Day 46 – Lennoxville
Today we went to my high school! It was so amazing to be performing on that stage again, a place where lots of dreaming about professional acting happened… And now…I’m acting and able to bring it into my school. Double whammy! I was very proud to be there. We did have a slight hiccup right at the top of the show, our projectors were not working. And this is a critical part of our piece; we open with me holding out cards, as Amanda Todd did in her YouTube video, and the words are projected on to the back drop. But, when the show began there was nothing on the screen, “I can’t read!” Was said a few times and finally we stopped because there really was no way to go on without our trusty projections. This was the first time anything like this had happened and I felt surprisingly calm. The three of us just stopped and fixed it and began again, as if it had never happened. And the audience! They were very kind, staying relatively quiet as James began working away to fix the problem and then finally emitting a synchronized “awwww” when they could finally read the words that were being projected. It was a bad thing that happened, and yet I remember it very fondly. It was live theatre… Sometimes stuff like that happens and it always adds an element between the actors and the crowd. We really are in it together.
Day 51 – Montreal
As it gets colder, as blog posts grow more sparse, routine sets in. We have become very accustomed to the touring life and know exactly what to do and what to expect. Routine: every morning when we are in Montreal we meet at a metro (where I now know the woman who works behind the ticket counter) and drive to the school, we set up, we perform, and we take it down to do it all over again. Yes, there are moments when this is monotonous and drives us each a bit crazy. But… We are in it together and we are part of something that is bigger than ourselves. Who knows what will come of these shows, what kids will take from it. And routine has its beauties as well as its evils; I mean, I know the woman at the metro, and saying hello to her every day is something I hold dear. Those are the moments, the little human interactions that count.
And as I have said many times before, every school is different. On a particularly hard day, when we were done the show and packing up our things in an elementary school a bunch of kids came in for gym class. The teacher put on a dance along video, it was projected onto a large screen and then the 7 year olds danced. It was so fun! The music was awesome and the kids were having such a good time! We left that school feeling refreshed.
It’s November, the weather is changing and sometimes the tour is hard. But when it is good, boy does it do something to you. Spirits are lifted, smiles are worn and we continue on our journey.
Recent Comments