Seattle, Washington

FINALLY we're in a cool city!! things may be looking up. actually, the good day was in yakima, washington...which, in my opinion, is a magical magical place and i didn't ever want to leave it. let me explain...

yakima, washington...

we arrived at the venue- the capitol theatre. what an amazing space. the ceiling alone was a work of art. hand painted, twice- the theater burned down in '75 and was repainted by the original artist- with immaculate detail. the walls dripped with rich gold detail, and red velvet seats. quite lovely. the crew was equally as wonderful. from the moment we set foot in the theater, they were eager to help, and friendly about it. i even got an assistant for costumes...her name was shelly. ah, sweet, sweet shelly. she made all our dreams come true. she took one look at us and saw how weary and beaten we were. she asked if we needed anything steamed, mended, or ironed...i looked at her like she was speaking latin. never had anyone offered such assistance! i said, not to my credit, "uh...uh-huh." she then smiled and said, "well what?" and i replied "um...everything?" she laughed and told me to make a pile and she would have it done before the show. WHAT AN ANGEL!! we gathered our tattered costumes, and she went to town. also, she had put fresh flowers in all of our dressing rooms, and even put presents in meagan's and my dressing room!!! she brewed us really good coffee so we didn't have to use ours, and made sure we had cold water so we didn't have to use our own supply. we all told her what a treat it was to have these kinds of spoils, but she said it was something that was "the usual" at that theater. the stage crew was great as well, and commented a couple dozen times on the poor quality of our set, and commended us on how we manage to put it off in spite of it. it really is amazing how taking pride in one's job has such a wonderful ripple effect on others...(i'm speaking of course of the people of the capitol theater).

seattle, washington...

we were all very excited to be in a real city again. as soon as we checked into our hotel, we hit the hot tub. after the space run to see how close the venue is, we took off to dinner. scot, meagan and i found a perfect little italian restuarant. we had a really good meal!!! now, this may not sound like much...be we don't eat well, so flavor and nutrience are somethings i like to make note of. :)


afterwards, the three of us went up in the space needle!!! woohoo!!! it was awesome!! also, some of us went down to the public market and did touristy things. the first ever starbucks, the place where they throw the fish ...i bought a new sweatshirt...yay!

back to work...

the next morning at the theater, things were not as rosey as they were in yakima. it was a union house, so they were extra condesending, and not very helpful. (shocker). also, we had to do the show for a soldout 2,200 seat house with NO SET. this isn't just a minor inconvience...this changes the entire show. now we knew about this in advance, but it doesn't lessen the headache. due to a mixture of miscommunication, negligance, and indifference, heaped atop a pile of keeping-an-unblinking-eye-on-the-bottom-line, the production office didn't cancel the show even when they were told that a "real" touring company, who was already in the middle of their run, had a HUGE set WELDED to the stage. as i have mentioned before, our stage manager quit. this was the first day with our interum stage manager, and she handled things like a pro. actually, kudos to all of us. without any rehersal, or advanced plan of attack, and with a brand new boss, we pulled off major ajustments, and mock specil effects in the moment, as they were being performed, and the audience never once caught on. we got our rockstar applause at the end (term first used by scot lee williams- i don't wanna plagorise), and were happy the unpleasant day was at an end...oh yeah, and my laundry got stolen out of the fucking hotel dryer. whoever you are, your karma is so bad, you're gunna get cancer.

the next day, friday for those of you who are keeping track, we piled in the car and drove from oregon to reno!!!! yes, please take the time to pause, go get a map, and see how long that drive is. we stopped for a few photo opps... (this is mount washington). saw the geiser 'old perpetual'...and nearly hit a managerie of animals (6 near misses actually, including a running cow...i got video of it). it took us 12 hours. it took the truck 15 hours. yuck. by the time i get back to new york, i may never want to get inside a car again. :)

tonight, we have plans to go out!! get all dressed up, gamble, go to a halloween party, go dancing...we'll see. this is one tacky town, and i plan on embracing it with open arms. wish me luck!

En Route To Salem, Oregon...

