Madison GA

Last week we were in Madison GA at the Madison Morgan Cultural Center. Below are a few pictures of Madison GA and Athens GA. We went to Athens on our day off.

The Madison Morgan Cultural Center used to be an old school building. Now it houses a theatre and several historical and cultural exhibits.

This is me thinking outside of the box, while also feeling trapped in the crazy box we call Max and Ruby.

The Inside of the Madison Morgan is very small. The stage only measures 20 ft across. Our set is 28 feet.

Historical Downtown Madison Morgan only about a half mile away from the theatre- if that.

Athens GA- University of Georgia.

And that was that.

Kitchen Witches

Last night we went and saw Virginia's mom in the Kitchen Witches at her local community theatre. It was a pretty funny show and Cheryl did a great job. At one point during the show they ask for an audience member to come up and participate as a judge after their "quick fire challange." Of course we had to nominate Brian and he was chosen to taste the food.

This is when Brian realized things weren't going to go the way he thought they would go.

Then they tell him he won't be feeding himself.

Cheryl presents her dessert.

The other kitchen witch presents her desserts.

The feeding begins.

Yum! We were so proud he didn't even puke.


The rest of us were laughing so hard we almost had wet pants. In the end Brian was asked to pick a winner. He chose Virginia's mom mostly because she had named one of the dishes after him.

Good Times.

LOCK DOWN! now including AMBER ALERT

Today we had 2 shows in Spindale NC at the Isothermal CC. The hotel was less than a mile away from the venue so last night Virginia and I took the vans down to locate the loading dock. When we arrived there were a ton of cars so we parked and walked into the building thinking that perhaps we could get a glimpse of the stage. We walked right in the loading dock door and into the audience to see "Junior Miss 2009" rehearsal going on. We stayed long enough to appreciate the amazing choreography and to choose our favorites. The show is Saturday night so we will check the internet on Monday and see if our girl won.

This morning we arrived at the theatre to find some of our favorite things; bottled water, a short load in and nice, competent techs. These three things make our day so much better.

The first show was good even though Colleen was feeling sick. After the show we worked some scenes with our new Louise. Then we took our break and some of the actors drove over to the local drugstore to pick up some soda and food.

While they were gone things got interesting. I was standing in the lobby watching the kids file in when all of a sudden the House Manager started yelling at us to get back in the theatre. The shoved all the kids and teachers into the theatre and then shoved me into the backstage hallway and told me to close all the doors and keep my actors in the dressing room. Apparently we were on lock down.

I immediately made sure the actors were okay and then had Colleen call the actors that had left to tell them to stay in the car with the doors locked until we told them to come into the theatre. Then I went to find out what had happened. Apparently a student had threatened to hurt people and had said that Tuesday afternoon would be a good time because the theatre would be full of kids. We were under lock down for about 10 minutes. Amazingly the show only started 15 minutes late.

Now we are at Virginia's house having an amazing home-cooked meal.

Weird how life goes.

Onward and Upward.

Addition- We are currently in Madison GA in a Red Roof Inn for three nights. After returning from checking out downtown I commented on the broken window on the room between Josh and Me. A lady from the parking lot commented that it was from the Amber Alert Shootout a few months ago. "What??!!" we questioned. Apparently in Janurary a 25 year old man captured his baby's mommy and the baby and drove them through Alabama and into Georgia with his new 17 year old girlfriend. He then checked into our Red Roof Inn. The police caught up with him and there was a stand-off that turned into a shootout. The couple and the baby spent a day holed up in the Red Roof room right near mine before he surrendered to the police. They had to evacuate the Waffle House next door and close down the street. Below is a picture of the missing window and the holes he cut in the curtain so he could see the police.

Excitement surrounds us everywhere we go.

Upward and Onward.

Burlington VT

This past weekend we were in Burlington VT. We had 3 shows at the Flynn Center, a beautiful space near Church Street. When we arrived it was warm and the snow was melting. Even better than nice weather was the fact that Ryan flew up from NYC to visit me. His cousin and her husband live about 45 minutes away and Pete actually works at Magic Hat (more on that later)

Friday night we found a passable Mexican Resturant called "Mexican Resturant" right on the water. The food was pretty good but much more than I am used to eating. Afterwards we wandered around Church Street taking in the sights and hanging out with the teenagers and homeless people. Saturday I had to take the van in for headlight issues but then we spent the rest of the day wandering around Burlington. Later that night we picked up Colleen and ate downtown at this amazing Flatbread resturant that also has its own microbrew. I had the Das Spalter, Ryan tried a light beer named after some guy and Colleen had the Discombobulator. All were good, the food was amazing and our salads were the best I have eaten in a long time.

Sunday I had an afternoon load in and show. The crew at the Flynn Center were very helpful and the show went great. Sold Out as usual. After the show Ry and I went to Magic Hat to have a tour with Pete and then meet up with Amy to go to dinner. We spent the evening with Amy and Pete and had a wonderful time. Both of them are so smart and well informed they are great conversationalists. It helps that they have a good sense of humor and are able to look for the absurd in life.

Monday morning I said good bye to Ryan and went and SM'ed two more shows before loading out and driving to NYC. All weekend we had beautiful weather but when we woke up on Monday it had snowed and it continued to snow all day long until we got near the city. The drive took forever and we ended up incurring like 3 hours of OT.

