On Tour with ArtReach

One Tour Ends, Another Begins.

2009-11-15T16:16:00.001-08:00

My apologies for being so remiss in updating the blog. Just last week, we closed our Anne Frank and Henny Penny tours. We had great runs of both. We went as far away as Wisconsin and Minnesota, and performed for all kinds of audiences in all kinds of spaces. We're actually headed back to Wisconsin after Thanksgiving to perform our holiday show for them - and I think we're all excited, despite the drive. The Shauer Arts Center in Hartford, WI is a really nice space with a really nice staff. The week that we went to Wisconsin with Anne Frank/Henny Penny was very taxing, with lots of performing bookended nearly every day by lots and lots of driving.

We performed in spaces great and small, from a preschool classroom to huge state-of-the-art performing arts centers. We had lots of fun and fielded lots of interesting questions from kids. Repeat questions (those that we were almost guaranteed to get every day) included:

- Who made your costumes? (Henny Penny)

- How do you change clothes so fast? (Henny Penny/Anne Frank)

- What's it like playing multiple characters? (Anne Frank)

- How old is the girl playing Anne in real life? (Anne Frank)

- How does the fox jump so high? (Henny Penny)

One of my personal favorites came during a Henny Penny question-and-answer. We called on a little girl in the front who stated, very confidently, that Kevin should have been the fox and Stevyn should have been the duck. I do believe we may have had a future casting director in our midst!

We're now in rehearsals for The Fantastic Toy Shoppe. We're getting to rehearse in TCTC's brand new practice space! We started rehearsals on Friday, and things are going full swing! It's a fun, feel-good show with a fun, brightly-colored set. It's going to be interesting only having one show to carry in the van at a time!

A New Year, A New Tour

2009-10-01T18:10:00.001-07:00

Hello, all!

We've kicked off our 2009-2010 ArtReach tour season! It's been a great start, and we're already busy hitting the road! We are currently touring Anne Frank, written by Mary Tensing and directed by ArtReach business manager Jen Scott, along with Henny Penny, written and directed by ArtReach artistic director Kelly Germain and choreographed by Jen Scott.

Meet the ArtReach 2009-2010 cast!

Carly Crawford, the new primary author of this blog, is originally from Memphis, TN, and graduated from UNC-Asheville (Asheville, NC) with degrees in Theatre and English.

Taryn Bryant, from Hunstville, AL, graduated from Shorter College (Rome, GA) with a degree in Musical Theatre and an MBA from Everest University.

Stevyn Carmona, from Trinidad and Tobago, graduated from Frostburg State (Frostburg, MD) with a degree in Theatre.

Kevin McDaniel, from Cincinnati, OH, graduated from Ball State (Muncie, IN) with a degree in Musical Theatre.

We're currently in the second week of the tour, and we just checked into our hotel in Greenville, OH. We'll be here for a couple of days doing Anne Frank before heading back to Cincy. For the past few days, we've been in Portsmouth, OH, where we hit five schools with productions of Anne Frank. All of these shows were brought to Portsmouth by the Portsmouth Area Arts Council. Becky Lovins, the president, was our contact there. She was absolutely a delight to have around. She definitely loves theatre and she and her children are active in area community theatres. She was very helpful this morning when we ended up with some incorrect directions to our school and got ourselves very lost. Luckily, we've started to get the setup ofAnne Frank down to a science and were able to get the show ready very quickly!

Luckily, we'll kick next week off with a couple runs of Henny Penny. Anne Frank is a great show, but I think there's a reason they send us out with two at a time: all WWII all the time can get kind of depressing! The kids have asked us some great questions so far, both predictable and unpredictable. Almost all the kids who've seen Anne Frank have asked how old Carly is in real life - most of them are convinced she really is 13! Henny Penny questions have been simpler thus far, but that doesn't mean they're any easier to answer! Sometimes answering questions about Hitler can be easier than answering a kindergartner's "Why were you running around?"

That's all for now. We're all looking forward to a great rest of this tour before we stop to rehearse The Fantastic Toy Shoppe in mid-November!

Last Day

2009-06-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

This is the last day of the ArtReach tour, 2008-2009. Here's the roster for the year, as a sort of thank-you to all the actors who toured these six shows since August.

It has been a pleasure and a learning experience for all. Thank you's all around.

