger.com is not being very cooperative in the past few days with uploading my pictures. Sometimes the pictures upload, but lately often they don't. I will keep trying, but in the meantime you should be able to see pictures at Flickr.com.

We have spent the past few days in Raleigh, NC, playing on the campus of North Carolina State University - the home of the Wolfpack. We arrived on Sunday afternoon, but due to some confusion we had to spend our arrival night in one hotel, and the rest of our stay in another. The first motel really sucked hard. The room Sarah and I shared had a sign on it that said it was a non-smoking room, but they must have put that sign up 10 minutes before we got there. The room smelled of smoke, but we both thought we could bear it rather then move to another room. Jessica and I made our way over to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner. I tell you what - the Outback Steakhouse does a pretty good steak for a chain restaurant, and the Bloomin Onion is quite the appetizer. A couple of Newcastles with the steak and not too bad a dinner. When I got back to my room, I sort of watched an episode of Big Love on HBO, and it was not too good. It's about a Mormon guy and his three wives living in the middle of suburbia, but I think it's just an excuse to watch a man make love to three different women (which he did in the course of the episode, amd of course they all got jealous). Then Daniel came around and I listened to the song he and Sarah are writing in preparation of the interludes for Blackfriars. It's a good song which needs just a bit of tweaking here and there; very metaphorical in tone, but could use just a bit more clarity in the storytelling. Then, as I went to sleep, I began to choke a little on the stale smoky air. Sarah tried to hide the odor with some incense, but it was too little too late. It was a restless sleep, and we were glad to leave that nasty place.

We traveled to the neighborhood which borders on the NC State campus in Raleigh, and we had to hang around until our rooms were ready. It was supposed to be a day off, and it mostly was, but we did have to sort of kill time waiting to come back and move in. The hotel here is quite nice. It must have at one time been a Holiday Inn, but I cannot tell whether it still considers itself as such or is a private motel called the Brownstone. At any rate, it's nice, with Tempur-pedic mattresses, those foam deals which conform to your shape. Kevin is my roommate for this sojourn. In killing time I walked down Hillsborough St, which apparently is also known as the Wolfstrip. It has a collection of coffee shops, pizza joints, record stores and a few bars (less than you might think). One store I went in right away, however, was a little jeweler store, where the repairman replaced the second hand on my watch. Nice guy, good job. $5. Can't be beat. I also walked up the strip to a little tavern called the East Village, where Daniel, Andrew and I had lunch with our Bloody Marys. It was sort of nice to have an afternoon drink, seeing as how we had no show that night. Then we walked over to CupAJoe's, a smoky coffee shop with some nice atmosphere. The smoking section was in a separate room (remember, this is North Carolina, where they grow a lot of tobacco). It also had wireless, so I sat for a bit and had a cup of joe, but no cigarettes. I concluded with dinner at the downstairs restaurant in the hotel, a fairly weak Italian-style restaurant but convenient. Then I finally settled in for the World Baseball Classic final between Japan and Cuba. It was a pretty good game, with Japan getting a quick lead, Cuba almost catching them, and Japan closing it out in the final inning. I really enjoyed the World Baseball Classic, and from what I can read it's getting a good review all around. Nice to have meaningful baseball - and well-played baseball - in March.

Yesterday was a very long day. We had a 10:30 AM Much Ado for a mostly high school crowd, which went well. Carie informed us that this stop is a very important one, because it's Ralph's old stomping grounds, and because a lot of people come from here to Staunton and the Blackfriars. The kids were for the most part pretty good, although Tyler got hit with a spitball during curtain call. This wasn't an NEA show, as Raleigh is hardly an "underserved population." The in the afternoon I had to give my Planet lecture on sort of short notice to a crown of senior citizens taking continuing education classes. I walked from the theatre over to the McKimmon Conference Center, not quite realizing how far it was. NC State is a fairly large campus, with expansion hubs all around. It was sort of a "specialized" workshop, taking about 90 minutes. I felt a bit sorrier for Daniel and Jessica, who tried to do an improvisation workshop with this over-65 set. Not too many people wanted to get up and participate, so they finally gave in and gave them a little show. Then dinner with Chris, Kevin, Tyler and Tyler's girlfriend Olivia (who is in from the west coast to visit him), and then back to the theatre for another Much Ado, the full version. It was a good show, one of the best we've done in awhile, I thought, and a good thing too, because I understood that the university chancellor was in the audience. Hopefully we made a positive impression.

Following the performance there was a great party at the house of one of our contact people. The highlight of the party was the pizza - five types of vegetarian pizzas, with terrific crusts and a combination of veggies and spices not to be believed. The company was fun, and there was this little dog which provided a great deal of fun for all, especially Greg. You should check out the movie page when I get this movie of Greg and the dog on the site. It's almost obscene!

Today I got up feeling quite a bit stiff and sore. I was really tired after yesterday, but despite going to bed ASAP I still felt sore. I tried to walk it out a bit by slowly making my way towards the day's workshop, a Shakesfeet session over at Meredith College, about 2 miles from the hotel. First I stopped at Brueggers Bagels for a smoked salmon on bagel sandwich, then down to CupAJoe's for some coffee, then to the bodega for some plantain chips, then to the college for the workshop. Meredith College is an all-women's Baptist college, and there is something very peaceful about being on an all-female campus. The workshop went well (Sarah was my workshop partner), and afterwards we walked back to the NC State area. The day was bright and sunny, but the temperature was just a bit chilly in the low 50s and some breeze. Sarah went on to other things while I moseyed over to the library to see if I could connect to a network (no). A light (and cheap) Chinese dinner, and then to the theatre for tonight's rendition of Planet. The audience went for the show big-time; seemed as if there were a lot of boomers in the house tonight. Our audiences were mostly adults, not so much college students. But I will say the university treated us well; coffee, bagels, fruit, water, soda, tea and more all in the green room, plenty of student help (which we hardly used) and fine contact people. Thanks Sharon!

So now I am in my room getting ready for the next few crazy days ahead of us? How crazy, you may ask? Quite crazy, bordering on the absurd. Tomorrow we drive to Lexington VA, load in, do Much Ado at the Virginia Military Academy, load out, and actually drive in the night to the hotel at our next venue in West Virginia. We then have a 7:30 AM call on Friday morning for an NEA high school Much Ado, and also a Much Ado performance that night as well. We drive back to Staunton on Saturday, off Sunday, and back out for one more gig on Tuesday, I believe. One week from tomorrow and we will be back in Staunton, ready to open at the Blackfriars and begin Act Five. It's the end of the word as we know it, coming soon. -TWL

(Note to Cathy Wilmoth - I would like to sincerely apologize to you for my indecent references to a certain part of your daughter's anatomy in this blog. Such ungentlemanly-like behavior on my part will not happen again. I think, however, you can hardly blame me. After all, from what I remember the last time we partied together in Ohio, she's only shakin' what her mama gave her. - twl)

Countdown Begins - 3/19/06

2006-03-19T12:12:00.000-05:00

Tusculum, TN - Actually, it is Sunday morning and we are on our way out of town, heading for Raleigh NC. We did a performance of Much Ado last night at Tusculum College, another small religious college located in this eastern Tennessee town right on the ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. Prior to this past gig, we did Planet at Wartburg College in Waverly, IA. That performance was pretty OK, but the hall was rather large, and on my first number I lost the beat because all of a sudden I could not hear the band behind me. I had to turn upstage to get the beat back from Chris, and once I did that I walked a bit upstage to get upstage of the proscenium arch, and then I could hear everything. A strange space for that. Jim trenberth had driven over from Ames again to bring Nancy to see the show, and after load-out we went looking for a place to eat, but nothing in Waverly was open at all, so we ended up in the Fox Motel, where we were staying, sitting in the lobby and chatting. Hopefully Jim and Nancy and Ann Marie and I can get together at Stratford ON this summer to see some Shakespeare there. The Fox Motel was a strange little place, something of a "classy" motel sometime in the fifties, but now showing its age. First, they claimed they had "wireless," when in fact they distributed their internet through their electrical system via Netgear. You had to get one at the front desk, and they had a limited number. I tried to set up my wireless Wiflyer, but it has a limited reach through so many walls. Then, on the morning we left, people came down to breakfast, and they had a brand new cook in the back on his first day ever, without any help. My omlette took 40 minutes to arrive, and when it did, the onions were raw. We eneded up being late getting out because everyone's breakfast was delayed. They had to call in the head chef from home to help with the backup. And the place smelled of smoke in the lobby area. Altogether somewhat nasty.

Wednesday was another one of our 8-hour travel days. We went from Waverly to Muncie IN. Over the course of this leg of the tour we have had several 8-hour travel days, as it seems our gigs are spaced that far apart. As we approach T-2 weeks and counting, it is clear that we are all weary of 8-hour travel days and the vans. Next weekend we apparently will be home in Staunton for two days, with one more trip after that before opening with Planet on April 1. Everybody is holding up well under the circumstances, and at least here in the south the greening up of the countryside and the mountains are a welcome exchange from the cold, flat, brown prairie. There are very clear signs of spring in this area, and this morning as I write on a crisp sunny morning the mountains in the distance are a very beautiful sight. Jessica and I tried to find a place to hike yesterday, but everything was too far away and she was not feeling too well, so we shall wait until Shenandoah.

Thursday brought us to the Cornerstone Center for the Arts in Muncie, Indiana. The space itself was gorgeous - an opera house environment within an old Masonic Temple. There was a humongous chandelier hanging above the audience, and a mural above the front of the stage on the ceiling. Apparently there are many more of these in the building. The dressing rooms were sort of tiered along the stage left area, from mainstage level to second floor. The space was old, but sort of dignified, reminding me a little bit of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. But although the space was nice, the audience ended up being an obnoxious group of kids, by far the most obnoxious we have encountered. It made the show very difficult to perform, and left everyone in a prety bad mood by the end of the show and the Q&A. It was more than talking; it was just the snide, smug attitude they brought to the event. We could not win the group of boys on the stage right side over, so we settled for getting through the show and out by noon. Done. The staff was very cordial and nice, and I should not paint the audience with such a broad stroke, because there were some audience members who enjoyed the show, and some mentally challenged kids in the house as well who were having a good time. It's so very hard to concentrate on those having a good time when the knuckleheads are at your elbow. One of the great traps of direct audience contact is that, when faced with hecklers, you, as the actor, are constrained, because you don't have the same freedom in those circumstances as the audience has. If we REALLY wanted to have "direct audience contact" then perhaps we should be as free as the actors in Shakespeare's day probably were to handle the hecklers. Ah well, you can't win them all.

Thursday we had a troupe meeting to discuss some issues relative to Richard III and to the interludes and pre-show stuff when we get back to the Blackfriars in April. I did not have much to discuss in either context, so I pretty much sat and listened to other's ideas. After the meeting I took a walk out into the suburban MallofAmerica landscape, roamed through a Best Buy, got caught in a small hailstorm, and wandered back to the motel room to begin watching the evening's sports presentations. I have been following the World Baseball Classic, and believe me it has been worth watching. At this point the final is set for Cuba and Japan, but I had been rooting for Korea and Puerto Rico. Team USA was not playing well at all, and their lack of preparation was evident throughout the whole series. It's sort of that same arrogant USA approach to all international sports except maybe soccer - throw together a team of professional players and expect to beat everyone. Well, it don't work that way. All the other teams had their fundamentals sound, and it's interesting to note that the Cubans, an essentially amateur team, and Japan, a country where fundamental baseball is the name of the game, are the teams in the championship. Even teams like Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico had MLB players who are not skills players, and so they lost. I am sorry for Team Korea, who pitched so well and played such great ball beating Japan twice, that due to how the brackets worked they get eliminated even though their record is 5-1. Such is playoff ball. And in watching the NCAA Tournament, Syracuse is already out if it, losing to Texas A&M in the first round. Typical of Syracuse at times, this is not the first time they've had a first-round loss. Usually if they get past the first round they have a good tournament, but such was not to be. Gerry McNamara couldn't play after that great run in the Big East Championship. So it goes. All in all Thursday was not one of the better days in my life.

Then guess what? Friday - another 8-hour van ride. From Muncie IN we took off for Greeneville TN and our Tusculum performance on Saturday night. The drive took us through Knoxville, bypassing Cinncinatti and Lexington KY, where we had lunch in a Waffle House where all the employees had Universuty of Kentucky T-Shirts on. I've come to like Waffle Houses - simple food cooked up right on the grill in front of you. Probably too fatty, but in moderation it's OK. Our performace yesterday in Tusculum was pretty good, given that it had been a long time since we had done a full Much Ado. For the record - Tusculum College gets the prize for worst dining hall food this leg. Nothing about last night's show really stood out except Tyler's dive into the stage left gallant seats during the gulling scene. It was a very nice audience, good receptive house. And yesterday was Tyler's 26th birthday, so during the pre-show the Blackfriars Four sang "Happy Birthday" to him on stage before "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." After the show some of the troupe went to help Tyler celebrate, but I stayed in for the semifinal game between Korea and Japan, which Japan won 6-1. I did not see the whole game, falling asleep during the rain delay, but I did see all the scoring.

So today - Sunday - is a travel day again, about 6 hours to Raleigh, where tomorrow we get sort of a day off. Due to some confusion and delay, we have to stay in two different hotels while there. So tonight is one hotel, and during our day off we have to switch hotels. The second one is nice, I hear. We are in Raleigh for a few days, doing both the 90-minute and the full Much Ado, and then Planet the second night. From there it's off to Lexington VA to Virginia Military Academy and then to Lewisburg WV for a Much Ado, and then home for a weekend. I am going to give the same lecture at North Carolina State that I gave at UA-Huntsville for a special workshop, so I have to polish that up a bit.

I must say that today the drive is pretty spectacular. As I write this we are passing through the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina, just east of Asheville NC. From Greeneville TN we drove up into the mountains and along a very winding mountain raod, following the Paint Creek. The road was hilly, winding and narrow, but the view was very nice. There were some nice hollows within the mountains, and as we came to a crossroads in the river there was a spot where several fishermen were flyfishing for trout. The area was dotted with some very nice houses mixed with some run-down shacks. We've crossed the Appalachians in several places now in the south, and every time it's been quite nice. Again, I am struck by the beauty of the scenery and the temperateness of the climate. It's no wonder people like to retire down to this part of the country. You get the benefit of four seasons but not the bitter harshness of deep winters, with earlier springs and slightly longer falls. Hard to beat. Makes me long for a weekend on my land. -TWL

Pretty Pebbles - 3/14/06

2006-03-14T14:45:00.000-05:00

Waverly, IA - You may have wondered where I've disappeared to in the last few days. The answer lies in the fact that we've had an unusually long amount of time off, and during that time I found myself with limited access to the internet. It wouldn't have mattered much, however, as I just spent the time laying low anyway.

The chronological details are that we went from Pella IA to Platteville WI on Thursday, did R3 on Thursday night at UW-Platteville, and essentially had off from then until yesterday (Monday) when we travelled to Waverly IA to perform Planet at Wartsburg College this evening. The show at Platteville was a fairly typical performance of R3, a little better than the past few performances. We did the show in the Brodbeck Music Hall, a very nice space as it stands for music and acoustics, but a little big for our show, I think. The gallant stools were packed with students, and I think they stayed with us through the performance.

But the essence of this post is not so much about the performances at Platteville; it's about me rummaging through the attics of my mind and dusting off a few items I was forced to put up there. Many of you might know I spent eight seasons (85-86, 90-94, 98) with the Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival, which took place on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. It was a summer Shakespeare festival started by Tom Collins, Wendy Collins and Tom Goltry back in 1977. They were the theatre department at the college; Collins was the performance/historian guy while Goltry concentrated mostly on tech and design with some acting thrown in. Wendy was not technically on the faculty, but served as the festival's resident costume designer. It was a small festival, drawing its actors mainly from graduate training programs and the Milwaukee/Madison area, and lasted for 23 years until 1999, when a new university chancellor essentially pulled the plug on the festival and stole the foundation money which the festival had earned through the years. Collins and Goltry have both since retired; Collins to Arizona, and Goltry remains in Platteville. It had been eight years since the last summer I spent there as Associate Artistic Director and director of The Miser.

I think it's fair to say that all throughout my middling acting career I have sought to work in the atmosphere of an ensemble troupe, a collection of actors who work often together and through the years develop that sense of playing together, knowing each other's tendencies, and building a body of work together. In short, I prefer situations where I, as an artist, have a "home." The WSF was, for the time it existed, that kind of home for me. I went back because people there appreciated my work and effort and offered me my first opportunity since getting out of graduate school to do significant acting work. As I developed my work in the city of Buffalo, I alternated with Shakespeare in Delaware Park, sometimes for family reasons, sometimes financial. But I loved going back to Platteville when I could.

I find it somewhat difficult to describe the attraction of Platteville and the WSF to outsiders. After all, it was a small festival set in the middle of nowhere, a very small midwestern town. I think it's because most theatre people tend to track their careers towards ever-growing and ever-more-recognized theatres and venues in larger and larger cities. I don't deny that in the back of my head I have those aspirations at times, but in reality I have been quite satisfied with finding smaller situations for myself. My teaching career is a reflection of that; I have not chosen to move up the ladder of university theatre departments, but have been quite content teaching in an undergraduate program at a small state college. I very much like working in Buffalo rather than pursuing a career in some other cities. And the same held true of Platteville. The WSF was more than a Shakespeare festival to me; it was a collection of good people, both from the festival and from the town, who became colleagues and friends, and in some instances like second family. I came to know a great many people in the area, I came to know the area itself quite well (particularly its golf courses), and it really was in so many ways a second home. I mean, a foursome for golf on a day off might include myself, the janitor of the Fine Arts Center, the superintendent of the local water and sewage plant (who doubled as an actor by night) and the lighting designer. That's the kind of place it was.

And we did some good theatre, and at times even great theatre. Our height was during that run in the 90s, when we assembled some fine talent from Milwaukee and the PTTP at Univ. Delaware. So many names - Michael Duncan, Lee Ernst, Laura Gordon, Laurie Birmingham, Mark Meinart, Elizabeth Heflin, Haasan El-Amin, Mic Woicek, Paul Steger, Mark Herold, Stevie Ray Dallimore, Chip Duford, Carine Montbertrand and so many more - all came through this way. During that time the festival was making a name for itself and gaining more credibility as a fine place to see Shakespeare. It's too bad that its demise came so quickly and brutally and it was not given a chance to re-locate or grow.

So, in visiting the area with the Blackfriars Stage Company after all these years, my mind and heart sort of got caught up in flood of memories of good times now gone. In a lot of ways the history of the festival has all but disappeared from UW-P's records and the town's memories. In its place is the Heartland Festival, an attempt to bring musical theatre into the area for the summer done by essentially amateurs. There is only one banner from the WSF hanging in the scene shop. I thought of stealing it, but then I thought that it was the only item from the WSF I could see that was still in the building apart from the Mary Barnes and Bert Glanz plaques, so I left it there. The UW-P has no section of its web site dedicated to the festival, and I have no idea if there are any archived records of its existence on campus. Dust in the wind.

So with my time there I looked up old friends and went about examining the city. When I arrived on Thursday I walked into the theatre after lunch, and who should be sitting there but old Doc Goltry. He had retired some 5 or 6 years earlier and had not set foot into the Center for the Arts since then, but it so fell out that the current musical theatre teacher and her husband had ferreted him out of his house to come down and design/consult on the set for their upcoming production of Pirates of Penzance. He was the last person I expected to see sitting there, but we had a hearty greeting and chatted up old times for about two hours. We were joined by Jim Trenberth, longtime lighting designer for the festival, from Iowa State. Also on campus was Michael Duncan, who graduated from UW-Platteville and did 14 seasons with WSF. He was in town because he was doing some initial consulting for the Heartland Festival, for which he's directing a show in the summer. I had alerted most of these people I was coming in, so we had a dinner reunion at Uno's Pizzeria, and what a fun reunion it was. This Uno's is not the Chicago chain, but an independent restuarant which has been there since I've known the town. I knew the original owner as well as the present owner, and a number of wait staff over the years (in particular Diane, who used to greet me with a wet bartowel to the face the first time I walked in any summer). The place looked exactly the same, complete with a rendering of one Wendy's costume designs, and the trivia contest (which I answered correctly and got a free drink for Trenberth). Even the menu appeared the same, designed like a newspaper, complete with Tater Tuesday and Fettucini Friday. Soon enough the gang showed up: Doc and Carol Goltry, Maggie and Steve Kleisath with their daughter Katie and Maggie's mom Margaret (this is my "adopted family" in Platteville and my hosts for the time I stayed in town), Michael Duncan, Jim and I. Like old times. Doc's wife Carol is pretty close to being blind these days, but she hugged me fiercely, sat next to me and held my hand for a long time. I hated to go but I had a show to do, so I left to make a 6:00 call. After the show, I had arranged with Maggie for a small party at her house, so most of the company showed up at 11:00 PM to chat and party (thanks guys!). The company was dispersing the next day; some going to see loved ones, some friends, some family; the rest were having the time off in Madison.

The next morning I had breakfast with Jim and Michael at the Owl Cafe, one of my favorite haunts in P'ville. It's a small hometown cafe with about six tables and a counter crammed into a tiny space. The same people who operated it eight years ago were still there, Big Jim still making the best omlettes in the world. I had a Wundoe omlette, made with Wun-Doe-Mus, a local spice blend composed mostly of salt, Hungarian paprika, white and black pepper, onion and garlic powder. It's delicious and gar-ron-teed. It's a giant, fluffy omlette with Wun-doe-mus spice, sausage, salsa, sour cream and cheese with onions and peppers. Nothing else like it on the planet (I should have taken a picture). Great talk with Michael and Jim about old times. Then Jim and I went over to Doc Goltry's place for coffee and conversation, and Mike Willis, now retired from the sewage plant and helping his daughter open a sports store, came over for more chat about old friends and old times.

Now, Doc Goltry is a big, burly man, not easily given to semtiment. If you can imagine a Wilford Brimley, look-alike, that's Doc. He has a collection of sayings which he would frequently employ when directing or just hanging around the theatre. We were talking about the good old days, and we could tell Doc missed it a lot. He said one thing that stuck with me, which I believe he attributed to Mark Twain. He was talking about all the fun we had at the festival, how throughout the school year he'd always look forward to the summer and when the actors and technicians got it. He said, "You know, theatre is something like the ocean. It's so vast, that no one ever gets to see the whole thing at once and up close. But there's something to be said for standing on the beach and playing with the pretty pebbles. That's what we did, guys, play with the pretty pebbles, and damn, it was a good time!" The whole experience was happy and sad at the same time. Wistful, with a glint of tears in the eyes. As Friar Francis says in Much Ado:

For it so falls out,
That what we have we prize not to the worth
Whiles we enjoy it; but being lack'd and lost,
Why then we rack the value, then we find
The virtue that possession would not show us
Whiles it was ours.

although I think we all knew what we had in some measure.

So Jim had to get back to Ames, and I went back to the Kleisaths, where Maggie was kind enough to give me the keys to Steve's Mazda Miata. The day was gorgeous and warm, so I dropped the top and took off over the county roads of the area, up and down the rolling hills of Southwest Wisconsin. Man, was that fun. Not only was the day beautiful, but the scenery was gorgeous, and Wisconsin's famous "dairy air" was in full aroma. I had seldom seen the area in anything but spring and summer bloom, so driving around in mid-March was a new experience. You can see so far and so wide that it's breathtaking. I could have driven for hours and hours, but I contained my enthusiasm and restricted myself to the Grant/Lafayette/Iowa county areas north and east of P'ville. My final stop was The Mound, home of the famous "World's Biggest M." The Mound now has a staircase going to the top (not in my day), so I climbed to the top for the view. I used to go there often with Jim or Paul or Mic on evenings with a 6-pack and perch there on an outcropping, talking, contemplating the stars and moon, the view, etc. It was a tradition to go up the mound on July 4, because from that vantage point you could see every fireworks display from every town within a 10-mile radius on a clear day. You can check out my picture page for some shots from the mound, one of which now graces my desktop.

