Pennsylpittsadelphia

"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me."

-Emily Dickinson





A triumphant return to Philadelphia! It had been over two months since our last encounter here; one that was as delightful as it was surprising. Now we returned to Penn State's cultural capitol, and celebrated our return by going to see Beowulf 3-D (again). Peter had not seen it yet, and it had made such an impression the first time around, the rest of us went for another go. Glorious 3-dimenional action!

The second thing that half of us did was get out of town! Erin, Nate and Meg made use of Philly's geography and headed in to New York City for the next day. No brotherly love from those three, they were on the first train out. I spent the evening with my friend Jessica, and went to see a show she was in that night. The rest of the crew explored the hotel surroundings, and the amazing Indian restaurant next door.

While we were cruising around that afternoon, I received a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. I answered and to my great surprise it was a man named Tony, who runs the Shakesperience! Theatre Company in Waterbury. It turns out he HAD received my little sonnet (see previous entry), only he found it two days after we had left Waterbury. He thanked me for the note, and was sorry to have missed us. After ascertaining that we would not be back in Connecticut, he lamented our missed opportunity, but said that if we made it back his way we should definitely give him a call. At least it wasn't all in vain!

We also decided to explore the King of Prussia Mall, America's largest shopping center. Yes, I know most of you are yelling at your computer screens "No! No you misinformed youth! The Mall of America is the biggest!!!" Well . . . its the biggest single building mall, however King of Prussia dwarfs it with its multiple building complex. So there you go. Its quite an impressive place, and they were even giving out free starbucks coffee, so we were instant fans. That being said the mall is completely overwhelming. But after a few hours and a few breaks to eat and gawk and wonder at the enormity of it all, we had made some purchases, had a meal and gotten the whole experience. Chief among our loot were new jackets for Peter and I, as well as socks and other warm-weather gear. We shall not be caught in the cold unprepared again!!!

Monday we set up shop in the Keswick Theater where we were playing for the next few days. The crew was amazing, really efficient and loads of fun to hang out with. We found out that Wynona Judd had played the theater the night before, and the crew couldn't stop cracking jokes about how mediocre her performance had been, and how much food she had brought with her. The rumor was she had microwaves at every off stage position, including one in her quick-change station. I guess when you're a superstar, you get to have nuked lasagna whenever and wherever you want.

The show went well, and we ended up going out to lunch with the crew. Since we were playing the venue two days in a row and didn't have to load out the set, we turned lunch into a leisurely afternoon, and took it easy for the rest of the day. My friend Jessica had tried to see the performance that morning, but was unfortunately rear-ended on the way to the theater. So it was doubly fortuitous that we were in town for two performances. She saw it the next day, and after another lunch with the super crew, we headed on the road to Harrisburg.

We arrived at the venue the next morning to find it was a theater attached to a Masonic Temple (this would become a theme for the rest of the week). The crew and facilities were very professional, and the highlight was the dressing rooms downstairs. They were huge, and outfitted with old 20's style barbers chairs!! The retro quality was amazing:



And in our enthusiasm over the swanky decorations, we were inspired by the upcoming premiere of Sweeney Todd (opening this weekend! can't wait!) and decided to take some tribute pics in the barber chairs:





Johnny Depp: eat your heart out.

Right . . . so after Harrisburg it was on to Pittsburg. One 'burg' after another . . .but this one was considerably more impressive. Very few of us had every been to Pittsburgh and so didn't know what to expect. We were overwhelmed by the architecture, and the gorgeous buildings everywhere. Carnegie really outdid himself back in the day. In fact, we were playing at the Carnegie Music Hall which was easily one of the most beautiful buildings I've seen in America. It reminded me a lot of the Residenz palace in Munich, with marble pillars, gold everything, and rich ornamentaion.



What we were not impressed with however, were the conditions of our work that morning. First of all, there was a driving downpour and sub-zero temps. Speaking of temps, there was no house crew at the Carnegie Hall (guess they spent too much on the deco) and the temps that Chamber was supposed to have hired for the day all failed to show up. So we were unloading our set in the rain, and also had no direct access to the stage because there were two gigantic grand pianos in the way. It was a rough start to a rough day.