This week we are back in the city for some day trips and to get a new Louise (bye bye Mara!!) Before taking our 2 month jaunt down to Florida and then on to the Wisconsin area. I will try to come back and post pictures when my internet connection is better.

onward and upward- god this mountain is HUGE!

50 Nifty United States

Before starting this tour I considered myself to be fairly well traveled. Having lived overseas for childhood I was able to see countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jakarta or Nepal. After college I made the trek down to Australia. This summer I traveled to Europe and walked miles through Prague, Paris and London. I have had oppourtunites in life to go to Utah, Colorado, Hawaii, Washington State, Florida, Arizonia, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, The Carolinas as well as New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC and Vermont.

Either I lived in these states (Louisiana, Delaware, New York and Texas) or we visited to ski (Utah, Colorado, Vermont) or we went on vacation (Hawaii, Florida, Washington State, California, Arizonia, New Mexico, Arkansas, Tennessee, Carolinas, Virginia, and Washington DC). Most of these experiences consisted of leaving home, getting on a plane (or in a car), getting off the plane and driving to whatever resort or hotel or friend's home we were staying in. Then I proceeded to do all the touristy things we were supposed to do when you visit said city and went back home thinking I had experienced that place.

And in a way I had. But in another way I hadn't.

Obviously I don't know what it is like to live in these places I have visited. As a tourist you see what they have decided you see.

This tour is different. No more realistic in it's view of each place but definently less "padded."

We stay in hotels, not all of them nice, and eat at chain resturants mostly- the cheaper or the more for your money the better. We can always find the Walmart and the laundry and we have learned which rest stops have clean bathrooms and which gas stations almost always have auto deisel. Each hotel starts to look the same, each gas station, each resturant. The Walmarts all look exactly alike which is the point and probably accounts for our enjoyment of visiting Walmart. We know what we can get and where it will be which gives us plently of time to get back to our hotel rooms to watch TV (even though the channels are always different)

I haven't really added any new states. Possibly Mississippi but does that really count? But I have added a new view. Not any more genuine but different.

I suppose different is good.

Onward and Upward.

Signs on the Road

Ok- so I know I am very behind on my blogs. But honestly I just don't have the time or energy right now. So I'm gonna cop out and just post some pictures of signs I have seen on the road lately.

And then I had to post this picture I took of the Rolling Stones magazine this week because two of my friends are in it. The girls sitting on either side of the musician are my friends, Alisha and Emily. Alisha is friends with the photographer who is also known for his Obama cover a few weeks ago.

Onward and Upward.

Jack (Rabbit) of all Trades

My tour creates a set of performers that are a Jack of All Trades. Each performer is also an ASM, working on set up, load in and out, costumes, props and sometime sound. That means they must learn a little bit about every part of the show. That also means as the Jack in charge I need to learn/ know a lot about every aspect of theatre. Sometimes I am a TD, sometimes an LD, a Master Electrician, a sound engineer, a sound tech, wardrobe supervisor, props mistress and stagehand. Sometimes I am even a director. Ok.. Maybe an Assistant Director. I also get to function as a board op, a PR person, a company manager and even sometimes a stage manager.

A usual day runs a bit like this..

A week beforehand I will have called the venue, asked them about their space and told them of our "requirements." We would have established a load in time which for Max and Ruby is about 2 hours before the first show. That gives us one and a half hours for load in before the actors get their 30 minute break to prepare to perform.

If the show is at 9:30 that means load in will be at 7:30. Perhaps call time will be 7:15 because the venue is close and it will be a short drive to get there. Once we arrive we find someone to let us in and while the actors put down their bags or back up the van to the loading dock I survey the situation. I'm looking to see what kind of stage they have, how big it is, whether I want to use our sound equipment or can I run the show from backstage, where the dressing rooms and green room are and I am usually talking with our contact person to make sure everything is alright and we can get them to work easily with us.

Then we unload the van. We have 6 prop bins, a backdrop bin, a sound cable bin, a tech bin, 3 sound road cases, 8 flats, a metal truss, 4 metal legs, a roof, a chimmney piece, 2 folding fence pieces and assorted smaller shelves, poles, and such. Our truck is pretty full. The performers have learned where each piece should go onstage so that we don't have to move them 3 or 4 times. Once the truck is mostly unloaded I measure out the stage and mark the center line at 8 ft, 12 feet, and 16 feet from wherever I think the set should begin. I usually try to leave a 2 foot gap between the number line and the front of the stage so that we have wiggle room.

Then I start setting up sound. Sometimes this involoves running cable to 2 speakers, setting up our mixer and mic rack and finding someplace to put the mini disk player but sometimes this just involves handing the MD player to someone else to plug into their board and setting up the mic rack. Our mic rack searches for avaliable frequencies and then sends the new frequency to the mic pack. Its super easy. When it works.

While I am doing this 3 of my performers are setting up the house and 3 are setting backdrops and then props. One performer assists with the backdrops and then also sets up costumes. Unloading the truck usually takes about 30 minutes and the set goes up in 45 which leaves us 15 minutes for sound check and final details such as spike tape and masking.

At 30 minutes the actors go prepare. Then we run the show. It runs about 47 minutes. I work the sound board and cue any light cues. Upon completion of the show we either reset and rest before our next one or we take everything down, put it away and place it back in the van. This takes about an hour from curtain. Everything goes in the van in a very particular order in a very particular way. We bungee it all together and then move on to our next site or hotel.

Makes me exhausted just thinking about it.

Onward and Upward.