For most of the rest of the time I simply stayed and ate and conversed with Maggie and Steve, who are two of the finest souls ever to grace the planet. They've become good family friends, of course, but I think at times I'm more like a wayward son to them. They adopted me and my family the first year Ann Marie and I were there. Ann Marie and Maggie both were La Leche League leaders, and both had Girl Scouts (the Kleisaths have three girls, all Girl Scouts along with Jenna). So they made some natural connections, and Ann Marie got in with a bunch of other mothers from the area. Maggie was a member and past president of the Ann Hathaway guild, a group composed of women who supported the festival and did things like "adopt an actor" and have them over for dinner. They also made tarts for sale at intermission for each show, and the actors used to get the leftovers during the second act. Their youngest daughter, Katie, was on her way to South Carolina for spring break, and their second daughter Beth and her new husband Joe came down from LaCrosse to visit me (Becky, their oldest, lives in St. Louis with her husband Craig and their new son William - guess who he was named after?) So I relaxed by staying with them for the most part. I watched the World Baseball Classic, and also took a side trip to Dyersville, IA and the Field of Dreams, the location for the movie of the same name with Kevin Kostner, Amy Madigan and James Earl Jones. Then, on Monday afternoon, the company came by to pick me up, and here I am in Waverly.

So that was my excursion into the mists of my past - a happy, joyful time mixed with a wistful longing for friends and experiences now fading fast in my rearview mirror. This acting business, for those of you reading this blog who might be thinking about this profession or finding yourself struggling in the midst of it, is in many ways an itinerant one. We wander from place to place, from city to city, from job to job. On this tour I have felt this wandering feeling moreso than at any point in my career, traveling from venue to venue. The adventuring is fun, but there is also that longing to return "home" to Staunton (which really isn't anyone's "home" at all, but the best we have at the moment). I've been a very, very lucky person in this business, because in my career I've been able to find two theatrical homes; one in Platteville for eight wonderful seasons, and one in Buffalo NY for almost 17 years. I like having a theatrical home, and I think in many ways it's something a lot of actors long for; a place to hang your hat, get steady work, and call it "home" at the end of the day. Spending four days in my former summer home has been a wonderful feeling, offering a sense of familiarity, place, and peace. While it may be true that you can never go home again, catching pieces of it glinting in the late winter sun across miles of vista is not a bad substitute. -TWL

Rainy Days and Wednesdays - 3/8/06

2006-03-08T15:28:00.000-05:00

Pella, IA - Two rainy days have produced little to do except blog. Yesterday I took a walk to downtown Pella, sat at Smoky Row coffee house with Daniel, went to campus for lunch, and then the heavens opened up with rain. So in essence I got stuck on campus. Fortunately the student center cafe had a TV, so I picked up the World Baseball Classic. Saw the Dominican Republic beat Venezuela and USA beat Mexico. Dinner, R3 and bed essentially finished up yesterday.

Today it started raining again in the AM. My only agenda had been to go downtown and take the pictures I couldn't take yesterday, but with the rain I sat it out. Right at this very moment the rain has let up, but I ended up watching the Syracuse-Cinncinati basketball game with Tyler, my roommate here in Pella (who's also got nothing to do but blog). We are both Syracuse fans; remarkably, he's been following the Orange since he was a kid growing up in Syracuse and going to high school right near the campus. I've been an Orange fan since my days in Oswego, so it made for a good match. I should have gone on the hotel treadmill in the morning, but did not. Syracuse won an exciting game with 0.5 seconds left on a walking 3-point shot by senior Gerry McNamara. Now I have the WBC on again; Panama v. Cuba, with USA v. Canada up next at 3:00. Andrew came down to the room, so I gave my camera to Sarah and she will take photos of downtown for you to see. It really is a cute downtown, with the new mixed nicely into the old. There is a very nicely done mini-mall in the center of town, an historical village, the nearby Red Rocks dam area for recreation. I have it marked in my mind as a place to return for a small vacation while traveling someday. Places like these are also retirement possibilities; small town with tourist appeal, small college to teach some adjunct courses, probably nice houses for little money and low taxes. Not for awhile, though.

The shows have been taking a beating lately, it seems. Carie has been less than satisfied with our latest efforts. I have been trying to find some new wrinkles in my characters to breathe some new life in them (and fight the boredom), but apparently it's coming out as "unfocused." Personally, while onstage I do not sense any lack of of effort by anyone, so it's a bit hard to see where this lack of focus is, because nothing specific is being mentioned. Yes, we are tired; yes, we have done these shows for a long time; but without some specific notations I am not sure how to proceed. I know in R3 last night I tried some new approaches based on the space (more intimate approaches to vocal work, more of a sense as Hastings that I do suspect something is up after my scene with Catesby, more of a "thug" character for my citizen in the battlement scene, more of a "quiet, slow strength" for Oxford in terms of physical movement) to see if I could find new wrinkles in each character; perhaps that experimentation appears as "unfocused" in some way. And even though the show last night came in on time at 2:05, it seemed "slow." There are always so many factors to take into account when you travel to so many venues, play in such different spaces from day to day, have such different audience responses from venue to venue, that it's often difficult to find the true cause of why any particular performance might not be up to snuff. Chatting with people at the merchandise table led me to believe the non-students last night enjoyed the show; three people came up to Jessica to congratulate her work on Margaret. But today, it seems resting in the room and taking it easy might be the best way for me to have a very focused show with Planet tonight and then get a good R3 in at Platteville before our "break."

We are getting an unintended long break in Platteville, because the high school performance I helped to secure at Platteville HS has fallen through. The principal felt he had to cancel after his faculty told him they had too many tests scheduled on Friday, which is the last day before their spring break. So we may do a workshop at the college on Friday, but no show. The company will move to Madison for the duration until Monday, when we travel to Waverly IA, but I will be staying in Platteville with good friends from my days at Wisconsin Shakes. A home environment, good friends, good food, Leinenkugel beer and hot tub - I could do worse. -TWL

Cattle to Corn - 3/6/06

2006-03-06T23:23:00.000-05:00

Pella, IA - After a 535-mile trip from Stillwater to Pella, IA (yes, it's the home of those famous Pella windows) on Sunday, we are now in the midst of our residency at Central College. The college is a very quaint place, with nice brick buildings, set amidst a small town which features its Dutch heritage. There is a big tower in the middle of town celebrating the tulip, as well as many windmills. I haven't had the time to take any pictures yet because today was pretty filled up with activities and load-in. Central College had brought in some high schools for workshops in the morning and Much Ado 90 minute in the afternoon. After that I hung out at the student center doing emails and trying to get all the scheduling done for Platteville, then dinner, then back to the Amerihost Inn on the edge of town.

My day off in Stillwater OK was pretty good, if I say so myself. The morning started off well, with breakfast downstairs at the Ranchers Club. This was their idea of a continental breakfast: a ham/mushroom quiche, bacon, hash browns, orange juice, and of course the usual fruit, yogurt, bagels, etc. But how a place like that can serve such a nice breakfast and have such weak coffee is beyond me. Then off to do the company laundry with Daniel. Usually I do not like doing the laundry on my day off, but it was the best opportunity to make sure the laundry was fresh for Pella. The earlier you do it, the better. The laundromat was a combination of a bar and laundry, with a big-screen TV, a pool table, and what appeared to be beer taps. They may have taken taken the taps down on Sat. morning, but I have a feeling that the name of the place - Suds and Duds - was something of a giveaway. We had to go out and get some decent coffee however, so we walked over to the Hideaway and loaded up. We found out when we got back that we weren't supposed to bring back drinks from outside, but by that time our laundry was about done so we folded and left. Then we walked over to Eskimo Joe's, which is supposedly the most famous bar in Stillwater. It was, however, too crowded to do what we wanted to do, which was eat lunch and watch the West Virginia-U-Cinncinati basketball game, so we walked across the street to some dive and sat there and watched the game. It was pretty clear from the outset that the bartender was unprepared to serve anyone anything beyond beer, but we tried. We order a pork sandwich, which came in hot dog buns. All the soda was warm, and we weren't drinking beer, so I settled for a bottle of water. At least we had a clear view of the game. As soon as the game was over, we left that place and headed back to the hotel. Daniel went to work out, and at 2:00 I went over to the baseball stadium for another dose of Cowboy baseball. The day was alternately sunny and overcast, but nothing beats a day at the ball park. As I was watching the game, Chris Seiler calls me up and ends up joining me at the ballpark. So we have a great day watching the Cowboys beat up on UCal-Northridge 8-2. Had it not been for two throwing errors by the Cowboy catcher to third base, the Cowboys would have shut out Northridge. The catcher made up for it, though, by hitting a two-run homer later on, a good long poke to the left-center wall. After the game, Chris, Daniel Tyler and I went back down to the Rancher's Club for the Oklahoma steak experience, and boy, it was quite the treat.

They served us in teams, with a lovely young lady as the head server. All the servers were students in the hospitality program, learning the craft of fine service dining. The first thing we get are warm napkins. Then the wine steward comes over to ask about our wine selection for the evening. This we left to Daniel, our troupe wine expert (he has serious connections in the Napa Valley :-) ). He picked an excellent Zinfandel, nice and robust and dry. We went in for appetizers: crawfish cakes, huge shrimp, and an antipasto. All were excellent. Salads next. Then we had a sorbet to clear the palate. The the main course, a 12-ounce Oklahoma strip steak, medium, with chipolte yams and grilled veggies. The steak was very tender, spiced ad grilled well. Dessert was one slice of french silk pie shared three ways. Each one of these items was brought by a different person, and the ensemble was wonderful entertainment. We talked and laughed for two-and-a-half hours, and dropped some serious cash in the end. But as a change of pace from dining hall food and fast food, it sure was worth it. After dinner, back upstairs to catch the upset of Duke by UNC, packing, and sleep. Pretty good day off. The evening's only bummer was that Tyler got sick during dinner. He got a pretty stiff headache, so bad he couldn't eat his steak (he ate it later on the way to Pella), and I gave him some aspirin to relieve his pain. I think his previous night of drinking had finally caught up to him. I understand eight Maker's Mark and Cokes will stay with you quite awhile.

But it seems as if my body is running down a bit, I think. All during the OK stay I felt my body being slightly sore and stiff. I worked out only once, but after the workout I felt tired. In fact, I've sort of had a fatigued feeling for some time now. I don't quite know what to do about it, exactly. I keep thinking maybe the old body has reached its limits, and I'm a little nervous that some of the weight is creeping back. So I've cut back a little on food and still have to find ways to work out. I'm thinking of walking to the campus tomorrow, about 1.25 miles I believe. It's not as if I've been that physically busy, but perhaps sitting in the van and traveling takes more out of me than I think it does. Who knows.

I also have to admit that I am trying to find ways to fight boredom. My last day off was very good, but I am beginning to feel boredom creeping in. At first I wasn't able to identify it as such; it was just an "off" feeling, almost like being slightly depressed. But then I realized I wasn't listening to my podcasts, having a hard time reading books, XM radio was the same day after day (as is the news), and getting-in-the-van-traveling-stopping-at-a-truck-stop-pissing-traveling-eating-lunch
-pissing-getting-to-the-motel-unpacking-sleeping-loading-in-doing-a-show(s)-
loading-out-getting-in-the-van....was also become just a tad old. Admitting I was bored was actually a good thing, because now I can figure out ways to fight it. And perhaps this is an occupational hazard of touring. I mean, you have to expect at some point that things will become routine and - well, boring. So I have to find something to break the boredom. I've heard there are some interesting water towers in Pella to climb. Maybe..... -TWL

Oklahoma OK! - 3/2/06

2006-03-03T01:02:00.000-05:00

Stillwater OK - The lonesome prairie. Home on the range. Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains. Cowboy up! Howdy, pard'ner!

After a quick ride from Russellville we arrived in Stillwater OK and the campus of Oklahoma State University, the Cowboys. Having graduated from the University of Nebraska I feel as if I'm in enemy territory. Not only is this our farthest stop west, it's by far our biggest college/university venue to date. We also have North Carolina State on deck in a few weeks. We're lodged at the Atherton Hotel, an on-campus hotel which is pretty posh. This evening we performed Much Ado to a nice crowd of people at the Seretean Center Concert Hall, which is a recital hall holding about 500 people. Tomorrow we do an NEA matinee of Much Ado, and then an evening performance of R3. We also have our day off in Stillwater, which is good because there is a lot right around the edge of the campus (and from the looks of things the campus IS downtown Stillwater). Our other choice back in January was a day off in Pella IA, which is our next stop. Thank god Stillwater won out.

As soon as we arrived Daniel and I had laundry duty, so we went to do the company laundry, accompanied by Kevin and Olivia. Kevin went to the Creative Lab home office, which is in Stillwater, to have his Zen player repaired. During our laundry session we also went over to a nearby Japanese restaurant and had some sushi. It was good, but not outstanding. You can bet your bottom dollar I will have a steak here in cattle country before I leave, though. Despite the fact that this is a college town, there isn't much open after 10:00 PM except the bars, so getting food has been problematical. There is a real nice fancy restaurant in the hotel called the Rancher, and that's where they served continental breakfast this morning, which was more than continental. It was eggs, bacon and hash browns, with coffee (which was weak) and orange juice, yogurts, breads, etc. Pretty nice, actually. I went down to the lobby not really dressed, thinking it was a standard continental breakfast, and when I walked into the Rancher I felt totally underdressed, as there must have been a dozen suits in there of one kind or another., having their power breakfast. Deans and the like. Yikes. A place like this makes me realize how small SUNY Fredonia really is; not only that, but the absurdity of calling Fredonia a "university" when placed next to OSU. OSU is a university; Fredonia is a college.

Today I did not do too much to fill the day up. I have a single this stop, and usually that allows a bit more freedom of movement. So I ate breakfast, got dressed and went out in search of better coffee. I found a place called The Third Place and got some coffee, but I have since found out there is a Daily Grind here (not the same as the Virginia chain) which has better coffee. I sat there, browsed the web and email, wrote some people, and set about writing more descriptions on my Flickr Photo Page, which I have been so negligent in doing. I hope to catch up on more of that tomorrow. A workout on the treadmill, a few phone calls, a short nap, and the show. That's the day.

I like the plains states. I was thinking about that as I sat in the van on the way to Stillwater, reading Proof and Amy Goodman's latest book The Exception to the Rulers, which Daniel bought and has lent me (we are both sort of addicted to the Democracy Now! podcasts). The first view of the prairie came at a truck stop at the beginning of the turnpike turning north towards Tulsa. There was a field with a center pivot irrigation setup in it, and it brought me back to Nebraska days. I recall when I first moved to the midwest I didn't like it, but after three years I found it had grown on me, and I have a fondness for it whenever I return, almost as if there's a "home" sensation to it. I like the big skies, the wide-open vistas, and the people. The midwest somehow seems to have a genuine sense of living life to it that I find missing in the east sometimes, especially in the cities. Although I am not planning on it, I could retire to the midwest easily. Upstate NY has that same open feeling about it as well, which I like, but that sense of pioneer spirit is missing from NY. Upstate NY is more placid, more settled, while the plains states still strive to keep that rugged pioneer spirit going. Being someone who has always valued that sense of freedom, I think that's what attracts me about the plains states the most.

Something else has seemed eerie to me lately as well, and that has been the almost total lack of winter for me. There was some little snow in Staunton in December, some snow during my two weeks home in January, but other than that I have not seen hardly any snow anywhere else; not in MN, IA, IL or any of the states we visited in January-February. We've had cold temps, but no snow. In fact, yesterday it was at least 82 degrees in Stillwater when we arrived (today only 61 and rainy/cloudy). My seasonal bioclock is all screwed up due to this. I have to keep reminding myself in my head that it is only March 2, even though it feels like May down here. The lack of a winter is not too difficult to take, but it's still strange and eerie to me. I feel guilty as I look at weather reports from back in Dunkirk (where maybe 6" of snow fell today) and I can't imagine seeing that much snow. Of course, in the next week or so we head back to iowa and Wisconsin, where reality may slap us right back in the face, but then we go back south again, and by the end of March it's back to Staunton. Will I actually manage to escape a winter? I've suffered less from SAD this year because of it. Hhhmmmmmm......

That sort of brings you up to date, actually. A lot less to write when you don't wait a week to catch up on the blog. I think everyone at this point feels happy and well. One thing is certain; we love the hotel! Guys back in Staunton - book this gig again! That's the word from the road. I might even have a chance to see the Cowboys play some Div1 baseball on Saturday if it doesn't rain. Spring training, the World Baseball Classic - things are coming alive! -TWL

Small Worlds - 2/28-3/1/06

2006-02-26T22:58:00.000-05:00

(NB - If you've already read Part I, skip down to Part 2 below - TWL)

Huntsville, AL - Well, not exactly. It's more accurate to say that I'm on Interstate 40 in Arkansas, heading to our next destination from Huntsville. Hawk viewing is a popular sport today as we go through AL, MS, TN and AR on this trip. But close enough. Hunstville was a mix of many things, so much so that it's hard to know where to start. I guess, when in doubt, nothing gets you going like a chronology of events. So let's start there.

Tuesday 2/21 - A travel day from Monroe NC to Huntsville AL. The route took us through a chunk of road we've already passed, through Atlanta and Birmingham and then up to Huntsville. It was an unusual route in that we had to go a bit south in order to come up back north. No real east-west routes were available through the very southern foothils of the Appalachians (as I guess). Huntsville is a city which has as the foundation of its economy NASA research and a large militray base. As a consequence, the University of Alabama-Huntsville is a college which concentrates on the sciences and engineering. We were hosted by the English Honors program. Our lodgings were on campus, in a complex called the Bevil Center. What was really sweet was that the space we played in was in the building right next door, a large open space reminiscent of Lee Hall in Fredericksburg MD. They set up platforms for us, and it was a pretty wide and live space. Jessica was my roommate for this stop, so we moved in and went over to the university center to explore the space and get a little food. Later that evening we went to a movie sponsored by the student Democratic group entitled Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices. The documentary itself was of questionable quality but it got its point across; so well, in fact, that Jessica has sworn off going to Wal-Mart for company supplies or any other reason. My wife has been all along a Wal-Mart boycotter, and I think after this film I'll have to join her. The clinchers for me were Wal-Mart's deliberate use of government social services as a subsidy for not providing living wages or health insurance to its workers, and images from the Chiese factories where Wal-Mart makes some of its goods. Also, I should mention how little the billionaire Walton family returns philanthropically to society - a total of $6,000 on one recorded year. For me the realization that all this is deliberate corporate policy, and not just an after-effect of being large, seals the deal. Finding Target stores has replaced finding Wal-Mart stores on the road.

Wednesday 2/22 - This was sort of an all-around lazy day. The weather was none too good; rainy all day. I found the fitness center and went down there in the morning to get on the treadmill. Lately it has been hard to find a place to exercise, and I had begun to worry I was putting on a few of those pounds I had lost. But I weighed in at 192, so I'm maintaining but still haven't cracked that 190 barrier yet. It was a great fitness facility, with very nice treadmills, a track, and a very interesting stretching cage. There was a pool there as well, but I did not see a hot tub. I think the one they had was outdoors, and it was too cold to go out there. After my 35 minutes on the treadmill and some laps around the track, Jessica and I signed out the van in the morning and went food shopping with our per diem. We had a microwave and refrigerator in the room, so doing some shopping keeps us from going to restaurants. I grabbed some bananas, chocolate milk and three Healthy Choice dinners, plus a bag of pretzels. We did treat ourselves to some sushi across the street. The afternoon went by sort of surfing the net and making last-minute preparations for my Friday presentation. We loaded in around 5 that afternoon and started off the run with R3 that night.

As I mentioned in my last post, this is a "season ticket" stop, with S2 having been a regular feature for maybe 15-16 years here. So there's a devoted following among faculty and the Huntsville Literary Association. So our audiences for all three shows were very receptive and looking forward to each evening. They also book in some local high schools, but unlike other venues the high school crowds come in the evening. RIchard's audience was small but receptive, and the show went well all around. Jessica and I were running very low on merchandise, but nonetheless we did pretty good business with what we had. But it was obvious from doing the first show that people were ready to visit the merch booth. A beer and some pretzels rounded off the day.

Thursday, 2/23 - Off to the fitness center again for a workout. I walked over with Daniel, who has been pushing himself extra hard on the bicycle lately. I did 40 minutes this day, burning off about 300 calories. After showering and eating lunch, I went over to the University Center to meet with Dr. Jerry Mebane, the man who runs the Honors program and sort of coordinates our visit. He is a very kind and mild-mannered gentleman, soft spoken in a sort of Southern gentleman way. He's a Renaissance Lit guy and has been at UA-H for going on 20 years or so. He was kind enough to take my presentation and load it on his computer, so we tested out all the equipment and had a nice chat. He gave me some idea of what to expect. After we finished I went back to the room and took a nap, as I was sort of beginning to feel some tightness and fatigue from the workouts. A Healthy Choice dinner, and off to the theatre!

Much Ado that night went very well. It was the largest of all three audiences, as this was the show the area high schools had booked the most. They had to drag in chairs to seat the overflow of people who showed up, so the place was packed. I think it's safe to say that we had the audience eating out of our hands during the show, as they were with us every minute. I think the thing that all of us like best about the show is that we take the audience on quite a roller coaster ride, moving from hilarity to pathos to hilarity. This audience really, I think, came with us on this night through the whole journey, and that made the evening very satisfying.

Following the performance the Honors Society sorority, Sigma Tau Epsilon, gave us a reception at a building which was a former one-room schoolhouse and is now an art gallery. They cooked up some mean food, all right - fired chicken, fried catfish, ham, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs and an assortment of salads and such. They topped it off with a trifle, which is a combination of pudding, cake, sherry and fruit. Actors being actors, we naturally stuffed ourselves. I sat down at a table with some faculty members and other adults, while the rest of the troupe mixed in with other attendees and the sorority members. The students, of course, gave us tips on where to go in town for fun and amusement and offered to accompany us. More on that later. And there was this great 80-year-old southern belle who put on quite a show for everyone in the place, Full of compliments, and apparently still living the high life. If Blanche DuBois had lived to be 80 she would have been this woman. After the reception, a beer (no pretzels) and sleep.

Friday, 2/24 - As I got up, had coffee and prepared to go to the gym, Jessica suggested that we go take a hike up on Monte Sano State Park. We were thinking of doing that on Saturday, our day off, but the weather report indicated Friday was going to be the better of the two days. We both needed to do laundry as well, so the plan became gathering the laundry, using a drop-off service (which I had never done before; $1 a pound, and I had 12 lbs. Turns out to be a bit more than doing it there, but you pay for the free time). After "breakfast for lunch" at Waffle House (Jessica's first visit), we went to the park and had a very good hike. Jessica had gotten directions from a hiking web site about some rock cuts (simiar to Panama Rocks for Fredonia readers), so we set off there. although we did not know it, we missed the first trail head and hiked tothe bottom of the saddle, where we found ourselves on the Mountain Mist Trail. The area has some 60 miles of trails through state lands in the are. Given that we started from the wrong trailhead the directions we had were wrong for us, but we didn't realize it until we came upon three people hiking down from the ridge. The man who set us on the right path was maybe in his late 60s and it was obvious he had just come out of the hospital.Both the back of his hands had IV bandages on them, his ears were bandaged and he had other hospital marks about him. But he was quite friendly (recognizing our northern accents) and asked if we were in the area as cultural ambassadors. When we told him what we were doing, he laughed at the inadvertent accurateness of his guess, but thought it was too much for an old redneck like himself. He set us on the right trail for the rock cuts, and soon we found ourselves there. The actual area was small but interesting You can check out the canyon movie here. Then back to the van and home by 3:00, where another nap beckoned. The walk was a fine substitute for the treadmill, and quite preferable.

That night I gave my pre-show lecture before Return. It went over very well, I think, and was fun to do. I got some laughs here and there. Members of the cast popped in and out to offer support but couldn't stay the whole time. If you want to see the Powerpoint presentation, just click right here, but be warned it's a 3.9MB file, because I did not bother to re-size the photos I used. The show itself was a hoot. There had been some concern that it would not be well-attended because the title is not well known and the public service ad in the local paper had not gotten published. But we pushed the show the previous two nights, and as a consequence there was a good-sized audience there. Musically it was one of the best we've done in a while, and the audience just enjoyed the hell out of it You could see the knowing nods of the boomers in the audience as each song began. We did an encore at the end of the show, and usually Jessica and I do not participate in the encore to make sure the merch booth is staffed for those people who do not stay through an encore, but this time no one left, so Jessica and I went back on the stage and danced Pulp Fiction style. Then we went back to the table and damn near sold almost everything else we had for sale. I don't have a final total, but I am sure we did close to $600 worth of business in the three days. Not too shabby. Then load-out, notes, picture, beer and pretzels, and sleep.