We eventually got things sorted out and loaded in. The hall was packed to the brim, and because the seating was wrap-around, baroque style, there were three thousand kids, many of whom could see all the way backstage. There were also no curtains (its a music hall, not a theater) so our entrances/exits were not masked. Suffice to say, it was a very rough show. On top of this, I had gotten sick, and my throat was really scratchy (another trend that will continue throughout the rest of the tour . . . ) so I barely got the words out, what with the throat closing and the fever and all.

But, we got through it. And Chamber sorted out six crew members by the time the show was over to help with load out. And they bought us lunch for all of our trouble. All in all, not a terrible day, but certainly a trying one. After the show, we all spent our Chamber-lunch-money and stuffed ourselves. Then we took a moment for a photo op (or two) among the crazy statuary and buildings in downtown Pittsburgh.



Finally it was back on the road, this time to Cleveland (???). Yes, I know, it doesn't make sense. We were supposed to be the southern tour, and the Midwest was definitely not our turf. But it was only a two hour drive from Pittsburg, and we drove it. We were all a bit confused though, and as we arrived, sodden, tired and ready for the week to be over, Brent summed up our mood with: "Did we really just drive to Cleveland?"

For all that, it looked pretty much like the last three cities we had stopped in. A lot of hunched gray buildings, an indefinitely shaped body of water, a Comfort Inn. Its hilarious how most of the tour goes by in a blur of hotel keys, van rides, loading docks and dressing rooms.

The next morning we played at another Masonic Temple, but this one was gigantic. The building itself took up an entire city block in both directions. The theater was a giant stadium-type thing that was used for Masonic ceremonies, and was mostly concrete. Because of this, and the relatively small audience (only about 500 in a hall built for thousands) we had an incredible echo that morning, despite Nate's best efforts to equalize. We adjusted as best we could, but still found it hilarious to hear our lines coming out like this:

"Matilda Loisel-el-el-el-el . . . was a great-at-at-at success-s-s-s-s-s-s."

That performance concluded the non-New England portion of our tour. We were headed back to finish up in the north east, and chose the dubious halfway point of Milesburg, PA (yet another burg) where we stayed for the night. Ironically, this was also the chosen halfway point for another traveling theatre troupe, run by Theatre Works out of New York. We caught up with them in the lobby, and eventually met for drinks later that night. We swapped stories and thoroughly enjoyed one another's company.

Saturday morning we started off again towards Springfield Massachusetts, where we would be playing Monday morning. Erin and Nate had cleverly routed our trip through Scranton, PA, where we stopped for lunch. Fans of 'The Office' will already be ululating at the top of their lungs after reading the last sentence, for Scranton is the setting for that most-successful of television shows, which Erin, Nate and Meg have been watching fanatically for the entire duration of the tour. So we stopped and took pictures of everything and saw the sights. Scranton itself is doing a nice job of capitalizing on the attention, with cardboard cut outs of the show's characters and realistic looking signs for the fictional paper company "Dunder-Mifflin" where the show takes place. The 'Welcome to Scranton' sign, which is featured in the show's intro, actually had to be moved to the local mall because so many people were stopping on the side of the road to take pictures it was causing congestion. We took the obligatory pics and ate lunch before moving on.



Upon finally arriving in Springfield, we all holed up for the next two days, to get away from the weather. Winter was in full swing, and doing its best to whiteout New England. This trend continued throughout our last week, to be concluded in the final installment of Ichabod & The Barnstormers . . .

-ICHABOD

Waterbury With A Wintry Mix

"Pray to what earth does this sweet cold belong,
Which asks no duties and no conscience?
The moon goes up by leaps, her cheerful path
In some far summer stratum of the sky,
While stars with their cold shine bedot her way.
The fields gleam mildly back upon the sky,
And far and near upon the leafless shrubs
The snow dust still emits a silver light.
Under the hedge, where drift banks are their screen,
The titmice now pursue their downy dreams."

