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eggwardsPictures of the weekend are already up. Again, I'm not a photographer, so they're just candid shots. See them here.
Our Cast:
Randy -![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lostncove - as the covemaster
Sean -schnitz_mi - as the coffee hound
John -blithwulf - as the quiet reassurance
Shawn -ombraorsa - as the voice of experience
Daisy and Cassidy - as the dogs
The cast of Treasure Island - as the cast of Treasure Island
The cast of Said and Meant - as themselves
Sue Merrill - as the reviewer (boo, hiss)
and Michael -eggwards - as the Beaver
Act One, Scene One
We arrived in GR a little later than expected. Sean and Randy were waiting for us, and they were hungry. I had totally forgotten about the time difference. To me, any trip that takes less than three hours doesn't deserve a new time zone, but they put Michigan in a different area for some reason.
Shawn, John and I were greeted by Cassidy and Daisy, the dogs of the homeowners that Randy was housesitting for. The house was on a tree-lined street in an eclectic neighborhood. The house seemed to be built at about the same time as John's Chicago abode. The style was a 1920's Craftsman style home. The house had been added on to, but was in good shape, and decorated well with appropriate mission style furniture. I liked the house a lot.
Cassidy and Daisy were barking, but also affectionate. I doubt that they had ever seen this many bearded men before. Randy informed me that this was it. Unfortunately a couple of people I wanted to se wouldn't be able to come until next weekend. We moved our stuff in and Randy called for Pizza.
I go with Randy in his Ford Escort, the one with his earthly possessions in it, including Hong-Kong Phooey, to pick up cokes and the pizza. We get to Gino's and find that there's no order for Randy there! Randy had called the wrong place for Pizza, and the Pizza was actually at Vito's, on the other side of downtown. Randy and I catch up over the drive, since it was March the last time we saw each other. We get to Vito's and pick up the pizza. The hot pizza is sitting in my lap, and halfway home I realize that the grease is just pouring down my arm. Ugh.
We eat, Idle conversation, including the accounts of the events of the previous weekend were discussed. We fell into the expected roles, the extroverts, the introverts, story tellers, listeners. It was a nice mix of people, and I knew that I was happy to be here.
We worked out sleeping arrangements, the basement, the living room, the upstairs addition bedroom. It was already 3am, and we had to be at the Circle Theater at 10...9 Central.
Act One, Scene Two
John Ball Park is the home of the Circle Theater for a few more days. The theater will move out of the park setting after Treasure Island and Follies complete their runs. There's a new space at a small university or something. The current theater is a small lab type place. It might hold 200 people, but that would be stretching it. It's theater in the round. The audience is an all sides. We took a place in one corner. We were the strange group of larger, bearded men who seemed to be there more as backups for the pirates than actual spectators. Most of the audience was young kids. In fact, Randy mentioned that it was a very young audience, most of the kids being between 6 and 8. Their parents were thankfully, somewhat older.
The signs for Treasure Island mentioned that the play was intended for those 8 and up. There is a little violence, some flashes of daggers, a gun and of course, kidnapping. only one family left though, and the kids handled it pretty well, no big criers or anything. I kept my eye on this one little girl who at times was scared and excited. I think she got a lot out of the experience, and I made sure that Randy noticed her too.
The play was well done. It's always a challenge to block a play for theater in the round, trying to give each side something to see, continually working the scenes around to not favor one segment of the audience as the play unfolds. The actors seemed to have fun, and yes, Captain Smollett and Long John Silver were played by some very nice looking men. Aaaurgh!
The play ended and Randy gave us a glimpse of the small backstage area of the Circle. It was cramped, and certainly not a place built for big stars, as all of the makeup area was in one place. What was fascinating was the signatures, and the little bits of props and costumes that had been attached to the walls. I had no idea how many shows had ben produced here, but there was plenty of items and signatures. I have no idea what will happen to all of this stuff when the theater moves out. Apparently the building becomes a part of the park/zoo again, and lord knows that they won't know what to do with all of this stuff. Hmm.
We went out to meet some of the actors who were still greeting the young audience members. Randy introduced us to several of us, and they were wondering about our group, since we stood out amongst the Saturday Morning crowd. I could tell that many of them had worked with Randy before, and they knew him, the theatrical side of him, rather well. There was definitely respect there. We got pictures with Long John before he changed, but they were mostly on Sean's camera. I'll have to get some of those pictures from him.
