Ann Arbor was like the Holy Grail, for our company, at least. Within the first few days of rehearsal, a few of us who had been Googling our intended route started seeing Ann Arbor listed twice. Not only was the prospect of a sit-down-ish situation extremely appealing, but both Jonathan and David were both excited to return to their alma mater, and to show us around. “We’re gonna show you a good time in Ann Arbor,” Jonathan winked at us early on.
We hustled into our hotel, excited for what this college town would hold for us. The place looked great, had dinner provided four days a week in the lobby, and was near a Whole Foods, which earned it major points from Kristen and Courtney. We all went to our room, flipped open our computers, and discovered that, oops, the hotel had somehow lost its Internet. A call down to the front desk revealed that the ‘net was to be down for nine days. Strike one. At least there was free food.
We found ourselves with two days off before our “two-shows-in-three-days” schedule, and we took full advantage of them. A few of us even trekked to nearby Jackson to see the cast of Theatreworks/USA’s A Christmas Carol in action, and get a taste of the Theatreworks experience from the other side of the proscenium. Ann Arbor is a classic college down, with wonderful little shops, great restaurants, incredible coffee houses and more bookstores than you can visit in two days. David, who disappeared for most of our days off, visiting friends and catching the record-breaking Michigan/MSU hockey game on Saturday, gave us a list of great places to eat and hang out, but we mostly found a food spot and planted. I strolled over and explored the famous Zingerman’s deli (where I had an amazing pastrami sandwich, so large that I had to eat it over two days), found a table at Espresso Royale and blogged my heart out (you may have noticed the rapid posting), browsed more bookstores than I can remember, worked on some material in preparation for my return to New York (there is life after Theatreworks) and generally laid low.
The next day, I woke up covered in strange, itchy bites. As a New York City resident, I have met the scourge of bedbugs more than once, but I was unwilling to believe that this charming college town would harbor the parasites that have driven me crazy on a few occasions. David watched as I tore apart my bed. Finding no spots or other signs, I figured I was safe. Must have been a bad reaction at the detergent.
We loaded our set into the Michigan Theater (where David worked as an IATSE member after college), with the help of one of the most eager and helpful crew’s we’ve had. Our school day performance went well, and then our crew helped us strike the set into the far reaches of the theatre; it appeared that the orchestra had a performance that night, and didn’t want storybooks as their backup. I understood.
That night, back at the hotel and still itchy, I pulled the headboard off of the wall to discover that my suspicions were right. There were indeed bedbugs in room, a collection of about 10. The front desk quickly moved me to a bug-free room and off I went to the Laundromat to dry every article of clothing with me on tour. Sadly, experience with these buggers has taught me to be extra vigilant, particularly when you’re on the move.
The next morning, after David and I had a hearty breakfast at a local diner, the crew assembled to speak to the hotel about our predicament. They kindly offered to comp us some rooms in exchange for our pains, at which point Matt piped up. “Um, wait, are these bedbug bites?” he asked, pointing to raised bumps on his hand that he had been vigorously scratching. A quick check of his headboard revealed another colony, and the gents were moving rooms as fast as they could. For insects so tiny, they really are a nuisance.
Up and at ‘em for our last public performance of the tour, we arrived at the Michigan Theater to discover that the crew had already put the vast majority of our set up! David had allowed us some extra time to finish this process, so we took a leisurely hour to prepare, listened to the live organ player pump out everything from “White Christmas” to the Star Wars theme, readied ourselves and ran the show once again, to a nearly-full, thoroughly excited audience.
Now, I’m finishing this blog entry before a 4:30pm van call outside the theater, as we head back to Chicagoland once again. Two more shows, and then we head home. It’s truly hard to believe.
Call tomorrow: 7:45am, La Quinta, Matteson, IL.
Kid Quote of the Day: During Leonardo today, when I blew raspberries at the kids to try and scare them, some little tyke blew them back at me.
Adult Quote of the Day: After the report of bedbugs, our hotel manager casually kvetched, “Damn New Yorkers, bringing bedbugs to my hotel!” He then got very quiet once he noticed the addresses on our accounts.
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