Midwest bound

So, we left Pittsburgh and headed out for the mysterious lands of Western Maryland and Parkersburg, WV (where we met a cat at our Travelodge who would not leave Nic alone).  Our Maryland venue gave us swag: a pen, lovely card and sturdy tote bag.  Parkersburg was our first attempt of this show on a thrust-style stage, which proved a little tricky and was a nice mental pick-up for the company.  For any future tours out there, know this: push the drop as far upstage as possible and, if you can play the show with a single wing (pull the upstage flats as far back as you can and bring all set pieces through the one opening left), do it.  It takes very little additional mental effort to make the show run close to normal, forces you to play further downstage and allows the kids to see everything.  Oh, and change behind the drop, if you can.  The little kid screaming "I SEE A MONSTER!" reminded me of that during the first show.

After a quick stop in Ohio (performing in the high school attended by a friend in the city), we were off to the homeland.  Well, my homeland: the Midwest.  We cruised through Chicago rush hour traffic and arrived in our first stop, a weekend off in Madison, WI.  And, truly, it was good to be back.

I am proud to be the only born and bred Midwesterner in this company.  In fact, knowing that we were headed back to the "homeland" was part of the reason I took this tour (a reminder to my Twin Cities readers: November 23 is rapidly approaching!)  And, even more exciting for me is that a few cast members had never touched down in the "flyover region," which means I get to help introduce them to some of the simple joys that are my home region.  Indeed, smelling that fresh Wisconsin air, tinged with a hint of manure, made me feel right at home.

Madison is a charming introduction to the Midwest: a nice college town, very manageable, a capital, a cultural hotspot and, perhaps most exciting for us, a gigantic farmers market! Team ECK sampled the fare, I started slipping back into my Midwestern accent, Courtney was introduced to cheese curds (which are deliciously squeaky; I will not have a word said against them!) and finally settled on a make-your-own-salsa kit:

After some tea at a tea house and burgers at the famous Dotty Dumplings Dowry, Kristen turned to me and happily exclaimed, "I didn't expect the Midwest to be like this!" To which I replied, "You ain't seen nothin' yet."

On a personal note, now begins a great chance for me to catch up with some friends I haven't seen in years. There are plenty of Minnesotans that wind up in New York City, but many more settle in places like Madison and Chicago, spots that are coming up in the next few weeks. Madison brought me back in touch with Rachel, a friend from high school who I probably haven't seen in at least seven years. We breakfasted at a great diner the morning after Madison's monumental FreakFest, and marveled at the hungover students (many of whom were still in costume). That evening, after we trekked near Whitewater in preparation for our morning shows the next day, I caught up with Kate (pictured below), a stage manager from my summers in Door County who now teaches English and directs a theater program at a nearby high school. She also showed me her classroom, which is a haven for creative students and certainly the kind of place that would have inspired me as a high school-er. While I'm out there inspiring the little ones, she's making sure the big kids are getting their fill too!

Oh, and what did we do for Halloween? Courtney and Kristen hosted a small get-together in their Jefferson, WI hotel room, complete with fresh salsa (!), pumpkin-flavored dessert hummus and pretzels, and we watched the classic Disney masterpiece Hocus Pocus. Thank goodness we were the only people staying at the hotel that night! The laughter was so loud, I'm sure we would have been shushed by the neighbors.

Call tomorrow: 7:30am, Rodeway Inn, Jefferson, WI.

Kid Quote of the Day: After one of the Parkersburg, WV shows, a boy in the front row turned to David and said, "Eh, the books were better."

Adult Quote of the Day: This one was from me, while filling out my absentee ballot. "Of course! I think Sarah Palin is hot, and that's why I vote Republican." Anybody who knows me will see a number of things wrong with that statement.