--

Justin Baldwin
A Christmas Carol

Caitlin Drance
Town Mouse, Country Mouse; Tom Sawyer

Justin Haley
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; An Algonquin Cinderella; A Christmas Carol; Coretta Scott King and the Fight for Freedom

Robbie McMath
Town Mouse, Country Mouse; Tom Sawyer

Chris Stewart
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; An Algonquin Cinderella; A Christmas Carol; Coretta Scott King and the Fight for Freedom; Town Mouse, Country Mouse; Tom Sawyer

Keith Taylor
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; An Algonquin Cinderella

Teresa Wellman
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; An Algonquin Cinderella; A Christmas Carol; Coretta Scott King and the Fight for Freedom; Town Mouse, Country Mouse; Tom Sawyer

Marva Williams
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; An Algonquin Cinderella; A Christmas Carol; Coretta Scott King and the Fight for Freedom

--

Next year's ArtReach season includes:

Henny Penny: The Story of Chicken Little
with
Anne Frank

followed by

The Fantastic Toy Shoppe

and

Hansel and Gretel
with
Harriet Tubman and the Train to Freedom

If you are interested in booking any of these shows, please call 513.569.8080 and speak either to Jen Scott (ext. 21) or Chris Stewart (ext. 23).

For more information about the Children's Theatre of Cincinnati and ArtReach, a Division of the Children's Theatre of Cincinnati, please visit our website:

http://www.thechildrenstheatre.com/

Falls

2009-05-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

We met this morning at 9, unaware of what was in store for us.

Halfway through our seven-hour drive up to Niagara Falls, NY (that's right), we got a phone call from Jen at the office, asking us if we would be free to do a show in the first week of June. It's technically outside of our contract dates, so we have to okay any extra performances. But it seemed odd that they would ask. Turns out, the group that booked us in New York had arranged for people to attend the show on a different day, and in an attempt to accommodate them, the office was trying to reschedule other bookings.

Hence, a show day in June.

And now our NY performance has been bumped back a day, giving us tomorrow--the whole day--to ourselves, actors without a show for twenty-four hours in Niagara Falls. We'll be back Thursday!

Reds

2009-05-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

Began Friday with a morning show at a Little Red Schoolhouse. On the call sheet, there was a note saying that the last time ArtReach came to the school, "the cafeteria ceiling was too low for our flats," and that we would have to make do once we got into the space.

Once inside the school, I was shown the cafeteria room by the secretary. I took one look at the ceiling and, sure enough, it was too low to accommodate our set.

I asked if there was another room we could use, and we walked to the end of the building, into one of the teachers' classrooms. We would have to rearrange the room, she said: moving shelves and magazine racks, a pile of dolls in the corner, countless chairs and the tables they surround, a whole line of art projects clipped to a glittering strand spanning the length of the room. It would add, in a most conservative estimate, fifteen minutes to the load-in and the load-out. But the ceiling slanted upwards in a kind of hypotenuse slope to one side of the room, and it was at least high enough for the backdrop.

So we did it. We pulled the van up to a handicapped parking space and opened the fire-escape door. In came the poles and roll for the main backdrop, but the spinning flats would have to stay in the van. Props followed, and then we realized that the bench we keep backstage to rest on between scenes and the entire sound system would not fit into the two feet of space from the back of the drop to the wall. So we asked if the teacher had a small CD-player we could use to play music, and she did; a bit hastily, we learned how to pause an skip the tracks on the football-sized player, whose volume knob we cranked all the way up.

We also had to pull the shades on the windows backstage. I have to change from a bunny into a turtle during the show, and no parents dropping off children need to see a torso of green spandex in a classroom window. Really, no one needs that.

Children came in with teachers, and they crammed into the tiny room with our abbreviated set. The shelves and stacked chairs pushed them forward, shrinking their space even more.

But we did it, and they loved the show. We found out later that as soon as we left, they booked ArtReach for next year.

This is a perfect example of how our group works with the school to accomplish the most successful show possible, given any circumstance. Here we were, without two-thirds of our set, in a space one-half the size we normally use, dancing in our first number two feet away from the front row of children--and yet we pulled it off.

Thank you, Little Red Schoolhouse. We'll see you next year!

--

After, we drove to Russellville, OH, to perform Town Mouse, Country Mouse for the second time that day.

We found out at the school that they were planning to dismiss forty-five minutes after we started the show. Since it normally runs about fifty minutes, we foresaw the obvious problem.

So we bumped the start time up twenty minutes. It would give them enough leeway to get the children out of the gym and onto the buses. Good thing we arrived half an hour earlier than we needed to be there--kudos to Robbie--or else we would have had either to cut the show short (bad) or figure out how to weed out ten minutes of material (also bad).

But again, by working with the administrators, we pulled it off, to heralds and acclaim.

--

That night, we were invited to watch the Reds play the St. Louis Cardinals. The Children's Theatre office staff and their families were also there, and it was a great time: unlimited concessions, including lobster-and-rice dishes alongside the expected hot dogs and burgers; an exciting square-off between two great mid-America teams; and post-game fireworks.

The Reds won. We all went home happy.

Taft

2009-05-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of firsts and lasts.

It was the last day for Teresa and I to perform at the Taft Museum of Art. It was the first time for Robbie and Caitlin. We (Teresa and I) have met with Anne a total of five times now, performing each show twice, with the exception of Tom Sawyer.

