Our Last Day

Well, we have finally finished our 10 day tour! Before the performance, we stopped at Eagle Ranch - a Pistachio farm. I've decided that the only kind of nut I like is pistachios. I realized I loved the flavor ice-cream in Italy when I had pistachio gelato as a birthday gift, but eating samples today, I was surprised at how good it was.

Everything went well with set up and was actually able to set everything up lighting wise - which hasn't happened since the first venue. However, our last three venues have been small. We have a projection screen that looks so small in the deJong and a good size in the first few venues, but these last three, the screen has taken up the whole back curtain from top to bottom, stage left to stage right. With that size, the dancers seem to be so much bigger - like oversized dolls in a barbie house. It is harder to dance in a smaller space, but they are able to handle it. No matter where we are, the performance is beautiful.

We are at a host family's home for the night, but at 7:45am, we are leaving Alamogordo, NM and heading back to Provo. It is expected to not return until 11pm. I am not looking forward to the bus ride. I do have music, homework, books, and friends to talk with so we should survive the trip.

While we were in the Roswell, NM venue on Friday, I was thinking how there are so many beautiful, old theatres around the nation and world. However, they have been neglected and it is so sad. The Roswell venue is a beautiful high school auditorium, but the chains holding the curtains and electrics are rusting, there is no booth, dimmers for lighting, etc. There is an old opera house in Oroville, CA (?) that I remember they are beginning to restore - thankfully - that had been turned into a movie theatre, then back into a stage. It had the old fashioned rope fly system, box seating on each side, and gaudy gold decorations throughout. I really want to return someday to see it fully restored to its old Opera house appearance. Its up to the community to care about the old buildings in their area and care enough about the arts to be willing to at least keep it updated. After a baton falling on Benjamin, we have become a lot more conscious about safety in the theatre, and most venues are lacking in maintenance. People have no idea that hundreds of pounds are being held up by some chain or thin cables. If I ever have money to donate, it will go to the theatre. I will first look into my old high school to make sure they are doing well, then I'll look into community theatre companies. After touring so much, I may just return to my favorite venues and donate to helping them update. I will never be able to forget the theatre. It has too much of an impact on my life. I will miss it one day, but at least I have all these memories to look back on.