Act One, Scene Three
Food, Mexican, something I wouldn't have expected in Grand Rapids, but it was a good Taqueria. We talked about the performance over Nachos and Burritos. The conversation was silly and fun. We had a lot more to do this day, so we decided to get moving, going out to the Oasis hot tubs.
Act One, Scene Four
The Oasis is some distance from the center of town. Randy was falling asleep and we went out there, which wasn't a good thing since he was the only one who knew where we were going. We got there and the entrance looked like a hotel lobby. The woman at the counter was probably fairly scared of our group. Randy's the smallest of all of us, and he's still chunky. Here's five hairy men who want a hot tub. I'm sure they have other customers who come in without a change of clothes, but I'm still guessing we were strange for a group coming in at 1:00 in the afternoon.
We were given a large tub, outside. The area is private, but the tub was in full view of the sun, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Most of us are pretty fair skinned, especially Randy and John, the red-heads. The tub was 102 degrees, for me, this was a cool temp for a hot tub. In fact. I didn't have trouble with the heat until I stood up later and went back inside, getting a little dizzy. Really, the temperature outside was maybe 85 degrees. I was in heaven. Beats the heat back home.
I'll have to admit, I'm still a bit troubled about getting undressed. I'm still shy and am not really thrilled with my body, no matter what other people say about it. I do believe I was the last one to get in the tub. Due to the heat and the sun, most didn't stay in very long. I enjoyed it. I love the water, and this was perfect. I wish we had the chance to go back again in the evening some time.
The Musak left something to be desired. 57 Channels and Nothing's On.
Shadows developed in one corner, and the guys eventually crammed into it, I stayed in the sun. My shoulders are a testament to this. Poor Randy really got burned. Later in the day his stomach looked like the color of a Christmas ham. Most of the others were alright.
We got out, and made our way back to the house. Randy, exhausted from being our guide and having two plays running, fell asleep again in the car. He scuffled off to bed and most of us napped before going to see Randy's play, Said and Meant...
End Act One.
Coming up: Said and Meant, Talking Theater, Giant Tire Swings, Coffee Houses and Said and Meant (again!)
Our Cast:
Randy -
lostncove - as the covemasterSean -
schnitz_mi - as the coffee houndJohn -
blithwulf - as the quiet reassuranceShawn -
ombraorsa - as the voice of experienceDaisy and Cassidy - as the dogs
The cast of Treasure Island - as the cast of Treasure Island
The cast of Said and Meant - as themselves
Sue Merrill - as the reviewer (boo, hiss)
and Michael -
eggwards - as the BeaverAct One, Scene One
We arrived in GR a little later than expected. Sean and Randy were waiting for us, and they were hungry. I had totally forgotten about the time difference. To me, any trip that takes less than three hours doesn't deserve a new time zone, but they put Michigan in a different area for some reason.
Shawn, John and I were greeted by Cassidy and Daisy, the dogs of the homeowners that Randy was housesitting for. The house was on a tree-lined street in an eclectic neighborhood. The house seemed to be built at about the same time as John's Chicago abode. The style was a 1920's Craftsman style home. The house had been added on to, but was in good shape, and decorated well with appropriate mission style furniture. I liked the house a lot.
Cassidy and Daisy were barking, but also affectionate. I doubt that they had ever seen this many bearded men before. Randy informed me that this was it. Unfortunately a couple of people I wanted to se wouldn't be able to come until next weekend. We moved our stuff in and Randy called for Pizza.
I go with Randy in his Ford Escort, the one with his earthly possessions in it, including Hong-Kong Phooey, to pick up cokes and the pizza. We get to Gino's and find that there's no order for Randy there! Randy had called the wrong place for Pizza, and the Pizza was actually at Vito's, on the other side of downtown. Randy and I catch up over the drive, since it was March the last time we saw each other. We get to Vito's and pick up the pizza. The hot pizza is sitting in my lap, and halfway home I realize that the grease is just pouring down my arm. Ugh.
We eat, Idle conversation, including the accounts of the events of the previous weekend were discussed. We fell into the expected roles, the extroverts, the introverts, story tellers, listeners. It was a nice mix of people, and I knew that I was happy to be here.
