Morning came very quickly and with some resistance on Saturday, April 30, but show days naturally bring a certain energy lift. We finally got on schedule, making it to the theater (2 blocks from the hotel) by 7:30am. Arriving to a finished set was a luxury. We comfortably ran through group acts, checked rigging, each had their own ring time, and JB was on the spot with sound check and of course getting the merch table set up.
We successfully knocked out four shows: 10am, 1pm, 4pm, and 7pm.
Opening. Ball juggling routine. Unicycle. Rag Doll Contortion. Clown Reprise. Slack Rope. Ensemble Act. Plate juggling. Plate spinning with audience members. Clown entrée. Trapeze. Final Group Juggling Act.
The first show was....the first show....at 10am. And we left it at that. We significantly tightened up the loose ends in the second show and kept a good rhythm into the evening. Tristan's contortion clown reprise went over well. Everyone enjoys seeing a grown man in Utah wearing a ruff and little skirt on stage. Abby celebrated the completion of her forth run of the day by doing an impromptu skin-the-cat dismount. Of course there were the expected unexpected glitches and switches. Most unbeknown to the audience except one brilliant moment when Mark dropped* one of his clubs while up on the unicycle on the table. The club fell from Mark's hand to the table below then ricocheted off the unicycle's tire directly into Abby's open hands.
It's always interesting what happens between shows on days like these. The green room at the Heritage Theater is more than any little troupe could ask for: coffee, comfortable couches, long table to spread out our buffet of bread, lettuce, cheese, peanut butter, and fig newtons. We'd drop out (sleep), go for short walks, get back in the ring, call loved ones, lay back down. The day did give us all the opportunity to better get to know our producer, A.C., and to learn edifying stories more about the Shriners. A couple of us had the opportunity to make acquaintance with a group of high school guys outside the theater after the first show. They were coming from their own private "fight club" and ditching their work supervisor, assigned to them for misdeeds during school. It's a small town without a lot of healthy distractions for young people. These guys have no problem finding less favorable ways to keep themselves entertained. Best not to mention these here. All to say, they could sure use a permanent circus here in Cedar City.
The theater did not fill up as we would have hoped, but those in attendance were very responsive and appreciative. One audience member came back after seeing the first show to bring his parents. Very sweet. Lots of pictures after the shows with the kids and it was satisfying that in spite of the small crowds, spirits were raised.
After our last show we took down our set, folded the ring tarp and loaded it all into the truck. Tear down time: 1 hour 34 minutes. Most of the time was spent packing the truck.
Dinner at Applebee's (the late night Mexican restaurant closed early). Mark took Tristan to the bus station for her trip back to San Francisco for a gig. And we took our tired bones to bed.
*the club was dropped after he nailed the trick.
No comments:
Post a Comment