Tour Summary

To sum up my tour, it was a great experience over all, and I'm glad I did it. I think I would do it again if I needed to get my Equity card right away, but I'd have to do it with TheatreWorks, since ArtsPower no longer uses the Equity union. I was very lucky to work with a group of people that I enjoyed working with, and I feel sorry that Chris didn't have a better experience. It was fun to travel to places I've never been (Milwaukee, Chicago, Winston-Salem, Tampa, Savannah, Vermont, Niagara Falls, Boston, and more) I think that was the best part. There were some long travel days which were not so enjoyable in the van, and there were days when we stayed in our motel the whole day because there was nothing around (except for Walmart, of course). But otherwise, I don't have much to complain about. I have also learned that I am not cut out to be the set crew, hauling heavy set pieces and building. God love them, I just don't want to do it again, I've paid my dues!

The biggest 2 things about having completed this tour are:

1. I have a national tour on my resume

2. I have paid my dues!

For other actors/ stage managers who wish to compare ArtsPower and TheatreWorks for possible future employment, here is our experience:

I have to say that ArtsPower seems more organized. They sent us on the road with a blowup mattress in case someone wanted to combine rooms to save money (we had 5 people total, which meant someone had to share a bed, sleep on the blowup, or get their own room- I ended up sharing a bed with a girl who has become a very close friend). Chris had to bring his own blowup mattress which was destroyed by the end of his tour.

Artspower set up our hotels so that we collected points towards free rooms, and we got 4 or 5 free nights out of it! Chris' cast had to figure that out on their own, and it worked but they didn't get as many free nights.

If there was any issue, as individual actors, we could call or email the production manager and discuss it with her. Chris did not know who to call or email when he was having trouble on tour. Artspower as a company is much more personal and takes better care of their actors.

Even though Artspower is non-union now, they STILL follow the Equity rules, which means you get great benefits!

Artspower appreciates their actors: when we had a bad day at a venue because the school forgot to turn off the loud speakers, the morning announcements went off during a show but we kept going. They heard about it at the office and gave us $100 to spend on dinner. We also had a group Halloween costume contest, competing again the other tours that were on the road. We got 2nd place and $50 to spend (as a cast) on anything we wanted. Theatreworks never did anything like this for Chris' cast.

A friend of ours, Abby Stevens, was in the TheatreWorks' cast of Junie B. Jones and has some great Theatreworks stories also, not quite as bad a Chris' but they both had issues with their directors/ choreographers during the rehearsal process.

In closing, I'm sure everyone's experiences will vary on every tour, so this is definitely NOT the say-all, end-all, but it's interesting to know either way.

Tour Update

It's been awhile, but here I am.
Since I last wrote, our stage manager on our tour was replaced after she had an allergic reaction to a virus. Strange but true, and she's doing better now, but still recovering and so we needed a replacement. Our new SM, is GREAT! Her name is Bernadette and it has been a pleasure to work with her.

We are currently in Vidalia, GA home of the sweet onion. But there's nothing to do here except go to Walmart, and we did that the first night, so today we drove an hour and a half to Savannah, GA. What an amazing town! I can't wait to go back. We started our day by having the Sunday Buffet at Paula Deen's restaurant, "Lady and Sons". Appartenly it's so popular that you can only make day-of, in-person reservations, but we had no trouble, thank goodness. My plate was filled with Sweet Potatoes, Mashed Poptatoes, Fried Chicken, Green Beans, Mac & Cheese, Cheese Biscuits, and BBQ Beef. All homemade with LOTS of salt, sugar, and butter, MMMM!!!

Then we walked around to lots of boutique shops, antique shops, vintage stores, and even got a private tour of the Pirates House! It was a beautiful day to walk down next to the river, down cobblestone streets and see the city decorated for Christmas. Again I emphasize: I can't wait to go back!

Tomorrow we have two performances (should be interesting in the little one-horse town) then it's off to Tifton, GA and then to FLORIDA!!! It's getting warmer by the minute, and I don't miss the snowy 30 degree weather going on in NYC right now, at all.

More to come. See my pictures!

On the Road Again...

Well it's been awhile since I've written a blog, but I've been at home in the city, free to be home and lazy when I'm not working. Actually, I've been enjoying time with my husband and puppy! But alas, the road has called to me again, and we're on the road tomorrow through Tuesday. Not very long, and actually, I'm glad to be away if that means the 6am calls will STOP! I've been getting up at 4:45am every morning but one this week, and it has NOT been fun. The subways have caused me to be late twice and have not worked normally ONCE this week (you can tell by my use of CAPS that I am irritated, right? haha).
We're going near Boston tomorrow and then to Vermont on Sunday. I'll update with blog with my adventures so stay tuned!