We worked out sleeping arrangements, the basement, the living room, the upstairs addition bedroom. It was already 3am, and we had to be at the Circle Theater at 10...9 Central.
Act One, Scene Two
John Ball Park is the home of the Circle Theater for a few more days. The theater will move out of the park setting after Treasure Island and Follies complete their runs. There's a new space at a small university or something. The current theater is a small lab type place. It might hold 200 people, but that would be stretching it. It's theater in the round. The audience is an all sides. We took a place in one corner. We were the strange group of larger, bearded men who seemed to be there more as backups for the pirates than actual spectators. Most of the audience was young kids. In fact, Randy mentioned that it was a very young audience, most of the kids being between 6 and 8. Their parents were thankfully, somewhat older.
The signs for Treasure Island mentioned that the play was intended for those 8 and up. There is a little violence, some flashes of daggers, a gun and of course, kidnapping. only one family left though, and the kids handled it pretty well, no big criers or anything. I kept my eye on this one little girl who at times was scared and excited. I think she got a lot out of the experience, and I made sure that Randy noticed her too.
The play was well done. It's always a challenge to block a play for theater in the round, trying to give each side something to see, continually working the scenes around to not favor one segment of the audience as the play unfolds. The actors seemed to have fun, and yes, Captain Smollett and Long John Silver were played by some very nice looking men. Aaaurgh!
The play ended and Randy gave us a glimpse of the small backstage area of the Circle. It was cramped, and certainly not a place built for big stars, as all of the makeup area was in one place. What was fascinating was the signatures, and the little bits of props and costumes that had been attached to the walls. I had no idea how many shows had ben produced here, but there was plenty of items and signatures. I have no idea what will happen to all of this stuff when the theater moves out. Apparently the building becomes a part of the park/zoo again, and lord knows that they won't know what to do with all of this stuff. Hmm.
We went out to meet some of the actors who were still greeting the young audience members. Randy introduced us to several of us, and they were wondering about our group, since we stood out amongst the Saturday Morning crowd. I could tell that many of them had worked with Randy before, and they knew him, the theatrical side of him, rather well. There was definitely respect there. We got pictures with Long John before he changed, but they were mostly on Sean's camera. I'll have to get some of those pictures from him.
Act One, Scene Three
Food, Mexican, something I wouldn't have expected in Grand Rapids, but it was a good Taqueria. We talked about the performance over Nachos and Burritos. The conversation was silly and fun. We had a lot more to do this day, so we decided to get moving, going out to the Oasis hot tubs.
Act One, Scene Four
The Oasis is some distance from the center of town. Randy was falling asleep and we went out there, which wasn't a good thing since he was the only one who knew where we were going. We got there and the entrance looked like a hotel lobby. The woman at the counter was probably fairly scared of our group. Randy's the smallest of all of us, and he's still chunky. Here's five hairy men who want a hot tub. I'm sure they have other customers who come in without a change of clothes, but I'm still guessing we were strange for a group coming in at 1:00 in the afternoon.
We were given a large tub, outside. The area is private, but the tub was in full view of the sun, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Most of us are pretty fair skinned, especially Randy and John, the red-heads. The tub was 102 degrees, for me, this was a cool temp for a hot tub. In fact. I didn't have trouble with the heat until I stood up later and went back inside, getting a little dizzy. Really, the temperature outside was maybe 85 degrees. I was in heaven. Beats the heat back home.
I'll have to admit, I'm still a bit troubled about getting undressed. I'm still shy and am not really thrilled with my body, no matter what other people say about it. I do believe I was the last one to get in the tub. Due to the heat and the sun, most didn't stay in very long. I enjoyed it. I love the water, and this was perfect. I wish we had the chance to go back again in the evening some time.
The Musak left something to be desired. 57 Channels and Nothing's On.
Shadows developed in one corner, and the guys eventually crammed into it, I stayed in the sun. My shoulders are a testament to this. Poor Randy really got burned. Later in the day his stomach looked like the color of a Christmas ham. Most of the others were alright.
We got out, and made our way back to the house. Randy, exhausted from being our guide and having two plays running, fell asleep again in the car. He scuffled off to bed and most of us napped before going to see Randy's play, Said and Meant...
End Act One.
Coming up: Said and Meant, Talking Theater, Giant Tire Swings, Coffee Houses and Said and Meant (again!)
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Date: 2003-07-21 01:09 pm (UTC)