Saturday, 2/25 - Day off. I really didn't have any firm plans for the day off, so I sort of ended up floating with the tide all day. All I really knew was that I had a craving for a cigar, so I was going to try to get one somewhere. In the morning I called home to chat with Ann Marie and catch up on family doings, then spent some time helping Daniel out with some computer issues. The most well-known attraction in the area is the NASA Rocket Science Museum, and I had thought I was going to go there, but as it turned out I got in the "going downtown" van, so I spent the better part of the early afternoon walking around downtown Huntsville. There are some nice architectural structures, but apparently downtown Huntsville doesn't open until after 5PM on Saturday. It seemed to be one of those downtowns where, if the businesses aren't open, nothing else opens. So Daniel, Jessica and I sort of moseyed about looking for someplace to eat. The only place open was Humphrey's, a restaurant/bar which has live music, so we went there simply due to lack of other options. For lunch I had two Angus Beef Hot Dogs with Chow Chow and Bertman Ball Park mustard. We hung out there until about 4:15 or so, when Andrew and Sarah came downtown with a van to rescue us.

Now, our next stop needs some context. I had been looking for a place to buy a decent cigar, and when I was in the process of looking for a tobacco shop I ran across an ad in the Yellow Pages for a hookah bar. I have never been to a hookah bar, so I figured since all of this touring is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, I wanted to go to this hookah bar. I managed to talk everyone else into a trip down to this place. Others had had the hookah experience, so I knew i was going with some seasoned vets.

The place was named Hipocratease, and was not quite what I was told a classic hookah bar should be. In New York City, apparently these places have throw pillow on the floor and some sort of Turkish atmosphere. This place had a faux-hip-modern-70s look, and in addition to renting hookahs also sold cigars and massive amounts of porn. It was a bit bizarre as a mixture, to be sure. But we found a small corner in the back and sat down for a smoke. Those who partook enjoyed a shisha (which is basically a flavored tobacco) which I think had apples and raisins in it. You place the shisha in a bowl, cover it with aluminum foil, poke holes in the foil, and place a hot coal on top of the foil. Then you smoke through the water pipe. It had a very smooth, fruity flavor, and was a mild smoke. Very relaxing. The place happened to have a wireless connection, so I took out my Nokia 770 tablet and hooked up to WFUV Radio in Mew York City, which happened to have a George Harrison set playing, complete with sitar. Uncanny. I also found a nice little cigar, so I had the two going at once. Needless to say after about an hour or so my urge for tobacco was completely satiated.

(This is a long post, and I am now getting ready for bed and a 6:45 AM call tomorrow. So, to be continued...)

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PART 2

Russellville, AR (3/1) - Where was I? Oh yes....

Then we went off to an Indian restaurant for dinner. Nothing special there, good food, but I did see some sort of font which was exuding dry ice from it. I could not figure out how it was being done, but it was really pretty interesting, and I have to find out how to get one.

So it's now about 8PM or so, and we lose Jessica and Daniel and pick up Kevin. It's Andrew, Sarah, Kevin and I as we head downtown. The ladies from Sigma Tau had tipped us off to a place called Flying Monkey Arts, which turned out to be a converted factory now used essentially for young artists. It had a second floor which basically contained books, a series of artist studios, a scooter track, and several neat little nooks to sit down, read and chill. The place had a very eclectic and youthful feel to it. There were many young people there, and it was nice to know there was such a wonderful place for them to hang out and create what they wanted. Every city should have one of these, and it was sort of interesting to come to a place like Huntsville in the middle of the "backwards" South and find such a cool place for teens.

The downstairs had a performance space to it, basically a stage and a poor sound system, but nonetheless something that could host performance art and music acts and such. The performance they had that night was the Sex Workers Art Show, which was a collection of performance art by former sex workers. It was somewhat interesting, but for me it was also slightly boring. The younger ones seemed more interested in the work than I was. I took some pictures and some movies (I haven't uploaded stuff yet, but keep checking the pictures and movies links on the right sidebar to see when they go up) so you could get a taste of the show, but you should be warned it's for "mature viewing" and rated "X." But this group is playing some pretty good places like Bard College and other venues, so they must have something going for them. I just felt that many of the performances made their point in less than 5 minutes and became repetitive quickly.

Then we ended the night over at Humphrey's again, listening to Microwave Dave play the blues. The Sigma Tau girls were there to keep the young folks company, while I happened to talk with some faculty members from UA-H who had seen the shows. Nice to have some people my own age to talk to. Unfortunately at one point I lost my glasses, so now I'm working on a spare pair. And that was my day off in Huntsville!

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Here in Russellville we have done two NEA high school shows, one in Alma AR and the other in Russellville. Not too much to say about them other than they went well. The Alma gig was in a beautiful performance space which wasn't more than 4 years old, and we could not figure out why it was there. It's not like the area is heavily populated, but in the summer there are probably a good number of tourists, since this is Ozark Mountain area. The Russellville was in a converted space which on the outside was all boarded up and looked abandoned. It was some sort of day care/child care center that had an auditorium re-designed as a concert hall, and the bussed in maybe two English classes to see the show, so it was a small audience. Other than those two gigs we have had the days to ourselves. I was so tired on Monday that I couldn't bring myself to do much but go food shopping and hang out. I tried my best not to go to sleep (our call had been 6:45 AM) and was sort of successful. Lately I have been combining some workouts with shows, and it seems that I'm getting a little stiff. Yesterday, upon coming back from the show, I took a long walk around the Bona Dea Trail, which is basically along the woods and swamps formed from Lake Dardanelle. The lake is a dammed river, pretty nice for boating and such. Along the walk there were plenty of box turtles sunning on logs, some geese, bullfrogs, and I also spotted a heron.

I've also gotten the troupe a gig at Platteville High School to substitute for two other NEA gigs we lost. That was good, because the troupe will get March 10 and 11 off. This leg of the tour has seemed longer that the last, in the sense that we've traveled farther for fewer venues, and a break will be a good thing.

You may be wondering, having read this far, why the title is "Small Worlds." Well, although it took this much writing to get there, my original thoughts for this post had to do with a feeling lately of how small your world gets on tour. When you lose the sense of your geographical location after awhile (Alabama, South Carolina, Arkansas - what's the difference?) you sort of get the feeling that the country is way smalller than you think. Traveling in the van every day to go somewhere also compresses your world. Seeing and knowing only the 11 other people on tour with you makes the world seem smaller as well, because no matter where you are in the country, those same 11 other people are there with you.

What also makes the world seem small is realizing that, when things are not going so well in your larger world, you can't escape to deal with it. It can be strenuous psychologically at times when company members have difficulties at home with family or friends and they can't simply leave to be with them or help out. Everything has to be done by cell phone, and at times you just feel helpless in those situations. That feeling of wanting to leave and be with your family or friends in distress, but not being able to leave and having to go on with the tour - and those same 11 people - is, I think by far, the hardest thing you have to deal with while out on the road. Maintaining your balance, maintaining your cool, and maintaining your sense of perspective and work ethic all are tall orders under this kind of pressure. It's also hard to stand by and be just an observer when one of the company members has some situation going on they are trying to attend to, because there's little you yourself can do to help other than offer support. So even though you're traveling across a very large country and seeing so many interesting things, in some ways going on tour eventually compresses your sense of your reality to a few small things and a few people. In our "real lives" we all have a wider scope of activities, family and friends, and squeezing them all out to be with just these 11 others sure is a tall order. I think it's at about this time on the tour, when the novelty has worn off, the grind gets long, hotels all seem the same, and you long for a home-cooked meal, that this feeling of a small, closed world becomes apparent. We have 30 days to go for the winter leg, and while I am sure we can make it, I am also keeping my fingers crossed that this "small world" feeling doesn't make us all too crazy. Edges can get frayed, small things can look like major disasters, but I think we're all smart enough, aware enough, and good enough not to let things grow too extreme. I do my best to keep a positive attitude and a smiling face, because there is still a lot of fun to be had, and for me, despite this feeling of compression, it's all part of the whole experience, and when you sign up for an experience like this, you take the bad with the good. Nothing in life is perfect, no gig is absolutely ideal (as is no job), so for me, it's all part of the package. I like to pay attention to the happy moments; Olivia biting my shoulder, filming Alyssa's butt, hiking with Jessica, Daniel's sarcasm and wit, Sarah's smile and laugh (she now has a blog too!), Greg's steadiness, Tyler's craziness, Chris' crustiness and music, Kevin's "Periwrinkle"-ness, Andrew's edifications, and Carie keeping it together. When you make the effort to see the good in people rather than the eccentricities and weaknesses we all have, it makes the world just that much larger for me. And having a world of creative people with large hearts and a willingness to even do this sort of thing and bring these shows around the country can be as large as you let it. -TWL

Some Easy Breathing - 2/20/06

2006-02-21T00:38:00.000-05:00

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

Never Miss A Chance to Piss- 2/15/06

2006-02-16T00:03:00.000-05:00

Daytona Beach, FL - Traveling 500 miles in a day can really take it out of you, I've found. Not so much physically, although there is some of that, but psychologically as well. In Florence SC, where we had a one-night gig at Francis Marion University, the whole experience of touring became somewhat surreal. I've sort of felt as if I've had no real grasp on a sense of place these past few days. A quick visit to Due West, SC and Erskine College, and then another 9-hour trip got us to Daytona Beach FL, where we are housed at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, has reinforced the feeling. The ACA is a small artists retreat center, where master artists such as Paula Vogel, Arthur Kopit and other visual and performing artists stay as master teachers for Associate Artists who come to perfect their craft with the master artists. It's a nice place, but removed from any sort of conveniences such as stores or a nice beachfront. I don't know, but lately I get the feeling that we're getting housed at all these out-of-the-way places by design or something. Not only that, but it seems our gigs are all so widely spaced apart. After we finish here we have two more 9-hour trips facing us; from here to Monroe NC, and then from Monroe to Huntsville AL. We are not supposed to have any trips which last more than 8 hours according to the rules, but these trips, according to Google Maps, will take between 9 and 10 hours. You've got to piss at every stop.

The first two long days on the road since last I wrote in this blog took us from Monmouth IL in the heart of the great plains, through the Appalachian Mountains by way of the Great Smoky Mountains, and out into the Pee Dee River country of South Carolina. There's a very different feel you get when you cross the country in this manner, because you know that everything is going to be seen from a car window, and you'll have no opportunity to stop, take in a rest stop with a view, have a nice lunch by a riverside, etc. You're just a prisoner of the van, gawking as you pass. I do my best to whip out my camera and take a passing movie or picture, but the experience can be frustrating, and the view from the rear of the van is not always that good. You're just on the go, with the hellbent intent of getting to your next destination, not to luxuriate in the beauty of what you're traveling through. This passing-through feeling is what gives me that surreal feeling, because I never get the time to stop and let the scenery and beauty of what I'm traveling through soak in. Even choices for rest stops are puzzling. Sometimes when we have a chance to stop in a small location with some scenery we pass it by, only to stop at some MallofAmerica location which is like any other along the beaten path.

The stay at Florence was somewhat depressing, in that we drove all that way to do one performance of Planet on a Saturday evening to a somewhat small and reserved crowd, and then got a day off in Florence. Florence is not a place where you want to spend your day off, as it is economically depressed and ugly. The Red Roof Inn goes up there as one of the top three most horrible places we've stopped. It had absolutely no amenities of any sort, and was situated at the opposite end of town across from a crummy mall. Sarah ended up getting sick and covered with red welts of some sort (the diagnosis was scabies, but I am not sure that's the case because no one else got it). Kevin, Jessica and I traveled to Hartsville on Sunday for a hike in the Kalida Gardens of Coker College, about 20 miles from Florence, which was very pleasant. You can see pictures on my Flickr site (check the badge on the sidebar). We also ate at Pat's Restaurant, which featured a down-home Southern Sunday buffet (ham, turkey, pork, greens, lima beans, mashed potatoes, hush puppies, fried okra, and incredible sweet potatoes). I also went out with Alyssa and Greg to see a 10:25 showing of Brokeback Mountain at the local movieplex. The film, I thought, was beautifully shot, but the central characters, to me, were not really engaging. I was neutral about them throughout, and I never really understood why they loved each other beyond a physical attraction. I think the movie's popularity rests more on the fact that it's brave enough to depict gay cowboys and is getting something of a pass as far as character development and plot is concerned. My $0.02. We were the only people in the theatre watching that movie, and we were the last three people to leave the moviehouse, with everyone staring at us as we left. I did manage to have breakfast in three different places: the Huddle House (bacon and eggs), the Waffle House (Philly cheesesteak omelet), and the International House of Pancakes. IHOP won the breakfast war, as the whole grain pancakes I had were really good. But I was glad to get out of Florence.

Then we got to Due West, where I recorded my last audio blog. Again, I have to scratch my head, because we stayed in Abbeville, one of the quaintest little towns I've seen in a long time, and did the show in Due West, about 20 minutes or so away. But we left Florence around 11:30 AM, arrived in Abbeville about 3:00 PM, have to leave by 4:50 for Due West, do the show to another small, but this time enthusiastic crowd, load out, get back to Abbeville where everything is now closed (as was most of the town's restaurants and coffee shops in the afternoon; Monday seemed to be the town's "day off"), sleep in this quaint hotel, and leave at 8AM the next morning. In other words, we stay three nights in a lousy location, and practically do not get to see or stay in a nice location. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH! The fates have not been kind in this regard, only exacerbating that surreal feeling.

Then the 9-hour trip to Daytona Beach.
On the way we ran into an accident where a tractor trailer flipped, and we waited on the side of the road for about 35 minutes. We got in last night in time for dinner at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's dining center, and then off to the artists complex. I happened by sheer chance to occupy one of the corner rooms (everyone has their own room here), which is bigger than most since it is designed for handicap access. It's a nice set-up, with refrigerator and work space. For some reason everyone had received the impression that this was going to be some sort of "hippie commune," with rustic cabins and barns and such. Far from it. The rooms are modern and nice, and the actual artistic complex has wireless internet around it. The complex has a sculpture studio, painting studio, music studio, dance studio, small theatre and library, with a commons room and administration buildings. Today the temperature got up into the mid-60s with plenty of sunshine, and I spent all day before the show preparing my lecture for UA-Huntsville, checking email and the web, and relaxing in the warmth. I got a bit of sun on the top of my head, as I neglected to wear a hat. Not enough to burn, but enough that I should take precautions tomorrow.

The show itself this evening was Much Ado, and it went over very well. Unlike the last two performances, it was a large and enthusiastic crowd. The space itself is awkward, with no exit stage right, a carpeted hard floor and a steeply-raked audience. We solved the entrance/exit issues, and the audience was very much with us throughout the show. One funny incident was when Tyler got stuck underneath the stage left onstage seats while hiding during the first gulling scene. He actually got stuck underneath the seats to the point where he had to have the audience members get up from their seats to set him free. Of course, his grandmother, who drove all the way from Boca Raton to see him, was in the audience to watch him make a fool of himself. He brought his saviors out onto the stage fro a round of applause. The Embry-Riddle theatre students were there in force as well, complete with embroidered polo shirts, sitting in the front row, and they were loving it. I'm always glad when theatre students come to see our plays, as it's so important for them to see outside theatre.

Tomorrow ought to be an interesting day, because we are here in Daytona during Speed Week and the running of the Daytona 500 (another bit of scheduling genius from the powers that be). They tell us that traffic tomorrow will be impossible, and that if we are not at the university by 2:30 PM (which is situated pretty much next to the racetrack) we will never get there between 2:30 and 5:30. That's because they route all traffic away from the race track and many avenues become one-way in the wrong direction. So instead of another relaxing day at the arts complex it will be a rush to get to the university for that night's show (R3). Not too bad, though, because the university campus is pretty nice. I just have to remember to get up early tomorrow to do laundry or wait until I return from the show that night. I also want to film a movie tour of this complex for you all.

So on the whole I won't get to see much of Daytona Beach. I'm not really a beach person, although Kevin and Jesssica hung out at the beach today while others did workshops or went to the gym to work out. I took a walk this morning and did get to see some bayfront, but not really beachfront. But as I say, lounging around this complex in the nice weather was very pleasant. I am thinking at the moment of renting a car for the next day off in Monroe NC so I can get a little sightseeing in that is not restricted to the 20-mile limit of the vans. And I also have to prepare for the next two long rides. How do I do that? XM Radio and podcasting, baby! "The Office" gives me a very quiet, subdued place to pass the time. I download three or four podcasts (On The Media, Democracy Now!, Major League Baseball Radio and the Leonard Lopate Show are my staples), and get my XM radio rolling. BBC in the morning (or XM Public Radio if BBC is dull), MLB Home Plate in the late morning/early afternoon, and podcasts from mid-afternoon to destination arrival. It works; time does pass more quickly this way. I might also get a new audiobook as well. I've finished Will in the World and need something else.

And of course - I never miss a chance to piss! -TWL

Too Pooped to Write - 2/13/06

2006-02-13T23:42:00.000-05:00

The Oatcakes play Opryland - 2/8/06

2006-02-08T16:58:00.000-05:00

Monmouth, IL - Well, it's official - I can now boast that I have played Opryland. Well, at least in the Opryland Convention Center. It's not exactly downtown Nashville, but 'twill serve. It was a hectic 48 hours, to be sure, but the 30 minutes we got to play were a lot of fun.

We got to the gig in Fairmont, MN, and it was pretty good. The Opera House there was a nice little venue, your usual typical renovated opera house. The manager/TD, Rick, was friendly and helpful. He gave us a brief history of the place while we had a catered lunch (the food was SO midwestern!). The place apparently was slated for demolition and was saved with, I think, 10 hours to spare. It's a good renovation but not quite as complete as the Fredonia Opera House. One interesting feature, though, was the fact that the whole basement office/reception area had been dug out by hand by volunteers. Only a tunnel had existed before. That's dedication. The show itself - Planet - was met with enthusiasm by normally staid Minnesotans. There were an unusual collection of "buckle bunnies" in the audience (women who wear large rodeo buckles on their jean belts), and I hadn't thought that southern MN was cowboy country. There were some guys having a hard time sitting, but mostly it was a good-time audience. Rick actually arranged for a collection of women to rush the stage when Greg sang "Young Girl," and that was a funny sight to see all these kids and middle-aged midwestern housewives rush the stage. Greg said later it was probably the closest to being a Beatle that he's ever going to come. I was disappointed that the stay was so short for me, because the town of Fairmont is apparently bordered by four or five small lakes, and I would have liked to take a tour of the town. The downtown area looked immaculate, a postcard of a midwestern farm town. There were fish houses out on the nearest lake I saw, right out of Garrison Keilor. Some of the company had never seen ice fishing houses nor pickups on a lake, so it was pretty new and astounding to them to think that a lake could freeze so hard you could drive a truck onto it.

The reason that I did not get to see any of Fairmont was because the next day the Oatcakes had to fly to Nashville for our American Bus Association breakfast gig sponsored by the Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Oatcakes (the name taken from my character Hugh Oatcake, a member of the watch in Much Ado) consist of myself, Greg, Alyssa, Jessica and Chris, and our assignment was to play about 30 minutes of the music from Planet for this convention. The Virginia CVB apparently had called up the ASC and asked about providing some entertainment for their breakfast, and so Bill Gordon and the crew back at Staunton gat the five of us to do this gig. It meant essentially giving up our day off in Fairmont to make the trip and then re-join the group here in Monmouth IL at Monmouth College. So we got up at 6AM Sunday morning and took two plane rides to get to Nashville. We arrived about 3 PM or so, met our contact Barbara from the VCVB, and hauled our stuff over to the Opryland complex.

This complex was something else. It is a HUGE hotel and convention center, and I mean huge! We only got to see a small part of it, the Presidential Ballroom area. It all stands on land which was once an amusement park called Opryland, but is now mostly this convention center and a large shopping complex. The location we played in was huge, seating about 800 people. But they had it all going: two large video screens, a complete sound system, three wide-screen teleprompters, and all sorts of vari-lighting. We locked our stuff up there and then went out to dinner at the Applebee's in our own hotel, right across the street. We met a great shuttle driver who turned us on to a new line of busses he was developing for tours such as ours, as well as his daughter, Tenessee Amber, who's a bluegrass entertainer. I did manage to squeeze in the Superbowl, most of the first half in the restaurant, and the second half up in my room. But I was beat, so I turned the game off with three minutes left and went to sleep. Wakeup time was 5AM next morning, and all the travel can wear you out. (PS - although I have positive feelings for Pittsburgh, I think Seattle was robbed blind in the game. The refs were simply too present in that game.)

So up at 5AM, meet in the lobby at 5:30, and over to Opryland for a 6AM soundcheck. Of course normally we don't play with amplification, but in this case we needed it. The sound guys were a little mystified that we needed so little, nothing but mikes for voices and instruments. During our soundcheck, while I was drumming, one of the brushes for the snare drum exploded, and of all the things we brought (including a backup guitar), we did not bring an extra brush. So we had to improvise and taped up the tip of a drumstick to mute it a little against the other brush. The broken brush threw Alyssa into a small mini-panic, but once we finally got onstage she recovered and drummed well in her percussion tunes. We finished the soundcheck by 7:45, had breakfast, got into costume, and went out at 8:15 AM to play through our set. It was very weird to be playing with a light show behind us, spotlights on us when we soloed, and then catching us up on the big screens out of the corners of our eyes. I had my guitar too close to the mike at one point and garnered some serious feedback, but overall the gig went very well. I was most surprised by the fact that people were actually paying attention to us. I had expected that we would be providing some background entertainment while everyone else was schmoozing and networking, but I was quite wrong. They listened to us, which added a bit of pressure to be as good as we could. I think in the end I heard it reported that we were a success because often at these things people walk out after they've finished eating, but almost no one left while we played. Everyone connected with the VA CVB seemed most pleased. Then we packed up our stuff, got our ride to the airport at 9:15 AM, and spent the rest of the day traveling to Monmouth IL, where we arrived at 5 PM about 7 minutes ahead of the rest of the company. I went over to the local Country Mart, grabbed a Healthy Choice meal, some chocolate milk and sweet crunch peanuts and a yogurt, and headed off to my room for an exciting evening of food and TV. I did get to see on HBO the movie I, Robot, but couldn't bring myself to watch The Upside of Anger, so I settled for three episodes of M*A*S*H on Hallmark and then sleep.

Monmouth is another typical midwestern town, about 45 minutes south of the Quad City area in southwestern Illinois. The college is a small Presbyterian college of about 1800 students, but many new buildings. I've mostly spent my free time during the day catching up on email, doing some internet window shopping, and getting back to some exercise routine. I did my laundry this morning and now I'm sitting in a nice coffee shop located in the library. The show last night was Planet with Much Ado tonight. We had a small but appreciative audience. Apparently theatre students at this college cannot get out of class to go see theatre, once again demonstrating the small-mindedness of much theatre thinking. But we did have some theatre students in the house last night, and they invited the company downtown for a drink. I went as designated driver. Fortunately (from my perspective) the closing time in this county is midnight, so we got back relatively early. I kicked Tyler's ass in pool, but then subsequently got my ass kicked by Daniel, who so far appears to be the troupe's best pool player. He made one shot on the 8-ball which actually amazed me. He had called the shot originally, but scratched in executing it first, and technically lost the game, but I had him set up the shot again because I did not believe it was a shot he could make. Damned if he didn't sink it! So I laughed, bowed in homage, and offered to fill his water bottle for a week.

I did get to see a bit of downtown in passing, and there appears to be a small traffic circle in the middle of town with a monument to something or other. I also found out that Monmouth is the birthplace of Wyatt Erp, and had I some access to transportation I would have gone down to visit his birthplace, but I have to walk everywhere and there was too much to get done. I did want to walk downtown, but once again the day seems to have gotten away from me in ways that often I can't account for. Even now I am rushing to get this written so I can get outside and take some photos of the campus while it's still daylight. Although call is still 90 minutes away I have to eat dinner, take those photos and get to the theatre. If the hotel we were staying in had internet service I wouldn't be rushing so much, but I can't even get dial-up service because I have no local access number for NetZero. So doesn't that seem like a cue to finish this off? -TWL

Sweet Home Chicago - 2/4/06

2006-02-04T13:48:00.000-05:00

Cedar Rapids, IA - Even though the dateline is Cedar Rapids (actually, in the van on the way out of Cedar Rapids), the title has got to be about Chicago, since that was such a fun stop. Though short, it was action-packed, and the troupe all had a pretty good time in the big city.

