The First Performances

THURSDAY @ UNC-Pembroke's Givens Performing Arts Center: Our first performance was in Lumberton, NC. It went pretty well, all things considered. The audience was really wide so our sight lines were a little strange...meaning you really had to make sure people didn't see you changing backstage. No one wants to see that! The great things about this space were:

1. It was in NC. Always nice.



2. There were 3 people there helping us unload the van and assisting in what they could in putting together our set.



3. They provided donuts, coffee, grapes, bananas, and bottled water for us.



4. After the show we did a mini meet and greet backstage for a 3 year old who is about to start chemo for leukemia. He was a little scared to talk to us in our bunny ears. Maybe it made his day though. I hope it was exciting for him. No kid should have to go through that. We are not required to do meet and greets per Equity rules, but we can elect to if we want. We elected not to do a meet and greet for the whole audience, but just for this one child and his grandmother and cousin.



5. A woman who worked at the theatre came backstage and asked us to autograph (in character) a picture of Max and Ruby for her niece Ruby's scrapbook. Ruby apparently is still an infant but she is documenting things for her. I smell a future scrapbooker!

The view from the stage at Givens Performing Arts Center at UNC-Pembroke.

Max and Grandma backstage after the show.

Mara experienced the Beef Taco Procedure at the dining hall of UNC-P.

After the performance at UNC-Pembroke, we drove to Winston-Salem. In Winston-Salem we stayed at a Days Inn by the Hanes Mall. I attended NC Governor's School in Winston-Salem and we were taken to the Hanes Mall once a week as a field trip so I felt right at home.

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY @ The Children's Theatre of Winston-Salem: We had three shows on Friday and one on Saturday. They all went pretty well. It's starting to really click. This theatre was fantastic and here's why...

1. The space was intimate but fit a lot of people.



2. They provided lots of coffee and juice and bagels (best I've had in a while) with a variety of cream cheeses.



3. The dressing area was huge so we all got to be together which was nice because we all like each other and have fun getting ready before the show.



4. The people were so nice and really treated us well.



5. We were their best selling show ever. Really.

The view from the stage at the Winston-Salem Children's Theatre. The fence is there to keep the kid groupies from rushing the stage. We were sort of hoping they would rush it anyway though so we could go body surfing.

At the noon performance my Uncle Robert and Amy were there which was really wonderful. They thought it was really tight and together and not at all like it was our third performance for an audience. I wish I'd gotten a picture of us together but I forgot. Blah. Anyway, we went to lunch after the show at a fantastic restaurant called Nobles Grill which is one of their favorite spots in Winston-Salem. It is gourmet Southern restaurant. Let me thrill you with what I ate...BBQ pork shoulder with sides of butter beans, collard greens (I don't normally like collard greens but these were prepared to perfection), and grits with ham. For dessert I had a trio of sorbets (apple, pear and cranberry). YUM! It was so nice to have real food and not some over processed crap.

My sister Jordan and her partner Misty came to the 7pm performance and afterwards we went for pizza at the Mellow Mushroom. Delish! I'm so happy I got to see them. We had lots of laughs and were starting to get silly by the end. When our waiter fixed our wobbly table by putting some sugar packets under a leg Jordan said "Now that's what I call a sugar fix". I think we get it from Uncle Robert. He's always cracking jokes that either make everyone groan or pee their pants.

Misty (left) and Jordan (right).

Sisters!



On our way out of Winston-Salem we were told to look for the building that looked like a penis to know we were headed toward the interstate. I think this is it?

After the performance this morning, we drove to Savannah. That's where I am now...sitting in a La Quinta. Tomorrow is a day off where we don't have to travel or perform. We plan on exploring downtown Savannah and trying some fabulous food. This is where Paula Deen is from after all! Though tonight we had dinner at the Hooters down the road from the hotel:)

My view from the back of the van.

Brian walks into a Hooters for the first time.

Shelley (our Stage Manager) and Colleen toast to our day off tomorrow.


This picture is really of the woman who felt the need to bring her kid to Hooters on a Saturday night. Lauren had to act like she was posing for a picture so I didn't get caught.

Brian just found out that 1/2 of all people are below average.

The gang of us who went to Hooters.

Here is a video clip of Mara and Lauren facing off in the final round of a warm-up game our director Tracy taught us called "Wah!". ENJOY! (By the way, it's sideways because I filmed it on my digital camera and I had the camera turned vertically because I didn't realize it would come out sideways in the end...I thought I'd be able to turn it after the fact. Lesson learned.)