Good morning

Yawn.

This is just plain too early to be up.

We'll be on the road in less than an hour.


Foreground: Moby Truck.
Midground: The Tracadie River.
Background: The freaking night sky.

Comme le rivière qui nous a salué ici, on n'arret pas.

We come to you now from the banks of the Tracadie river.

Our first English show was yesterday morning, and despite being so used to speaking the lines in French, it went well. It's interesting; going back and forth with the languages all the time, as well as being in a new theatre in a new school every time, all this keeps the show from getting boring. Every time we go onstage, something in the environment is different, and, likewise, the performances are never exactly the same. Director even commented this morning that she's enjoying watching the characters grow and change from one show to the next.

I hope it stays this way.

Yesterday afternoon, there was another new element in the equation that made our second show of the day a little more interesting. There was a newsman from Radio-Canada with a camera, recording both the show and the post-show. It was a good show and a good audience, and we did our best not to let our impending celebrity in Francophone New Brunswick distract us. The story was supposed to go on the provincial news today, but we didn't see it. Oh well.

We had some relaxed time last night that i used to take a little walk around Tracadie. Our hotel is right across the street from the river, which has a really nice boardwalk alongside. This is a quiet, beautiful place. One of the things i'm noticing about the tour so far is that we're seeing all these lovely comunities, but we're passing through them all so quickly that we have no time to really take them in. I hope someday i'll be able to come back to some of these places and take the time to really enjoy them.

I'm glad we were able to spend two nights here.

There was only one show today, but the group didn't do much with our half-day off. A few of us (myself included) are feeling a little sick; some minor flulike ailment is making its way through the cast. Nothing serious, but it was nice to be able to relax and nap the afternoon away. Speaking of sleep, we're getting going at about 6:30 tomorrow morning, so it's probably just about bedtime.

The water of the Tracadie river can be seen from the window of our Motel room tonight, as black and as silent as the starless sky. Before the sun returns, restoring colour to the sky and the river, we'll have left this place.



Tracadie streetlights are really spiffy.

(Please note: This sign is really only about 5' tall. I'm just really, really tiny.)

First day (now with photos!)

Greetings from scenic Dalhousie, New Brunswick. Day one of our whirlwind tour of Atlantic Canada has come to a successful close.

We left Moncton yesterday once Soundman (who doubles as Driver man) got our Great Big Fat SUV from the rental place. Getting all of our things, as well as a big pile o' sound equipment, while still leaving room for, like, you know, us, proved to be something of a challenge, despite the Great Big Fatness of our rental behemoth. However, we are the Tetris generation after all, and we eventually figured out how to arrange everything, ourselves included, in the truck, and we were off like a very heavy shot, bound for the depths of Acadia.
We got into St-Quentin around 7 last night, and stayed at the thoroughly charming Hotel Victoria. It was the start of a lifelong love-affair with old hotel signs (see below).

Our first day of performances got off to a slightly rocky start when technical difficulties caused both me and my roommate/castmate Marlon to oversleep just a bit. After a quick shower...one each, that is (with a hotel soap the size of a postage stamp!) and a semi-frantic packing job, we made our way into the frigid St-Quentin morning to load everything (all our bags, big pile o' sound equipment, etc) into Moby Truck and set off for our first school. There was no time for a leisurely morning coffee, but we didn't make the group late. That's what counts.

Monday morning, it turns out, is a pretty good time to hold a high-school assembly. The students were too sleepy to be overly rambunctious, but were really attentive and appreciative. After the play there's a post-show game kinda thing where we're interacting a lot with the students, which we were all a little apprehensive about -- especially for the French schools -- but they actually went pretty well. In any case, they didn't run us out of town when they heard our French, in fact the students at both schools today really seemed to appreciate our efforts and we got compliments from several students and teachers. Plus, both schools had really nice theatres, which makes the job just that much more fun. All in all, not a bad first day of shows. Not bad at all.

Tonight we're staying at Art's Motor Inn in Dalhousie, where we'll be doing the show in English in the morning and in French in the afternoon.

By the way: if you've never been to Edmundston, you should go, if only for the drive. Go in autumn. Take a loved one, and a camera.

I'm gonna be a walking tourist brochure for Atlantic Canada by the end of this thing.

(note: This post was written on Monday evening, but technical difficulties prevented it from being posted until Wednesday morning.)


shortly after arriving at the Hotel Victoria in St-Quentin.




...the next day, with Marlon, at Art's in Dalhousie. (Also pictured: Soundman's shadow.)

And away we go...

Alright, it's been another slack and updateless week. To recap, Francophone Person spent a day with us and determined that we are, in fact, not mangling the French language, and gave us some general pointers and translation assistance. Soundman joined our little group and was immediately embraced as one of the family. Rehearsals continued with wild abandon, complete with microphone-headsets and a rockin' soundtrack. The week actually seemed to go by really quickly.

But rehearsals are no more. This morning we bid farewell to our home away from home in Moncton and set sail aboard our white behemoth of an SUV (working name: Moby Truck). Destination: Saint Quentin! (incidentally, if anyone can tell me how the name of this place is actually pronounced, i'll owe you one.) Tomorrow morning, this town plays host to our first show. Afterward, there's not a moment to waste as we're on to Edmundston for show #2 in the afternoon -- in front of six hundred and fifty students. Oh, and did i mention those shows are both in French? We've been referring to the first day of performances as our Baptism By Fire. If we can handle tomorrow, we can handle anything.

There will be more detailed updates to come, but now we've got to get some things ready for the shows tomorrow.

This show is officially on the road.