The actual event at Daley College was almost anticlimactic in a way. We did two performances - R3 and Planet - in the space of about 9 hours. The venue itself was a little odd but still conducive to how we do our shows. It was sort of 3/4 of a circle, with a 3-foot wall all around the edge separating the audience from the actors. You sort of feel like you're in a small gladiator stadium, and when appealing to the audience you can stand right up to the wall and lean on it. Most of the attendees at the R3 matinee were either family or friends of cast members, or else people required to see the show from the college. Not very big. We did not get too much of a break between shows. The college itself is located a distance from DT Chicago, in the southwest corner of the state, in a rather industrial area. So there wasn't much to each beyond the Cajun Wok at the nearby mall. Who hasn't had their famous Bourbon Chicken? After a short walk through the mall (which had little but clothes and shoes), I returned to do the evening performance of Planet. That wall did give us a feeling of confinement, but the audience was much bigger and the show went well. One obstacle we had to overcome was the fact that the maintenance people did not seem to immediately grasp that a show was going on in the afternoon, and they really couldn't drill in the basement below us. We had to track down two separate workers on different projects whom we had to convince they needed to take a break. So much for the actual day of performance.

The big story, of course, was simply being in Chicago. We decided to leave Fairmont real early - 6AM - so as to get to Chicago Monday evening and have more time in the city. Many people had friends or family in the area, so during their time off they set out to hang with their respective friends. Andrew, who had lived in Chicago for some time, became something of the unofficial guide to Chicago, so when we got into town on Monday evening, I got on the CTA with him and Kevin and Olivia. He went off to visit some friends while Kevin Olivia and
I took a quick walking tour of downtown Chicago, passing by Union Station and crossing the Chicago River. The three of us went to Bergoff's, which is a famous Chicago institution serving German cuisine for about 107 years. It is closing the end of February, so I managed to talk Olivia and Kevin into eating there as sort of a "this is your only chance" opportunity. It was pretty good; creamed herring, bratwurst and knockwurst with sauerkraut for appetizers; sauerbraten for me, some pork dish for Olivia and a seafood medley for Kevin. I had a stein of their house bock as well. I enjoyed the meal, but I think Kevin and Olivia, both of whom are principally vegetarians, had a bit of trouble digesting afterwards. Or it could be the fact that they went ice skating in Millenium Park after dinner. I, however, took the train back to Lincoln Park, where the Days Inn was located, and ran into Sarah on the way into the motel. I accompanied her to dinner while trying to find a good music venue to go to. We decided to hook up with Daniel, who was having dinner at a small raw oyster bar close to the motel. We were not far from Halsted Street, and there are two blues bars down there, Blues Chicago and the Kingston Mines. We chose to go to the Blues Chicago band and settled in for two sets of music from Will Kent and the Gents, who play Monday nights with Bonnie Lee, the Sweetheart of the Blues. Will Kent was apparently not well enough to play, so the front guy was a kid named Guy who played a beautiful Fender hardbody and had a blues styling somewhat reminiscent of Dwayne Allman with a delta feeling. We heard a great mix of delta and Chicago blues, and the Bonnie Lee came up for a set. She was escorted from the back of the bar up to the stage by two young guys, helped up on to the stage, and ripped off three hot blues numbers. She must have been about 75 or so, and clearly had the run of the place. Been around for some time, I imagine. Then they called up a few guest artists. One young guy named Chico Banks was very hot, and then a few other middle-aged guys came up to play. Each one had a great styling for the blues, and I guess it's the tradition of jazz places to call up people in the house to play one or two numbers especially on weeknights like Monday and Tuesday. We got back to the motel about midnight to be in shape for the two shows on Tuesday.

Tuesday night it was back out for the evening. Andrew had been talking up the Chicago style of hot dogs for a week, promising a trip to a place called Sammy's down by Cabrini Park. But it turned out that there was a small place called Vienna Dogs right down the block from where we were, so instead of a long trip we walked over there and grabbed a couple of dogs from a guy who insults you the minute you walk through the door. He and his wife/girlfriend put on quite a show making the dogs, arguing and cursing each other in a funny way. I crammed down two chardogs with the works (except the hot peppers). Very good eating! Then we headed out to a local pub where the pints were $2. After spending some time and chatting with Andrew and his friends, Sarah, Daniel and I once again headed out for some blues. We started off at Blues Chicago, since we had free admission passes from the night before. It was already close to 1AM when we got there, so there was only a short set played. The headliner, Lindsey Alexander, had other people in the house start the set, again a nice mix of different blues players. They did, however, let some young kid at the end you must have been a guitar tech or something to play a song, and he was terrible. Bad end to the evening, as they closed at 1:30 and never let Lindsey play. So, after grabbing the rest the cake that was on the bar and eating a few pieces on the street, we decided to go over to Kingston Mines and see if anything was happening over there.

Kingston Mines is maybe the largest blues bar in Chicago, I believe, and might be reasonably categorized as a sort of blues tourist spot. I wasn't too eager to go in, but the cover was half-off so we said what the hell and headed in. What a strange, eclectic interior it turned out to be. The bar is actually small, lined with Christmas lights, but there are these long, narrow tables with chairs along them where everyone sits. The walls all have odd, colorful murals painted on them reflecting some aspect of blues culture. One of them was actually a map of "Blues COuntry," depicting the states where the blues are a predominant form of music. They have two performing stages, and the guy who was the evening's MC was a short, fat man dressed in a black suit, black shirt, black fedora and green tie. He had a voice which sounded like someone had stabbed him in the throat and he smoked a carton of cigarettes a day. He actually played one set on the electric piano as we walked in. It turned out that a Tuesday night is a very good night to go, because there are few tourists, a lot of locals, a good number of blues players in the house, and once again it was a shuttling of talents on and off the stage. We started with Dion Taylor, but we saw Lindsey Alexander walk in the joint and motioned to him to play, and he got in a song and dedicated it to his "out-of-town woman," who happened to be Sarah. Sarah went on to have a good time dancing and chatting with him, and she got an autographed CD from him by the end of the evening. The final act of the evening was a woman by the name of Joanna Connor, and she was absolutely out of sight. Her #2 guitar player was also pretty good, but this woman could move up and down a guitar fretboard like a seal on ice. She was slick, melodic and fast, and again her blues style was everything from straight-ahead Chicago to delta to rockabilly. I sat there for an hour in amazement watching her play. She was worth every penny of the cover price. She was the last act of the evening, and she played a full hour set. We closed the place down at 3:45 AM. Sarah and Daniel were feeling pretty good (I hadn't had too much to drink), and the walk and conversation on the way home was enervated and animated. I couldn't quite keep up with my younger sojourners, and packed it in by 4:30 AM. After all, Ii had to get up and be ready by noon to get out of town. But it had been some time since I closed down any bar (probably Ray Flynn's in Buffalo), so I figured I hadn't done too badly, and I had heard some great music. It was a good time in Chicago, and as far as I could tell everyone managed to have a good time in the city. There was much talk about how fun the city was, how different from New York, how much more friendly and open. Chicago may take the prize as the best stop on this leg. It was undoubtedly the best antidote we could have had to a boring week in dorms on Fairmont WV.

On Wednesday noon we left the big city and headed off to our next gig at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA. This is another one of what I've come to call a "season ticket" stop, a place where S2 has been for a number of years. We got in on Wednesday late afternoon, and we were housed in two separate locations. I was housed in the Clark Alumni House, a nice new building styled as an English Tudor home. It's a meeting house/guest house for the college. The group in the house were pretty much the members of The Oatcakes, which is the name those of us who are going to do a quick gig in Nashville this coming Monday morning have named ourselves. This allowed us to have a rehearsal Thursday afternoon. Essentially we are performing the score of Planet in costume for a collection of tour bus operators at their Nashville convention,representing the state of Virginia. So we're orchestrating some of the songs for just the five of us. It will be fun to go to Nashville (we're flying), but at the same time we're giving up a day off to do all the travel and playing. We're traveling on Superbowl Sunday, but I think we'll get in the game once we land in Nashville.

We did all three shows at Coe, Much Ado on Thursday evening and the other two on Friday. The theatre at Coe is a hexagon, which posed its own challenges. Also, part of the set for their production of Gypsy was in the theatre, but we set up the discovery space in front of it and other than simply being there it did not pose any real problems. Again, it was a theatre where the theatre was already in thrust form, with a steep rake in the house. All the shows were well received and went well. The vets had mentioned that former audiences had been sort of cold, but we found the opposite this time. We had good reactions from all three shows. The people were kind, the space was good, and it turned out I knew the tech director from my days back in Platteville. Randy Susevitch had been a music teacher at UW-P, and had changed careers and went into lighting design and tech direction, and was working at Coe. Small world. An audience member in Chicago also came up to me to ask me if I had worked in Wisconsin. Anyway, the Coe stay went well all around. There was a nice coffee shop right across from the college, and I spent some of my off time there. They served a French press coffee, which is unusual and very good. After the final show, some of us went to a party at the home of Alyssa's aunt Kathy, who lives in Cedar Rapids. The house was very nice, and they served us a fine white chili (chicken and navy beans) and a regular chili, with veggies and drinks. There was a pool table, foosball table, and one of the kids had a set of drums, which several people took a turn banging on, myself included. Greg, whose father was a drummer, really got into it. Daniel demonstrated his superiority at pool, and we had a very good time. SO many thanks to Alyssa's aunt and uncle for their generosity and hospitality.

Next stop - Fairmont MN at the Fairmont Opera House, with a performance of Planet. It's cold (particularly in the van, where I have to keep my feet off the floor to keep them from freezing), but it is not snowing, and there is in fact little snow cover on the ground. Could it be that we'll be lucky enough to get through this midwestern section without any snow? We've got Monmouth IL after this and then off to the south, through South Carolina and Florida. I'm actually enjoying being back in the Midwest. Iowa is one of my favorite states, and the Cedar Falls/Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Iowa City region is a very nice area. It's progressive, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa is in the area, with other small quality college like Coe. It's unquestionably winter time, with the land devoid of corn stalks. The sky is large, the sun has been shining, the sunsets are nice, the views are wide open, and the midwest certainly gives you that feeling of how large this country really is. Fairmont is not too far north of the MN-IA border, and we'll be in what they call Blue Earth country, which I think has to do with the small mounds in the area. It's a different and not altogether unappealing style of life and place to live. Slower pace, friendlier people. You just have to get used to the lack of trees and mountains.

Well, we've arrived in Fairmont and it's time to load in to the opera house. Signing off for now....TWL

Second City Greetings

2006-02-01T13:50:00.000-05:00

Day Off - 1/29/06

2006-01-29T11:07:00.000-05:00

Fairmont, VA - Upon waking up this morning, the sound of rain pattering off the roof combined with the grey light struggling to peek through the blinds meant I had a tough decision to make. Should I go out on the field trip arranged by some of the theatre students to a local state park for hiking and sightseeing? Or should I play it safe, nurse my aching and dripping sinuses, and stay in bed for another hour? Well, the fact that I am writing this at the moment already tells you what decision I made. I wussed out and decided to linger in bed that extra hour. It's a bit disappointing, since I really enjoy hiking and wanted to get somewhere off campus before I left Fairmont, and the last four days have really been sunny and relatively warm. But I felt I couldn't take the risk to go out in damp 40-degree weather. I've really not the gear for it, and I can't risk catching another cold. So, having already poured and downed the cup of coffee that I saved in my thermos from yesterday (still a bit warm!), I decided to spend this hour before the Falcon Center opens for breakfast writing in the blog and catching you up with the rest of the week. Always thinking of my reader(s).

We've completed our set of evening performances, and I must say that the audience response has been incredibly effusive. We're a big hit in Fairmont. The Thursday night performance of Planet was greeted with much laughter and enjoyment. Greg's William Shatner imitations brought down the house. But it was a funny show in some respects plagued with these little troubles: Alyssa's first dress had a busted zipper, so she had to wear Jessica's dress from MA; Greg's uniform pants split right up the crotch during my first entrance and song, and when I finished the number he was gone from the stage, so we all had to do a little ad-libbing until he returned in jeans and his leather jacket over his uniform top; I forgot my X-Factor bottle and so had to empty a pill vial backstage as a substitute. Stuff like that. Richard III was greeted with attentive seriousness. I believe they liked Andrew's weird humor in his characterization, and it was a good audience in that the lanuage held their attention.Much Ado was greeted with a storm of audience laughter and enthusiasm that was off the charts. We had to hold for laughter so many times in Much Ado that I think we added maybe 10 minutes or more to the running time. We also got a late start because the line to get in and see the show was out the building. The house was sold out. They told me backstage after the gulling scene with Benedick that it took me 90 seconds to get out the line "My Lord, will you walk?" which concludes the scene. Tyler had ended up in the audience with his butt sticking up in the air over a row of seats, and Daniel, Greg and I lost it on stage, me most of all , I guess. I made one attempt to get the final line out, but the audience just continued to laugh at the sight of Tyler in the air like that. Just about every funny line in the play was greeted with gales of laughter. It was almost surreal. And when we got to the wedding scene and the rejection of Hero, you could hear a pin drop. It was quite a way to wrap up three nights of performances. On top of that, last night Jessica and I (with Alyssa's help) sold $617.00 worth of merchandise, which I believe has to be an all-time record for a single night's sales on any tour. The two autographed copied of the Arden MA scripts went, we are out of small tour T-shirts, mugs, etc. When we packed up our merch bins the amount of room now in the was surprising. So all in all, I think we have made quite an impression in Fairmont, and I'm sure the company will be visiting here again. The people were wonderful: Rhonda, our contact, was phenomenal, the theatre is a great space in which to perform, the theatre staff and students were helpful in every way, the college president and his wife came to see all three shows (when has that ever happened on any of our tour stops?), and the audiences were super. Given the right sort of cultivation, this stop could become as much of a "rock star" stop as Shreveport or St. Lawrence University. All they have to do is give us better accommodations and life here for a week would be outstanding. Nice job, Fairmont!

Life apart from the shows has been at times relaxing and at times boring. The Nashville group (Chris, Greg, Alyssa Jessica and myself) had a rehearsal Friday for our gig which went very well. I still have some work to do on learning "Go Now" but I think we sound very good. Other than that it's pretty much about sitting in the Falcon Center, chilling, surfing the web, some workshops, eating, working out. After a treadmill session I walked the campus yesterday (sunny and 56 degrees) and took some shots around the campus, which you can see on my Flickr Photo page (you can also click the badge on the sidebar). I also converted some movies which I'll put up on the movie page probably sometime later today. Today is the company day off, and there's not much to do again other than getting my laundry done this afternoon and packing up. We are leaving early tomorrow morning - 6:00 AM - so as to get into Chicago by maybe 5:00 PM and have an evening in the Windy CIty. We have a very quick gig in Chicago, and then off to Iowa and Minnesota (Fairmont, MN in fact!). Please, powers that be, let it not be snowing up in MN.

And finally, before I forget, I'd like to thank all those Fredonia alum who wrote to me following Eddie's Fish Night. I've gotten a lot of pictures and some email messages from you all which I am going to respond to very soon. I see from some of the pictures that my image was scattered throughout the party. Leave it to Eddie Schneller to think of a somewhat excessive but very touching and loving way to get my presence into the party. Thanks, Ed - and thanks to all who who wrote and those who attended that made it a special night for all. I am sure Tim had as wonderful a time as the rest of you. -TWL

Mountains and Valleys - 1/26/06

2006-01-26T11:44:00.000-05:00

Fairmont, WV - The stay so far in West Virginia has certainly been one of highs and lows. So far I'd have to say that the high has been the President's reception on Sunday evening when we arrived, and meeting all the good people we've met so far at Fairmont State who have been eager to welcome us and make us feel at home. The low has been being cooped up in my dorm room most of Tuesday with a touch of the flu. Today I am just recovering, having managed to make my way through Wednesday as well. But it was no fun.

So, to bring you up to date: The reception was very nice. President Dan Bradley and President Blair Montgomery of Fairmont State Community College gave us a nice welcome, along with members of the faculty and arts community. Dan was kind enough to have the playoff games on his wide-screen TV (we are in serious Steelers country) so we managed to catch the football games while socializing. The food was terrific - roast beef, some fancy chicken, meat pies and assorted vegetables - and there was an open bar. I am afraid I have to report that I consumed three alcoholic beverages - a martini and two gin and tonics - and not having had that much to drink in quite a long time probably contributed to my brief illness.

We have had three matinees of Much Ado this week, and so on Monday morning we got right to it. They were all supposed to start at 10:00 AM but schools came late so none of them really started on time. On Monday we started the show about 20 minutes late with one of the schools still not there. They came in so far into the play that I find it hard to believe they got anything out of it. But there they were nonetheless. All the matinees had Q&As after them, and the questions ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. One young kid asked so intelligent a question on Tuesday that it took us all by surprise, comparing the idea of realism with Shakespeare's use of language. And Alyssa was asked by one smarmy kid if she was single. That's the paradox of doing school shows: you have to do them because the kids are the hope of building theatre audiences for the future, but at the same time the large percentage of them won't be affected in any way at all and just find small ways to be obnoxious. So it goes.

So anyway, after Monday's performance, I had lunch and then, during the day, began to feel weaker and weaker. By about 5:00 I knew I was coming down with something, so I started to take everything I could find. There's a lot of stuff out there, I've found: Airborne, Emergen-Cee, Dayquil, Nyquil, all sorts of pills and vitamins. I had Jessica take me to Rite-Aid after the workshop and bought a bottle of 1000mg Vitamin Cs as well as some daytime cold pill. I got back to the dorm room and climbed into my tiny little bed and tried to go to sleep. Now, living in the dorms has been, shall we say, unpleasant. The dorm I am in is a 1960s style corridor dorm showing its age. The bathroom is halfway down the hall. It's almost like I've been transported to my undergraduate dorm days, except I'm not quite 19 anymore, and it's a LONG walk to the bathroom when you have to pee out all the liquids you've been taking every 20 minutes. Plus the dorm is not exactly quiet, nor is the heat easy to control. The air is so hot and dry that I had to shut the heat completely off in order to breathe, and with the thin blankets they gave us, I have to dress fairly warm in order to sleep. I did manage to get some sleep over the nightly 2AM din, and got up to do the Tuesday matinee feeling pretty shitty.

I did get through the matinee performance OK, sweating quite a bit, but that probably got some more sickness out. I swapped out workshop times with Jessica and immediately had some lunch and went back to my room. Now I suppose a dorm room isn't too bad if you've got a bunch of your stuff in there and made it your home, but with nothing in the room but my suitcase and me it's kind of barren and sterile. So between trying to sleep, pee, and eat I found that my computer was a good source of entertainment. I watched a number of Northern Exposure episodes, listened to public radio and some of my music as well. I called home and also talked with Eric a bit, which passed the time. This time I knocked myself out with some Nyquil and got a good night's sleep, so that when I got up to do Wednesday's matinee I felt a bit better. I took some Dayquil before the show, and that helped as well. After eating lunch Wednesday I felt well enough to sit in the student center and pass the time before my evening workshop rather than return to my room. I did not have to get up early this morning for a matinee, so today I feel better yet, although I haven't tried to sing. Yesterday, when I started talking, all the phlegm started coming up from my lungs, so I had a few coughing fits. But so far today so good - I haven't taken anything but my vitamins, and I have nothing to do until tonight's show. Now we do each of our shows over then next three nights, and then a day off and a drive to Chicago on Monday.

I suppose being sick the past few days has colored my impressions of Fairmont a bit, but notwithstanding my illness, the place is both a nice place to stay and sort of depressing at the same time. The Falcon Center, where I am right now as I write this, is a very nice complex housing all the common activities. The dining hall, workout center, basketball courts, student center, bookstore, minimart and gameroom are all here. It is clearly the place to hang when you have nothing to do in particular, and it's a cool place to be. The dorm's internet connection is rather lousy; I suspect the bandwidth is very low and there are some firewall controls on it, but in the Falcon Center the wireless connection is nice and speedy, though there is a curious lack of power outlets. I've not had the energy to much exploring of the campus other than the center. The college itself is not in close proximity to any sort of shopping or downtown area, so going to any off-campus hangouts requires a bus trip or something, and again, I haven't the energy for that. I've also not worked out at all to conserve energy, but hopefully I can pick that up again starting tomorrow. I want to get into the sauna this afternoon before the show to clear out all the nasal passages and such. I'll probably get to the library sometime, but other than that being confined to the campus is sort of, well, confining. I have no idea what I'm going to do on Sunday's day off. I can't imagine there's a lot to do on campus on Sunday, nor much happening downtown. I thought of renting a car and driving up to Pittsburgh for the day, but of course that costs $$$ and I'm a little low on funds at the moment. I suppose I should look at it as an opportunity to fine-tune my video page and do some tagging and fill in descriptions of my photo site. Why not?

This is the first time Blackfriars has visited Fairmont State, and I hope we are making a good enough impression to get a contract from them for next year. The people have been very nice. Rhonda, our main contact, has been to Staunton a number of times, and I can tell she's very excited to have us here. Workshop attendance has been a bit small but enthusiastic. I met a few theatre students and they are excited to have us here as well, which is a good sign. On balance I would say this is a good stop, and had I not gotten sick I'm sure I'd like it here a lot. The theatre itself is a nice place to play, almost perfect in many ways for what we do. it's a small, acoustically good space which seats about 400, although it doesn't look like that at all. We've been able to use their laundry facilities for company laundry, and since I'm one of the laundry captains this week that's been a blessing. In fact, this place has done everything right so far with the exception of the dorm rooms, which I think nobody really likes. Now that I feel better, all I have to do is figure out how to spend my day with the least amount of time in the room, and I'm OK. I haven't got a lot of pictures yet of this place, but I'll start snapping again today and get some more pictures for you to see with the next post. I am looking forward to the evening performances for sure, as I think we're going to get some enthusiastic audiences. So I'll sign off now, get some lunch, a svitz and maybe a walk, and then off to Planet D'Ylliria. -TWL

Anchors Aweigh - 1/22/06

2006-01-22T22:54:00.000-05:00

Between Annapolis MD and Fairmont WV - A full week has past since I got back from vacation, and here on the road everything now seems once again quite familiar. I'm sitting in my "office" in the back of the passenger van typing out this particular post, listening to the BBC on XM Radio, while Kevin, Daniel and Andrew are having some sort of esoteric conversation. Lacking at the beginning of this leg is the initial excitement of the fall leg, but of course that's to be expected from us "seasoned road pros." We've done Much Ado once at Hot Springs VA (Bath County High School) and R3 once at Blue Springs Community College in Weyers Cave (about 15 minutes from Staunton) and twice at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis MD. We're now heading for a week's residence at Fairmont State College in Fairmont WV, where we do three 90-minute matinees of Much Ado for area high schools and then a weekend of all our shows at the college. We also have several workshops to do, so it will be quite a busy week. It's the first time the ASC has been to Fairmont. They are putting us up in dorm rooms, so it's from a beautiful motel in Annapolis to dorm living and campus food. It's almost an exact replica of the beginning of the fall tour, where we went from a nice motel in Elon NC to the shortened residence in Shreveport LA in the large house.

