TravelingTadster

An email I sent out to fellow tour actor directors of our recent adventures: I've been wanting to write for all the past few weeks, but Megan and my stories really don't seem to compare to what's been flying around the tadster board. Sure we had the week of the missing Kaa, where all of Kaa (save for the head) decided to not show up for their rehearsal. (Quick side note: We've started casting the head of Kaa as age 13 and up, and calling them to the first rehearsal, with the leads, so that they get a heads up before the rest of Kaa arrives the next day. Works miracles. Highly suggest it.) And of course there was time we jinxed ourselves, by remarking how amazing our tour was going and how lucky we were ... read more

Rock Springs, WY Middle of the Red Desert, Bunny's run rampant here like squirrels Only they don't climb trees and often end up as road kill. Drove past Independence Rock without realizing it "Hey Megan- what's that larger rock over there?" Almost got run off the road several times by truckers going West on 80. Bully Semis. Old mining city surrounded by rolling hills, They look like painted flats, scenic paintings, illusions, Megan described them as a "Navajo Blanket", Stretched out over a sleeping giant, At night the hills disappear, And leave just a dark void Between the city street lamps and the star lit sky. A difficult week as far as the kids go, They all seem to be enjoying rehearsals and the show, But attention and focus is lacking. Mostly due to rehearsals now ... read more

Date: 7/01/05 Location: Jackson, KY Living this past week didn’t seem so bad, but looking back it seems a miracle we survived it: -At auditions we had 23 kids show up. Our show usually has 60. Ricki-Ticki-Tavi story is cut, as are a few characters and groups are made smaller (Monkeys, Wolves and Snakes) -The number of kids continued to dwindle as the week went by. For some reason everyone had a dentist appointment this week. And I mean everyone. By Wednesday four of our monkeys had decided that they didn’t want to be in the show (which I attempted not to take personally) which left us with 7 monkeys (usually we have 18) one of which would not be back until dress rehearsal on Friday. -Buck (the Buck)’s father got into a car accident midway ... read more

Location: Jackson, KY Date: June 28th, 2005 I’m not sure if I’m adjusting quickly to this new life style of packing up and driving somewhere new every week, or if by leaving towns I’m leaving everything behind and my mind has yet to catch up and realize how crazy what I’m doing is. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting my reaction to be, but it was definitely along the lines of weirdness and freaking out. But it still hasn’t completely hit me yet, or maybe I just adapt easily to new situations- who knows. The shows went well last week (in Cory, PA) I screwed up a few lines and songs but oh well. I also sweated up a river on stage what with the lack of AC and me in my huge bear ... read more

6/21/05 Megan and I started running today. I surprised myself at how much I was able to run without getting out of breath. Then I finished with crunches and sit-ups and remembered how out of shape I actually am. Oh well, it’s a start. Today went better with the kids and I actually started having some fun with the teaching. I realized the enjoyment comes once we start making the rehearsal process our own- incorporating ourselves into the directing rather than going strictly by the book. The week will continue to get better in that respect as we get more comfortable with the show and blocking and ourselves. Corry is an interesting city. I’m not exactly sure what to make of it. Megan describes PA as a southern state masquerading as a northeastern state. I think ... read more

Location: Corry PAs Day one of the new week. We made a few mistakes, as prophesized. Including-but not limited to: Forgetting to cast a young Mowgli, forgetting to take down the names of our leads, forgetting to change Friday’s rehearsal time in the parent letter. But then you try and audition 61 kids, with one other person, on your second week out, for a show that you have week to put on and just see if you don’t forget a few things. All in all for our first week out by ourselves (last week we had a trainer who saved our lives) it went pretty well. We are currently n Corry, PA- a town on the smaller side (pop: ~6,000) about 30ish miles from Erie. It is a pre-registered event, so only 60 (well 61) kids ... read more