-Thoreau



Time: Early afternoon.
Destination: Waterbury, Connecticut.
Transportation: Matilda the Merry Chamber Van.
Route: The Tappan Zee Bridge.

We crossed the bridge into New York, and caught a brilliant view of the NYC skyline as we did so. That sea of buildings thrusting up towards the cold blue sky, surrounded by rivers and pallisades, made for a welcome sight. So welcome in fact that Meg, the driver, was intent on turning tha van around and making a run for the City . . . . but thankfully we talked her out of it, and she delayed her New York frenzy for another week.

A few hours later we were coasting in to Waterbury, CT. Its a charming city, situated amongst rolling hills, with lots of beautiful old churches and a lovely downtown plaza. After some misdirection, we found our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express Downtown and settled in for an extended four-day stay. Since we are used to staying in each hotel for one night at a time, or two at the most, four in one place was quite a luxury.

The first thing we noticed upon our arrival at the Holiday Inn, was the dun-colored fifteen-passenger van that could have been Matilda's twin. It was sitting in the parking lot, and emblazoned across both sides was a giant decal reading:

Shakesperience!
Theatre For Young Audiences
Waterbury, CT

What luck! thought I. We had somehow encountered another touring band of actors. We could meet up with them and swap stories from the road, find out what tour was like with another company, and hear of all the crazy adventures they'd had, places they'd been. What an opportunity. In my room upstairs, I then devised a means of communicating with this van. I was worried, because the company was from Waterbury, CT (where we were) which means the van could just be parked there permanently. If I left a note, there was no telling if anyone would see it for days, or even weeks. But I decided why not, take a chance right?

So, in the spirit of the Bard, I penned the following lines and attached them to the van's windshield:

When two itinerant companies meet,
In the course of traveling the country round,
Could there be a more true, or nobler feat?
Stories, new friendships are sure to abound.

If thou wouldst commune, do give us a call,
We'll share a brew or two, good times for all!

-Ichabod & The Barnstormers

And with that I left the rest up to fate, and prepared to head out to Meg's parent's house for dinner. This was an occasion we had all been looking forward to for a few weeks. Her parents live just thirty minutes outside of Waterbury, in an absolutely gorgeous home, tucked away in the woods by a lake. Could it be any more idyllic? I think not.

We all piled in to the van around five-thirty that evening, and made our way out. Meg had requested Thanksgiving dinner for the menu, since we had missed out on the traditional fare the week before. And with visions of turkey legs and stuffing dancing through our hungry actor=minds, we arrived at the aforementioned house, and were treated to an evening of culinary delights and gracious hospitality.



Meg's parents started us off with drinks and a tour of the house, all of which was decorated with a bird motif. One could literally turn in any direction at any time anywhere in the house and find a bird=object somewhere. After we had settled in, we all sat down for a traditional thanksgiving dinner, that surpassed our wildest (and hungriest) dreams. After we had taken in all that we could (and a little more) we retired to the basement to play some ping-pong (remarkably similar to another family evening in Texas . . .) and prepared ourselves for dessert.



One of the evenings highlights by far, was playing with the family dog, Molly. She is a beautiful, friendly golden retriever, who couldn't get enough of us. Or maybe we just couldn't get enough of her. I know they use dogs as therapy for people going through rehab . . . perhaps we could convince Chamber to get us a tour-therapy dog? I'm sure it would make us a much happier company. Or maybe we'll just have to sneak back to Connecticut for some dog-napping . . . Either way, it did us all a lot of good spending time with man's best friend.







Finally, leftovers in tow, we went merrily back home and slept very soundly. Meg stayed the night at her parent's house and was able to sleep in her own bed, a much needed luxury. Sunday we mostly lazed about the hotel or browsed through the Barnes and Noble a few blocks down, recovering for the week to come. We had heard rumors that the show might be canceled Monday, because the first big snow storm of the year was coming through Sunday night. We all crossed our fingers and wished like elementary school kids for a snow day.