The time in Staunton before leaving got real busy. Wednesday was the trip to Hot Springs, and it was a cold but beautiful, sunny day. We went up "over the mountain" to Bath County, and apparently there is a hot spring there which is a major tourist attraction. We did not get a chance to visit the hot spring, but I think during the spring residence at the Blackfriars I'll be paying a visit up there. It's right in the Appalachian range maybe about 90 minutes SW of Staunton. The high school was set right in the mountains, and it was snowing a bit when we got there, but nothing accumulating. These 90-minute high school shows are a result of our NEA grant to bring Shakespeare into local high schools that would not ordinarily get a chance to see a live WS performance, and the stated mission is to keep language-based literature and entertainment alive in rural and remote regions. This also accounts for the HS performances coming up in Fairmont, which as I take it from looking at Google Earth (and if you don't have Google Earth, you should get it) is about 20 minutes or so SW of Morgantown WV. High school audiences are so varied in their responses that you never know what's coming. This audience was somewhat typical, with a mix of bored kids and some interested ones. They laughed at the humor when they finally realized it was OK to laugh, and were attentive and quiet (or asleep) during the dramatic parts. We did a Q&A with a selected group of students after the show and got the usual array of questions ("How do you memorize all those lines? How did you get into the company? What's your favorite role?"). Once sort of funny incident happened when one of our troupe members (who shall remain anonymous) had accidentally place costumes for Much Ado into the R3 garment bag, and so did not have the proper costumes. Adjustments were made, costumes were borrow and adapted, and all went well, except for the vain, aborted attempt Carie made to drive to Staunton to recover the proper costumes.

Thursday was spent accomplishing a lot of tasks in preparation for leaving Friday. I helped Joyce analyze her computer because it was running slow, and then met Jessica to get everything together to sell merchandise. I also ended up getting a flat tire during the day, so I had to go out to Wal-Mart and get that fixed. A few shopping trips, a small laundry load, a little errand to UPS to send a poster of Christmas Carol to my father, some packing, and then the show at Blue Springs CC that evening. A rather typical performance, set in a multipurpose room where we had to use the aisles for entrances. A good audience, somewhat subdued, with two women in the front row following along in their complete works until they got hopelessly lost trying to follow our cut. There was one guy sitting center right who was just loving it; every expression on his face was one of pure delight and involvement from moment to moment.

Friday was a very busy day. I got up early to collect my tire and put it back on the car so I could park it while off on the road. Then I got the passenger van suited up again for traveling with the power converter and the new 2-way radio setup with rechargeable cradles (no more batteries). Then I had to do final packing and moving stuff over to basement storage in 605. We left Staunton at around 11 AM for the trip to Annapolis and a 7:00 PM performance there.

Performing for the Brigade of Midshipmen was quite interesting. Apparently the first-year students - plebes - are the ones required to see the show. You initially think you're performing for a disciplined collection of well-trained and polite people, but in fact they are really college freshmen, 18-19-year-old boys in basically an all-male environment. The few female contingent of plebes do not seem to have any mollifying influence on the overall testosterone feeling of the gathering. The evening crowd on Friday night was rowdy as they gathered, and during the "house music" pre-show (in which I now play lead guitar!!) we could hardly hear ourselves play on stage over the din. During the pre-show that Greg and I do, when we announced that the seats on the stage were available for sitting, there was an actual scrum to get to the seats, and on stage right one of the chairs got knocked right off the stage as two guys fought over the seat. A little overenthusiastic. During the show they were somewhat attentive, and did get into the show when we needed audience response, but you could also see a significant number of them sleeping. But they really got into the last act during the war and fight sequences, and of course reacted with intense enthusiasm during the broadsword fight and subsequent death of Richard. Richmond's victory brought cheers aplenty, with a great cry of "Amen" to Richmond's call. So what they liked, they liked a lot. A nice reception with the members of the Foundation (our sponsor) was held after the Friday performance, and it was interesting tot talk to the military people and civilian members of the Humanities division. I got my picture taken with the Superintendent of the Academy, Vice Admiral Rodney Rempt. That's about the highest military brass I'll ever meet!

The Saturday performance for the other half of the plebe class was essentially the same, and you could tell that they had been briefed in some manner by their comrades. However, there were far more sleepers in the audience on Saturday morning - maybe almost a third of the audience was napping at one time or another. Favorite locations were the balcony and the back rows. But they were there again for the fight. it was quite interesting getting a small insight into the general atmosphere of a military academy. We also perform for the cadets at Virginia Military academy towards the end of the tour. That should be another interesting time.

The grounds of the academy are very beautiful, and after the Sat. matinee I stayed on campus to tour about. The Mahan Theatre itself it an interesting architectural sight, and many of the buildings on the campus are very solid in that sort of military granite way. I visited the crypt where John Paul Jones, apparently the primary iconic figure of the US Navy, is interred. The chapel, unfortunately, was closed for a wedding and I could not get in. Dalgren Hall, which houses an ice rink, was quite the place, and I had lunch there. The residence is off limits, so I went to the Visitor's Center. There was a nice view of the harbor there, and some history on the founding of the academy, as well as an exhibit honoring graduates of the academy who've been in the NASA program. I did get to see freedom 7, the Mercury space capsule which took Alan Shepard up into space. It is surprising how small that capsule is, just barely big enough for one man to sit in.

Annapolis is the MD state capital, and right downtown sits the Statehouse and various historical sites. Alex Haley's novel Roots identifies Annapolis as the place where Kunta Kinte first comes from Africa to the US, and there is a display to commemorate the event. The downtown harbor area is full of quaint shops and restaurants, and I decided to have dinner at Barry's Ribs and Crabs. I went for the all-you-can-eat buffet, which was OK but not spectacular. However, I did eat all I could of the crab legs, clams and shrimp as well as some of the other dishes. Some of the tables had whole Maryland-spiced crabs which looked quite good, but I did not mind being able to pass the time eating my fill. I should have taken some pictures of the statehouse, but I seem to be out of practice carrying my camera about. Annapolis is quite pretty but pricey, as you might expect a DC-area place to be. I had breakfast this morning in what must be a well-known "delly" in the area, very old-fashioned and quaint. And then off to Fairmont.

Fairmont, WV - So we got into Fairmont and after settling into our nice comfortable dorm room (add sarcasm here) we were trundled off to the President's house, where we had quite a nice reception. I'll do more about the reception and the living situation in a later post, because for tonight I think I've had it. Besides, the internet connection in the dorms here is pretty slow and miserable, so hopefully I can get this posted at all.

By the way, a special HELLO tonight to Cathy Wilmoth, Alyssa's mother, who I understand is a regular reader. Alyssa is doing fine and says hello to you. Here's a nice picture of her at Annapolis, waving Hi just to you. -TWL

Fish Party Greetings - 1/21/06

2006-01-21T15:09:00.000-05:00

Annapolis, MD - The following is an audio post greeting for all those attending the Fish Night reunion to celebrate Tim Jensen's life. I only wish I could be there in person. Have a great evening, all!! -TWL

Act IV: The Winter Leg - 1/16/05

2006-01-16T16:58:00.000-05:00

Staunton, VA - Vacation is over, and with this, the 50th post to this blog, Act IV The Winter Leg begins. Let the rejoicing begin! I am writing this in between brush-up rehearsals of Richard III and Much Ado About Nothing, so I may not get in as much as I want, but I felt I had to get the ball rolling again because I suspect that by tonight I will be too tired to write much of anything. Besides, at the moment I have internet access only by modem at my new digs, so better to write this in the theatre with wireless broadband than a modem connection.

We all arrived yesterday, although I got in late because on Saturday I had to take Eric to an audition he had lined up at the University of Cincinnati, and that was a round trip from Dunkirk and back. About 11 hours in the car for a ten-minute audition. Such is theatre. Then I drove to Staunton early Sunday morning after asking permission to arrive a little late. I got to the theatre just in time to catch the matinee of Greater Tuna with Paul Fidalgo and Jessica Dunton playing all the character (although Joyce Peifer has a pretty big role in the show as well). Funny stuff. Then a music rehearsal for Planet and a run of Planet. Then unpacking and some sleep. Everyone looked pretty much the same. Andrew arrived with a mustache, but shaved it off today already. Chris hasn't shaved, and I trimmed my beard down. Many people mentioned that I looked even skinnier, but I think the lack of a beard is creating an optical delusion. Over the vacation I did my best to watch my weight, but also did some indulging as well. I only got out to walk once because the weather, as grey as it was, was never inviting. Of course there were greetings all around, but as soon as everyone got back to business it seems like we never left. Two weeks seems like an awful long time until it's over, and then it feels like it never happened.

We do not actually leave for the road until Friday, when we travel up to Annapolis MD and perform for the Naval Academy. The veterans tell us that the audiences there are somewhat unreceptive. I've never been to the Naval Academy, so it should prove an interesting visit. Then our next stop is in Fairmont WV, where we spend a full week doing workshops and shows. So it begins.

I am now living at 607 W. Beverley, the actors complex. I am in the east downstairs room at 607. It's small, but it has its own bathroom. The desk in the room sucks. It's something like a convertible chair that doubles as a desk. The kitchen is on the second floor, so I have to climb two flights of stairs to get there. It is better than going outside. When we do Act V - In Residence - that will be my space for the duration. One great disadvantage of the space is that it has only one window, which does not face south and is covered by a porch. Hence I will probably get poor satellite reception for XM radio. I have to figure out some way to remedy this. Rene, who is in the upcoming Renaissance season, lives next door to me, so getting internet from his network will be no problem (temporarily down at the moment). It should be interesting to live in the complex, my third living space while in the company. The Market St. house was nice for its convenience, but everyone tends to be a bit isolated there. The complex is more social, but I discovered last night that the noise level is increased because of that. My natural sleep cycle may be more than a bit affected. And the heat in the room is pretty noisy. The unit is like one of those units in a motel, and it cycles the heat on and off. When the motor kicks on it makes a grinding noise. So either I have to get used to it, sleep with the heat off, or keep the heat on and the window open to regulate the temperature. but by April the weather may have moderated enough down here that I won't have to worry about heat.

Well, my time is running out, so up this goes to the blog and then perhaps more later. Or another day. New pictures are up on Flickr (click the badge on the right sidebar) and I will try to organize them on the road. It will take some time, as there are many pictures unlabeled and I have a lot up there. Might take up the entire tour. I'm working on movies as well, and if you haven't seen the Christmas ones, check those out. I'm experimenting with Google Video and YouTube for video upload as well. Do searches on those sites if you want to look. Later. -TWL.

Interlude - 1/8/06

2006-01-09T00:06:00.000-05:00

Dunkirk NY - Vacation is a little more than halfway over, and so far it's been relaxing, pleasant and thoughtful. I spent the first three days sort of vegging out, through New Year's Day. I sort of watched the various college bowl games, but not with any real attention (except for the Rose Bowl, which was a great football game). Then over the course of last week I slowly got a few things accomplished that needed to get done. I also attended a few social affairs, both here and in Buffalo, as well as getting to the opening night performance of the Irish Classical Theatre's production of Good. And tonight - well, a small addition to the blog.

I find myself, however, in something of a quandary as to what to write. During the time we're on tour, there are so many things to write about because we go to a number of places and see a number of sites, That makes writing easy, because each day brings some new subject matter and experience to write about. But being home produces nothing but introspective ramblings, and I never really intended to have this blog become about that. But perhaps it's sort of proper to have some sort of mid-year assessment and reflection about this particular effort I have undertaken, and so I'll try to organize some thoughts in that direction. So, in no particular order, here are some personal mid-contract reflections:

I love being on the road. Everyone has asked me that question since I've been home, and I've always responded that way. I do like traveling, and I do like facing the challenge each venue brings. I like seeing new places, and I really don't mind too much living in motel rooms. Motel rooms are, in fact, quite efficient and comfortable. With wireless access and a little TV, they turn out to be not so bad places to be in. About the only thing I dislike is not being able to travel independently when the opportunity arrives. And the food - I do get tired of mass prepared food.
I like the people in the troupe. By now I know them pretty well, and for the life of me I can't really find anything to complain about. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, of course, and you learn to understand each person's particular quirks and eccentricities. But I have to honestly say that they're all pretty good people. That's made me feel somewhat better about the state of young actors in this country. There's a little hope there.
I do wonder about the viability of touring, however. I've taken in each type of venue and each type of audience, and I begin to wonder at times what sort of lasting effect we have on the people for whom we perform. This is quite a complicated issue, and I don't really at the moment want to go much deeper into this, but suffice to say that our audiences are overwhelmingly white, middle- to upper-class, educated, or the children of the same. And in non-college venues (of which we had few), they are old; 50 or above. I see few people in the age range of my colleagues attending our performances. The issue goes beyond simply touring of course; it strikes at the very heart of theatre as a viable American art form. The reason I've been thinking about this question this week stirs partly from my attending the performance in Buffalo as well as going out to see the Capital Steps perform in Erie PA, and partly from some frustration in choosing a play to direct once I return to Fredonia. Of course, I've been thinking for a long time about the notion that Shakespeare festivals are really nothing but the Disneyworlds of rich educated white people, and being on tour is doing nothing but confirming that in many ways. To probe the matter even further, one can put forth the notion that in the seemingly endless bog of this nation's culture wars, all Euro-centric cultural values - and with them the truths they might hold - are becoming nothing more than another commodity for sale to a niche market. Shakespeare is merely a niche within a niche. But you'll have to wait for the book for any further explanation of this notion.
It is easier to maintain freshness of performance when you have three shows in rep to perform than having to do one show over and over every day.
Sooner or later, even the thing you adore doing more than anything else becomes reduced to a job. Anyone who says different is probably lying just a little. Now, I have one of the greatest jobs in this country - college teaching - and I have been most fortunate to be able to combine something I like very much doing with a job. But no matter what, you will have those days when going to work is no more than getting the job done. Obviously, the trick is to find a way to continually make the job seem new. That's challenging under any circumstances.
The weather in the southern half of the nation is better than in the northern half. There is more sunlight. Western New York recently set a record of 13 consecutive days with 0% available sunlight. I have been here experiencing more than half of those days. It is noticeably more dreary up here.

Since I seem to be staring into space at more than regular intervals at this point, I will take that as a sign that I can't think of anything more to write. It's going to be a mess getting back to Staunton - my son Eric has an audition for the University of Cincinnati's Conservatory Training Program on January 14th at 5:30 PM, so I have to figure out this transportation thing so as to return to Staunton the next day by noon. Always complications. In the meantime, happy new year to one and all. Don't let the winter get you down. -TWL

Intermission - 12/31/05

2005-12-31T21:22:00.000-05:00

Dunkirk, NY - Well, it's time for the intermission after Act III. Christmas Carol has completed its run, and the members of the Atomic Fission Tour have scattered across the country for their well-earned two-week vacation. My family - parent, wife and two boys - came in to see the show on Thursday evening, and by all accounts they enjoyed themselves. Not uncritical, of course, but overall the reviews were positive. My dad wanted a copy of the lobby poster, which I had already anticipated, so hopefully that's being ordered and delivered. After the final show and strike on Friday I had thought Ann Marie and I would spend the evening relaxing and then leaving for home early today, but instead, when strike was over before I knew it, we just got in the car and sped home. Seven hours and two stops later we were back in Dunkirk, and happy to be so ("My own Bed! I'm in my own room!"). Today I got a belated Christmas and opened my presents, which included many items for touring (a laptop carrier, iPod case and mini-speaker, and a mini-reading light which clips onto your earlobe). Nice items.

So I won't spend too much time this evening writing anything like a review of the first part or anything. I will save that for an "interlude" posting after the new year. And I also suspect there may not be too many postings during the vacation, because I intend to "vacate." So hopefully those of you who have been faithful readers of this poor blog will re-join me in full force when Act IV begins at noon on the 15th of January, 2006. We will be in brush-ups for the first few days and head out on the road about Jan. 20th for our first road date at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.

But before I go, let me give you one small web tip. If, like me, you try to read a lot of news and blogs online, you may have a hard time keeping everything together and getting notification of new postings or items. So let me suggest to you a fine website called Bloglines. It is an absolutely wonderful site which organizes and updates all your news sites, blogs, or whatever else you read online which has an RSS or Atom feed (just about everything from the New York Times to this blog). Consider it my offering at helping you keep that New Years resolution to make your life more organized and your web reading more efficient. Also, you can now view Atomic Fission photos on Flickr. Search for my name or Atomic and you'll get the stream, or click on the Flickr badge in the sidebar. Also look for Atomic Fission videos on Google Video. Getting better all the time!

Happy New Year to one and all! -TWL

O Night Divine - 12/25/05

2005-12-25T23:44:00.000-05:00

Staunton, VA - This has been a most unusual Christmas season. I have been struggling with playing one of the most well-known literary characters in western literature. I did not experience the end-of-semester rush and the release of semester break. I have seen no TV since Thanksgiving, and therefore no Christmas commercials. I did my share of the shopping for the family online, and so went to few stores other than for normal shopping. I wrote the family Christmas newsletter while here and sent it back home to be printed and mailed out. Today I talked with my family back in Dunkirk and my parents back in Massapequa. The snow has all but vanished. So all in all it hardly ever felt like Christmas time to me. Yet here I've been for more than three weeks engaged in telling a timeless Christmas classic to over a thousand people, wishing them a Merry Christmas after each show, and saying "Merry Christmas" over and over again (with still 6 more performances to go - sort of anticlimactic). And all day today I've felt displaced, with really nothing to do until I went to dinner at 605 Bev (the actor's house). I went for a ride in the car to get outside and walk through some mountains or by a lake, but the day was wet and rainy and not conducive to being outdoors for very long.

While all these things were unusual, they were, for the most part, not unwelcome. The difference was good. I liked being mostly alone all day on Christmas Day. It has been my tradition for many years to find a few hours for myself each Christmas Day, whether a walk on the beach when I am visiting my parents, or a walk in the woods when I am home. Winter is my most meditative season, and especially during this dark time of year. So to have the entire day free was different, but welcome at the same time. And not being bombarded with Christmas commercialism through the media was a great relief. I only wish I had had the forethought to find some place where I might have served a meal to the displaced or poor, that's all. I did not think of that in time, and I regret that.

In lieu of family celebrations we have been having company celebrations. Before the Christmas Eve performance there was much gift-giving going on. I gave everyone a $5 "Bean Buck" for coffee at the Daily Grind. I got a "Baaa Humbug" jelly bean dispenser, one where a sheep dispenses jelly beans out his butt when you press him towards the floor. I also got some sparkling cider from the Plump Sister (Andrew), who passed out Christmas goodies to one and all. and I got a lump of charcoal from Santa. The, following that performance, the Koogler family, whose father, Sam, is the company techie, gave us a Victorian England feast, complete with turkey, ham, raisin sauce, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, wassail, egg nog, squash casserole, mashed potatoes, pecan, apple and pumpkin pie with Cool Whip, plum pudding (which he lit up). There was much mirth and merriment had by all. I ate far too much, ruining my fat intake with the egg nog alone. Then today we once again gathered together for a meal at 605. Another turkey was cooked, the leftovers from yesterday came over to the house, and we ate again! We also lit two Hannukah candles in a small hannukiah that Andrew had with him, while Jessica said the Hannukah prayer. She also made some delicious latkes. I wanted to have two, but I limited myself to one, with sour cream and applesauce. So good! And the highlight of the evening was frying the homemade donuts that Andrew had prepared. I put my old graduate school skills to use once more to fry the donuts (which was what I did while emplyed at Dippy Dounts in Lincoln NE during my first year of graduate school), and Andrew made a vailant effort to fill them with raspberry jam. Carie brought her mom and dad while the entire Bowles family was also there. So not a bad time at all.

The company, I think, is ready for a break. While onstage I am sure we look as fresh and vigorous as ever, backstage the talk is how to keep things alive and fresh and interesting for us. I think at this point I have finally found some freedom with Scrooge, and that's been a big help for me. Just letting him get onstage and go. I found that the first week I was just sort of boxing in the character, just trying to make sure I was getting the mechanics correct. But there was one matinee performance where I felt the character finally open up, where I felt I could play the role and not think about the role. That was a mini-breakthrough for me, and since then I think I've been more free with letting the character have more space inside me. But nonetheless, the show does become repetitive and rote, and i think we're all fighting against that in some fashion. One thing that keeps it fresh is audience contact, especially with children. There have been children sitting on the stools onstage, and when you get one or two who are really into the show, it's fun to play with them a little. Tyler, Greg and I were reminiscing about some of those incidents tonight at dinner. One little girl on Christmas Eve was quite into the whole thing, covering her eyes during the Marley sequence, asking questions during Tiny Tim's wake scene, talking to Tyler as narrator. When you can contact the audience like that it makes it more interesting from moment to moment and show to show. The last few audiences have been most receptive to the show, and of course that helps to keep things alive and actors motivated. But doing the show night after night does become monotonous, and really points out the value of rep playing. I'm also getting a taste of what a long Broadway run might be like as well. Same show, 8 times a week, for week after week. I certainly think I'd get bored.

Many people during this past week have had family or significant others down to visit. It's fun when all these people come, as if the family has been extended. Tyler, Daniel, Andrew and Chris and Sarah each had their respective girlfriends/boyfriend down for extended stays. Kevin, Carie and Sarah have their family members visiting with them. All this visiting is making people pretty ready to head wherever for their respective breaks. My parents as well as Ann Marie and the boys will be coming down later in the week, and I will caravan up home with my crew on New Year's Eve for my two weeks off. I am sure the next five days will go by pretty fast.

And now the night has descended, and another Christmas has come and gone. Soon the troupe will scatter for their vacations, to refresh and renew during the New Year's beginning, and then back at it again towards the end of January. Just about half over, but I can't help feeling the sensation that it should all be over. My own rhythms of the year and season have been very displaced in this process, and I am sure I am in for more of the same during the winter leg. Actually, I long now to get back to the road, where each day brought something new in a different place. I'm going to enjoy resting up, but this being in one place and doing one show is becoming, well - work. Come the spring, when we are working in rep, it won't be as bad as this, when you're doing a different show every night. But on the road, a different show in a different place is where the fun is at. Endings and beginnings - just what this time of year is all about. -TWL

Solstice Night - 12/22/05

2005-12-22T01:27:00.000-05:00

Goethe's final words: "More light." Ever since we crawled out of that primordial slime, that's been our unifying cry, "More light." Sunlight. Torchlight. Candlight. Neon, incandescent lights that banish the darkness from our caves to illuminate our roads, the insides of our refrigerators. Big floods for the night games at Soldier's field. Little tiny flashlights for those books we read under the covers when we're supposed to be asleep. Light is more than watts and footcandles. Light is metaphor. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Lead kindly light amid the encircling gloom, lead thou me on, the night is dark and I am far from home, lead thou me on. Arise, shine, for thy light has come. Light is knowledge, light is life, light is light.

(Music - Ebudae by Enya)

From the TV Series Northern Exposure

A New Look - 12/19/05

2005-12-19T22:48:00.000-05:00

Staunton, VA - A day off. I moved across the hall. A new room. I added some new photos to Flickr. I did some investigation into a new Google service - Google Video - very promising. I helped Kevin re-do his resume. A new resume. I ate a hot dog at the new hot dog place in town. Steamed brat, mustard (spicy brown), relish, kraut and onions. Dill pickle on the side. I got a "new" radio from the antique mall (a 1970s Radio Shack table model; these are now antiques?). I got a new book in the mail - The Shakespeare Company 1594-1642. I tried a new ready-to-eat Kroger "Meal Made Simple" - Linguine with Shrimp. Not bad. I watched a new movie (at least new to me). I am trying a new template on my blog. Still needs some tweaking. I'd like to learn how to do these templates on my own. Studying the code. I saw a new open-source web design program I want for my computer but I have to wait to download it when I get to Coffee on the Corner and use their network.

I have three shows tomorrow. I am now going to bed. Same old shit there. -TWL

Movin' On - 12/17/05

2005-12-17T23:47:00.000-05:00

Staunton, VA - The other morning Jaq Bessell, who directed Much Ado for us, came and visited us with her new baby, who's maybe about 4 weeks old or so. I had a chance to hold her, and of course took the opportunity to expound on my fatherly wisdom and know-how. It was comforting to hold the new child in the wake of Tim's passing. I didn't really want to let her go. Life comes, life goes, life returns again. And so we move on....

Today (Dec. 17th) is the anniversary of the first publishing of Dickens' original Christmas Carol story in 1848, 157 years ago. Amazing how popular and how so engrained into the culture it's become over those years. I've not been engaged in much more than doing the show over the past week. This week had promised to be a killer, with 12 performances scheduled in the week. Fortune smiled somewhat upon us, however, as a fairly large ice storm came in and shut down schools for two days. So we had the Thursday and Friday matinees canceled. And the Thursday evening performance had something like 12 people in the house, as the falling ice scared just about everyone away. However, we don't get away scot-free, as we found out this afternoon that we have to do two school matinees this coming Tuesday; that's three shows in a day. I wonder how I'll feel once that day is over.