They always serve us tea when we go there. It comes out on a wide, brown, oval-shaped tray, with an assortment of choices: Earl and Lady Grey, Plantation Mint, Lemon, etc. I think it might be the only venue we play that actually serves us a variety of tea.

The University of Miami-Middletown also serves us tea, now that I think about it.

In any case, we will miss the Taft's staff, Anne, the tea, the chill atmosphere mixed with the cozy luxury of a museum, and everything else--all of it.

--

That's not to say that it's all downhill from here. Far from it, actually. This week, we begin by heading back up to Springfield for the last show in association with the Springfield Arts Council. We have done every show for them, too.

It's always nice to go back to familiar schools, to meet with familiar faces. The perks are varied. Everything from knowing which driveway to enter and which door to find, to remembering where wall outlets are, to anticipating water bottles (or Styrofoam cups of tea), all combine to make our jobs a little easier.

It is nostalgia mixed with convenience, really: The past informs the present.

--

According to Caitlin, we have twenty-nine performances remaining. The countdown is surely sad for some of us, exciting for others, but it is surely not happy. Whether it's the prospect of a hasty job search or just the transition of moving on, we all feel a sense of loss and also of gain, as if we are all on the same bus, but headed to different places. Each mile past is a mile gone, a mile accomplished.

There are two sides to every coin.

Addendum: The Long and Winding Road

2009-04-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we sleep in Mt. Orab. This is eighteen miles from Russellville, OH, where tomorrow morning we perform Tom Sawyer.

This is the same school from our earlier story, in which we failed to make it to the show on time because of traffic, misplaced paperwork, and a road which disappeared into bridge reconstruction. We are here tonight, and will be there tomorrow, to remedy the situation.

The whole purpose of ArtReach, after all, is to bring the show to the school, as opposed to many children's shows that only take place in a single location. Our mobility is our greatest strength, and our strongest selling point. This trip is all about working out that strength, stretching our abilities.

And, of course, about doing a good show. That is always our first goal.

--

It is rainy and gusty this evening at the Best Western. We met at 6:30 and made the trip in a little over an hour, despite heavy traffic near Cincinnati. After relaxing for a few minutes in the rooms, we have reached a decision:

Even though the wind is chilly and the rain comes and goes, we will brave the brewing storm for ice-cream at a local dessert shop.

--

In addition to the show at Russellville, we have two more shows in the afternoon. This makes for our first three-show day in a long time, maybe the first since Robbie and Caitlin joined the tour. The hardest part about those kinds of days is keeping up the energy, but as we are here with plenty of time the night before, we should get have more than enough rest to surge through it.

This weekend is the last one that we don't have off, too: From Monday on through the end of May, we have all Saturdays and Sundays free.

Photos

2009-04-05T17:55:00.001-07:00

The view of the back of the van, which is packed more safely and snugly than it probably looks

The set of Town Mouse, Country Mouse

Acting is hard, especially after a workout

The Tom Sawyer set on the stage of Cincinnati College Preparatory Academcy

One of our favorite venues, the Akron Civic Theatre

Robbie and Teresa enjoy a short off-the-road ice-cream snack

The van, outside Marie Roberts Elementary School, Lost Creek, KY

The Long and Winding Road

2009-04-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 3

After performing at Marr-Cook Elementary in the morning, we saw that the next call sheet was for a show at another elementary school, forty-five minutes away. So we hit the road, pushing through our lunch break, until we got to the school. I hopped out of the van, entered the front office, greeted the secretary with a big smile and said what I always say: "Hi, my name is Chris, and I'm with ArtReach, the group that is doing the show later today."

The secretary smiled back, but seemed puzzled. "A show...today?"

"Yes," I said, "and we just need to know where to load in." It's not uncommon for administrators not to know we are coming; I assume it's rather easy to forget about an assembly when there are hundreds of children's needs to worry about. So I didn't think much of the secretary's hesitation until she said:

"I believe we canceled that show."

My blood ran cold. Didn't the call sheet direct us here? And weren't we twenty minutes early? And then I remembered that our touring coordinator had mentioned a cancellation on Friday, and I rejoiced a little. Yes! We didn't have an afternoon show after all! It was a pity we had driven almost an hour to get here, but no harm done; let's just head back home!

Still, it never hurts to check. "Could you please double-check that for me?" I asked. "I'll call the office and confirm." She left, and I whipped out my phone.

While leaving a voicemail at the office, I heard the secretary talking with someone in a back room. She returned with a sad smile and said, "I'm sorry you made the trip, but we definitely canceled the show about a month back."

I thanked her and walked back out to the van, eager to share the good news with the rest of the group. I hopped in and said, "No show this afternoon! We're done. Let's go home."