To our dismay the next morning, there was no snow on the ground. It was just cold and icy. We were lamenting this over breakfast, when Erin came in to say that the show was canceled! Evidently the ice had been treacherous enough that the school districts delayed opening and subsequently couldn't make the show. Our only task then was to load in the set so that we could play the venue the following day. Half an hour of work for a full day's pay? No problem.

The Palace Theater, where we were playing in Waterbury, was a breathtaking space. Originally built in the 20's it had been newly renovated just four years earlier, restored to its former majesty. A beautiful marble entry way with floor to ceiling gilded mirrors, velvet everything, and a sweeping domed roof with filigree and ornamentation fit for a king. It certainly lived up to its lofty title.



I found out from the theater manager that the Palace had been derelict for over forty years. Evidently the man who owned it was default on his taxes and couldn't afford to keep the place up, so he just let it go. It got really run down, was squatted for a number of years, and by the late 90's, one could stand on the stage, turn a full circle and see daylight in all directions peaking in through holes in the walls and ceiling. Finally the state came in and dumped 34 million to restore and renovate the old theater, which is now also used as a facility for the performing arts high school. From the way it looks today, one would have no idea of the turbulent history it hides.



So we all took it easy again, enjoying the free time by doing a whole lot of nothing. The day went by lazily, and the next morning we played to a capacity crowd in the Palace. It was certainly a pleasure performing in that magnificent house, and afterwards we saddled up and journeyed back south towards New York, Long Island to be more specific, for our next day's show.

Mapquest Misadventure

Ahh, New York. As I was driving us down through the Bronx, I suddenly realized why it is that all my previous visits to this city had been by bus, train, or plane: because driving around in the unfettered madness that is NYC is a quick trip to the crazy house.

It all started with our Mapquest directions. Now granted, Mapquest is a great service, and it gets you where you need to be a solid 70 percent of the time. Its just that 30 percent margin of error that's the problem. Mapquest has a tendency to be very non-specific. For instance, when one is traveling to Long Island, and the directions tell you to take the George Washington bridge. For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of Manhattan, the George Washington bridge is on the west side of the island. Long Island, is on the east. Now, I am no New Yorker, neither is Kate who was navigating. But I have spent enough time in the city to know that the G.W. bridge would take us to New Jersey. As I started raising these concerns, Kate rechecked the Mapquest directions, which said basically:

Take G.W. Bridge exit.
turn left
Continue on to Long Island.

Ummm . . . excuse me? Could you give us a clue?!

With these directions we descended into the maelstrom of highways, and sure enough, ended up in New Jersey. By the time we realized our mistake there was no going back. Long story . . . long, we ended up going down the coast of New Jersey, across Staten Island, got lost for about an hour in Brooklyn, and eventually ended up in the unrelieved suburbanization that is Long Island. We got to the hotel around 8:30 pm, and everybody crashed. On top of this, it turned out we had a 6:30 am call the next morning, because the venue was a 45 minute drive from the hotel. Brilliant.

The one bright spot about the next morning's performance however, was that my sister Diana was coming in from Manhattan to see it! That took some coordination as well, since she had to take about 85 different train connections and a taxi to finally get out to where we were. But she got to see the show and had lunch with us afterwards. It began snowing lightly as we ate lunch, and after we dropped Diana off at the train station and bid her farewell, we headed back on the road to Reading, PA.

Not much to say about Reading. The only interesting bit of trivia for me as a southerner was that its pronounced 'Red-ing' not 'Reed-ing'. So in the future, when playing Monopoly, I can be a snob when saying Reading Railroad, and correct people. What fun!

The next morning it was cold. SO cold. So. Cold. It was the first real wintry morning we had had. And it became clear to many of us that our clothing was not sufficient. This was compounded by the fact that we had to park the van half a mile from the venue and walk to it, not to mention loading in the show from the alley because there was no loading dock. So after freezing our little tushies off on the walk over, we spent another thirty minutes outside unloading the truck and losing feeling in our extremities. The theater was actually quite beautiful, but nobody noticed because it was so cold we couldn't feel feelings!

