In sinister and ominous parade
Upon their sticks at night, and queer lights glowed
With eerie noises by the goblins made;
And many things mysterious there were.
For boyish cheeks to pale at through the grime
That held them brown; and shadows queer would stir-
Don't you remember? - Once upon a time."
-James W. Foley
What shadows are they that stalk the moonlit night? See the macabre silhouettes slinking out of the hotel, festooned in ghastly raiment, causing mischief everywhere they go! This All Hallow's Eve past bore witness to E3's transformation from a traveling theatre troupe to a band of costumed beasties, intent on claiming the night as their own!
But before we get to the Halloween antics, lets rewind to the week's beginning . . . back to Niceville, Florida where we culminated out beach=bum weekend with a performance at Okaloosa-Walten College, and a short drive across the Gulf Coast to Biloxi, Mississippi. We were anxiously anticipating this stop because the company was putting us up in the Isle of Capri Casino resort hotel.
The hotel certainly lived up to our heightened expectations. It was enormous, and had a bar with a three story lava lamp behind it. There was also an amazing gigantic rooftop pool that spilled down onto a similar pool one level below it, all of which overlooked the gulf at sunset. We each received one complimentary drink at the bar, which Brent and I used to the utmost advantage, ordering the most expensive top shelf liquors for both of our freebees. We followed that up with a plate of 24 chicken wings (it was 25 cent wing night) and bottles of bud. Trashy-chic had never looked better.
We all took a look at the slot machines and played around a bit, though the only reward accrued was a headache from the gratuitous amount of flashing lights. Still, it made for an interesting evening.
It was incredible to see Biloxi, and one year later Katrina's devastation was still plain. The casinos were few and far between, and there were felled trees and wrecked buildings all along the coast. All of the hotels and resorts had chosen to rebuild on land, not on the waterfront, which seems rather prudent in light of what happened.
The next morning we played the Strand Theater, a very interesting old venue from the late 20's, that reminded Brent of many theaters he played in Russia. After the performance we headed to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The most notable aspect of our time in Baton Rouge was the venue where we performed, the River Center. The theater itself was not that spectacular, but the house crew had been working Chamber shows for decades (they remembered when the whole operation was run out of a mini-van in the 70's), and they were extremely efficient. Half the load-in was done for us, and we finished in record time.
The other remarkable thing about this particular venue, was the deaf interpreter that had been hired for the performance. Over the course of our first month on the road, we often had deaf interpreters at the performances. The talent and skill level of each of them varied widely, and it could be anything from one person in the house signing for a few students, to a team of two interpreters with the script in front of them on a music stand, each playing half the parts. We had seen all different manifestations by this point, and it was something that we had all become used to.
However the man that was interpreting on this particular morning went far above and beyond mere 'interpretation'. He was in his early sixties and tall, with a thick head of grey hair and a full beard. Dressed stylish in black with a black tie, he looked like a chic Santa Claus who was really acting out all of the moments, and translating them into sign at an amazingly fast pace. He also seemed able to anticipate what we were doing on stage and hit all of the beats in the script spot on. I found myself watching him out of the corner of my eye while I was on stage, and being riveted by him while I was off stage. He seemed really comfortable with the material and was delivering a smashing performance.
As we were taking our bows that morning, I extended a hand to our interpreter as well, for he had surely earned it. I found him in the green room afterwards, shook his hand and complimented him on his work. Come to find out, he had spent two days memorizing the entire script so that he could do a better job of interpreting for the performance. I was flabergasted, thinking of all the time it took us to memorize the text back in September. If that's not commitment, I don't know what is.
That afternoon, which just happened to be Halloween, we drove up to Monroe, LA where we were performing the next morning. In the van, Brent was at the wheel in his Hannibal Lecter getup, and insisted on playing "This is Halloween" from the Nightmare Before Christmas no less than 5 times. Once we had arrived and all gotten into what costumes we could throw together, (Erin had spent the day attired as Tonks from Harry Potter, while Nate went as Elvis) we went out in search of some ghoulish fun. I took the van to nearby Ruston, LA to visit my good friend David and go to a party with him. The rest of the gang headed to Chili's and got into all sorts of mischief there.
I returned that night to hear about the All Hallow's fun. I brought back a prize of 1,100 M&M's I had won at the party (whoever guessed closest to the amount in the jar won, and I guessed 1,001. Woohoo!), which we made short work of over the next day or so. We returned to Baton Rouge for a Friday performance with the incredibly efficient crew again, and then headed out to Bossier City for our last night in Louisiana for a while.
We were slated to stay in another Casino hotel, and after the last one we were totally stoked about repeating the experience, especially on a Friday this time. However, our enthusiasm was curbed upon our arrival. This particular hotel was less of a waterfront resort, and more of a musty old Ramada with a few slot machines. The first thing we noticed is that it was a very dark hotel, the rooms smelled a little off, and we seemed to be the only patrons staying there that night. The strangest thing by far though was the huge atrium in the middle of the building. It was about seventy five yards long and thirty wide, open three stories up to the ceiling, and all enclosed. There were potted trees and tables everywhere, with ramps and railings jutting off at strange angles. There was also some white lattice frameworks over the main sitting area at the center, all of which gave the impression of an outdoor gazebo-esque, arbor area. But indoor. And carpeted. Strange.
Add on to this the aloof and snippy house staff, the fact that there were no lights on in the atrium, the stagnant pool and the general emptiness of the entire place, and it felt like the set of a Tarantino movie. Or perhaps the Bates motel. But we tried to make the best of it, by buying a few six packs and sitting together in the creepy atrium. After a few beers and a few stories (and finally getting the lights turned on) it turned into quite a fun evening.
Despite the weirdness of our surroundings, the next day dawned without incident and we were on the road again, this time heading to Texas! After barnstorming the bayou for a week, we were ready for new vistas, and Texas promised all that and more. The Lone Star State is the home of our next set of adventures, coming soon!
-ICHABOD
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