Currently I am sitting in the back of the van driving from boise, idaho to salem, oregon. The trip today should be roughly 8 hours. Yesterday, beth and I drove a 10 hour day through the entire gauntlet of weather, and hazardous driving conditions...we came out of it a bit punchy at the end, but today we get to relax in the back and if we go over a bridge, at least no one can blame us. :)

I’ve been a bit of a slacker when it comes to documenting the really cool things that have been going on, so here’s a bit of a recap...

TEXAS

texas is big. Because of this, we had a lot of driving to do...I took the opportunity to perfect my george w. bush accent. I feel confident enough to add it to my resume...although I won’t. Apparently, and stop me if you already know this...texas has camels and zebras I was sitting in the back of the van with scot, and I see his eyes go wonkie...all’s he can get out of his mouth is “camels. Camels. Fucking camels ” Priceless, considering he’s the most eloquent one of the bunch. We drove back by the camels the next day and also saw zebras I guess I was so surprised by the dromedaries that I missed the zebras entirely...good thing we had to pass by them twice.

while we were in texas, we got word from the production office that one of the schools that had seen our show that morning had faxed a GLOWING review of us to our head honcho saying how we were the best cast the teachers had ever seen come through there, and how the kids agreed it was the best field trip they’d ever been on. This made us happy...so happy in fact, that meagan and I skipped down to the pool where scot was to tell him the good news...then I threw meagan in.

KANSAS

flattest state in the union There is nothing...seriously nothing. Not just a lack of scenery, but actually devoid of everything. I made the comment, as a dark cloud moved over the desolate countryside, that perhaps, the Nothing from THE NEVER ENDING STORY had beaten us there, and had in fact, sucked up all the beauty kansas once had...crops, livestock, color, trees, hills, hope...everything. I mean damn. Oh yeah, and I parked next to the weinermobile!

OKLAHOMA

I know I commented on this already, but I find it ironic that a place founded on the basis of bettering one’s self through the love of the lord our god, could be so lacking in humanity. I’m speaking of course of the day we played ORAL ROBERTS UNIVERSITY. The basketball court of the university to be specific. Although all of the reports from other stage managers from tours past had expressly warned against ever playing that venue again, chamber booked it for us. Nice. The space is huge, something like 6000 seat arena, but it was impossible to give them a good show. The angle of the seats to the “stage” was so extreme, that I was spitting on the front row (and practically sitting on their laps) trying to project and hit the back of the house, but I’m pretty sure the last 3rd of the seats saw us as little specks hopping around like assholes, and not much else. Ah well. The crew was passive aggressive (sans the cutie sophomore named tyler...we wanted to wrap him up and give him to beth for her birthday- which was the same day). Even at the hotel, and the restaurant we stopped at for lunch, the people were less than hospitable. And we usually have incredibly good luck with meeting friendly people. Oklahoma was not the case.

MISSOURI (twice)








we spent a weekend in kansas city, mo and had a GREAT time We stayed at a holiday inn express and it was like sleeping on clouds...I swear to god Plus, they read my and meagan’s minds...they don’t have comforters on the beds (we always rip them off ‘cause they’re gross, and then check for bedbugs...ya never know.) We were in the heart of all the cool happenin’s that weekend. There was a pub crawl to cure cancer that the frats and sororities were doing...they were fun to laugh at. We all ate the hell out of some really good food...thai, indian, cheesecake factory...then we all got gussied up and hit the bars ourselves. We weren’t kidding around either...we started with martinis at one bar, then switched to liquor at the next. I introduced scot to the IRISH CAR BOMB and we all did way too many of them (but hey, they are yummy ). There was some footsie under the table with me and meagan, and we all got pretty chummy...even zach who is never eager to look like an asshole with the rest of us, joined in the frivolity.

NEBRASKA

we only stayed the night in kearney, ne, and so there’s not much to report. But it was the evening of Friday the 13th, and some weird shit had gone down earlier in the day. A huge cart took it upon itself to roll off the truck at full speed and crash on the concrete alleyway, but not before crushing scot’s toe...

So that night at dinner, lanny, myself, scot and meagan, went to ruby tuesdays. But our chi’s were all off and it didn’t make for a good outing. Buttons were pushed, we were all cranky, and I was very happy to get back to the hotel, crawl into bed and see the clock strike 12:01 on the 14th.