I did not do much over Thursday except try to talk my son Eric through a computer makeover via phone, and Friday was a busy day, as I did laundry, shopping, and also went out in the morning and took pictures of the ice storm results. I think I posted them to Flickr, but I still have to post them to Yahoo! as well. I have posted some pictures of the rehearsals for CC, but there aren't many, as the opportunity to take pictures were small. I also did some online shopping for the family and made some Christmas CDs for Ann Marie. I also took the time to compose our family Christmas letter. We usually send that out every other year. If you would like to read the PDF version of our family newsletter, feel free to click here.

The review of the show is also in, and here is the PDF version of that. It's a little embarrassing in the sense that the review seems to be a review of my performance moreso than the show as a whole, and I regret most of my fellow performers hardly got mentioned. The unique use of sound goes unnoticed. I also think it's something of a reflection of how much baggage there is attached to the role of Scrooge and how people like to see their expectations fulfilled. I just wish the reviewer had looked at other elements of the production as well and placed my performance in the context of the entire production. Good reviewing is so hard to come by. But if it will put butts in the seats, so much the better.

One thing I am learning is how hard it truly is to perform live onstage at this rate. I find it hard to fight the tendency towards tedium, which is no doubt caused by doing the same show over and over. You have to concentrate hard to fight the numbness and the fatigue. I find sometimes I have a lot of trepidation in getting ready to do the show because I know how tired I'll be at the end of it, and I don't want to be that tired. I enjoy passing the day doing frivolous things like reading, sitting in Coffee on the Corner and surfing the internet, riding around the county's back roads just for the pleasure of it. Part of me looks forward to doing the show every night, and part of me dreads it at the same time. I don't get that feeling during rehearsal, and when working in Buffalo (only Thur-Sun performances) I don't get that feeling either. It could be just this particular show, just the fact that it's CC and not one of our other ones. I don't think I'll feel the same way when we return in the spring, and I know I didn't feel this was on the road in the fall. It could also be just the fact that I don't like playing lead roles like this, and going out and being the center of attention night after night doesn't sit well with my soul. I can't shake the nagging idea that something is lacking in the performance, but perhaps nothing really is lacking. Perhaps it's just my subconscious not letting me sit easy and having that slight uncomfortableness at being out front. Doesn't seem very actor-like to me. Yet I've always known that my reason for not pursuing a professional career at all was my inability to blow my own horn and call attention to myself. Sometimes that makes me wonder why I ever pursued this craft in the first place. I actually had that thought at the end of this evening's show as I was leaving the building.

But it's not something I want to get into now. I have been thinking somewhat lately about life after ASC and this experience, and what I'll do next apart from teaching. I have finished listening to Will in the World; it's an interesting book, and over this past week I heard the end of the book where the author speculates on Shakespeare's final plays and his subsequent retirement. He points out how Prospero in The Tempest seeks to return to the world of men while he is at the height of his powers on his mystical island, and he draws a parallel to Shakespeare's own personal retirement at a time when none of his playwriting abilities had diminished. I wonder how one knows when it's time to get out. Will seems to have known. But there are yet so many roles to play.... -TWL

Tim Douglas Jensen - 12/12/05

2005-12-12T21:01:00.000-05:00

Staunton, VA - For the third time since I began writing this weblog, I find I must write on the passing of a theatrical colleague. Last night, after the conclusion of the evening's performance of A Christmas Carol, I received word that Tim Jensen had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away from pneumonia. A member of the Fredonia theatre class of 1990, I was fortunate to have had him in my classes and shows for my first two years as a teacher at Fredonia, and also most fortunate to have kept up with his career in New York City and spent some time with him when he returned to Fredonia to direct Les Liasons Dangereuses and teach for a semester. It was then I saw his one-person show Shoes. His death is not only a sad event but a shocking one as well, as he was a young man in the prime of his life and his career. Many good people, myself among them, deeply mourn his passing.

When I first arrived at SUNY Fredonia in the fall of 1988 as the third acting teacher in as many years, I was all of 36; brash, eager, excited at starting what I considered the opportunity of my lifetime. In hindsight, of course, I knew very little then about what it meant to be a teacher of acting. My knowledge and practical skills were little more than those I had learned in graduate school, and my stage experience to that point had been restricted to my work in grad school and a couple of seasons at Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival. But of course I wanted to do well, and create a good impression.

The class of 1990, juniors when I first met them in '88, were an extraordinary collection of individuals. Talented, smart and energetic, they had forged a strong bond among themselves. Upon meeting them, I sensed this strong bond almost immediately. Almost to a person, these young actors had strong individual personalities and sensibilities, but it seemed to me that one of them, Tim Jensen, appeared to be at the center of this group.

I think I'm on pretty safe ground when I state that Tim was the hardest-working and most serious-minded of any person I've ever had in my classes. A careful reader may note that to this point I have avoided calling Tim a "former student," because that would imply that I taught him something. Such was not the case. As a teacher I was too young and inexperienced to teach someone with the work ethic and talent Tim possessed anything at all. He seemed to me so confident, so self-assured, that the best thing for me to do was stay out of his way and give him whatever opportunities I could to work on his craft. I remember envying him a bit as well, because I was never as self-assured and hard-working as he was when I was his age. I doubt I am even now.

Of course it wasn't like Tim couldn't have fun. I recall the first time I saw him do "Dreamgirls" with Ed and Jim (or was it David? The curse of failing memories!) at Fish House when I was invited to a party. Omigod was that funny! I had not ever seen anything quite like it before, and subsequent performances during Studio Hour were always a treat. And of course this class had great fun at poking fun at me whenever they could; Tim had an imitation of me (although Chris Springer's was the best) that was quite good.

Tim was in my first production at Fredonia (ironically enough, A Christmas Carol), and I got the chance to work with him on stage when Dr. Bob directed Equus. I played Martin Dysart while Tim played Alan's father. But of all the memories I have of Tim, the most lasting and the most powerful is his portrayal of Rev. John Hale in my production of The Crucible in the spring of 1989. The production contained a wealth of talent - Chris Springer, Christine Fuchs, Ed Schneller, Gerard Gentleman, Jim Patrick, Kathy Puma, Kathy McLean, John Cordaro, Todd Giglio, Fran Curry and others - and for me remains one of the finest productions I've ever directed. While much of the play's central action focuses on the relationship between John Proctor and Abigail Williams, I've always thought the character of John Hale to be the most pivotal one in the play. He is the portrait of a man who has a strong set of beliefs in the beginning, only to see those beliefs be severely questioned, tested, and ultimately repudiated. The role calls for an actor capable of conveying not only a strong sense of moral surety, but ultimately a man caught in the throes of the deepest crisis of conscience. He is, in effect, the audience's conscience. There was never a doubt in my mind that Tim was the man for that role.

As I recall, with a memory now tinged with sadness and sweetness, Tim gave everything he had to that role. He had much to give: Tim himself was a man who had a strong moral code and a high sense of ethics, he was driven to succeed in his work and to constantly improve himself, he was sensitive to others and had the ability to empathize with others in suffering or sorrow. There was even a nobility to everything he did in the theatre, as if he knew what he was doing had a high purpose. He brought all these characteristics to the role of Rev. Hale, and in a remarkable production he gave a remarkable performance. I believe I still have a piece of the courtroom scene digitized which is not with me in Virginia, but which I hope to dig out and put up on the web for people to see.

Of course there was no question Tim was going to New York to pursue a theatrical career. He went on to get his MFA at the Actors Studio Drama School and to perform in and around New York City. Those of you not Fredonia graduates can get a short biography of him here. He developed his playwriting skills to go along with his acting skills, and I recall bumping into him once quite by accident in a New York City coffee shop, where he was sitting with a huge cup of coffee, hard at work scribbling in a notebook, totally absorbed. Same hard-working Tim, I thought. Some things never change. And I got a kick out of the fact that this summer we were both doing Leonato from Much Ado About Nothing at the same time; he in NYC with Riverside Shakes, and I down here in VA. I got a look at some pictures of his production in the Times, I believe, and felt sort of proud of myself, that I was doing the same role as Tim Jensen. Maybe I had finally made it after all. :-)

Those who truly want to understand what the theatre is all about, what the heart and soul of theatre really is, would do well to look at Tim's life and contribution to it. His death will not be a cause for the lights to dim on Broadway; rather, it will be a cause for the light which theatre can bring to us all to become dimmer. His work was full of the stuff that makes humanity the messy-sweet, sloppy "ugly cake" that it is (yes, Jean, that's really Tim come to visit you. Give him a hug from me). Shoes is the kind of work which embodies the soul of the theatre: reflections on how even the most seemingly insignificant person in the most absurd circumstances can offer us glimpses into the universal. While playing Scrooge and watching audiences react to CC, I have been recently reminded of this theatrical reality: the theatre - and only the theatre - brings to us directly and immediately the stories we need to hear to remind us again who we are as humans, and what we mean to each other. As with Ellen Opelia and Bess Brown before him, Tim brought to the theatre not just his craft, skills and talent, but his soul and heart as a human being, and willingly shared them with those who came in contact with him as audience or friend. His stories became our stories as he shared them with us. At its most fundamental, all theatre is community theatre, and Tim's passing is, to those of us within his community, a greater loss than the passing of Arthur Miller, for it is more direct, more immediate, more shocking and more present to us all.

It is not surprising that humans through all ages have tried every means at their disposal during the dark days of the winter solstice to ward off the darkness with celebrations and festivals of light. Perhaps in its infinite wisdom, the cosmos has decreed that Tim's passing will be for us who knew him, not a deepening of the seasonal darkness, but a deeper celebration of the light, the happiness and the joy he brought to his friends and audiences. May we all celebrate that light! -TWL

Screw-ged 12/9/05

2005-12-09T11:54:00.000-05:00

Staunton, VA - The minute you think there maybe is no God, a small little blessing comes to make you think twice. I am sitting in Coffee on the Corner writing this entry because this morning's matinee of Christmas Carol has been cancelled due to the fact that schools in the area have a snow day. This is the second snow day of the season down here, and what they call a "snow day" would make the average Western New Yorker laugh in utter disbelief. As I look out the window, there is barely an inch of snow on the ground. To be fair, a good portion of it is ice, and I take it from the weather reports on the radio this morning that the roadways are icy, with two major accidents on local interstates. But the other "snow day" came before any snow ever hit the ground. Schools in Augusta County closed in anticipation of a snowstorm coming which dropped maybe two inches of snow. Pretty funny. But I will take it!

It's hard to believe that six days have actually passed since I last posted. The days have been incredibly full and busy, and I've come to know the definition of "bone-weary." I've been getting to bed at about 10:30 every night after pretty much a full day's rehearsal, and getting up at 7:30 AM to make a 9:00 AM call for CC or rehearsal. We've been doing matinees since Wednesday, with dress rehearsals and polishing rehearsals since Sunday. We also had a music rehearsal for Planet prior to the benefit performance last night at Washington and Lee University in Lexington VA (about 35 minutes SW of Staunton) for the recently closed Lime Kiln Theatre. I have actually managed to do a wash and do some shopping amidst all that as well, and even had a bit of time the other night to watch The Magnificent Seven, but that's about it. I don't think I'm alone in feeling this tired; there seems to be a general sense of fatigue that everyone is battling to keep spirits up and keep us moving. I will tell you this - the American Shakespeare Center is certainly getting their money's worth from us.

So let's get into the heart of the matter - playing Ebenezer Scrooge. Back when we were in rehearsal and before we went on the road I was hoping that the two characters I would get to play would be Jacob Marley and Old Joe. I had figured that Chris, one of our three-year vets and the guy who had been playing Scrooge for the past two years, would reprise the role. But the director had other ideas, and lo and behold when the cast list came there was my name listed as Scrooge. Honestly, I wasn't too thrilled. As a lifetime character actor I've come to be comfortable in character roles, which are usually secondary roles and not the focus roles of plays. My other two roles here, Leonato and Prospero, fall neatly into that category - nice roles but not the focus roles of the plays (some might argue that Prospero has a lot of focus, but the play is so evenly balanced among characters that I think no one character dominates the show). But if CC is anything, it is Scrooge, and the role carries with it a tremendous amount of baggage, tradition and expectation. And of course, amongst the community of theatre people, CC is regarded as little more than a cash cow designed to raise a lot of money and subsidize whatever else you're doing for your season.

Now, let it be clearly understood (to mimic the Dickensian style of writing) that I have nothing personal against CC in and of itself. It's a heartwarming, fun story, and deservedly a classic of English literature. In my family it's been a tradition to watch some version of CC after all the packages have been wrapped and placed under our tree on Christmas Eve. I am torn between the Alistair Sims version (never, NEVER watch the colorized version!!) and the George C. Scott version. The Patrick Stewart version sucks, and my kids of course liked the Muppet version (I can tolerate it). I've never seen the Bill Murray version - perhaps I should rent it. So it's not like I don't like the story or anything along those lines. Of course, it is quite sentimental and mushy, and no doubt even in Dickens' mind it was written as a commercial venture to make him some money. Yet there are things in it which I truly think are insightful and poetic. As an example, there is the section during Christmas Present where Dickens talks about everyone in the Cratchit family having, for once, enough to eat. There are other passages within the fable which clearly and vigorously rail against the social ills of the times. But over the years I think the story has been so commercialized that these aspects of the story have lost their impact or disappeared altogether to the point where CC is barely more than the story of an old disgruntled codger who becomes a Christmas fanatic, and thank goodness he does. So it goes.

However, having been given the role, I have of course given some thought as to how to play him within the confines of a 90-minute script which basically hits the highlights of the main plotline. It has not been easy, partly because the rehearsal time has been so short and partly because there are long stretches of time where I do nothing but stand and watch events unfold without commenting. Also, because we are doing this play within the "original practices" tradition of the ASC, we have no special effects, lights, scenery or anything else to help us create mood or atmosphere. Dickens' text does that extraordinarily well, but I am not yet sure whether it's more successful as read text or spoken text. I will say one thing - getting your mouth around Dickensian "dialogue" is difficult. As I noted in an earlier post, I've had difficulty memorizing these lines so fast, and it's only been within the past few matinee performances that I've been working to make the dialogue and performances organic and natural. The other day I finally discovered and developed a through-line for myself to take me along the journey, and I am glad I've found those keys.

My concept of Scrooge has been from the beginning that he is basically a misunderstood man, living an austere life in contradistinction to the world around him. He is stereotypically portrayed as a grouchy misanthrope, but I have tried to cast him as a man who has become what he is because, early in life, his emotional life was crushed out of him, leaving him nothing to live with but cold reason. If you study some of the things Scrooge says in that famous first scene, much of he says is not particularly harsh or unreasonable, and some of it is true. "What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money" - how many of you out there will go into credit card debt this Christmas (I will)? "Keep Christmas in your own way and let me keep it in mine...Let me leave it alone then." "It's enough for a man to understand his own business without meddling in the affairs of others." Plenty of truth in those statement. He exhibits the same response to the poor and homeless that the majority of society expresses by its actions if not its words. He does not pay his clerk well, but apparently at least enough to keep a roof over his head and some food on the table (nothing indicates that the Cratchits are destitute, just poor. Think Wal-Mart and the resistance to raising the minimum wage in this country to something liveable). So in response to this I've tried to portray a man who lives by cold reason and logic and has little emotional life, and has reached an accomodation with those around him. While others may perceive him as grouchy or unreasonable, it's only because Scrooge has decided to live a life where he plays the rules of business extremely well and always to his advantage (there is no evidence that Scrooge is a cheat), and speaks harsh truths in ways which people find irritating. He is undoubtedly a cold man, and can become cruel when pressed (the charity fundraiser, for example, presses him to his limit). But I sense in the character no genuine meanness, and hence that becomes the vehicle of his reclamation.

His journey with the spirits, then, is one of reclaiming his emotional life. He is not "beyond hope" because, as we find out, there is still emotion in him which he is suppressing. He himself does not understand this emotional life, and that is what the journey is all about. His sojourn into the past is to remind him of a time when his emotional life was full and how it was slowly squeezed from him by life's circumstances (my backstory on Scrooge's past is, of course, extrapolated from hints in the text and story, but this production cannot fully bring that out. Suffice to say that Scrooge has a few things happen to him, such as Fan's death and his breakup with Belle, which leave him emotionally handicapped). His journey into the present is designed to reveal to him the value of human relationships, of family (Cratchits) and friends (Fred's party), as a source of wealth beyond that of money. His sojourn into the future is designed to remind him of death and all it entails - the limitations of existence, the desire to leave behind a legacy, the notion of "now or never" as it pertains to living life. All these aspects of his journey have nothing to do with logic or reason, and each time he tries to present a logical argument to one of the spirits (even to the Ghost of Christmas Future while staring into the grave) are one by one rebuffed through a response which encourages him through the heart. But even further, Scrooge has to realize that even a reasonable approach to emotion is not enough. It is emotional existence itself, as represented by an open heart, that is necessary for a full life. The man who misunderstands Scrooge the most, of course, is his own self. His reclamation comes when his heart is fully opened by the Spirits. Even though Scrooge, in each section of his journey, expresses a degree of intellectual understanding of each lesson he is learning ("I learned a lesson which is working now" he tells Christmas Present, as well as telling Future "I hope to be a changed man from what I was"), he only fully realizes it at the grave, and it is by facing the reality of his eventual death that his heart opens up.

It took me awhile to piece this all together, as for much of the rehearsal period I was simply trying to get the mechanical aspects of the role together. These ideas have only fully developed over the past few days, and are designed to get me honestly through each point in the play. I doubt much of this will read to an average audience member, because there isn't much action or text for me to express this, and also because they are coming to the show for much different reasons than bearing witness to Scrooge's emotional reclamation. And again, it is difficult to achieve the proper mood (Shakespeare is so much better than Dickens at that, and the expectations are so different). But I think for me playing the role it gives me some foundation and roots. I'm sure that,even though we officially open tomorrow night, I will be working on this throughout the run.

As for the overall production itself, it has been a workout not only for me but for everyone in the troupe. Keep in mind that, except for Tyler - who is playing the Narrator - and myself, everyone else is playing several roles as well as executing all the scene changes and technical effects. Jessica, Sarah and Greg are doing all the music and sound, which is the main method we have of creating mood. There are an incredible amount of costume changes, and even though everything is about down to as minimum a show as you could possibly have, there is still plenty to do for everyone. Since I am on the stage for all but maybe one minute total of the entire show, I have not seen the backstage activity, but I have been assured by my cast mates that the backstage situation is wild. Between costume changes and set changes everyone is busy every moment of the production. There is no down time for anyone. I had this odd experience for the past few days as being somewhat isolated and removed from the show, and I finally figured out that the reason was that I could not contribute anything to the running of the production backstage. I can't help with set changes or costume changes or any of that, and as we were putting the final stages of the technical aspects of the show together it was sort of odd sitting there on my "island of Scrooge" and not being able to volunteer to help with anything. It's nine people backstage pulling off everything, and it's no wonder everyone's tired. I really believe in some aspects people backstage are working harder than I am. It's always a miracle to me that any show actually gets up and running, but in this case the miracle of 11 people pulling off CC in about 10 days of rehearsal is a miracle of Christmas proportions.

I am sure after writing all this I've left something out, but I'll try to keep some notes so I don't leave too much out. Even though I've been saying "Merry Christmas" until my lungs give out, I still don't quite feel in a Christmas-y mood. I think working this hard through the holidays has somewhat dampened any Christmas spirit I have, and I just don't have a "real-world" sense of the holiday season. I'm surprised to find the Salvation Army person at Krogers when I go shopping. Dave doesn't dress up Coffee on the Corner for Christmas (Hooray! Another reason to like it!). My little room has no Christmas decorations. The best I've done is spruce up my computer desktop to reflect some Christmas spirit (a tree, lights, and a CC desktop picture). So hopefully things may slow down as we get into the performance schedule and I can slow down a bit. Looking ever so forward to my day off Monday. Can't say I'll write before then. Whatever you may do this holiday season, don't Screwg yourself! -TWL

PS - There are some new videos from the final leg of the tour available on my video page. Feel free to check them out!

Act Three - 12/03/05

2005-12-03T20:52:00.000-05:00

Staunton, VA - I don't know why I get the feeling that there will be less to write about now that we're off the road, but I sense that's the case. Perhaps it's because there aren't new places to go to or to see and then write on what I'm seeing. All I can see at the moment is the Blackfriars Playhouse, which is right across the street. I'll be seeing a lot of that in the days to come, no doubt, but no new things to see and experience. Daniel has described the whole year's experience as a five-act play: Act One - Rehearsal; Act Two - Fall Leg; Act Three - A Christmas Carol; Act Four - Winter Leg; Act Five - Blackfriars Residence. So, consider this the beginning of Act Three.

I did promise a bit of a review about the fall tour, so I think I'll begin with that. I just finished uploading the last of the fall leg pictures to the Yahoo! website, with some videos left to go, and in winding that up it seemed the best idea to sort of put the wrap on the fall tour. So, in no special order:

Best Stop on the Tour - New London, New Hampshire. It was mid-October, the leaves were in fine color, the weather was fantastic, the hike up Mt. Sunapee was breathtaking, the New London Inn provided fine accomodations, there wasn't a sign of MallofAmerica for miles, and the three opera houses were charming locations. About the only thing that maybe wasn't so fine was the fact that the Northeast Shakespeare Ensemble did not do a good job publicizing the fact that it was the ASC, and not the NESE, that was performing. It seemed to upset others more than me, but beyond that I think it was perhaps the nicest, most restful, most peaceful and most beautiful stop on the tour.
Worst Stop on the Tour - Bangor, ME. The people and all were quite nice, but the space was abysmal. We turned the space around to play on the floor rather than the stage, and the stage left exit led immediately to the outdoors on a fairly chilly night. Just a lot of things seemed to go wrong that particular evening. I was late for two entrances in Richard III because I couldn't hear the cues from outside. Tough venue.
Best Moment on the Tour - Very tough call. Getting a lobster dinner with Jessica seems to be the gut call, however. I thought I wasn't going to get a lobster dinner after missing the Bar Harbor stop. Hitting the summit of Sunappe with Jessica was also right up there. As was returning to the tour in Burlington VT.
Worst Moment on the Tour - Leaving Orrville OH to go home. No contest.
Best Audiences - Centenary College, Shreveport LA. When those kids jumped onto the stage during the encore of Planet I thought that was very cool, mostly because I was running to the merchandise booth and wasn't on stage, which looked like it was going to collapse at any moment. It was also fun to watch them get Greg to wave his butt at them. Centenary just loved us, and it was a shame we had to leave early.
Hardest Audience - Maybe that has to go to Lawrenceville VA, mostly because the audience was the smallest we played for. It was hard to get them going with Planet.
Best Moment on the Stage - It should be noted that the midnight show at St. Lawrence University has a tradition of being, shall we say, loose, with a lot of improvising going on for the fun of cast and audience. So this goes to the look on Tyler's face during the midnight show at St. Lawrence University when he made his first entrance as Ariel in Planet and the whole cast looked at me and asked, "Is he gay?"
Worst moment on stage - Probably the performance of Prospero at Centenary. I don't know why it was so wretched, but I remember being really pissed at myself for a day afterward. I know I screwed up a lot of lines and my singing was atrocious that night. Coming in a close second was during a performance of R3 when I could not totally manage to control the urge to sneeze. One small one escaped during IViv, and I could see Tyler as Cateby begin to look towards me slowly. I did not dare meet his eyes.
Best Drive - From Danville to Fredericksburg VA along Highway 350 (I believe). It was just a slow, even, pleasant drive, spectacular day, and not very long.
Worst Drive - Maybe Birmingham to Shrevesport. The air conditioning was broken in the van and it was maybe 97 degrees outside. That's the drive where I took the picture of myself without my shirt. Some guy from England saw that picture and claimed he lost his job because his boss caught him looking at that picture and sacked him for viewing obscenity.
Best Motel/Hotel - The New London Inn. A close second was the first motel we stayed in in Elon, NC. I believe it was a Country Suite or something like that. Kudos and thanks also have to go to Bruce and Karen in Canton NY.
Worst Motel/Hotel - The Stratford Inn, Dansville VA. Just weird. Close second was W. Hartford CT, but we weren't there too long.

