Underway!

October 8th, 2007

"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say."

-J.R.R. Tolkien


Like a band of gypsies we roll down the highway. Barreling through New England, across New York and into the Garden State, we've finally arrived in 'the first state' . . . DELAWARE! I felt the need to capitalize the name, since there seems to be little else to capitalize on in our present location. Sadly, the "diamond state" has thus far left much to be desired, aside from its geographic proximity to other more notable cities. More on that presently.

However one major improvement to our outfit, and much to our surprise would be the upgrade in transportation. Considering our fears of appearing like a parade of mediocrity, we were overjoyed to find that not only did we receive a brand new, top of the line Ryder truck (only 6,000 miles, cd player, and an extra ft. of height which pleases me more than the others) . . . we have also been blessed with company decals! Yes folks, that means that we are now cruising the countryside in style, with the emblem of Chamber Theatre Productions proudly emblazoned on the side of our 'Matilda', the loving appellation we bestowed upon our van.

So with our shiny new stickers and outfitted autos, we flew down the highway, leaving Boston and our month of hard-fought rehearsals behind us. The final week of which was emblematic of the entire process: intense, exhaustive and exhausting. Every last second of rehearsal time was put to use, and although our final two dress rehearsals went splendidly, by the end of it our morale was at an all time low. True to our company's character though, E3 didn't let things go south. Taking a page from Cool Hand Luke, we put the fun back into loading out the set on Thursday afternoon.

While Peter and Brent learned how to load the truck, the rest of us scuttled the set pieces in one by one, while I was regaled with tales of Godffrey de Chevalier, the theater's namesake, by Dick the Ancient Stagehand. He told me of Chevalier's early days in Medford as an athlete and a scholar, his service in the navy in WWI, where he single-handedly saved 20 men from drowning, and a ship from sinking on another occasion. Continuing with his herculean feats, Chevalier became a navy pilot, while aviation was still in its infancy. His crowning achievement was being the first man to land a plane on a ship underway, which he did in 1922. It was also his undoing, as he died landing a plane three weeks later in the same manner. So it goes. Luckily, there was a destroyer named after him that served in WWII. Unluckily, it was sunk by the Japanese in 1943. However, the theater was dedicated for him in 1940, and it turns out that Dick was there to work the opening when he was just 16, a job that he has maintained since. Hence, 'ancient'. Isn't storytime fun?!


Luckily we all had a free Friday to gather ourselves for the coming departure and tie up any loose ends in Boston. While most of us spent it packing and scurrying around the city, Peter and Kate took time to experience Monster House 3-D at the Imax. By all accounts, an experience like no other.

Saturday Kate made the rounds, retrieving each of us from our various dwellings, and filling Matilda to the brim with baggage, Barnstormers and a sign reading: "Delaware or Bust."

Peter and Brian Lovin' Life


The six hour journey passed pleasantly enough, with the front half of the car playing the alphabet game (we got as far as 'D' on fruits and vegetables, before Peter was stumped and determined to come up with something . . . ), or singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody. Meanwhile Brent and myself made up the back half of the van, he plugged into his laptop and I devouring a new fantasy novel. About three hours in we cut across the Bronx and caught a beautiful view of the City at sunset as we crossed the bridge into New Jersey.

An hour after darkness fell . . . "DATES!" cried Peter as he resumed the alphabet game, 3 hours late, proving himself the master of 'D'-named vegetables/fruits . . . we arrived in Delaware and were rewarded with pizza and beer (courtesy of the producer) as a thank you for our hard work and to celebrate the journey's begin.

As we fell to, sating ourselves on meat lovers and Pilsner, Erin tossed me a Delaware guide from the hotel and suggested we all go to the Renoir exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on our day off the subsequent day. I turned to her with a patronizing smile, saying:
"Ha! Silly girl, don't you understand that we are in Delaware, and nowhere near such places! What could you possibly be thinking?"

She tossed the atlas at me and pointed out that Wilmington, DE is a mere 32 miles from Philly. It would seem my geographical knowledge of the northeastern United States is about as expansive as our President's vocabulary, and I had just proven the point.

I was previously under the impression that we would not be near Philadelphia until December, but much to my surprise, I found myself surmounting the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (made world-famous by Stalone in Rocky) along with Nate, Erin, Meg and Brent, and meeting up with the lovely and talented Jessica DalCanton, one of my best friends from the university, who happens to live in Philly.

We spent the afternoon bedazzled by the beauty and majesty of the museum; Meg paid to see the special Renoir exhibit, and later said it was worth every penny.




The Gang Rockin' out with Rocky!

I took a quick trip through Philadelphia with Jessica, and caught up over capuccinos. Then at five o'clock we caravaned down to infamous South Street, where Jess led us past the sex shops and street people to Jake's Steakhouse, the best place in Philly (and subsequently on the planet) to have a Philly Cheesesteak. A mountain of chopped beef, cheese whiz, onions, peppers and mushrooms on a hoagie roll and washed down with Philadelphia's own Juengling Beer. It made for the perfect end to a perfect day trip.

Our bellies full, we took our leave of Miss DalCanton and headed merrily back to Delaware for a brief company meeting and then to bed.

And now we're back from loading our show in a day in advance of our first public performance tomorrow morning.


Eager young minds of Delaware: "PREPARE YOURSELVES!"