But they weren't convinced, so we double-checked the calendar and saw, to our horror, that there was a different school listed than was on the call sheet. We skimmed through the binder and found no such sheet for that school. So Robbie used the GPS on his phone to get directions to the school (another forty-five minutes away, we learned) while I used my phone to contact the office.

I spoke with Kelly, and explained the situation. She said she would call the school and let them know we were running late. She added, though, that the show would have to be shortened to accomodate the bus schedule. Town Mouse, Country Mouse normally runs about fifty minutes or more, and then we take questions, so starting a show at 1:30 when the students are supposed to be boarding buses at 2:15 was cutting it close. As a group, we started thinking of how to tighten up the show, which bits could be shortened, which lines could be cut. And during the next half hour, we figured out a way to make the show itself a half hour; after all, we'd get to the school with less time to set up, and assuming we weren't able to start right at 1:30...well, we thought, it was going to be an adventure.

Little did we know.

For you see, as we made our way toward Russellville, OH, the road took us across some wide, open spaces. And we were on this road for almost twenty miles when Robbie (who was driving) suddenly said, "I don't like those orange signs."

Sure enough, a quarter-mile ahead, was an orange diamond by the side of the road which warned, in big, black letters: ROAD ENDS IN 1000 FT. We came around the bend, and lo and behold, where once a bridge stood, there now was construction. Men in hard hats, bulldozers, and a series of dirt blockades stopped us literally at the end of the road. Robbie turned the van around, and as we headed away from the construction site, we saw detour signs. (The logic escapes me.) I called the school and informed them that the road we were on suddenly disappeared.

"Oh," said the principal, "you must be on 68-South."

"That's right," I said, "except that now we're on a detour road. 774-South."

"Oh," said the principal, very grave, "I don't think you're going to make it." She re-explained the bus situation, and said that the road we had taken would take us too far out of the way. In short, she wanted to cancel the show. I told her that it wasn't my call to make--I'm only the road manager, and cancellations and schedule adjustments are beyond my limited authority--and that I would relay the message. Which I did.

Kelly OK'd the cancellation, and since we were within ten minutes of the school and it was only 1:35, we were a bit disheartened. Not only is it always a joy to perform, but it turns out that the booking was made at the last minute, and the school was anxious to have us. I can't help but feel a little guilty for not paying closer attention to the discrepancy between the call sheets and the calendar, but in a situation like this, everyone and no one is really to blame. All you can do is to try to be more vigilant in the future.

We had been running out of gas the entire trip, and so we stopped at a gas station and UDF nearby. While the van filled up with gas, I bought a double-dip (twisted turtle and some sort of almond flavor). And as we traveled "the long and winding road" back to Cincinnati, we played the Wicked soundtrack, and sang songs to pass the time.

Photos and the Beginning

2009-03-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

In the MU-Middletown elevator, with all the set and props!

The set of Tom Sawyer: An Original Musical. (Robbie to scale.)

About to raise the backdrop.

Assembling the backdrop.

Robbie and Caitlin, excited for their first day on tour with ArtReach!

Robbie, Caitlin, Teresa, Chris: Loading out at Miami University-Middletown

--

We start the new tour--officially--tomorrow, with a performance in Blue Ash, OH. After yesterday's staff dress rehearsal of Town Mouse, Country Mouse, we continued to tweak and play through the afternoon today. Our artistic director and playwright, Kelly, encouraged us to play and explore as the tour progresses, discovering more moments and bits in the next two months. We can thank her and Roderick for the progress we've made with this new script, and we look forward to taking it on the road.

Hoedown

2009-03-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we premiered Tom Sawyer: An Original Musical (this newest version, at least) at the Middletown campus of Miami University. We had a morning and an afternoon show, entertaining crowds of teachers and young students. They are always wonderful to us at this venue: they constantly reiterate how much "we just love ArtReach," they feed us box lunches, and they help us load-in and -out.

It was also Caitlin and Robbie's first time on the road with ArtReach. We couldn't have asked for a better beginning. The sun was shining by the time we got back in the van, so we stopped briefly at Sonic's (it was on the way) and got slushies.

Today, we have a later rehearsal slot (4pm-9pm) at the office. We will perfect the choreography for Town Mouse, Country Mouse. It is a bit exciting to think that in less than a week, we will be out of the rehearsal room and on the road, into the full force of two months of touring.

--

Facebook users can perhaps find video of Robbie and I (as the Country Mouse and the Brooklyn Bunny) dancing the "hoedown" dance. (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=1049196228927&subj=71500601)

Town Mouse, Country Mouse

2009-03-14T09:08:00.001-07:00

We begin rehearsals for Town Mouse, Country Mouse on Monday, with our director, Roderick. We worked with him for A Christmas Carol not three months ago, and we are excited to have him back.

