Home Stretch, Home Slices!

As quickly as January took us on the road, so came April to take us home. It was a bittersweet half-month filled with more breakdowns than we care to remember but the good thing is we hardly remember them! We had more memories to make before tour was over! So after North Disappointmentkota we went to Joliet, Illinois, only about an hour away from Chicago. It was an incredibly beautiful theatre, as so many of them were, and we loved playing there! On the way to Joliet however we got to stop in Madison, Wisconsin for the night. While on the road to Madison we suffered a severed tire, and a 20 minute break turned into a 3 hour lunch. Hawt.

So we were supposed to have some time to explore Wisconsin but fate had other plans I guess. I was determined however and there are incredible college houses in downtown so the morning before we left for Joliet I took myself on a sweet little home tour. By little I mean 7 1/2 minutes because I was almost late for bus call. Check out the finds!

That last shot is the view from our hotel room! I couldn't believe it when I got up in the morning. When we arrived the night before I couldn't see much past my rage so I didn't think that the ol' title of the hotel being THE EDGEWATER might mean something.

PS- this is also the hotel in which my lovely roommate Angelica and I had a screaming fit into our pillows for approximately 10 minutes. Now, whoever said that the act of maiming your pillow is a stress reliever is a bold-faced liar. It did, however, exhaust me so I was able to calmly put on non-bus clothes and go out to a bar for some good eats. When I found a hair in my hummus I thought my night was ruined but they gave me cash back for the entire value of the meal. So thank you, Madison, for paying me $15 to eat baked brie with apples! I'll be coming back and definitely staying at the Edgewater, it is beautiful.

Now, back to Joliet, IL!

I've included the above picture to show the Rialto way back when. It looks virtually the same now!

Good going, Joliet! Other highlights of Joliet? A great liquor store across from our hotel and a Boston Market. :-D

After Joliet we headed to Hamlet, NC. I don't remember much from this venue other than the fact that I attempted to get everyone to speak in heightened language because of the Shakespearean tendencies of the town's name. It was a brief attempt...but a good thought! Here's the theatre...

After Hamlet we went to the lovely, lovely Macon, GA for a gorgeous 4-day sit down which included our (drum roll please) one and ONLY golden day on all of tour!

Golden Day: n; a 24-hour period during which there is no travel and no show, thus bringing happiness to all. Ie: I love Golden Days.

Granted it was Easter so I guess they kind of had to give it to us but I took advantage of it nonetheless! I spent the day shopping, eating Panera, and jumping in the pool with all of my clothes on. So much fun, so little time! Macon was an odd venue though, our dressing rooms were literally on stage, when we opened the door we could see audience members. It was a little tough getting used to turning off the light every time we entered or exited our dressing room. But it was one of the only times my friend Kelsey and I were not late to places! Check it out...

After our luxurious 4-day sit down we went to Owensboro, Kentucky for 2 shows.

One of these lovely shows was what my dear friends referred to as a Brat Mat...a 10am student matinee...now, I've done lots of children's shows between Peter Pan, Narnia, and Black Pearl Sings, perhaps more than I care to count. But I've never experienced so much clap-happiness during an overture as I did with these kids. Sure they didn't laugh at any of the well-thought out jokes, 1950s humor, political references, or sexist undertones but dang did they clap 4 times during the overture. Win for the orchestra, y'all know how to speak to kids. After that show we got some great boxed lunches and headed to West Virginia for the night before traveling to Reading, PA the next day for our last...show...ever! (Cue Charlie Brown theme song)

One last post'll do it, kids, I've gotta get to bed but I'll catch y'all up tomorrow!

Step Up to the Plate!

It's time to play catch up y'all! I've neglected this poor blog but don't worry, the memories are still so fresh I've got oodles to write. So I last left you in St. Louis, MO which was wonderfully fun. Our next gig was in Taylor, Michigan and, while en route to Taylor, I said to our Company Manager "gee, we're going right past this place I worked at in Michigan and it would be so fun to stop there for lunch!" To which he responded, "let's go!" So to my WONDERFUL surprise we drove to Marshall, MI and stopped at Turkeyville, USA for some good, home-cooked lunch! The Yankees were able to eat lean and chow down some turkey products, fresh fudge, home-made ice cream, popcorn, and candy. When they weren't doing that they were out at the animal yard playing with donkeys, turkeys, goats, and cats! And when they weren't doing any of that they were walking the beautiful, blooming grounds and swinging on swings and taking tons of pictures at the home of the world's best turkey sandwich. When we left Turkeyville we were all laughing and chatting, our energy renewed and tummies full. I had to pat myself on the back for that one. :-)

After our Michigan adventures we headed to Bartlesville, OK...