Anyway . . . the audience was quite small because half the schools canceled on account of the weather. (see! it wasn't just us! It WAS that cold) But they were very energized and seemed to enjoy the performance. That being said, we did have one hilarious flub on stage that morning. It came at the very end of the show, during The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. Kate is supposed to introduce the Parson as he and his wife walk on stage. She normally says:

"Why, Parson Walker's Wife . . . "

(they enter)

I guess the cold had really gotten to Kate that morning, because for some reason she just couldn't get that sentence out. What she did get out, sounded something like this:

"Why, Puh . . Parker . . . Park . . . Parker . . . P-P-Parker Walker's Wife"

(they entered hesitantly)

She covered it well by reiterating the PARSON on her next line, so the audience knew what was going on. We of course couldn't get enough of it, and after the show choruses of "Parker, Parker, Parker!" followed Kate wherever she went.

Load out went considerably better than load in, due mostly in part to the fact that it was a solid ten degrees warmer by then. All things considered though, we have certainly conquered the process of this touring production. In fact, you could call our operation a well-oiled machine. I remember the first time we had to load the set in on our own, it took us the better part of three hours. Even during the first few weeks of tour, once we had gotten the hang of things, it still took us a solid hour and a half to get everything ready, leaving us just enough time to get into costume and warm up. These days, we're often done loading in and setting up in about forty-five minutes. We zip around the stage, uncoiling cable, bolting things together and setting out the trappings of props and costumes, and before you know it, we're all sitting in the dressing room, drinking coffee, reading the paper and goofing around. Its really incredible to see how efficient the whole process has become.

We must be doing something right, because the company only sent someone out to check on our show last week. During the normal course of a Chamber Theatre tour, they do periodic 'spot checks' of the performances, for quality control. We had been expecting this for months, hearing the reports of other companies who had been checked, and were wondering when our turn was coming up. Since it was December and we only had three more weeks of tour left, we figured we must be doing something right. And much to our delight when our Production Manager surprised us by showing up to our performance in Waterbury, she was pleased with how things went and had very few notes. Oh yeah baby: well-oiled machine!

We finished the week out with a private performance in Dallastown, PA, at a local middle school. We usually dread these days, because it means no crew and strange spaces, etc. But this stop proved to be a real jewel. There was an army of wide-eyed middle schoolers waiting to help us, and the kids were so into it. They loved the show, and we ate lunch with them afterwards in the cafeteria. Now we all had reservations about this course of action, remembering our own middle school cafeterias. I think I ate chili-cheese fritos and little debbie cakes for those three years, and that's not something I'm particularly proud of. But much to our surprise, they had a first-rate dining facility. There were fruits, veggies, salads, turkey wraps, stuffed pizza, vitamin water, granola bars, yogurt, all kinds of crazy vitamin-healthy-green-super foods. I could not believe it. Maybe some progress really is being made to make kids eat healthier. We were certainly pleased.

At the lunch table, the kids oohed and aahed and asked us a bunch of questions. How do you act like that? How do you remember the lines? How tall are you (me)? How old are you? etc.

It was fun, but a little overwhelming. One of the kids confessed he had seen a Broadway show in New York. He went on to say, and I quote: "I mean, Broadway was cool and all, but you guys were WAY better!"

:)

From the mouths of babes! So needless to say, we (and our egos) loved those children. That night we headed in to Philadelphia, where we would remain for the next four days. And the City of Brotherly Love had its arms wide open . . .

-ICHABOD

Where Life Is Older Than The Trees

"Yet out they go in silence where
They whilom held their learned prate;
Ah! he who would achieve the fair,
Or sow the embryo of the great,
Must hoard--to wait the ripening hour--
In the least point the loftiest power.

With wanton boughs and pranksome hues,
Aloft in air aspires the stem;
The glittering leaves inhale the dews,
But fruits are not concealed in them.
From the small kernel's undiscerned repose
The oak that lords it o'er the forest grows."

