Friday, October 5, 2007






















Allow me to abbreviate a potentially long introduction to my new blog; I've decided to chronicle my travels.

I knew the first week back on the road seemed too easy...

After a two day drive from Gainesville, Florida, with a stop to pick up Kristin in Chicago, we arrived in Calumet, Michigan, our first residency of the Fall tour. We were met by cold and rainy conditions, specific to Calumet's October. They call it the "grey season." Having been in 95 degree weather just two days before, I allowed myself one big violent shiver, and then began to enjoy the autumnal weather. I started to really dig the idea of a traditional Fall. The vibrant foliage on our way up made the weather-shock much easier to deal with...so did the super cozy Oak Street Inn where we are staying...so did all the pumpkins everywhere:).

Calumet is a wee town (technically a village) in the Keeweenaw peninsula. Look it up on a map. Its placement is what we call in North Florida "Reeeaaalll Nawth." It's an old copper-mining town with lots of underlying history. Everything is brick with green trim. Even the streets! While it is one of the most quaint places I've ever visited, there's a certain sadness to the town that greets me when I wake up here and before I retire here. Everything in Calumet has a slightly chapped look to it, as if Lake Michigan has thrown too many harsh Winters its way.

Despite the melancholy atmosphere, this place is absolutely beautiful. If you head ten minutes north from here, you will run into Buckie's Beach, which offers an incredible and up close view of Lake Michigan. The waves are giganto and the rocks are colorful and smooth and the trees (right on the beach) are flashing their oranges and reds and yellows...trying to show up the Lake itself.




The kids this week make life easy...or they did. The first half of the week went as planned, with auditions going smoothly (even though we had to cut more then half of the kids that showed up) and super-productive rehearsals. This is a cast full of kids who are ready to work.

Then something happened that shook the entire cast and crew; a racist comment from one 8-year-old to another. Basically, one of our kids is ESL, and he and his family just moved to Calumet. The offending 8-year-old declared that said ESL 8-year-old shouldn't be in the play "because he's not an American." He threw out some other vindictive comments later. The bigotry continued throughout the evening, all stemming from this child who somehow thought that there was nothing wrong with what he was saying. Let me remind you, he is only 8 years old. The victim of the intolerance is the younger brother of one of our assistant directors, who was very upset by the whole situation, and who also got some of the heat from the offending 8-year-old. The little boy's negative energy effected each and every cast member, and rehearsal, once efficient and on schedule, turned into an unfocused mess.We are still in the process of dealing with this situation, one that I lost sleep over last night. As hurtful as his comments were, I can't help but feel that this may be one of the only positive experiences he has, and that to take it away from him would only further instill his obvious anger towards others. He's 8 years old...were his words cognitively formulated or was he simply repeating something he had heard from another source? And then there is the victim of his apparent hatred..also only 8 years old, and completely undeserving of this. After talking to his mother, we realized the kid's comments were completely uncharacteristic. Still, it came from somewhere, and no 8 year old should have those kinds of comments in their heads. I know he's a good kid.

Either way, the show must go on.

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