Tell you what - I'll stop there, and if you have any best/worst categories you'd like me to list, I will do that for you. Now here comes the list of Things I've Learned Along The Way:

The hardest thing to give up on tour is your personal freedom. The schedule is tight, you're constantly on the move, and when you get someplace, your mobility is limited simply because you do not have unlimited access to a car. For example, in Fredericksburgh, all I got to see was a huge mall/shopping area, the motel, and Lee Hall. I never got to downtown Fredericksburgh where all the history is. Days off sometimes mean just hanging at the motel, partly because you're tired, partly because you can't get anywhere.
I thought I'd have the worst bladder in the troupe. I don't.
How they ever did things like this tour before cell phones and wireless internet I will never know.
XM Radio rules. Period. Best investment I made.
Garmin GPS units also rule. Not perfect, but it got us out of a couple of jams.
You don't need quite as much entertainment as you thought. I have DVDs I haven't played, and I seldom crack out my iPod simply because the XM radio is sufficient. There really isn't much time to sit and entertain yourself. I saw one movie on the whole tour. Sleeping, performing, writing and keeping all the pictures and movies I take ordered and updated takes up pretty much all the time.
Clothes are boring and overrated.
Eating well can be a challenge. My heart goes out to the troupe vegetarians. Subway is good, but even that becomes old after a while. And they don't give you cards or a stamp card anymore. What's up with that?
Most coffee in hotels/motels is swill. We travel with a coffeemaker I bought in Shreveport and Jessica keeps it stoked in emergencies. I've always tried to avoid Starbucks when possible, but on the road you can be sure you will get a good cup of coffee there.
Touring is wearing on you physically and psychologically in ways you don't expect. You're not tired, but you're fatigued. Your voice is not totally shot, but it becomes weak. Your sense of time and space becomes cramped. The day of the week is inconsequential. Your whole sense of "body clock" can become totally whack. Exercise is spotty. It is almost impossible to settle into any sort of routine beyond the time when load-in begins and ends. And as far as you're concerned, there are only 11 people in the whole wide world besides you.

And if I come up with any others within the next month or so I'll be sure to put them in here. It's good to be in one place for a while, and losing $13 in poker last night to Tyler, Andrew and Chris seems to have relieved my tension and anxiety level a bit. I'll give you some thoughts on Christmas Carol as we move along with that as well. And in the meantime, you all should go over to another Atomic Fission blogger's site. Sarah Bowles has a blog going on right here, so give her a read as well and get another perspective other than this poor player's twisted view. -TWL

I Have Not The Power - 11/30/05

2005-11-30T22:37:00.000-05:00

Staunton, VA - A neglected or ignored blog is a terrible thing. It calls out to you, a little whining voice in the back of your head, saying, "Write in me! Write in me!" I have heard the voice over the past few days, but admit that, at the moment, I have not the power.

So quickly: I went home for Thanksgiving, a drive back through the night, which included a 90-minute wait on I-79 between Pittsburgh and Erie so as to clear out a multi-car accident caused, apparently, by a black ice spinout. I couldn't make it all the way home, so I grabbed 4 hours' sleep in Grove City PA and drove straight to Jamestown NY for my Wed. morning MRI (which, by the way, showed all clear). The I drove home and tried to stay up most of the day checking on the weather. Jenna was driving home so I wanted to make sure she had a sense of the weather conditions for her drive. Thursday was, of course, spent with traditional Thanksgiving activities, and all the kids were home. Friday we sort of relaxed most of the day and went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the afternoon (I'm sort of "Pottered out" at this point) with chili for dinner. I left on Saturday soon after Jenna left, taking Brian with her to Syracuse so he could visit his girlfriend, then into rehearsal for Christmas Carol Sunday afternoon.

Rehearsal has been furious, hard, stressful and exhausting. I'm a little tense, depressed at coming to grips with my declining memorization skills, and wound up as well as tired. I do not learn lines as efficiently as I used to, so I've had to put in extra hours to get them, and I am still stumbling over them. We only have about 8 days total to get this production going, so the time pressure adds to the stress. And just this morning, we have had added to our plate a benefit performance of Planet so as to help a local theatre in Lexington (the Lime Kiln Theatre) which just closed its doors, fired all its artistic staff and is endeavoring to raise funds so as to re-open. Thus it is that I have had to shove aside just about anything else but rehearsal. Thus it is that I have not the power to write much.

So if you are one of those kind people who have actually been reading this poor player's blog with any regularity, I hope you'll be patient and forgive me while I get this show and this part (Scrooge, by the way, in case you did not know) up on its feet. Once I feel more comfortable in what I'm doing and have reached a better comfort level for myself, I'll get back to writing something more interesting for you to read.

Bah! Humbug! -TWL

'Tis So Concluded On - 11/22/05

2005-11-22T16:44:00.000-05:00

On I-64W - We have just finished our last performance in Goochland, VA, and are now currently heading home. I am taking the advantage of the ride home to write this entry, and then take a Thanksgiving break. We are all getting off until Sunday, when we begin to mount A Christmas Carol. We have seven days to get that going and then perform it until December 30th.

Well, we did the Sunday afternoon performance of MA, and then took off for Bethesda after getting a bite to eat. I ate at a new place for me, something called Baha Fresh. It's a Mexican-style place which served tacos, burritos and such. It seemed familiar to the west coasters in the troupe, so I gave it a shot. I ordered a "Burritos Dos Manos" which I thought was just an extra-large burrito. Turned out it was two extra-large burritos, way more food than I could handle. I ate one and saved the rest until last night, when I had it for dinner (refirgerating it overnight). Very tasty.

The show at Holton-Arms Academy was for a private all-girls school. We stayed most of the day there. Thye show they asked for was R3, which is a big surprise for any high school. But Holton Arms apparently is not any high school. Being private, it costs quite a great deal of money to attend there. I saw one young lady drive up to school in her red Audi sports car. The building is all practically brand-new. The theatre was very nice. Everything about the place just exuded dollars. Of course, it was located in a toney section of Bethesda, a suburb of DC, so I suspect many well-off families sent their daughters there. And of course, the ladies were not stupid. I am assuming the school takes high academic achievers, given its private standing. They were an attentive audience, but of course some references referring to women did not get past them. When Alyssa, as one of the murderers of Clarence, says "'tis cowardly and womanish" you could hear the laughs go on. Similarly when Richard talks to Elizabeth about her womb as the "nest of spicery" there were some interesting reactions, from giggles to ooohhs and aaahhhs. It sort of gave the play an interesting spin to have an all-female audience listening to the show. After a rather raucous lunch in the cafeteria, we have several simultaneous workshops going on. Kevin and I did the one we call "Shakesfeet," which tries to give the students a few tools for getting Shakepseare "on his feet" by using paraphrasing and understanding of verse. That took an hour, and then we headed back to Staunton through the pouring rain. When we got into town we unloaded the cargo van of everything that we did not need for today, and headed off to sleep. I got a room in the Frederick House for the evening, whose wonderful proprietors, Denny and Karen, made me feel at home. A little Monday Night Football, and then a little sleep.

Today's gig was in Goochland, and it was a bit difficult. We thought the show was scheduled for 1:00, but they had changed the time to 1:30 for their schedule. We left Staunton at 9 AM and had a lot of time to kill before 12:30, as they had classes in the theatre before then. So some of us went to Tracey's Cafe, where they served a lot of fried death. I tried the meatloaf and mashed potatoes, one of two not-fried sides, and it was OK. Heading back to the theatre, we discovered that the audience would also be made up of elementary kids as well. I've no idea why they included elementary kids in the mix, but they did. Turned out these were the kids who sat on the stage! Right at the beginning of the show two kids moved their chairs stage right to get to the front and ended up blocking the stage right exit. I had to go over in the middle of the first scene and move them away from the exit (kindly, of course, in my best "Uncle Leo" style) so we could use it. Thank goodness for "direct audience contact," or I never could have moved them! So the audience was a little restless at times. We sort of sped through the play, because we had to be done by 3:15 in time for the buses, and we really did not get started until 1:35 or so. It was a bit difficult, but not impossible, and Carie gave us thanks for getting through the show so well under the conditions.

So - the fall leg is now over. Everyone I think is suffering from some form of fatigue or another; some have tired voices (me), Kevin just barely made it through today's run and seems to be getting flu-like symptoms; others are just generally weary and looking forward to the break. I will probably ruminate on touring in another entry, but there is no doubt that touring takes its toll on you physically and psychologically. I am looking forward to seeing my family over the break (all the kids are coming home). I need to get my lines down for CC and then get set to perform through Christmas (won't be back home until after the New Year). But of course, I still have the 7-hour drive home ahead of me as I write this, so I think I'll kick back in my "office," have a cup of the coffee sitting in my thermos, and prepare the head. A Happy Thanksgiving to you all! - TWL

Home Stretch - 11/20/05

2005-11-20T08:46:00.000-05:00

Rockville, MD - I neglected to mention when I previously posted this morning that I have some new videos and photos for you to check out if you so desire.

I also did not mention what a pleasant drive we had from Danville to Fredericksburgh. Up US Highway 350 on a beautiful, sunny day. The road was lined with very pretty farms, and had no "MallofAmerica" strips along it. A tree-lined, four-lane highway with a 60MPH speed limit, it was a magnificently genteel cruise up the state of Virginia. We made one stop at a local mini-mart, where I could not resist buying a moon pie and a $5 "Bah Humbucks" VA lottery ticket scratch-off. I won nothing. Typical. -TWL

Fredericksburgh, VA - It's a quiet Sunday morning, and today marks the end of our stay in Fredericksburgh, VA. We did two Much Ados on Friday, one at a local high school and one evening performance at University of Mary Washington, which is the home of the Fredericksburgh Festival of the Arts. The yesterday it was Planet in the afternoon, and R3 in the evening. This afternoon we have another Much Ado, and then off to Bethesda MD for a day at a local girl's academy in the area, and back to Staunton by Monday evening. Our final gig is in Goochland VA, between RIchmond and Charlottesville, and then the fall leg is complete.

I think everyone is looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving break. While the general mood of the company remains positive and the shows seem intact and strong this weekend, there is still that little sense of anticipation in the air as you catch snippets of phone calls or conversations. People have made preparations for travel, and we all can only hope that the nasty weather which seems to be in the offing for the east coast is not as bad as is being predicted. I am leaving for home after Tuesday's show, and all the weather reports seem to indicate heavy rain and/or snow. I am scheduled for an MRI in Jamestown on Wednesday morning, so Tuesday will be a caffineated day, to be sure.

This final push out has not been too bad. The trip from Lawrenceville to Danville was very nice, about 2.5 hours. What has been most regretful for me this last leg has been the inability to get to see some sites around the area. Lawrenceville seems from the van to be not too prosperous an area, but upon arriving at Danville, I seemed to get the impression that this was a fairly prosperous place. We drove right through the downtown area, and it seemed impressive from the van. At the very least I can tell you that the main street (Main Street?) was lined with these incredibly large houses; one might say mansions, except they probably are all now multi-family dwellings or offices. The churches were all neatly tucked in among these houses. It was an architectural site, and I found myself imagining the splendor of these places during the pre-Civil War era. Not being an architectural historian of any sort, I would imagine some of them were built after the war as well. This area is just south of Appomatox, Richmond and Petersburgh, so the notions of what the place was like during the mid-nineteenth century came readily.

In Danville we played at Averett College, and just like the rest of the town, it too was a neat collection of buildings set right in the heart of the town. It's one of those colleges where the main buildings all have four large Dorian columns at their main entrances. On this campus I did not see one modern building (even the dorms seemed about 1950s or so), but one was in the offing at the rear of the campus. The campus itself had many small green areas, but no wide open quadrant. We got a warm welcome from Joey in Student Life, had lunch during their Cuisines of the World event in the cafeteria, and then checked into the motel.

The Stratford Inn was a bizarre motel which, at its height somewhere 40 or 50 years ago was probably thought to be a five-star accomodation, but it has since gone to seed. It consisted of four little complexes scattered across the hill. There was a dining room, a bar (Which closed at 10:00 PM on weekdays to the frustration of a few company members), and a front office which never answered the phone. When you went into the bathroom, the back of the door had the same wallpaper as the walls, which led to this eerie feeling of having been transported and caged in some little surreal jail cell. The electricity was wired so weirdly that you had to throw a set of switches in just the right combination to get the electricity to work. All of the furnishings and decor were dark and somber, and the feeling of decayed elegance permeated everything. I would up with the feeling that it sort of symbolized the area itself, but I did not get any chance to explore the rest of the city beyond the college.

We did Much Ado for the college in a cavernous theatre which, again, spoke to a time long gone by. The theatre's rigging system, such as it was, was managed by sandbags. There was stuff everywhere around the theatre complex. Every nook and cranny seemed to be filled with props or construction material or furniture. A hallway served as storage for their wood supply. Paint cans were open and in the alcoves of the entrances to house right and left. A seat cushion sat in another alcove atop some sort of set piece. Backstage were all manner of tools and more storage. The dressing rooms were off the costume shop, and bolts of cloth and other material were stacked along every wall. I have absolutely no idea why this theatre on this campus continued to operate, as the whole place broke almost every known fire and emergency code in existence. Daniel is actually qualified as a fire inspector, and he was as in awe of how many violations there were as I was. Again, it all just had a feel of an era gone by, as if the whole theatre complex was still in the 50s. Quite amazing.

The performance itself was, as usual, OK; it's always mostly the audience reaction that creates the difference. As the space was large there was little chance for intimacy, and the bulk of the audience seemed to be made up of students looking for extra credit. In fact, Tyler said that, while he was in the audience during the gulling scene, some of the students actually asked him for his autograph, as they got extra credit for doing so. It was also pretty hot in that space, and I think the heat got to everyone. The rush to get out at the end was great, and I had a hard time getting through the crowd to my merchandise table. I think when we play these larger proscenium spaces it is much harder to create that sense of audience involvement which original practices encourages. It makes me wonder sometimes about original practices in the Blackfriars vrs, original practices in the Globe. Were they different? Or is it just the expectations and assumptions of the audiences which have radically changed? We certainly don't play for Elizabethan audiences, and I think in larger spaces that makes a difference in how our original practices come across. I find in general our shows in smaller spaces, such as the one we're in now, are more conducive to original practices.

Here in Fredericksburgh we are working in a large ballroom in Lee Hall. The stage is makeshift, and it shakes a great deal. making us a bit nervous at times. We are pretty much locked into the backstage area, as we cannot leave the ballroom itself without being seen. There are numerous flags hanging from the rafters, giving the place in international feel. The audiences have not been large, mostly filling the center section three rows deep and a bit to either side. When we play on these portable spaces we have no seats on stage, so audience contact is a bit limited to the sides. Bill Gordon, our booking dude down in Staunton, is with us this weekend, and seems to be having a good time. We ARE the "Festival of the Arts" this weekend. I had thought we were one attraction in a number of art events in town, but it turns out we are it. The people who run the event seem pleased (I think this is ASC's seventh year here), but they also seem disappointed about the small turnout. The audiences here are enthusiastic, and like other places where ASC has played for a number of years, there are people who come every year to every show. But given the number of chairs set up, we are playing to 50% of capacity.

So it is this morning that, as I come to the final days of the fall leg of this tour, I find myself wondering about audiences. In each city we've played, and especially in places were we don't play every year, the audiences appear to be small but loyal followings of people combined with a sprinkling of students. In places like Canton and Shreveport, where the company's annual visit is a highlight of the year, there is a dedicated collection of people who love to have us in, yet that group is always rather small, and does not seem to have a broad base reaching into the community at large. They tend to be academics in the humanities and fine arts, waging a somewhat quixotic struggle to bring culture to their part of the world. In no place that we've played could the box office had paid our fee. This same issue is cropping up back home in Fredonia, where choosing a season is primarily dictated not by artist value or educational value, but by whether or not the audience will come to see the show. When I examine and try to make sense out of what I do as an actor, this question about the audience always seems to nag me. Deep in my actor's soul, I want to play for audiences that are lively, engaged, and to some measure will take out with them the ideas, thoughts and feelings which a play might produce and incorporate (or actively reject) that experience into their lives so as to enrich their lives and the lives of those around them. Yet I am more often struck with the reality that most audience members who attend a play watch, listen, nod, approve, admire, compliment, and then move on. Another cultural notch on the belt. I think if I could make up a rule about academics coming to cultural events, it would be that they had to go find someone somewhere on campus or in town who had never seen a Shakespeare play (or whatever particular cultural event they might be attending) and bring them to that event, aiding in whatever manner needed to help the neophyte enjoy it. Unless they did that, they would not be admitted. It will never happen, of course, and it's a silly notion. But it comes from wishing that Shakespeare's original audience conditions could once again be a reality; where the poor and the rich, the educated and the illiterate all came together in one place at one time to revel in these words and stories and took them to heart. If we can labor to create original staging practices for the players, perhaps we might also turn our labor to creating original practices for our audiences as well. -TWL

The Final Push - 11/15/05

2005-11-16T00:23:00.000-05:00

Lawrenceville, VA - Actually, about 10 miles outside of Lawrenceville, in a Super8 Motel just off I-95. Eating boneless BBQ spareribs and fried rice. Tempting fate. Nothing else open except Denny's. A man can only tempt fate so much.

Having now recovered from whatever it was that attacked me (I presume some sort of food poisoning, or perhaps my body has had one too many Subway sandwiches and is just trying to clue me in), I can give out with a few more details about the past few days. The environs of Toledo was my last port of call, and, not that I want to cast aspersion on the noble city of Toledo, but folks, there ain't much happening there. One of our troupe asked the motel clerk if there was anything to do, and the response was that we had arrived at that part of the USA where there is truly nothing going on for miles around.

It was, in terms of our actual raison d'etre, a pretty good time. One thing that set this gig apart from many of the others we had recently played was that, since the audience was basically composed of the Ohio Shakespeare Conference attendees, they actually got stuff. I think this fact helped improve our shows a bit over those three days. Theatre, of course, is quite an interactive art form to begin with (not as overtly in most cases as our shows are), and there is always some sort of relationship between actor and audience. When an audience is clearly receptive, I think it helps performers a great deal. Our R3 there was very good, and Much Ado and Planet really went over well. In each case the audience was clearly with us every step of the way, but no more so than in Planet, because this was a collection of people hip to every obscure reference in the play (I even think "RSC jettisoned" got a laugh). So I think the performances were generally well-received. Owens Community College has only had this space open for the past three years, and according to the TD we drew the largest crowds she has seen. Even so, in a 550-seat theatre we probably never even played to half a house. But the enthusiasm made up for the small numbers.

Many troupe members had family there. Alyssa's parents drove down from their house deep in the woodlands of Michigan, and Sarah had her brother and her godparents come visit. Chris is also from the area, and his family came and enjoyed the shows. Alyssa's parents threw a party on Sat. night with all the fixings - beer, pizza, veggies, fruit, little danishes, and Coca-Cola just for me - and we had a good time there (thanks, guys!). Video is here. I didn't stay too long because I had to drive first leg the next day to Staunton.

We also did a number of workshops there. We did one at Lake High School, just down the road. Their mill levy (basically a school tax) had been defeated six times, and it was on of their students who arranged to bring us in. We did our Acting Shakespeare workshop for 28 kids there. Many of them showed up for our performances at the college. Then we went to Toledo School for the Performing Arts, a very happening place. The people who started the school (and I believe one of the current board members who met us is a Fredonia alumna) took an abandoned factory and turned the third and fourth floor into a performing arts high school. They more or less left the industrial feel of the place intact and spent the bulk of their money buying equipment, instruments, and computers. They had a complete photo and media arts lab, a digital recording studio, a "black box" theatre, dance spaces, practice rooms, and art studios. Pretty sweet. And the vibe was great. Each of us got a TSA T-shirt and some nice cards created by their graphic design kids. Just as we left there was a gas leak in the building so they had to evacuate the place. As far as I know nothing came of that.

Then Olivia, Daniel, Andrew, Kevin and myself set out to explore downtown Toledo. It was Veterans Day, which helped to explain some of the deserted feel of the place, but even so, there was hardly anyone out on the streets or in the parks. We had lunch at a place called Spice, had some coffee, walked down by the river, and watched a Greek steamship get tugged down the river. Very eerily quiet all the way through. Even on a holiday you would expect to see some life somewhere. I almost thought I was on Main Street in downtown Buffalo!

I managed to miss the biggest highlight of all - a drunken Tyler Moss singing Let's Get It On at the Comfort Inn karaoke night across the street from our motel. Apparently it was a major hit with the Toledo karaoke crowd, which was a mix of people from all walks of life. Me, I'm the kind of guy who sits up at night and blogs, and then does his laundry. Boring!

So from Ohio we drove to Staunton for a quick respite. From the flatlands of the Ohio prairie through the Appalachians to the mountains of the Shenandoah Valley. Some change of scenery. One thing is for sure in the Northeast - fall is over. The starkness of November is now very apparent, as the last few storms have knocked down the final stubborn leaves. I got sick in Staunton. But on Monday night the Rez troupe had a Greekfest Party upstairs at J.P. and Doreen's place - to which Atomic was invited - and when everyone found out I was sick, they brought me down some food and kept me some company. Very nice of them. Good folks.

Staying in Staunton was a bit of a tease, as for just a few seconds there I found myself lulled into the belief that the first leg was over. But there is still one more week to go, and a busy one at that. We really pick up steam on the weekend at the Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts, doing some two-a-days and changing venues quickly. So we are now in the final push of the fall leg. I think people are anxiously awaiting the end based on the reactions of people when we got to Staunton. Everyone seemed happy to be "home" if only for a short day. The place of course has the air of familiarity to it, and we know right where to go to get our coffee, lunches, food, haircuts, etc. I would like to have gotten out Monday for some sort of recreation but alas was just too weak and in need of rest.

So today (well, actually, Tuesday by the time this is posted) we piled in the van once more and set out for Lawrenceville, VA. The performance was sponsored by some organization called Artbank, and the venue was St. Paul's College, an historically black college. The audience for Planet tonight was small but I think appreciative overall. We had a bit of a light show going in the first act, as one of the light strips kept shorting out, but we fixed that for the second half. In this southern section of Virginia, however, autumn, while past its prime, still lingers a bit in colors of rust gold and rust red; muted, but still apparent. There is a tiny bit of autumn left in Staunton as well, but a bit more here. And the temperature change is apparent - it's about 12:17 in the morning and Kevin and I have the window open in the room. According to my Weatherpop it's still about 65 degrees out there. Again, a change from Ohio. where the 30 MPH winds kept things brisk.

So I think I'm mostly caught up. Videos still left to do, as well as upload more pictures. Maybe tomorrow (or rather, later this) morning. Oh, and I got a new iPod to replace the one I sold to my daughter. A video iPod. Now, next time you see me (who knows when?) I can show you my videos straight off the iPod. But of course, you have to have a "special format" for the iPod, so now I have to compress everything TWICE! Perhaps the iPod format will also stream from the net. Must test this out. But enough for now. My bed calls! Buenas noches! -TWL

Under the Weather - 11/14/05

2005-11-14T10:11:00.000-05:00

Staunton, VA - I am a little under the weather this morning, having passed a rather rough night. Something I ate somewhere last night apparently did not agree with me. So this morning I am struggling to recuperate by pretty much staying indoors and vegetating. The three shows at Owens Community College went well, aided by some fine audiences. Another long ride from Ohio to Staunton yesterday. So let this suffice for now and I'll give you more details later. -TWL

Van-Tastic! 11/10/05

2005-11-11T00:34:00.000-05:00

Perrysburg, OH - Whew! Two full days traveling in the van can sure consume more energy that you might think. From Bangor, ME to Perrysburg, OH (just south of Toledo) is 980 miles. I believe that's the longest stretch between two venues that we do this tour. The Elon-to-Shreveport stretch was also two days, but not quite the same distance, I think (35 miles shorter, in fact). From the Maine coastline and mountains of New England, we are now in the flatlands of Ohio. Quite a change of scenery. Once we finish this venue we have one more 8.5 hour trip to get back to Staunton on Sunday.