COLORADO






we had a really tough week in colorado. We were in a shabby hotel with nothing around it, but we did make the most of it. We took a shuttle into downtown to go out to dinner on chamber’s tab (they dropped the ball the week before and left us in the lurch, so they bought us dinner...but with a $20 cap). So we hit up cheesecake factory because there’s 8 of us, and the menu could satisfy everyone’s palette...unless you’re just fussy. We got loaded and stuffed, and were happy. As long as food is involved we do pretty well at not letting tempers flare up with each other. :) afterwards, some took the shuttle right back to the hotel, but some of us stayed downtown for a while. We walked around, there were a lot of horse-drawn carriage rides going on, and I met a cowboy His name was brad, and he and his dog, kip, and horse, ted, were a carriage ride team He was a sweet kid from iowa, who was proud to be a redneck, and worked at a country western bar making cowboy hats and there was a mechanical bull Some of us tried to get down there because he had recommended it, and I’ve been starving for some local culture, but alas, it didn’t work out. But it sure sounded fun.

After our first performance in denver, we got our first taste of winter As soon as the show closed, and we were loading out or stuff, the snow started falling. And falling, and falling. Lots of big huge fat flakes It covered the ground, and our set, and us. It made for a slippery load out, but I was far too giddy to be bothered. We then drove to colorado springs for a show the next day. It snowed all afternoon, and through the evening. Realizing we all had been caught totally off-guard, some of us trekked on foot to the target down the street from our hotel. We bought the hell out of their winter stock. I had a big coat and scarf, but didn’t bring snow boots. So I got boots, fingerless gloves, and 2 hats Beth and meagan went balls out and bought everything in sight They now look so totally adorable when they suit up for the winter. :) also, they thought ahead to the long drive (which I am currently on now) and bought us girls crayons and coloring books They’re awesome

WYOMING

tundra in rawlins, wy... scariest woman in a pizza hut ever, other guy at other pizza hut in diamondville/kemmerer, wyoming was COOLEST guy ever!! Cool tarot-esque stickers from aforementioned pizza hut (mine said “you need a spanking”) longest driving ever...1400 miles in 2 ½ days

IDAHO

boise...what can I say?

OREGON

so so so pretty!! The mountains are gorgeous!! We’re here for a few days, bouncing back and forth between oregon and washington. Salem, or is a cute little town. Portland, or is cool, although I was too sick in bed to enjoy it. But those who went out said it was cool.

The crazy crap from last week has calmed down a bit, although I think it’s left a bitter taste in our mouths. Lanny, our stage manager, leaves us tomorrow after the show, and we get someone we don’t altogether trust has our interim stage manager until our real replacement arrives next week. Fingers crossed!!

Please don’t get me wrong, amidst all the hellish crap we’ve put up with I’ve made some life long friends. Beth, our house manager/ sound person/ understudy referred to us as “war buddies”...a type of friendship forged in the harshest of circumstances, that few others understand, and that will bond you forever. I’m ok with that.

Boise, Idaho

the last 2 weeks have blown.

our production office has zero regard for our health and well being if there is money to be squeezed out of a situation.

becuase of the lack of initiative or communication (i haven't figured that out yet) we have actors getting injured and reinjured due to broken props and set pieces...we've had to change the ending of one of the shows becuase of it.

our stage manager quit

someone (we know who and have reported her) in the production office has been slandering our individual and collective reputations to the other chamber theater casts, giving us the nick name the "problem cast"

this is not worth the shit paycheck i get from it...

Denver, Colorado

this weekend, we find ourselves in the mile high city. I have been excited to come here not only because it’s a real town, but because I was born here. The mountains are crazy beautiful, and I wish we were closer to them...but of course...we’ve been put up in the crappiest descent hotel they could have found for us. There’s nothing to do near us, but there is a 24 hour shuttle from said crappy hotel to downtown denver...which we of course used.

we’ve just come off the toughest week of the tour so far and really needed to unwind last night. Please allow me to recap...

Tuesday we found ourselves performing in kansas city, Missouri (spent last weekend there, and it was a blast). The theater we performed in was a nightmare to get into. There was a ghetto ramp/plank that was set up for loading and unloading the truck (not ideal for our deathtrap of a set). The crew looked cracked out on crystal meth...honestly I know what meth heads look and act like, and they were it. (But they were nice meth heads). However, it turns out that THE STROKES played that venue right before we did...so I guess that ups our coolness level??...no?...ok.

