Speaking of football--and yes, I was, just look at the preceding paragraph--Brett Favre has retired. No really. For sure and ever this time. I know there may be some who doubt the veracity of his statement since he retired last year, but I for one believe it. He had the time he wanted to make the decision, rather than being pushed into it by management, and the tone of his statements about it are different than they were last year. I think the year with the Jets was an eye-opener. I think it showed him that yes, he can still play, but not like he used to. And that he can no longer be the whole team. I would've liked to see him retire Elway-style, with a Super Bowl victory, but he has one of those, so really, he's got nothing to prove to anybody. I'm sure at some point, we'll see him giving analysis on TV, which I'm sure will be hilarious. As a football fan, I am sorry to see him go, because the game won't ever be as fun or interesting as it was with him. This is very much like when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson retired for me. I wish him well. He was a hell of a player, and thankfully one of the few people in the NFL that came across as a decent human being and not a wife-beating, gun-toting, coke-snorting asshole. Which is why he never played for Dallas.
Speaking of Pittsburgh--again, upper paragraph--that's where we did the show today. The school was very nice--had an easy load-in situation, and a large crew of small kids, all of whom were theatre students. I have to tell you--when I was in middle school, we didn't have theatre. (We had to act uphill both ways, barefoot in the snow!) Our auditorium was a cafeteria with a stage in it. These schools we're going to on this tour have fly space! And better equipment than some of the theatre I work in professionally! These kids are beyond lucky. Besides the venues they get to deal with, just the fact they have a drama program at all is wonderful. I didn't go to a school with a drama program until high school. Though when I think about it, that was probably for the best. It allowed me to have some sort of experience doing other things than this. If I had discovered theatre in like 6th or 7th grade, I think I would've ended up dumping the cello far earlier than I did, and that would've been a shame. The drama teacher at today's school, who was responsible for bringing us in and who was just ridiculously adorable and apparently thought we were the greatest thing since bread. (Yeah, not even sliced, just bread. I'm telling ya--she's a BIG fan...) was very helpful and got us a perfectly adequate lunch of several types of wraps, chips and water. When I say several types, I mean there was one for each of us, they just weren't all the same, so we kinda had to search through them to find stuff we would eat. (Levitt refuses to eat ham) I ended up with what I assume was a caesar salad wrap. We also got a little salad with our wraps, so I was all saladed out. It was kind of relaxing--we had a 9:00 load in for a 12:00 show, and even though we did take a little longer than I would've liked to get stuff set up, we still had time to eat and get ready before 12. Kinda. Part of the issue is that Levitt is only half-handed due to her injury, so when we do have a crew of kids, they have to do a majority of the set construction, under the tutelage of Bob, who knows exactly how everything goes together, he's just a little slow and methodical about doing it. Which believe me, is great when you're dealing with 8th graders, but it does make for some slow mornings. What made today even slower was me dropping the dock plate on my foot. Good thing I'm made of rubber, or that would HURT. Oh wait....
The show itself went very well. The kids were really into it--not particularly vocally, but you got the feeling they were paying close attention. I do wish we were getting more laughs during Sleepy Hollow. I think part of the problem is that due to our shortened rehearsal schedule, we never really got the timing and crispness of some of the moments down, so we're losing some laughs that we used to have last tour. Of course, some of those laughs developed over time, so maybe once we really start being able to run this and get a rhythm, they'll come back, or we'll get new ones to replace them. The show is fine, don't get me wrong, I'm just a whore for laughter. It's the hack in me. :-) I do enjoy the school shows due to the fact that since we use kids as the load-in and load-out crew, we get to talk to the kids who just saw us doing the show afterward, and that's always a cool experience. They're all really taken with what we do and how we do it, and that's refreshing for the bitter cynics amongst us. It's also nice to get to talk to them afterward because you get immediate feedback about how the show went over. And being the attention whore that I am (I'm all kinds of whores) I like to know how the audience liked the show. I was made fun of again because Alice and Carol are convinced I am the pre-teen girl magnet of the cast. This is disturbing for two reasons. First, if they are into me due to the Tell Tale Heart, then they are obviously on track to be the women writing to serial killers in prison and proposing marriage. If, however, they are into me because of Icahbod, then they are obviously freaks. Either way, it's a little frightening when I'M the Paul McCartney of the group.
Then came the drive. This week is all about long ass drives. Today we drove from Pittsburgh, which is in western Pennsylvania, to Pottsville, which is in eastern Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is a wide state. It took us from 4:00 until 10:00 to make the trip. And I was navigating in the truck. Oy. Tomorrow, when we have a similar drive, I will be driving the truck. On this tour, the truck and I are going to become very close. Some may think that would annoy me, but I look at it as insurance that the truck will not lose its top. Tomorrow we have another 9:00 load-in for a 1:00 show. We should have adequate time to set up, eat lunch and get ready before the show. There's nothing more fun than being halfway through putting on your makeup when you get a five minute call. After having scarfed down lunch. That's perfect for one's equilibrium. It doesn't really affect me, since I'm not a real actor, but for the castmates of mine who attempt to use those things called emotions I've heard of, I can imagine it's difficult. I'll say one thing about this tour versus the last one. If I survive being the truck packer, I am never ever EVER complaining about how much movers cost ever again. They are worth every penny. And I now know that you could never pay me enough to DO that job. That's it--after this, I am finding myself some kid's show that stays PUT! (Anybody know of anyone who's hiring????)
1 comment:
love your insurance policy for the truck
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