Yes, I know y'all born after 1976 have no clue what that last bit was about (#$%@ kids).
Romeo and Juliet performed it's last show on Wednesday, April 30 after 59 performances. No, that isn't many for a three month tour, but six shows were canceled due to ice storms and another six were canceled due to schools pulling back because they had lost so many days to snow and ice. And you know what? That reminds me of a story. . .
Seems we were due to perform in Rochester, NY. As fate would have it, ice came pouring down on the region. As I watched the list of schools closing on the morning news and enjoying my luxurious continental breakfast (a week-old English muffin, luke warm after being in the hotel toaster for 40 minutes), I waited for my cell phone to ring with the main office telling me the show is canceled. Time past and no call came. Not wanting to get to the venue, unload and then get the call--we played that game before in Hartford--I gathered the troops into the vans, I climbed into the passenger seat of the truck, and told my ASM to drive really, really slow. Fortunately, the call came just before our exit and we gleefully pulled into a gas station to plan our next move. The itinerary had us scheduled to drive to Erie, PA after our now-canceled show and then to Springfield, OH the next day. The cast begged to drive straight thru to Springfield and get an extra day off. I cautiously agreed, knowing it would be around a ten hour drive. I grabbed Romeo and climbed into the truck, giving my ASM a break from driving it (and forcing him to travel with the cast for 10 hours) and we set off. I advised that we drive south to NY 25 to get out of the ice storm before heading west. That was the course I took. The vans, however. . .
About two hours into the drive, my phone rings. I look at Ross (Romeo) and we both conjecture what has happened. We know it had to be vehicle trouble of some sort. As I last reported, we lost one van to a blow out already and the truck suffered one as well. I answered.
Me: Did you get another flat?
Tory (ASM): Um. . .no. The windshield in the silver van is broken.
Me (SM): Really? How'd you manage that?
Tory: The white van was in the lead and a piece of ice flew off the roof and hit the window of the silver van.
Me: Is anybody hurt?
Tory: Nah. The inside of Prentiss' mouth is cut.
Me: From the windshield?
Tory: Yeah.
Me: Was she gnawing on it when the ice hit, or what?
Tory: No. She gasped when she saw the ice fly off and so her mouth was open when it hit the windshield. She was covered in glass when I got to her.
Me: Is she okay?
Tory: Oh yeah. She thought it was totally cool. She wanted me to take a picture.
Me: What are you going to do?
Tory: The closest place with right size windshield is Erie. Until then, I'm holding it together with duct tape.
Me: Okay. Good luck.
They were able to make it to Erie and get a new windshield. Yea!! I wish this was the end of our vehicle troubles. I won't take up too much more of your time. In short, both vans needed new tires, the latch to the back door of one van was broken and we secured it with bungees while I called all over Indiana for a new latch which we picked up along the way to Indianapolis (if two hours off the freeway is "along the way"), one van needed a new radiator fan clutch (?) and I had to rent a Town and Country while it was being fixed (great vehicle, by the way--we watched DVDs from Grand Rapids to Eau Claire and back), and the bloody truck suffered another blow out.
But it's done. In a fitting end, we arrived late to our last venue to discover A) no loading dock and B) the stage was set up for a band concert. Apparently, I hadn't made it clear when I said we were performing that we would need space to perform on.
Ah! The thrills of live
theatre!
Stay tuned for "Tales from Amish Land."