That night, we drove back to oklahoma (we’d just come from there a day ago). It was a rainy drive, and Steve and I were in the truck. We thought we should stick to the main interstates because of the weather, but that ended up being a 14 ½ hour day (illegal), and the worst drive ever...we did try to make the best of it by singing along to everything I have on my ipod...we both still wanted to kill ourselves though. :)

scot and meagan were kind enough to have pizza and pepsi waiting for me for when we finally did get in. It was just what I needed, and they knew it, and that’s why I love them. :)

Wednesday, we preformed at ORAL ROBERTS UNIVERSITY. Ironically one of the most godless places in america (it’s a huge religious school founded by and used for televangelism.) It has terribly strict and sexist rules that the students have to follow. We performed in the basketball court (inappropriate for our show). The tech crew (sans a cute sophomore named tyler) was mean, didn’t listen, and infact, on more than one occasion, needed to be aggressively ordered to do simple tasks. Ridiculous.

Thursday we had another rough load in having to navigate 2 steep ramps, and because of an “oversight” in the production office, we didn’t have a crew...at all. The 8 of us killed ourselves to unload everything in record time, so that then we could assemble the deathtrap of a set...by...ourselves. Then we rushed, muscles aching, backs tightening up, to get into makeup and costume and do the show...and we started on time. Production “felt bad” for their foul up and offered to buy us dinner...anything we wanted (as long as it was under $20). We decided we were going to save dinner for a town that didn’t suck...so we took a raincheck and ate shit food once again in the middle of nebraska and passed out tired and sore.

Friday the 13th, as you can imagine, was creepy. Shortly after midnight I got an upsetting phone call, and I knew the rest of the day wouldn’t fare much better. (As one of my castmates said, always trust a Pisces when it comes to premonitions). During the load in to the theater, one of the boxes (4 feet tall, 3 feet wide, heavy as hell, and full of delicate lighting equipment) took it upon itself to heave itself off of the truck at full speed. Scot futiley tried to stop the horror- risking personal injury and all, but the fates were against us all and the box fell with a sickening crash, falling 5 feet at full speed off the truck and landing on the cement alleyway with nothing to buffer it. Somehow nothing broke...so the show did go on as planned. The theater was beautiful, but way too small for what we do. For the umpteenth time, I found myself in full view of the audience for all of my quick changes, as well as giving the local crew a free show...yuck. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to a yummy italian lunch, complete with wine, piled in the van and drove to kearney, nebraska (we were headed to denver, but had to stop at the half way point). That evening, some of us went out to dinner. All of our chi’s were off, and this equated to minor irritations and arguments that, I guess, if they were going to happen, happened in the best way possible. Although, if you will allow me a tangent, I’d like to point out that when these types of tifts arise, the small circle I find myself traveling in (within the larger group), handle it quite well. I was more than happy to see the clock hit 12:01 am, and patted myself on the back for having survived Friday the 13th.

Saturday, was not a day off, but at least we didn’t have to do a show. It was a drive day, and so I curled up in the back seat and watched the landscape fly by. That night, here in denver, we all got organized and went out to dinner on chamber theatre’s tab. I got drunk and stuffed (as we all did) and befriended a cowboy in the rain. His name is brad, and his pup’s name is kip, and horse, ted. Fucking perfect if you ask me. Hopefully I can get down to the country western bar he mentioned to get some real denver culture, and watch people attempt the mechanical bull...all I can think about is urban cowboy. :)

Monroe, Louisianna

this is the first time in quite a while where I've had a good internet connection, and some time to blog. So here's some catch up...

After North carolina, we headed down to south carolina, were we did our last private performance in a high school. The people were wonderful and told us we were the best chamber tour that they'd ever seen. Yay, I'll take it whether it's true or not.

then we found ourselves in rome, georgia for a weekend (blew). There was not much to do in that town other than see a movie, which I did. Saw JACKASS 2 on opening night. ROCKED!!! Unfortunatelynatly for reasons I don't remember, we had to switch hotels and towns on Sunday. So we ended up splitting the weekend up and found ourselves in cedartown, Georgia on Sunday. This little blip of a town has less than nothing to do. But we did fascinating local while dining out at the only restaurant in town. His name is Paul. He's from the czech republic. And he's got a half czech half southern accent. Awesome!! Turns out, he came over here, got scared in new york when we saw barrels ablaze in bed-stuy brooklyn (I can relate), then went down to miami, florida where he came across his first group of black people...who then mugged him. (Yikes). Then he got aboard a greyhound bus headed for california. But about mid-trip, he was kicked off for drinking beer. So he stayed. And that's how he came to live, fall in love, and call cedartown, georgia home.

