VIDEO BLOG!!!

Oh yes, the time has come...I realize only so much of my writing can be interesting so I have decided to add videos for your viewing pleasure! They will all be VERY short (3 min. or less) so don't start thinkin your gonna have to stay in the night if you click the link or anything...

This video is from 3 weeks ago in Sedro Woolley, WA it snowed so hard our week was cancelled, so I decided to venture out into the back yard of the families house I was staying at and lets just say it was quite an adventure...sorta

Check it out!

Utterly Powerless....

In 5 months on tour I have never felt so powerless in the midst of 60 children...Shirnest and I have exhausted every discplinary skill we know and still these kids run around like maniacs and pay us no mind.

Well, today is the show and these kids are NOT ready. We have wasted more rehearsal time trying to get them quiet than actually running the show and frankly I am ready to give up. Don't get me wrong, some kids are in great shape and will deliver a stellar performance tonight but the majority of the cast has no idea what they are doing and what's worse, they don't know how to think on their feet and improvise lines.

What I've found in the past is that when the audience actually comes, the kids pull it together and are loud but this is an Indian Reservation where being loud and having that "LOOK AT ME!" enthusiasm is frowned upon by the elders of the tribe...

Tonight's show time: 7:00pm (western time) EEEEEEEK!!!

Audition

This group was certainly one of the more difficult auditions we have ever had. These kids don't really pay much attention to anything and by the time we got them quiet and ready to go, we had wasted 40 minutes. In the Makah tribe, it is frowned upon to be loud and energetic with adults present (How are they going to perform in front of the tribe!?!?) so getting any kind of vloume and expression out of these kids took the entire audition so we literally had to wait till the last 20 minutes of the audition to cast the show.

Rehearsal afterwards with the lead roles wasn't half bad though except I am worried that they won't go home and study their lines as a mother told me that the parents here don't know how to help their kids so they just get frustrated and become useless... I guess we'll find out today!

Neah Bay, Washington?!?

Though it may boast beautiful vistas and the most Northwest point in the U.S. we have heard that the kids who live on this Indian Reservation are among the toughest of any town on tour. Shirnest and I are up early this fine Sunday morning because we have to drive quite a ways and then take a ferry to get this remote location in Washington. I suppose God has prepared us for this harrowing task considering we have had the last two weeks off due to snow and such...

By the way, last night we had the truck in a parking garage in Seattle for a few hours and when we came back there was a note under the windshield written by a woman who had done Missoula Children's Theatre back in the days of yore and just wanted to tell us how much she loved us and wished us all the best in our endeavors...Wahooo, fan mail!!!

P.S. Do not worry, Pics to come my pretties!

The Power of Thought

This week we were in Sedro Woolley, WA and I couldn’t wait for the auditions on Monday because past tour teams had told us that this was an awesome week. I woke up early on Monday morning to prepare for the day, opened up the blinds, and looked out on 8” of snow…A snow day?!?! My first reaction surprised me…“Great, now I’m stuck here all day in this house by myself” and “Is it EVER going to stop snowing?” The snow was pouring down in buckets and I sunk back into my bed and moped.

I love how somewhere in the last few years having a snow day had gone from the most wonderful thing a boy could dream of, to a day of misery and sheer boredom. I had subconsciously decided this day was going to suck, so I spent the first few hours of it accordingly…and yea, it sucked.

Around 11am I felt a little tug at my consciousness and a new thought entered my head; “Stop being a decrepit old man and go outside.”

I immediately resisted this new thought due to the lightness and joy which I knew it was trying to force me into. But after another 20 minutes of it pestering me I borrowed some snow stuff, grabbed a sled, and made my way outside.

5 minutes later I saw an 8th grade kid dragging his feet behind his parents and kicking snow dolefully, so I asked him if he wanted to go sledding. His parents told me that they didn’t own a sled so I told him that we could just share mine. The kid lit up (in his cool, 8th grade way) and we both ran to the top of the hill.

We spent the entire day sledding, building jumps and throwing massive snowballs at each other. I soon realized that there were no other kids in this neighborhood and since it was in the woods, they were secluded from everyone else. When it started getting dark he asked me if it was a snow day tomorrow could we hang out again. I said “Of course!” and we went our separate ways.