Virginia is for

touring! Yep, here we are, in Ruther Glen, VA. We drove from Pottsville, PA today after doing a show for a wonderful group of kids; the interesting thing is that the group I'm talking about didn't attend the school. They were the crew we had helping us--high school kids who were in the show there. It was very funny, since they were completely gobsmacked by all the equipment we had. I use that word not out of any attempt at pretentiousness, but because it's the most accurate. They were really taken by the whole thing. I don't think I've ever seen a group of kids more into putting up lights in my life. I am heartily sorry I missed the part Ted overheard. Apparently two of the girls (and of course the majority of them were girls--the were high school theatre students for god's sake. It's a law that only three guys are allowed into high school theatre per year.) were talking with each other about how cool we were and one said to the other, "I think they're great. You know they must all be from New York and live like 'Friends'." So apparently I now have to find an oversized loft in New York that can fit us all. Hopefully we can end up being filmed and make a million dollars an episode. I'm at least as funny as Matthew Perry. And three million times funnier than David Schwimmer. We won't even discuss Joey. It was also pretty fun when we were eating lunch, they sent a student over from the high school to interview us for the district newsletter. I'm always taken aback whenever something like that happens, because I spend a lot of my time not taking myself at all seriously and focusing (some would say too much) on where I'm NOT in my career. When something like being interviewed, even for something like the Pottsville school district newsletter, happens, I kind of have to realign my thinking. I have to remember that to these people, and to pretty much all the people who come out and see us on this tour, we are in many ways the same as the people they see on TV and in the movies. As far as they know, there's little difference. I know those kids helping us today thought we were the coolest thing on two legs. It helps deal with the times when you didn't get much sleep and the stupid crap-ass set didn't want to go together because this set uses hinge pins to hold the wing extensions together instead of coffin locks and hinge pins are just crappy from the word go and when you mention how much of a pain it is that the hinge pins get bent the stage manager shrugs and says hinge pins are crappy but that's how we tour even though the last set had coffin locks and all you want to do is throw coffee in her face. It doesn't fix it, but it does help.

I have a word for middle schools who are looking into spending oodles of money on putting together a great performance space, replete with high-tech gadgetry and a stage that rivals some of the smaller Broadway spaces. Please put some of your money in facilities for the people who will actually be appearing ON that stage. It makes very little sense to put together an up-to-the-second stage and then not have a single dressing room anywhere around it. Your actors shouldn't have to trek for ten minutes through your school in order to find a place to change. And that place should not be a bathroom. Or a broom closet. It should be a dressing room. It doesn't have to be huge. It doesn't have to have hot and cold running champagne. It doesn't have to have overstuffed sofas or anything like that. It just needs mirrors and tables and chairs. Period. It's not easy to put makeup on when you're squatting in front of the one mirror over a sink in the boy's room. (which, in case anyone's wondering, in the middle school in Pottsville, PA, has a diaper changing station...) I don't think that's too much to ask, especially when you take into account how much money and time they're putting into building these spaces to begin with. That having been said, the Pottsville space was extremely nice to us, and the audience was very responsive and had a blast. It was also our best show, technically speaking. I think I can safely say that save for one tiny little moment at the end of Tell-Tale, when the curtains wouldn't close (which was fixed by the start of Sleepy) nothing technical went wrong. It was amazing. Hopefully we can keep that streak going. (Yes, I do count one as a streak. At this point, I'll take whatever I can get.)

So then came the drive. Another 250 miles. And I was in the truck again. Driving it this time. Tomorrow I navigate the van for our 500 mile drive. Anybody want to come hang out in Naples, FL? We'll be rolling in there on Sunday. So if you want to see a really cool show on Monday, come on over. Ted and I drove down to Ruther Glen VA, which let me tell you, is exactly as exciting as it sounds. You know you're in the south when the Waffle Houses start popping up. I do have many memories of late nights at the Waffle House. They're repressed and can only be accessed through deep hypnosis, but I do have them....somewhere. So we'll see if anything exciting happens tomorrow on the road, but I promise nothing. It'll likely be nothing more than 500 miles of people trying to stay awake. (One of those people being Ted, who's driving tomorrow and has already told me about his difficulty staying awake when driving. I'm feeling really good about my chances of survival here....)