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Greetings!
I'm sorry it's been forever since I've written on here. I'll do what I can to go back and recap the past few weeks at some point soon, but first I need to write about the past week.
It started with an awesome trip out to Arizona. We had 4 days in a row of bus travel...which sounded like a nightmare to me. So I took a mini vacation out to Arizona to see GUYS & DOLLS at the Arizona Broadway Theater. Had a great trip and saw an incredible show!! (it closed yesterday, but if you're in the Phoenix area, be sure to check out the theater...they do really great shows: www.azbroadwaytheatre.com/)
The rest of the week was spent in Texas...man am I glad to be leaving. Now, I have been to Texas before and had a great experience. Had bbq in Houston. Remembered the Alamo. Etc. But this...wow... We started in El Paso, just 5 minutes from the Mexican border. We were warned over and over again DON'T GO TO TEXAS. Actually, we were warned not to leave our hotel alone, and if we did to only go within a block or two. The elevation was ridiculous (I had NO idea it was in the mountains) so breathing at the theater was rough. The show was really great that night, but wow what a way to start...
From there we went to Waco, where things went from bad to worse. Before getting there we were warned not to drink the water...really? In the US? And the home state of our former president?? To me this is unacceptable...but there's not a whole lot I could do except avoid the water... So we get to the hotel. Turns out there's some bad blood between the hotel manager & the theater manager, so to make a statement the hotel booked all the double rooms as singles. Meaning Lindsay and I got cozy in a King size bed...could be worse, but just shouldn't have happened. THEN we get to the theater, and not only is it the smallest stage we've played, but the dressing rooms smell of mold. It was so bad in some of the rooms we had people changing in the hallway. Breathing was, yet again, a challenge. To make up for the hotel situation, the theater manager (who felt terrible about the whole thing) offered us a free drink (and everything after that 50% off) at a bar/lounge down the street...however, the bar had just opened the week before and was completely disorganized (I've worked at a brand new bar/lounge...I was ready for this to be a bad scene...). After having some of our cast yelled at for not being within dresscode, and talking to bartenders/waitresses who knew nothing about our deal from the theater, one of the owners found us and told us the first round was on him. After that we were on our own. We decided to stay for the free round, then move on. We found a cute bar down the street where the owner realized we were from the show and bought all of us a free round. Ended up ok, but wow was that a rough night!
Next up, Corpus Christi. This place was a delight. We stayed in a gorgeous Omni right on the Gulf coast. The hotel had every ammenity you could wish for, plus ocean views. Went for a run on the water and had the most amazing Thai food before doing a great show. The audience cheered their heads off from the minute the lights went down. Thank you, Corpus Christi!!
Next up, Beamount. Beaumont? Where the hell is Beaumont? (Our show takes place in Bomont, TX and that line starts off the show). This one was wierd. We drove right to the theater and did a 4pm matinee. The audience went nuts every time we said Bomont, but other than that was pretty silent. That is, until the 2nd act...when they got antsy and kept moving around and coughing. Then a baby started crying. Then a special person at the back of the house started moaning LOUDLY. Plus there was an oxygen tank in the front row, so even when the house was quiet you could hear the tank. It was something else. I thought they couldn't stand it. But we got to the curtain call and they stood and cheered. Wierd... After the show we headed to the hotel...I went into our room, sat down on the bed, and it broke. I actually fell to the floor. What a day!!! The night was a great one, though. We went to the South Texas State Fair and had a blast. We missed the livestock showing and rodeo (we hit the end of the weekend) but we ate our faes off, rode crazy rides and won prizes at darts. Seriously, it made Texas well worth it.
Last stop was today: Mt. Pleasant. Oh wow. This was quite the way to end. We played a 300-seat community college...where the audience had an entire 100 people in it. Most of whom were kids or old people (a walker was right in the center of the front row). And the audience was SILENT. It was just plain brutal. I even started laughing on one of my serious lines because I just couldn't take the ridiculous nature of the situation. These are the ones that are rough, beacuase as a performer you really need something to feed off of. You need to know you're out there for a reason. Even if you've just affected one person. But when you're out there and wondering why you're even doing the show...it's just brutal. GET ME OUT OF TEXAS!!!
Tomorrow is a travel day, ending in Nashville, TN. Here's hoping we're staying close to the downtown and can do something fun, see the town, etc.
Oh! Finally figured out how to upload videos on here. My friend Karen Pappas and I have been making videos along the way called KP & KP on Tour. They're silly little snibbets, but they'll give you another take on tour life. They're all up unders Videos.
Enjoy!
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