Jen, our director for Tom Sawyer: An Original Musical is wonderful and fun, very open to suggestions and enthusiastic about getting as much of "the funny" as possible out of every joke. Because of her excellent guidance, our dress rehearsal for the staff of TCTC went very well on Thursday--so well, in fact, that rehearsals were called off for Friday, due to lack of needing them. It is a testament to Jen's directing capabilities and a compliment to us actors, and we all enjoyed our separate days off yesterday (probably sleeping in and catching up on TV...and memorizing lines for the next show, of course).

--

The break is a welcome one. This three-day weekend is a luxury we rarely enjoy in the thick of a touring season, as is the convenience of working always close to home. It is a grind still, but a lesser grind, a loosened tie, a release of pressure.

It seems, too, that this last leg of the season will be a light one, in terms of our set. The last time we toured two shows simultaneously (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and An Algonquin Cinderella) was back in the fall, and the van was unbelievably packed. So, also, with A Christmas Carol, a show whose set pieces were much larger than any others we've transported. The set for Tom Sawyer uses the same amount of space as did the Coretta Scott King set, though prop-wise it is more advanced: two standing gravestones that can be disassembled and stacked, a white picket fence piece that folds in the middle but is still about a yard square, a large wooden bench, and a slew of props and costumes.

From what we've seen so far, the TM, CM set will be similarly small. Two blocks from Cinderella have been repainted and can be turned upside-down to serve as containers. What will go in them, though, has yet to be seen.

And we won't find out until next week. For now, there are hours of scripts and words, and plenty of imaginings. Everything solidifies on Monday.

New Shows, New Folks

2009-03-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

We've ended the tour of Coretta Scott King, and we've moved right into Tom Sawyer: An Original Musical and Town Mouse, Country Mouse (rehearsing in that order).

Tomorrow, we will have been working on Tom Sawyer for a week. Quite literally, we left one show and entered another. Teresa and I said goodbye to Marva and Justin after our morning show at Blue Ash Elementary last Monday, and after snagging a quick Rally's lunch, arrived at the home office to meet the new half of ArtReach, Robbie McMath and Caitlin Drance. Robbie has done some CTC work in the past (we saw him in High School Musical 2 that Saturday before we met him), and Caitlin is new to the company.

Even with our vast mix of experience and training, our talents meld nicely. Robbie just graduated high school last year and plans to attend NKU this fall. Caitlin has gone to college for theatre, and she also went to a stunt school. Jen Scott, our director, said that we were the most talented group of actors ever to do ArtReach at one time. We'll take it.

--

Now, six days into rehearsals for Tom Sawyer, we are already off-book and layering on sound cues and costume pieces. The next few days will be the real test of our virtuoso abilities, as more costumes come into action--and also more spectators. The dress rehearsal for the staff is Thursday, but we'll be ready.

Springfield, OH

2009-02-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

Two days ago, we returned from our tour of Springfield, OH, courtesy of the Springfield Arts Council's "Arts in the Classroom" program. They have booked every show we've offered for the last two seasons. So we have performed The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, An Algonquin Cinderella, A Christmas Carol, and now, Coretta Scott King and the Fight for Freedom, at schools in that area; as a result, we are getting to know Springfield fairly well.

We have now stayed at the same hotel several times, and the owner recognizes us when we check in. He waves to us when we leave each morning and sometimes, when we return each night. We know the strip of fast-food joints and necessity shops near the hotel.

It's always a welcoming sort of feeling, coming back to a familiar town, and familiar schools. We've performed at Horace Mann Elementary a few times, enough to remember where the restrooms are, where we can park the van, etc. So often we arrive at a school that seems surprised at our visit, but in Springfield, we are always expected, always welcomed with grace.

--

Teresa had some special guests in attendance at two of the shows: Her parents and her aunt came to our evening show at a local museum and convention center, and the next day, some friends arrived at the Horace Mann show. One of the perks of traveling so close to Cincinnati is that there are so often familiar faces in the audience. I imagine that for the grown-up friends and family members who know us actors, the delight in watching the show is twofold. Not only do they get to see their loved ones perform, but also the joy and lessons we bring to the students.

C. S. Lewis, author of the beloved Narnia children's books series, said that he enjoyed writing books for kids more than for adults, because he was able to put more into them, and thus, he got more out of them. I think it is the same with children's theatre. More effort and precision goes into your performance, especially since you repeat it so many times, and the nuances you create in your roles are more inspired, more genuine. There are few audiences so rapt as children, and few stories as carefully woven as those crafted for simple, adoring minds.

Lima, OH

2009-02-02T17:22:00.000-08:00

Back on tour again, we met this morning at 9:45 and set out for our rescheduled show in Lima, two hours north. Most of the shows that got canceled last week have been rescheduled on scattered former days off in February. We do have a few more large breaks in our touring calendar, mainly because Justin is planning to fly out to LA to set himself up for when he moves there in a few months. So our schedule is busier, but not at the expense of some rather large portions of down time.

