'Tis So Concluded On - 11/22/05

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 includedelementary 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