This venue stressed me out, I think its the little anxiety issue I have. Call me crazy but if there was a fire and everyone had to get out, do you think the lack of aisles would make people panic less? Just me? Oh well. After Shartles...uhh...Bartlesville....we were dead set on our added show (because we weren't performing enough) in Fairfield, Iowa!

This was an awesome theatre, one of my favorites because it looked small but fit a heck of a lot of people in it. That creeper in the picture, in case you're wondering, is our sound guy, Tim. I didn't notice his stealthiness until it was too late. Ugh. After Fairfield we hit the bustling metropolis of Decorah, Iowa.

Decorah was actually pretty badass, which I shouldn't say and I'll tell you why. It was a venue at a very religious college and we were given strict instructions not to swear when we were on the premises. We were also instructed not to walk around in our underwear. Both of these are very hard for actors! But it was actually one of the best venues, the audience was incredibly responsive and the green room was packed with food including a new food item for me: cactus bread! Which is Pizza Ranch's version of dough with cinnamon, sugar, and butter baked on top, all drizzled with icing. Disgusting? No. Dinner. It was a perfectly acceptable meal because if I couldn't swear I had to busy myself with something else. Also, this was the venue in which I got locked in a storage room by a maintenance man. I was in there on my phone and next thing I know he's turned off the lights and shut and locked the door, leaving me in there alone and almost late for act 2. I didn't swear.

So next we were headed for the city of Meredith Wilson and the Music Man, Mason City, Iowa! It was a great town with a mediocre mall but great consignment shops. I dug it.

This one was a "fun" one because I got lost in it. For about 10 minutes. They switched things up on us at the last minute and we had to go to the front of the theatre to catch the bus at the end of the night. Exiting this thing was like herding cats I'll tell ya because it was like a labyrinth in there! With the help of some locals and a concerned phone call from the rest of the cast on the bus I made it out alive.

Good thing I did too because I wouldn't have wanted to miss the first April show! We were off to a place I was sure I'd never see, Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was alright, I don't remember much other than an incredibly dry scone...disappointing, University of ND, disappointing. But they had a photographer who took a sweet cast shot, check it out!

With that, I'll break and pick back up in the great state of our president...Illinois!

Way Out West...the Mid-West Part 1!

 The pictures above are all Bowling Green, KY! The theatre was beautiful, brand new, I believe we were the first show in the space. Bowling Green was especially fun because we got to go to the Corvette factory. Did you know that all Corvettes are made in Bowling Green? The cars were just beautiful and the one we got the group photo with is actually the 1958 'vette (the year in which Damn Yankees takes place!) so it was extra special. We went before bus call in the morning and so we got a quick breakfast at the museum cafe. The museum was really nice and I only got in trouble once when I leaned too close to a Corvette on display...apparently each Corvette has its own personal webcam and when visitors get too close the owners often call in and "request" they step away from their cars.

After Bowling Green we headed to Somerset, KY for a day...

Then we performed at a string of beautiful, old theatres that were really just incredibly pretty, so I'll list em up! We went to Evansville, Indiana...

Followed by the beautiful Fort Wayne, Indiana...

After our performance in Fort Wayne we went to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games and got to feel like normal social people! Except for the throngs of prepubescents that bombarded the theatre. But it was still very much fun! Next up was the lovely Davenport, Iowa, the haunted theatre where Cary Grant suffered his fatal cerebral hemorrhage...

And the city that's most fun to say....SHEBOYGAN, Wisconsin! :-) The theatre was another gorgeous one, it was like an Italian villa with a night sky. The ceiling even had thousands of tiny little star lights!

We then went on to Taylor, Michigan and GUESS where we got to stop for lunch? TURKEYVILLE USA! Yup, that's right, the theatre where I just performed in The Marvelous Wonderettes! I noticed that it was right on our way to Taylor and our company manager said it sounded like a fun idea for lunch. I called ahead and they got us all in and out in under an hour and we still had time to tour the grounds! It was a beautiful day so people got to play on the swings, pet the donkey, goats, turkeys and kittens, as well as enjoy the homemade ice cream, popcorn, and fudge. I got to see my director, Dennis, so it was a doubly great day for me, being able to catch up with a great friend. Makes me wanna go back!

On our way to Oklahoma we stopped in St. Louis...

That was the view from my hotel window, not too bad huh? St. Louis was awesome, I went to a great local Mexican place and saw some great locals. People-watching is pretty fun in St. Louis!

So in an effort to get this post up I'll split it into 2 parts and post this one so you've got something to read! We've only got a little bit of time left so I'll make an effort to post more often. Sheesh, who woulda thought seeing the country would be so time consuming?!

Love!