But we're happy to be back together in the van again, laughing and philosophizing about everything under the sun and above the ground. We stopped at a Perkins on the way back home: Teresa and I ordered dinner; Justin and Marva ordered breakfast. Over chicken, eggs and syrup containers, we discussed everything from future plans to deep theological questions about the nature of the universe. That's one strength of this group, I feel: The ability to discuss and disagree about as amiably as we work together on the stage.

It is so easy to feel close to someone when you act with them every day. Not always do onstage relationships translate into offstage friendships, but when they do in a natural and professional way, you discover just how wonderful co-workers can be.

More Snow

2009-01-30T11:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday and today, too. As long as snow and ice stay on the roads, we won't be. We've rescheduled some of the shows for next week, but just for the record, this snowstorm has created for us a six-day weekend. That's almost a week-long weekend.

But the temperature is higher today and the sun came out. Our show has had its rest, and must rise again soon.

Snow

2009-01-28T13:16:00.001-08:00

The snow hit Cincy hard yesterday and last night. Two separate storms, one giant dump. A series of Level-2 and -3 winter emergencies all across the Tri-State, and 40,000 people without power--people, breathing warmth into hands cold and hard as porcelain, baking with the gas oven open just to make kitchens bearable, or lying under folded blankets to contain body heat. There is no driving to warmer climes, no cars idling in driveways or around corners, no cars at all, on the roads, anywhere, besides plows and patrols.

Drivers will be ticketed in Cincinnati today if there is no emergency drawing them out of their homes. The roads are empty but of walkers, puffy with layers and hats. Almost every business, and certainly every school and daycare, is closed today, a white, gray, and blue day, a snow day.

--

So in other words, we're off again today.

Plowed

2009-01-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

Our show in Lima, OH, today was canceled because of inclement weather. Our artistic director, Kelly, called early this morning to say that she was concerned that even if the weather was fine two hours north of us, we would still have to drive through what is looking like the worst winter storm this year. She called back a few minutes later to declare today, wouldn't you know it, a snow day.

All of us have graduated college, and yet we still get snow days. How cool is that.

The Faces of St. Boniface

2009-01-26T11:07:00.000-08:00

We performed this morning at the St. Boniface School in town. The children were wonderful and responsive, booing with Teresa during the scene after the Kings' house is bombed, and clapping as Justin finished the "I have a dream" speech. There were a few moments when they laughed and we wondered why--Justin's first entrance, for instance, was apparently hilarious--but we were still delighted in our bafflement. They say that any publicity is good publicity; for us, any response is good response. There's nothing more deflating than performing for a room filled with quiet people staying quiet.

The principal of the school had tears in her eyes after the show. She came to each of us after our bows, shaking our hands and saying thank-you. She also asked that we cut Q&A short so we could sing "We Shall Overcome" with the students before they filed out of the auditorium. As stirring as it is easy to learn, the song kept us in high spirits as we dismantled the set and loaded out of the gym.

Erlanger

2009-01-25T09:54:00.001-08:00

We performed in Erlanger, KY, for a small library crowd yesterday afternoon. Justin's brother, mother and uncle came to see the show, and we all got to meet them afterward. Though there were few spectators and even fewer questions, they all seemed impressed by our work and the story we told. (Sometimes, I guess that's all that matters.)

Tomorrow we perform at St. Boniface School in Cincinnati, a morning show. Then, the rest of the day is free, a more and more common phenomenon lately. We enjoy the large gaps in our touring schedule, for it allows us to do other things; at the same time, though, every day we don't perform is another day that we have not shared our story with anyone. This show is as touching as it is informative--and as the ancient Roman Horace put it, the purpose of art is "to edcuate and entertain." This show does both.

All this goes to say, I enjoy how much time off we've had lately, but I wish we could do more shows.

Indianapolis

2009-01-23T10:13:00.000-08:00

Our morning show in Indianapolis went well, despite starting at a frigid 8:50 AM. The students, though some were still rubbing sleep from their eyes, were attentive. The questions, we've begun to notice, tend to circle around the death of Dr. King, especially as soon as the word "conspiracy" crops up in our responses. (Officially, a man named James Earl Ray was convicted of the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr., but apparently some of the evidence is suspect and many believe there is more mystery to the murder than history records. Maybe so.) The problem with the students asking about the assassination and conspiracy theories is that it feeds on a kind of morbid fascination that schools in general do not encourage. While we want to encourage them to research to find the truth of things, we do not want them also to miss the point of the story in the process.

(On a side note, there is a historiological argument for ignoring assassins--not out of respect for the assassin, but rather as a kind of disrespect, a disregarding of their fame. Many assassins target victims not only for social/political gain, but also to make a name for themselves. By allowing their names to be forgotten in the wake of the victim's legacy, the argument goes, history can vindicate the victim and scrap the villain.)