next we traveled to albany, georgia...which by the way...is different from the albany, new york.

next we hit up montgomery, alabama where we met a couple of interesting people...to start with carrie rose...at an olive garden. She’s a very free spirit with a crazy streak right down the middle (our kind of people). She was so happy to here that we weren’t from around there, that we drank for free all night. She had just moved to montgomery from LA to be closer to her 3 small daughters. She's way too much of a west coast girl (also she's a wicken) to be happy in the middle of the deep south for long, but we all wish her well. also in montgomery, we befriended our tech crew. these guys were awesome. a few of these boys would have gladly followed meagan and me around the country if we'd asked...(there were a few crushes). but really, they were very cool, and marc and i geeked out talking about the movie THE BOONDOCK SAINTS so i think i may have made a friend for life. also, they asked us out to lunch after the show where i got to eat alligator!! woohoo!! yum!

flash forward to last Friday, when we found ourselves in hattiesburg, misssissippi for the weekend. Also it was payday, so we were determined to spend some money on fun...local fun! We found the hottest spot in town, called Shinanigens. It’s truly a double wide trailor, but inside is jam packed with locals drinkin’ beer and singin’ kariokee. Perfect! Meagan and I got stares from all directions, she got cat calls (seriously they meowed at her in the parking lot), I used the ol' "i'm with him" line when one of my suitors came over and joined us. His name was dave? I think? Nice guy, in a big ol' cowboy hat, tight redneck jeans, and blousey button down shirt. He came from the "big city" too...somewhere in tennessee. He came here to go to school, but dropped out, and stayed. The next song he sang he said he sang for me. Thanks dave.

this morning we met another wonderful local. Her name is mary, and she was our server at the cracker barrel for breakfast. She said she loved us and hugged us all goodbye. She also said she knew we were actors because the 4 of us were so beautiful and had good souls. Her son is the general manager of the chilli's resturant (the only one) in staten island new york. I plan on going back to that one and telling him I met his mama down in louisianna on a random Tuesday in october.

Now I find myself in yet another hotel, with a little bit of downtime. I should be in the middle of “the legend of sleepy hollow” play, but our show got cancelled for today, so I’m lounging on a couch admiring the view of the hooters across the street. It’s about 95 degrees right now, at 10:30 in the morning in monroe, louisianna and hopefully I will get to see a bijou while I’m down here.


THE GOSSIP YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR

As we get farther and farther into this roadtrip extravaganza, there's become an increasing amount of bickering among the 8 of us. I've been trying my damndest to stay positive, but we are all at fault...some more than others. This shit has got to stop. It's toxic to the group and I refuse to play into it any more...if I can avoid it. I've been gravitating to a select few of my fellow castmates for the simple reason that I LIKE their company. Within this small group there is an even smaller group of 3 other people that I feel I can really connect to. Not to say that I won't ever be able to with others, but it hasn't happened yet. There are a couple people that just plain hate each other, others who's personalities clash like oil and vinigar, and if only we had a camera crew following us around we'd have a hit reality show on VH1. What doesn't help, is the fact that the production side of CTP doesn't seem to want to help us. They've tried nickle and diming us to death over something as simple as fucking bottled water, and minor safety issues regarding the set- like it's leaning at an unsafe angle, the platforms don't/aren't locked in place when we need to be on them, and it's literally breaking off in our hands- the other day a fucking door BROKE OFF in zach's hands and he could have truly been hurt when falling off the stage. What the hell?? All I hear from lanny, our stage manager, is that jen at production says "well fix it". And that we're being the "problem cast". At this point I don't give a shit if chamber ever wants to work with me again. I'm not one for burning bridges, but I'm also not one to lie down and let myself be walked on. If there is a problem, I will speak to production myself, get the real story, and voice my concerns...in a constructive way of course.

keep your fingers crossed...