Long Days

We've traveled 7 hours out of our way for 1 show in Iowa City, IA. We're staying in Cedar Rapids, which is about an hour away, I have no idea why we're here, I can't imagine that they're making any money off of this 1 show.

Then, after our show we begin our 700+ mile drive to Buffalo, NY for 2 shows. Then we're finally going home for a little while! So it's a 500+ mile drive from Buffalo to NYC. Sheesh. It's going to be a long 4 days ahead of us, but we're all dying to go home!

Chris gets home tomorrow, lucky dog. Speaking of which, I miss my dog!!!
So as you can tell, I'm just plain homesick and plain sick of traveling. Staying at the Econo Lodge doesn't help the situation.

Well now I'm done whining, I hope you're happy. It's our day off, and we're going to go to the mall and see a movie, because that's all there is to do around here. But I have to say I am excited about seeing Niagara Falls for the first time!

Below is a picture that made the front of the local paper in Springfield, IL! This was at Lincoln's home and the historic area where he lived before he was President. We took a free tour of his home and saw the tomb where he was buried.

Halloween

You're never too old to Trick-or-Treat, that's what I say!
My tour roomies and I went around the nice neighborhoods of Mt. Vernon, IL and treasure hunted for candy! Trick-or-Treating here is only from 6-8pm, but we came out with a pillowcase full of candy! Then we proceeded to go to the local Haunted House presented by the Mt. Vernon Jaycees, and let me tell you, it was fantastic!

The only problem with being in Mt. Vernon is that we have to be here for2 more days, and there's NOTHING to do! When we called the front desk at our hotel, she open admitted that the it was "...kinda dead around here..." haha!

The weather is nice at least, so I'll take a walk, read my book, and hey, I'll never complain about being PAID to do nothing!

Milwaukee, WI

It's been fun here in Milwaukee, I've never been here before (of course I've never been to most of the places we're going to). I saw Lake Michigan, went to the Milwaukee Art Museum, walked around downtown, ate some great food, and even went to a Haunted House!

Today we had two performances, unfortunately my voice was barely at 50% because of some congestion issues I'm trying to get over. It's mostly the weather changes and it's getting colder which means it's getting dryer.

Tomorrow we have a 7 hour drive back to Ohio...yep...AGAIN. I'm thrilled.

Still hoping to get to a cheese store before I leave. I did have cheese curds for the first time, they are a lot better tasting than they sound, I swear. But let's be serious. I really just want a CheeseHead.

Dayton, Ohio

Well, we're back in Ohio, and we will be back again soon I'm sure. Somehow, where ever we go on tour, we always end up in Ohio after a few days.

We finished our last 2 performances before 3 days off! We're hanging out in Dayton today, going to a town called Yellow Springs, which is a town they say never left the 60's, so that should be interesting.

I was reminded also of how embarrased I am sometimes, when I'm trying to show others how being a Christian doesn't mean you're a crazy religious person or an over-the-top, TBN kind of Christian. But sometimes, it's tough to defend your beliefs when you see the BIGGEST JESUS SCULPTURE IN AMERICA while you're driving down the highway. What do you say? I was speechless. There was nothing I could say to defend that sculpture. Especially when nicknames like, "Drowning Jesus" and "Touchdown Jesus" are involved. See picture below:














So tomorrow we're driving to Milwaukee, WI for 3 days off!

Kentucky to Ohio

We're in Circleville, OH now. Had dinner at the Ponderosa Steakhouse, which was just another typical buffet, similar to Sizzler. Brought back the childhood memories of going to these buffets when I was a kid with my grandparents from North Carolina, and thinking they were so incredible. What perspective I have now as an adult.

Today we played at a beautiful theatre that was built in 1931, that seated 1400 people. 1500 attended because it was so over sold-out, it was pretty incredible. The second show (same venue) was about half as full but that is still significant.

Tomorrow's show is much different. At a gymcafetorium, which basically you're average multi-purpose room at a school (gym, cafeteria, and auditorium in one). Should be interesting.

Grayson, KY

We found out last night that we are staying in a "dry" county, which means there's NO booze here whatsoever. We were feeling like we deserved a glass of wine or a beer after a long week of traveling and children's shows, so we drove 40 minutes to the nearest liquor store. My drink of choice? Peach Sweet Tea flavored Vodka of course!!! Totally worth the drive.

Today is our day off, and we tried desperately to find something to do, but everything semi-interesting is at least a 3 hour drive away. So we went to Wal-Mart. It's the equivalent of an amusement park in this part of the country anyway!

This week is going to be exhausting. Lots of driving long-distances and getting up early for morning shows. Looking forward to the next day off.

First Blog on Tour!

So my buddy on tour, Barry, showed me how to blog for the first time! So here I am, follow my blogs from now on. I'll have insightful information for all of my shows, auditions, etc. And since I'm on tour, I'm sure I'll have lots of fun stories and information! Keep in touch :)