So, my solution is fairly simple. When the question is of the "What are the conspiracy theories" variety, we nip it in the bud. It's not that we do not want to answer the question, but rather that we want to divert their attention to what is most important. So we define the word conspiracy, which is essentially any group of people who meet in secret for a shared purpose. In other words, planning a surprise party is just as much a conspiracy as is planning an attack. Once the kids understand this, they are more apt to realize how apocryphal a lot of conspiracy theories are. Certainly, there was a conspiracy to kill Dr. King--the assassin surely did not act without encouragement, at the very least--but as to who, what, and where questions, well, there are simply no easy answers at the moment.

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After the Indianapolis show, we drove back two hours to Cincinnati, where we lunched shortly at a Donato's before doing our second show. The Children's Theatre had the performance videotaped for archival purposes, and despite a slight false start (the sound system froze briefly for the opening number, so Marva sang a capella), the show was another success.

Newport Public Library

2009-01-20T14:53:00.001-08:00

We have just finished our second show of this tour of Coretta Scott King: A Stride Towards Freedom. The style hearkens back to the Freedom Concerts of the Civil Rights Movement, taking on the form of a story and a concert. Our lead, Marva Williams, sings and acts beautifully as our Coretta, and her male counterpart, Justin Hailey, plays Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., her husband. Teresa and I chime in throughout the show, playing everything from narrow-minded southerners to King supporters. All of us have felt the historic impact of Inauguration Day, as well as the deep meaning this story holds for African-Americans, and all Americans.

Again, we have only performed the show twice, once at the Akron Civic Center in northern Ohio (a trim four-hour drive away), and today at the Newport Public Library in northern Kentucky. And as we take our bows, we see tears in many an eye, silent tribute to the Kings and the Movement that has brought about the nomination, election, and inauguration of our 44th US president, Barack Obama.

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Tomorrow we perform in Cincinnati at the Nativity School, and at night we will drive to Indianapolis for an early morning show. Audiences have been strangely enthusiastic about the story we tell, which is I believe a testament to the spirit of hope and community that makes America great. Whatever differences we have, whatever varying opinions we hold, this show reminds us that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. It stares into the darkness of our past and reflects back the light of progress and optimism, and we are happy to bring this light to Americans of all ages.

Overnights Ahead

2008-10-19T04:34:00.000-07:00

We are now on the morning of our second string of overnights. This one takes us north to Brunswick, OH; Joliet, IL; and Springfield, OH, and we will be at this last stop for two days. We've all packed for four days and said goodbye to our rooms. It's motel beds for us for a while. We are doing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow six times in a row on this trip.

We have a Springfield area map, courtesy of Cat, and a handful of brochures to help us kill our down time while in the city. We do wish we had more time in Illinois, if only perhaps to spend some time in Chicago. We'll drive through it, naturally, on our way out west.

Yesterday, at the Defiance Public Library in Defiance, OH, we performed in an outdoor tent. It was...interesting. We had never had to contend with the elements before, and when the wind blew over our backdrop as soon as we put it up, we knew things were about to change drastically. The lovely library staff hefted out some sandbags for us to anchor our drops with, though the fabric continued to furl in the breeze. So we used that one thing which theatre people know cures every problem: gaff tape! We taped the poles to the weights and, for the most part, our set remained stationary.

We also contended with a large metal pole in the center of our stage, but we were able to use it and incorporate it into the scenery. Perhaps the most difficult obstacle was the grass. The trees are on wheels and at several points have to spin around and/or move laterally across the stage. But the wheels kept sinking into the ground, getting caught in the grass. The tree-movers had to basically carry the trees while skating the wheels gently over the lawn, but we made it work in the end. The audience was receptive, the scenery was gorgeous (we were but fifty feet from the shores of a picturesque autumnal river scene) and the people were friendly. They gave us free donuts, hot cider, and popcorn before sending us on our way. All in all, a positive experience for everyone.

Bogan Elementary School, Oxford, OH

2008-10-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

Today we performed An Algonquin Cinderella and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow about an hour northwest of us, in Oxford, OH. We were near Miami University, where Teresa spent a year of college. She was able to point out the old haunts as we drove past.

Our shows went well, and the children were quiet but seemed attentive. They had intelligent questions after each show, too. The second Q&A lasted a little longer than normal, but we didn't mind and the teachers didn't seem to, either.

We had a large break between the shows, so after taking down the first set and presetting the second one, we had a leisurely lunch in Oxford. We bonded and the time flew by. Even if we don't know what to do with ourselves during these breaks between shows, we seem to be able to fill it easily with conversation, laughing, getting to know each other even better. As Marva observed today, "It feels like I've known you all for forever." It's true. It doesn't quite seem right that today marks our one-month point: September 16 was our first performance, at the Campbell Co. Public Library in Newport.

