So it was a bit heartbreaking to finally pack up our lives at the Stratford Court in Cedar City. It made for as best an outpost as a small circus troupe could ask. We had become buddies with Becky, the housekeeper. The owner and her children had been fantastic and very accommodating to our needs - especially letting us take over the breakfast room for meetings and work well past the breakfast hour. But all good things do come to an end and we were, at last, on the slippery slope of our final shows and journey back home.
Parowan sits only thirty minutes from Cedar City up 15. We had passed it couple times en route to Panguitch and Richfield. It's notoriety and relevance on the map from our perspective was that that it is home to petraglyphs and that it was the geographical epicenter of euro-american development in the area.
"Parowan has been called the "Mother Town of the Southwest" because of the many pioneers who left from there to start other communities in southern Utah, Nevada, Arizona,Colorado, and even Oregon and Wyoming. In its first year, colonists were asked to settle Johnson Fort, now Enoch, where a stockade was built, and were also sent to settle along Coal Creek, site of the settlement to manufacture iron which became Cedar City....
Mormon apostle George A. Smith was appointed to head the establishment of this "Iron Mission" in 1850. The first company of 120 men, 31 women, and 18 children braved winter weather traveling south from Provo during December. They sometimes built roads and bridges as they traveled, and they finally reached Center Creek on 13 January 1851. After enduring two bitterly cold nights, they moved across the creek and circled their wagons by Heap's Spring and Pratt's liberty pole, seeking the protection of the hills. Within days, the settlement organization was completed: companies of men were dispatched to build a road up the canyon, a town site was surveyed and laid into lots, and a fort and a log council house were begun. The council house was used as church, schoolhouse, theater, and community recreation center for many years. " - from Wikipedia of course
Whenever we read about the history of the Mormon settlers in this part of the country, we often come across statements like "they were asked to..." or "at the request of..." and though he is often mentioned, whenever he is not, we can safely assume that the asker and requester and commander here was, of course, Bringham Young. He had a big voice. And for all of the asking and requesting, I don't wonder if he may have had more than one mouth....
What's more interesting about Parowan though, is that Abby found one of the best BBQ places she's ever tasted (though there are no witnesses and nothing seems to come up on a google search) and that it was a major thoroughfare for Native Americans as far back as A.D. 750. Fremont and Anasazi people were the first known inhabitants of the the area. Their presence is still very much alive through the petroglyphs that can be found at the Parowan Gap, a mountain pass of 12 miles northwest of town. The company left Cedar City a bit early on Friday to check out the petroglyphs. Alas, Abby and I felt the need to play tour managers. So while the four explored UT's native history, we made The Grind, our favorite local cafe on Main St., a temporary office as we mapped out the plans for the next few days to get us all safely and sanely home. I'm sorry we didn't get to see the petroglyphs because I don't know when or why I'll ever be back in southwester Utah. And the way I live my life, like many, it's easy to forget that there were people and ideas and stories taking place all around on this land 1300 years ago. And that this likely has a bigger influence on our daily lives than we can possibly fathom.... |
| Mark and Ariana. 5-5-2011 |
We pulled up to Parowan's High School theatre around 3:00pm with more than plenty of time for a 7:00pm show. The theater students who greeted us at the back load in were more than cordial to give us the full orientation of the space. Nice theatre, 650 seats, though ceiling looked a bit low. Vana, our contact showed up with a huge smile. Wow, nice change.
I had to be ultra careful with the water barrels as weeks prior, during my preproduction preparation phone calls, the principal expressed a lot of concerns about their newly treated curtains. I was able to assure him that we would not spray water on them in our set up process. The aerial rig, however, proved to be a bit of a fuss with the limited stage depth and low hanging stage grid. A couple of us were very determined to shoe horn the rig in while others reluctantly succumbed to help with our efforts. In the end, we had to let it go. It simply wouldn't fit on the stage. Fortunately, we had already prepared a set list and sound cue sheet for a no-trapeze show for Hurricane. In spite of the efforts in preparation for Hurricane, it was not in vain.
JB, as mentioned before, packed everything imaginable except for a pair of roller skates, much to his credit really. He did have a pair of walkie talkies which served tremendously during the weeks' run of shows. They were particularly useful when he forgot about the non-trap sound playlist. We had to switch Mark's two acts around so we could end the show on a high note - with him on the unicycle. However, at the top of the show, Mark found himself bounding out into the ring with plates in hand to his unicycle music. We quickly let JB know what was suppose to be happening. And although the audience would end up hearing the song repeat later, JB did get the right playlist up for the rest of the show and we, nor the small audience was not worse for it....aside from a lot of eye rolling.
Yeah, it was a very small crowd. BUT they were very supportive, as was the staff at the theatre. A clunky and emotionally edgy set up resulted in a fine performance. We packed up and got out of the theatre at a reasonable hour. Hit the road, said good bye to the Cedar City as we rolled past, and made it to St. George by 11pm.
Checked in to the Motel 6 in ST. George, went to the best mexican food in St. George....supposedly, hit a lil whisky to close out the day.
alas. our final date and homeward bound....
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