It occurs to me that I haven't really said much about life in the vans, so since we just completed a long can trip right now seems ideal. As with most situations where people inhabit space, each of us has by now "marked our territory" and carved out a little section of the van to which we return almost every time. I have laid claim to the rearmost seat in the Passenger van, which holds eight of us. The Cargo van holds four people, almost always Greg, Chris, Tyler and Alyssa. Usually Olivia will be in front of me, with Daniel and Sarah next forward, Carrie and Kevin next, and Andrew, our troupe navigator, in front, and Jessica driving. Now, we do switch drivers often, as no one drives for more than four hours at any one time, so the order changes somewhat depending on who's driving. But if I am not driving I have that far back bench.

This location in the van has its advantages and disadvantages. The greatest disadvantage is that it is the worst location as far as the ride is concerned. The bumps in the road are felt the worst there,as are the swervings and turns. It is definitely not the place to sit if you are prone to carsickness. You're also always the last one out of the van at any stop, which means things like having to be last in line for the gas station restrooms at the small one-holers. Climbing out from that location means moving backwards and emerging rear-end first, not exactly genteel. The advantage, though, is that it has the most room, and so I can spread out my gear and get work done. My computer will sit on the bench and I can plug in things like my backup hard drive and organize all my photos and videos. That saves me a lot of time in my hotel room. I can also stretch out a bit more than in a regular seat, but it still gets cramped back there like every other place in the van. I can also nap pretty good there if I want, but I hardly ever nap in the van anyway. Lastly, I can see everything in front of me, and in some ways it affords a bit of privacy, such as it is. I can attach the antenna of my XM radio to the top of the roof, snake the cord in through the back window, and listen to my music far away from the music from the front of the van. Or I listen to my audiobook (right no I have Will in the World going). The rest of the troupe has taken to calling the space "my office," and Olivia acts as my secretary ("hold all my calls please!")

We try as hard as possible to limit any one day to more than 8 hours as long as we have no show that night. We break about every two hours for stretching and bathroom. We try to keep the breaks to under 10 minutes with 30 minutes or so for a lunch break. Usually nobody drives more than two shifts per day. The navigator has the responsibility of attending to the driver's needs and keeping them alert and on course. The driver has control of the radio/iPod, but of course everyone has their own music player, so the music for the driver usually stays up front. We have power converters in the van, so people can use their computers with the power plugged in, as well as charging cell phones and players. The two vans keep in contact via small walkie-talkies.

Rest stops take on a life of their own. You quickly discover how alike all rest stops in the USA are, with the same items for sale over and over and over. The most unique one we stopped at so far, as far as I was concerned, was in Louisiana, where they sold a weird collection of NASCAR paraphenalia, southern memorabilia, and boiled peanuts. But sometimes it just seems like someone is following us and putting up the same shelves of snacks, the same coolers of drinks, and same containers of coffee every time. Of course, this still doesn't stop me from wandering aimlessly around each and every one, hoping to find something different. Given my low-fat needs, however, about all I can eat are pretzels and V8 juice. I have gotten better at not buying stuff, however, because a lot of the time you buy something not because you're hungry, but because you're bored, and it's there. Less modern rest stops means we have to line up for using the bathroom (no one ever passes by a stop without going), and we use the women's and men's interchangeably - whichever is open and available. It's also important to stretch, and Kevin even went so far as to buy a jump rope and skip rope at stops.

Conversations can be quite interesting. Sometimes the whole van will get involved, other times only benchmates. They range from the philosophical to the political to the social to the theatrical. Often they are quite funny. People share stories about their past lives, and I think it's in these van trips that we get to know the most about each other. But everyone also has their way of escaping: Daniel has his music, his phone his computer and his coffee; Kevin a book and music; Olivia music mostly; Jessica a book or sleeping; Carie napping or computer work; Sarah writing in her journal; Andrew with music or navigation. And so we pass the time on the magic vans, praying to the van gods daily that we don't break down.

So Tuesday we went from Bangor to Syracuse NY. The gig at Bangor was a bit off-kiltor, shall we say. The space was not too conducive to what we do, and rather than act on the small stage in the room we were in, Carie came up with the suggestion of creating a playing space on the floor and turning the audience around, which we did. But the stage left entrance was made from outside the building, and the run around from stage right to stage left was long! It was also hard to hear from outside stage left, and two of my entrances were a little late because I had difficulty hearing my cues while trucks drove by on the road. It was another arrive/loadin/do show/loadout venue, and we, as always, made do. Syracuse is Tyler's home town, so he got to go home to his folks while we all stayed at the motel. Andrew, Sarah and I ordered Chinese delivered from the East Wok, and watched Rome, Bill Maher's Real Time, and The Daily Show before retiring.

The next day, Wednesday, I asked to drive the first shift because I saw all the bad weather coming and I know the NY State Thruway like the back of my hand. Sure enough, we drove through some really heavy weather - thunder, lightning, sheets of rain and high winds attended our journey from Syracuse to Erie PA. The drive was not the most fun I ever had, but I have to admit I was happy to have been behind the wheel through it all. It was pretty odd to pass all my familiar landmarks, and pass right by Dunkirk/Fredonia without stopping. But since Ann Marie is still on Long Island attending to her mother (who seems to be recovering well, thank God), there was no point in stopping. I waved to SUNY Fredonia as we passed it, and everyone in the van got a look and clapped. We had lunch just outside of Erie PA, and then Jessica took over the driving as the weather cleared up. Ohio is Chris Seiler country (a native of Sandusky OH, graduate of Kent State), so in going through Cleveland we saw all the sights there as we passed through: Jacob's Field, Browns Stadium, the "Q" Arena, and the mighty Cuyahoga River. One thing I noticed particularly - the rest stops on the Ohio Turnpike are vastly improved! They really used to be shitholes, but now they are clean, modern, with Wi-Fi access, Starbucks and other chain foods. Very pleasant. A five-star rating from Atomic Fission for Ohio Turnpike rest stops!

Once we got settled in our motel, a few of us took up Chris' invitation to go to his mom;s home and get a home-cooked meal. It was smashing - lasagna, salad, bread, apple pie. I ate quite a bit, busting the diet up somewhat. Then today we did a workshop at a local high school and a performance of Much Ado at Owens Community College. The theatre at Owens is a traditional proscenium space with all the theatrical amenities, so it's nice to be back in this sort of space after the Maine venues, which were small and cramped.

We are performing here at the same time as the Ohio Shakespeare Conference is having its annual conference. We're doing all three shows, with R3 tomorrow night and Planet on Sat. night. We have not done Planet since Canton, so busting it out will be fun again after we brush up with a music call Sat. PM to shake the rust off. I have a lot of workshops to do, so for now I think I've said enough and will call it a night/early morning. -TWL

Solemnly Interred - 11/07/05

2005-11-07T16:09:00.000-05:00

Bangor, ME - This morning I went out for a walk in the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery, and before I forget the experience I thought I'd get it down here before we do R3 tonight and then spend two days traveling.

I had intended this morning to get on the treadmill before we left for the short ride to Bangor, but the stale air in the motel room inspired me to walk outside. Sarah had mentioned to me that there was a veterans cemetery right next to us, so I decided to walk over and around the cemetery grounds.

The entrance was a long driveway bordered on both sides by a small woods and crossing a small grassy stream. As I walked along I could smell that great pine forest smell. The air was a bit damp but crisp, and the sun was beginning to burn off the morning fog.

As I got to the main grounds the cemetery opened up to me. Military cemeteries are unlike civilian ones in that the headstones are not above the ground but at ground level. When you first look around you think there's a lot of open space there until you see the rows of headstones sunk maybe an inch into the grass. The cemetery is located on a small hill, so the paths winding around the grounds were all nice uphills and downhills, with perfectly even asphalt pathways.

I approached the main chapel, and on the way there were many memorial benches lining the roadside. The chapel was a simple, elegant structure, and in fact the entire cemetery had a beautiful elegance and simplicity to it. From the chapel I walked down a path lined by flagpoles leading up to a small circle and a memorial. Off to the side of the chapel was a monument containing what I believe were all the names of the veterans buried there.

It being so close to Veterans Day, my mind became flooded with thoughts of war and peace: the 2,000 dead from the current Iraq war, the dead from the Gulf War I, and particularly the over 58,000 killed in Vietnam. I thought about the fact that in our Much Ado we are celebrating the joy of war's end, but ignoring the loss, pain and trauma that goes along with that end. Our soldiers exhibit joy in finding love but no trauma in having seen death. I've always had trouble with that aspect of the production, but I had managed to keep it aside until it came back this morning.

I've always been a pacifist, having applied for conscientious objector status during Vietnam (I did not receive it because my draft lottery number in 1972 was not called). Every Veterans Day I remember those years, trying hard to do what I could to help end the war and keep people from dying. As I grow older it seems that those deaths haunt me more. I've not only seen how people can die physically, but how they can live physically, but die psychologically. And I always feel helpless and ashamed, not because I did not serve, but because I could not build that world where the need to serve did not exist. Iraq reminds me of that daily.

I left the cemetery and noted in my mind to remember to call the vets I know this Friday and thank them and wish them well. I took a moment to honor the dead, and I walked back through the beautiful morning to my room, packed up, and came to Bangor. I was happy to know that in Maine they have a beautiful place to repose. Honor for the dead; peace for the living. May we see that soon. -TWL

PS - There are new videos and pictures to see. Check the links on the right to go over and view them.

Maine-ly Speaking - 11/06/05

2005-11-06T23:33:00.000-05:00

Augusta, ME - Arriving in Maine has slowed things down a bit, and I think everyone had a good day off today. The passenger van is now back with us, we've done the St. Joseph shows (two matinees of Much Ado and one evening performance of R3), and one MA here in Augusta at the Univ. of ME - Augusta. West Hartford was somewhat tiring itself, and a bit stressful for me, since while there I found out my mother-in-law had been admitted to intensive care with kidney problems. She's doing much better at the moment, and Ann Marie travelled down to Long Island to help out. That was very good news today. So all in all, things at the moment are quite good.

The company split up after the second matinee of MA, with the Acting Shakespeare workshop crew (which includes myself) staying behind to do three workshops while everyone else took off to Maine. My brother Jim from moe. came down for the show, and he enjoyed it (although he got there a little late). We had a nice lunch together before I had to get to my workshops. Unfortunately we did not take a group picture at St. Joe's, probably due to the split. Kevin, Olivia, Chris and I left after the workshops and got to Maine about 8:45 PM, making Friday a long day.

But yesterday we had all day off before the show, and today was a full day off, so I feel pretty rested. The venue here was small and had a teeny tiny backstage and no hallway space behind the stage at all, so for this performance we set up chairs on the stage and sat on stage while the show went on. That was different! Usually in the pre-show we mention how the seats on stage are "the best seats in the house," but tonight "we're taking them for ourselves." Once we settled all the issues about entrances and exits we had a pretty good time watching the show in stage. And the audience was very good and with us every step of the way. Jessica and I did bang-up business at the merchandise table, doing about $394 worth of sales. All in all a good night. We really had some trepidation that it was going to suck, but not so. It was a quickie - load-in, do show, load-out.

With my time off I did some necessary shopping (toothpaste, razor, shaving cream, Ricolas) and some unnecessary shopping at an Eddie Bauer outlet store (fleece vest, cotton shirt, case for my GPS). I tell you, I seem to have done more shopping on this tour that I have ever done in the last five years. The Eddie Bauer stop was probably a mistake, but the prices on all the items was really astounding. I guess it's just that you get tired seeing yourself in the same old clothes day after day, so it's good to get a change. We get per diem here, so I got lunch at a place called Panera's, a bread store that does fancy-ass sandwiches. Too pricey, but good. I almost bought a coffee mug that clips onto a backpack with a caribiner clip, but I resisted. I already have too many things hanging off my backpack. I've also been getting a lot of computer work done here as well, compressing and uploading movies and pictures, and with any luck they will be up tomorrow before I leave here.

With today's full day off Jessica (my roommate here) and I did company laundry (my turn as make-up for missing the week I was gone) and my own. Breakfast was taken in a small diner right in the small strip mall. The place looked promising, as it was packed, but the meal turned out to be mediocre. The coffee was served black, no questions asked (very Midwest). We tried like hell to find a decent coffee shop in Augusta, but I'll give everyone a tip - Augusta is NOT a happening town. The best coffee shop in town is the Dunkin Donuts, where Jessica got an espresso and I got a latte. Don't come to Augusta for the coffee. Got back to the Comfort Inn (it's a nice one!), and did a little more computer work, watched a little football, did 25 minutes on the treadmill, and finally went out to dinner. I went out to Waterville ME, which is about 15 miles north and the home of Colby College, a venue I missed. And I GOT MY LOBSTER!!! I went to dinner with Jessica, and it was the first whole lobster she had ever had, as well as the first time for clams (all that stuff in not kosher). We pretty much made a mess of the table, but the lobster was delicious! I had been really disappointed that I had missed the Bar Harbor stop, since I was going to get a lobster there, so it was great to get that second chance. Then after a phone conversation with Red Shuttleworth, I bought SIn City on the TV and watched it - great flick! I like movies like that - something you can't really do in the theatre. That's what movies are about. Just a slick film. And now this blog entry.

And soon enough this first leg will be over! We do a gig tomorrow night in Bangor, then a two-day road trip to Toledo OH for three shows, then a quick stop in Staunton and finish off the fall leg in VA and MD. I'll be passing right through Dunkirk on the 10th, but probably won't get to stop, so anybody who wants to see me go by, stand out by Fort Apache or on the Brigham Road bridge over the Thruway and wave as I pass by! Look for two grey vans. Then after the fall leg is over I get to go home for Thanksgiving and have my MRI on my liver, and then Christmas Carol. Seems I just got back yesterday.

The day itself was not so good - fog, drizzle, and right now a downpour, but the relaxation has been welcome and refreshing. Leaves are still on the trees, and that in and of itself has made this swing through New England worthwhile. Seeing my daughter, brothers John and Jim, getting some rest - I'm in a pretty damn fine state of mind at the moment. Not leaving until 11 AM tomorrow. So now I'll get another good night's sleep and see you all down the road somewhere. -TWL

Toil and Trouble - 11/03/05

2005-11-03T16:35:00.000-05:00

West Hartford, CT - OK, it's time to 'fess up and come clean. Not every day on tour is a fun day. Yesterday was one of those days. It started out well enough, but the omens of the evening before should have tipped us off.

The show at Framingham State was Much Ado, and it went well enough, but the space itself, while new and totally refurbished according to the troupe vets, was not so hot. We were located in a room in the college's student center which is designed for small lectures and performances, but not really for theatre. The first thing we learn is that we cannot use the "backstage" area (such as it was) because the room contained ductwork and therefore was a health hazard. So there was only one entrance into and out of the space. The green room backstage was designed to hold no more than two people maximum, so we also dressed in the hallway outside. The stage was wrapped with steps, so we had to play some parts of scenes on the stage and some parts of scenes on the floor, removing the first rows of seats. It got me to wondering why a venue would pay the amount of money they do and then place us in this type of space. Hmmmm.....

But as usual, due to our incredible flexibility, we got through the show. It was the one my daughter and her boyfriend came to see, and they enjoyed themselves. It was the first Shakespeare that Gabriel had ever seen, and he loved my little Third Watch kamikaze character. He said he'll never be able to picture me in fatigues again, and that my snorting sounds were just like those when I snore. We went out to a microbrew pub called Johnny Harvard's after the show, and then said goodbye.

Next morning the fat hit the fire. We had a 7:15 AM call for what we knew would be a busy day: drive to Cape Cod, put on our 90-minute Much Ado, and then drive to West Hartford CT. Two members were a bit late for call, but we got rolling soon enough. I was taking the first driving shift, and we were cruising well enough along Route 9, slowly but surely flowing with the traffic. Carie and Jessica had noted how well the passenger van was driving with the addition of some transmission fluid, and I noticed it as well. But all of a sudden I was getting no power from the engine at all. Press on the gas, and nothing. Nada. Zip. I pulled over into a side street, and we discussed the issue. Guessing that it was the transmission, we decided to try to use what little power remained to get to an Aamco station. Try as I might, crawling along the side of the road on Route 9, we did not make it. Pulled into another cul-de-sac and - breakdown.

So we had to call the Aamco station and get towed over there. We waited on the side street for about an hour, as other troupe members went to get breakfast at a nearby Dunkin Donuts (thanks, Kevin, for the use of your network!). Carie rented a minivan, stayed with the passenger van in Framingham, and off we went along with the cargo van, heading for the Cape, hoping to get there on time.

We just barely made the gig at Nasuet Regional High School in Orleans, arriving at about 11:25 for a 12:00 curtain. We loaded everything, changed, and went on. We did a quick Q&A, loaded out, took the graciously offered food, and left. We went to a beach about half a mile from the high school and ate the sandwiches there. Kevin and Sarah, the West Coast dudes, stripped down to their skivvies and went in for the quickest of swims. The water was reported to be pretty cold, but the beach was sunny and beautiful. We grumbled a bit about what a tease it was to be on Cape Cod for only three hours (last year they stayed for a few days! WTF! We wuz robbed!) After about 30 minutes of beach time we loaded up again and drove to West Hartford, making it to St. Joseph's College about 10 minutes before the dining hall closed down. Carie met us there, having rented a car to get to W. Hartford because the passenger van's catalytic converter had died and it wouldn't be ready until probably Friday. I dropped down onto my bed about 10PM and crashed.

We got up this morning for our 10 AM performance of Much Ado (it seems to be the only show we're doing this week. We have a Richard III this evening). One of my brothers came down from MA to see this show, and another one is coming down tomorrow morning (if he gets up,that is). Nice to have family come check out your work. But I was still pretty tired, so rather than go back to the motel I crashed in the green room, and here I am writing this entry. The Carol Ortolino Center here at St. Joseph's (which is an all-female college) is pretty nice; a very typical theatre space and backstage.

So yesterday was one of those days you'd just rather pack it all in and go home. We kid ourselves every so often by saying we are a cursed troupe, what with broken toes and torn ligaments and chickenpox and liver ailments and broken-down vans, but sometimes you just have to wonder. Keeping it together when all these little trials and tribulations come up can be challenging and vexing. I have to say that this troupe, in spite of all that seems to tweak at us and try our collective souls, has a resiliency which is just this short of miraculous. Perhaps all these little things make us a bit stronger as we go along. Generally speaking, we retain our humor and keep everything in some perspective. Once in awhile nerves get frayed and people sort of lose it one way or another, but apologies are made and accepted, energy is renewed, and we continue on. I sure wish I could get theatre students at Fredonia or anywhere for that matter to witness on a daily basis how this collection of actors lives and works. I'm pretty proud of them and proud to be part of the troupe, as much because of the grace and patience they have shown under fire and under straining circumstances as their talent and their work on stage. They rock! -TWL

The Gathering Gloom - 10/31/05

2005-10-31T23:55:00.000-05:00

Natick, MA

"Breathe deep the gathering gloom.
Watch lights fade from every room"
-Graeme Edge, The Moody Blues

Of all the times of the year, this is the time of year that is hardest for me to handle. The changing from Daylight Savings to Standard time brings the darkness by 5:30 PM, and from now until mid-February the days seem grey, cold and cheerless. Several things happen at once:

A mentioned, standard time returns. It seems now I feel that change to more darkness physically as well as psychologically; energy levels weaken, and it's hard to resist the urge to hunker down.
Baseball season ends. The World Series is completed (congratulations White Sox!) and the sports scene holds only the glum violence of football, the stupid violence of hockey, and the non-contact violence of basketball. The world of sports descends into a spiral of violent play, and the pastoral beauty of baseball disappears until mid-February, when pitchers and catchers report.
The brilliance and splendor of autumn's colors give way to the grey barrenness of naked trees.
Cold, wind and snow are lurking on the horizon, ready to strike.
The holiday shopping season and all that madness is not far behind.

This particular end-of-October came with a double whammy: three shows and the load-out from Canton in less than 24 hours on top of the above. We did a Sat. 7:30 show of R3, a midnight show of Planet, and a 1:30 Sunday matinee of Planet followed by loading out and getting on the road heading for Lee, MA. To say that I was tired by the time I got into the van and we took off would be an understatement. The shows were good, but I think that by the time I got to the final rendition of Monster Mash on Sunday afternoon I was running on fumes. The shows were good - particularly, it seemed, the Richard III performance - but certainly by the end of it all I think not just myself but everyone in the company was feeling the energy drain.

The ride from Canton to Lee was almost surreal in a sense. The other 7 people in the van with me hardly seemed as if they were there; just a collection of more shadows in the dark. We took a route which took us through the Adirondacks, but since it got dark by 5:30 there was nothing to see. My body felt tired like it was 11:30 PM, and when I looked out the window into the gloom outside, it looked like it was 11:30, but my watch said 6:30 PM. I tuned into my XM satellite radio (this thing is a little marvel, by the way, and makes van rides so much more pleasant) and listened to a program of "new music" called "Hearts of Space," which played a collection of music especially for Halloween called "The Gathering Gloom." That music and the show brought everything about this time of the year together, and I sat there quite zoned out in the back of the van, just letting the music soothe me. I think after listening and breathing through that music I must learn to make better acquaintance with the shades and essences of the night. There is some poetic irony in all this, because having been in theatre all my life - a business which is a night business and which takes place mostly in darkened spaces - you would think I'd be used to the dark. Perhaps all this "doing it with the lights on" business has begun to subliminally change my perspective.

We got to Lee MA last night about 11:00 or so and spent the night in a somewhat low-brow motel. This morning I got up to a beautiful morning, and walked down the road to Lee for my exercise. I crossed the Housatonic River and got some good coffee and a bagel with low-fat veggie cream cheese, and walked back to the motel. Then we packed up again for the short ride to Framingham MA, and the Best Western is a decided upgrade. We had the rest of the day off.

Now it just so happens that my oldest daughter Jenna lives in the next town over, Natick (hence the dateline), and so right now I'm in her apartment writing this post. She came to get me shortly after I got in, and we spent the rest of the afternoon (temperature 70 degrees) walking through downtown Natick (which is very nice), going to dinner at an Indian restaurant, and chatting over tea in her apartment. She and her boyfriend Gabe are coming to the show tomorrow night, so I'm looking forward to that. She also took me shopping, and I bought a lot of stuff: a pair of gloves (lost mine in Canton), a new hat (mine got stolen in Canton), a micro-light for my keychain, a smaller Nalgene bottle, and a new pair of Ecco all-purpose shoes, which was a big splurge, but I could not resist as my current pair were beginning to wear out and I was feeling pain in the ball of my right foot as I walked. These are cross-trainer style with a Gore-Tex exterior, so they should last awhile and be far more comfortable. If you've never worn Ecco shoes, google them on the web and check them out - they are great! Most comfortable shoes I've ever owned.

The week in Canton, after a rocky start, ended up OK. My host family, Bruce and Karen Weimer, were great people. Bruce is a St. Lawrence English professor specializing in 18th and 19th century American Literature, with a special emphasis on Poe. Karen teaches at Potsdam and has spent the past 21 years studying the Amish in New York State. We had a nice conversation about the Amish the morning I left. Perhaps most disappointing were the size of the crowds. The vets in the troupe seemed surprised at the small turnouts (although the second Much Ado was SRO), especially at the midnight show. Most of our troubles could be directly attributed to our contact, who really turned out to be IMHO a flake. From talking with Karen I came to find out that the usual contact, a man named Tom, was not available this year, so Lyle got the job. Even the house stay people were put off, as many of them heard very little until the Sunday we showed up. But once we got better settled and the weather improved the rest of the stay was good. It is nice to be able to stay in a venue for a few days, and we stayed in Canton a week. We've been in Vermont, New Hampshire and upstate New York since I got back, with very few signs of "mall America" in evidence in any of those locales, so when we got to Framingham this afternoon it was something of a culture shock all of a sudden to be dumped into the heart of "mall America." And our next few days are hectic, making up for the four days in New London and the week in Canton. From Framingham to Cape Cod to West Hartford CT to Augusta ME by the time the week is out. Whew!

Perhaps that's a sign to cash it in for tonight and get some sleep in preparation for tomorrow. And commune with the midnight spirits. -TWL

New Stuff 10/27/05

2005-10-27T12:58:00.000-04:00

Canton, NY - Just a quick note to let you know that there's some new photos and pictures up at their respective locations. Clicking the sidebars on the right will take you to my Yahoo! photo site and my streaming video page. Remember, the videos are large files, so make sure you're ramped up with high speed before viewing. And also make sure you have the latest Quicktime software loaded up on your computer for best viewing. -TWL