We listened to Madonna on the ride back, almost getting through the whole album because traffic on I-75 had slowed down in spots.

Tomorrow, we have another twofer, performing Sleepy Hollow in the morning in Morrow, OH, and Cinderella in the afternoon in Cincinnati. Once again, our call is early in the morning, but as we are staying fairly close to home the morning shouldn't find us too groggy. Til then, so long!

Jac-Cen-Del Elementary School (Osgood, IN)

2008-10-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

We set out today at 11am, traveling south and west to Osgood, IN. The drive was a little over an hour; not bad, considering there have been days with drives of up to five hours or more. It was Marva's first time navigating, and she did a wonderful job getting our van through the autumnal hills of eastern Indiana. We did get a little turned around on US-50 because of local road construction, but after getting directions from a pharmacy, we made our way to the school.

We were to perform An Algonquin Cinderella in the gym. It had been a week since we last did this show. With Halloween approaching, it's no wonder that most schools and theatres have booked The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and we are only halfway through October. By the end of the month, we will have performed Sleepy Hollow twenty more times! We have five more Cinderella shows before Oct. 31. Once November rolls around, though, the tables turn: The first full week is almost 100% Cinderella.

The seasons dictate the shows, sometimes.

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The show went well today. Again, not having done the show in a week, we half-expected to be a bit rusty. But after a small touch of confusion at the show's start, we settled back into our groove and the students were quite responsive.

Almost every time we do the Cinderella show, we are asked how the Rough-Face Girl's hair magically turns from burnt to beautiful. Teresa and Marva have their answer down to a science. Teresa talks about her preparation for the scene, donning two wigs on top of one another, and right on cue, Marva explains how the switch is made on stage, during the part where she pours the healing water on Teresa's head. The children always seem awestruck by the simplicity of stage magic. Whenever we do Sleepy Hollow, invariably someone will ask a similar question about the Headless Horseman, and Keith and Marva march backstage to retrieve the costume piece.

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Chris picked up our scripts for A Christmas Carol yesterday and we got them as we embarked for Cincinnati. We are excited to take on new roles and a new show in a little over a month, and even more excited to meet our fifth company member when he arrives.

That's all for now. Tomorrow, we travel north to Oxford, OH, to perform both shows throughout the day. Call is early in the morning, though, so for some of us, this may be a night with an early bedtime.

Welcome to ArtReach!

2008-10-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome, friends, teachers, students, and parents! This is the official blog of ArtReach, a Division of the Children's Theatre of Cincinnati. Our 2008-09 tour has already begun (our first show was on September 19), and we will share our stories online with you as often as possible in the following months.

We've been busy. Currently, we are touring two shows: Ohio playwright and ArtReach founder Kathryn Schultz Miller's stage adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving, and directed by Andrew Gaukel; and An Algonquin Cinderella, written and directed by ArtReach alum and Ohio playwright Mary Tensing. We will continue to tour these shows into mid-November. Starting Nov. 17, we begin rehearsals for A Christmas Carol, which hits the road after Thanksgiving.

There are four of us in ArtReach, all recent college graduates at the start of our acting careers.

The primary author of this blog, Chris Stewart, is originally from Omaha, NE, and graduated from Hillsdale College (MI) with a degree in English and Theatre.

Keith Taylor, from Columbus, OH, has a degree in Theatre from Muskingum College (OH).

Teresa Wellman is from Dayton, OH, and she graduated from Wright State University with a degree in Musical Theatre.

Marva Williams is also from Dayton, and she has a degree in Psychology from Sinclair Community College.

Together, we tour the tri-state area (though we go as far north as Sandusky, as far west as Joliet, as far east as Baltimore, and as far south as Tullahoma, TN!) in ArtReach's big white van. In this van, we pack our state-of-the-art sound system, our sets, props, costumes, repair kits, and personal suitcases for overnight trips. It's a tight fit, but we've made as much use of our space as possible...and even developed a way to keep the mountain in the back low enough so the driver can still see out the rearview mirror!

We've already played such austere venues as Stuart's Opera House in eastern Ohio, Sandusky's State Theatre on Lake Erie, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and recently, the Palace Theatre in Marion, OH. But we've loaded into libraries, gymnasiums and cafetoriums as well! Any place wide enough for our backdrop and deep enough for our Sleepy Hollow trees to spin around is fair game. Our best load-in time is around 22 mins., so we've got a pretty good system.

Tomorrow is a very welcome day off. But we return to the van on Wednesday, to drive to Osgood, IN, to perform Cinderella for the first time in a week!

There will be more to come, of course, but for now, that's all from us. We look forward to hearing feedback via this blog, as well, in the form of your comments. Please feel free to share your experiences as we share ours!