-Friedrich von Schiller



Charleston is a quiet town, nestled snugly in a valley with mountains on all sides. A river runs through it, as they say, and the whole shape of the city is a lazy 'S', hugging the river as it meanders through the passes. The lifestyle in West Virginia's capitol seems to plunk along at about the same pace as the river current. That is to say that although the joint is not precisely jumping, it has a cozy feeling, isolated from the hustle and bustle of most larger cities.

To illustrate this point, we were to be performing in the municipal theater, a space located next door to the civic center, where the WWE Wrestling 'Smack Down' was playing the night before. We had spent most of Sunday at the Charleston Mall (for want of anything else to do or see) and were amazed that every clerk, sales associate, and passerby was buzzing about the Smack Down. While getting my haircut, the stylist asked what I did for a living and when I told her I was an actor performing in Charleston the next day, she immediately asked if I had anything to do with wrestling. I figured my prominent lack of muscles and tattoos would have clued her in, but I merely replied that no, I was not with the wrestlers, just wrestling with some 19th century literature. Sadly my joke was lost on her.

The next morning, we put our own theatrical smack down for a couple thousand kids. The performance went well, and Brent's parents were in attendance, after driving him back down from Michigan where he had spent Thanksgiving. We met them afterwards, a lovely couple, and could see from Mr. Bradley's bald head that the apple did not fall far from the tree. It seems Brent's Q-ball predilection might have been inherited.

We then headed on to Roanoke, VA, getting in late because of the long drive through the mountains. It was another gorgeous drive, this time with low-hanging clouds drifting through the trees and sometimes even across the road.



Roanoke was another picturesque town huddled in a valley 'tween the hills. The Comfort Inn had stately wallpaper and an aristocratic southern feel. But though the ambiance was nice, the breakfast bar left much to be desired that morning. As Martin aptly observed, the line between quaint and sparse is a very thin one.

After another performance it was on to the capitol, Richmond. We arrived at our Comfort Inn, and were disheartened to discover that the whole place was not only under renovations, but reeked of cigarette smoke. Even the rooms, which were supposedly non-smoking, were quite odorsome.

Meg had heard there was a free YMCA nearby we could go to, so she Brent and I piled in the van to escape the hotel and see what we could see. Our first impressions of Richmond were quite dreadful, seeing as how the area around the hotel could be called 'developing' at best. The simple fact was none of us felt safe venturing out on our own, so it was better to go in a group. In the van.

Surprisingly enough, as we headed towards the city center, just a few blocks away, it turned completely around. There were statue-lined boulevards and a lovely university setting. And the YMCA we ended up at was far and away the nicest Y I had ever seen or heard of. We almost didn't get in because the hotel clerk had told us wrong, there were no free passes. But we stood around looking pathetic long enough that the good-natured woman behind the counter waved us through, and we were greeted by the sights and sounds of a first-class workout facility. There were innumerable machines, multiple weight rooms, a pool, basketball & racketball courts, everything one could imagine. And it was all centered around a marble atrium with a fountain and wrought-iron chairs. In a YMCA! We all worked out in the beautiful surroundings, and headed back home in excellent spirits.



Wednesday morning, we cruised over to Richmond's Landmark Theater, certainly one of the highlights of the tour so far. The building itself was magnificent, fashioned in the early 20's after an Islamic Mosque, and the house was an elegant three-tiered neo-baroque style. The stage was sumptuous, the largest proscenium stage on the east coast, and the dressings rooms were absolutely kingly! The men shared a 'dressing room' that was thirty yards long, fifteen wide and twenty feet tall. Thick red carpet and classic furnishings, ornate window treatments and oriental rugs all served to create the most sumptuous surroundings we had seen. I almost felt bad about changing clothes down to my skivvies in there.

An even bigger surprise however, was the size of the audience. I have mentioned already that there were three levels of seating, but I was not anticipating that they would all be full! There were over three thousand people in the audience that day, the largest crowd any of us had ever played for. Before the show I did not really give it much consideration, since our audiences had been in the thousands for the duration of the run. It was not until I was actually on stage and facing this gigantic mass of people, wrapping around the stage on three sides, every level teeming with eager young faces, that I appreciated how incredible it really was. I got the jitters, and took a beat to compose myself before continuing on. After the nerves had been steadied, we settled in and the show rocked along. The energy that an actor receives from that many people is astronomic, and we rode the rush strongly for two hours, giving as much as we got. It was a spectacular performance.

