It’s Saturday morning here in Adelaide, and after a long four days of trying to get as much done on our site as possible before the Fringe officially opened, I’m enjoying a bit of a rest! And one of life's finest treats on a hot day (it's going up to 36 c today!) Iced Chocolate!!! Imagine chocolate milke with a bit of vanila gelati in it and smile!

That is one way to avoid jet lag….hit the ground running—then you don’t know if you’re tired from the trip or from all the work that you’re doing!

The site is coming along nicely though! And Park Bench is already creating quite a buzz! Last night was the first time we had public onsite and the very cool bar that borders our performance area was open as well. I was thrilled to see people reading the story plates and Haikus on the laundry line, and even more excited to read the first Australian additions.

Our first Australian Haiku was written by Ruby W.

(I’m going to guess her age is between 10-13)

In winter rain falls.
In summer not enough does.
Dry thirsty country

And our first story plate was inspired after a conversation about ParkBench and the fact that we are planning on driving it behind our friend Scott’s Moke!

The guy I was speaking to smiled and told me about a girlfriend that he once dated who had owned a Moke. “We loved driving it around with the top down, sunnies on….. She sold the car, and now we don’t go out anymore! Ha Ha!”

Many thanks to all the people who have been helping me out get this site ready! Graham and Bernadette! