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

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.