That afternoon we zipped along to Norfolk, Virginia, where we were playing the next day. We also stopped along the way to appreciate the incredible views in the mountainous Virginia countryside. Splendiferous!



Much to our delight, Norfolk turned out to be a gorgeous medium-sized city on the ocean. Even more delightful were our lovely accommodations at the Tazewell Hotel, in the middle of the downtown arts district. We entered the lobby and were greeted by the sight of an airy reception area open to the second floor, with striking furniture (including a double-facing chez lounge, curvy-backed barstools in bold primary colors, and an elegant red, white and silver decorated Christmas tree, 12 ft. high!), and the whole place chased with mahagony, marble and brass fittings. The rooms were similarly outfitted, and it was all a welcome change from the smoke-stack Comfort Inn the night before.



We all had a lovely time in Norfolk, strolling the streets, perusing the mall (which was the most architecturally interesting shopping center I had EVER seen) and plundering the local market bistro. After the show that day we took our leave of Norfolk, reluctantly, and headed to Frederick, Maryland. Frederick turned out to be another lovely town, with the theater set in the center of the downtown area, situated around a canal. There were lots of local restaurants and shops, and the theater itself, called the Weinberg, was very distinctive. It was another remnant of the theater boom in the 20's, and had retained its character over the years. Shaped like a long shoebox, the lobby and dressings rooms still retained the character of the theater's art deco heritage.

That night, our week's performances behind us, we drove on to stay the night in Allentown, PA, which was the rough halfway point for our eventual destination of Connecticut. Most of us stayed in for a quiet night, after a long week of travel and work. I however decided to venture forth to find something to eat. I grabbed the van and headed off towards what looked like a restaurant row, just a few blocks from the hotel where we were staying. Well one thing led to another, and I ended up driving a few miles out of the way before finally locating a Chinese restaurant. I ordered to go, and waited the fifteen minutes for it to be prepared, before heading back to the hotel. At this point I thought I knew where I was going, since I hadn't been gone more than thirty minutes, and only took two left turns. But somehow, after taking two right turns, I realized I was not where I needed to be. I had been traveling for a good four miles or so, twice as far as I had originally come, and was getting worried, when I finally saw the Comfort Inn sign ahead. Relieved, I pulled in to the parking lot, but did not recognize the building. I then realized I had found the wrong Comfort Inn. Dismayed, I headed inside, and asked the clerk for directions to the other Comfort Inn in Allentown. At this point she told me that I was no longer in Allentown, and needed to head back on the highway. Highway? I did not recall being on a highway. But she seemed to know what she was talking about so I followed her directions, and got on the interstate. Three exits, two cloverleafs, and a half dozen miles later, I pulled in to the Comfort Suites in Allentown; which I was sure was also the wrong hotel. At this point I was getting angry, because my quick dinner trip had become an hour and a half-long endeavor. I called Nate to ask for the address of the hotel, which he didn't have. He suggested I look on the hotel key. I decided to go inside and ask for directions again. I approached the receptionist and told her of my plight, and that I was still looking for a different Comfort Inn in Allentown. She asked if I knew the address, and I remembered my hotel key. I pulled it out, and to my surprise, the name emblazoned on the key card was Howard Johnson. Aaaarrgghh! I laughed and told her my mistake (Comfort Inn was where I had stayed the night before, in Maryland). She laughed with me and said the Howard Johnson was just three doors down. Five minutes later I rolled into the parking lot, and later came to find out I had made a giant circle. It seems the tour was finally catching up with me . . .

The cold weather was also catching up to us, and we felt the chill as we loaded the van in the morning. But we warmed ourselves with a visit to Dunkin' Donuts, another sign that we were back in the north. We headed for Connecticut, sipping coffee and chatting amiably of the weekend to come.

Rocking Along,

ICHABOD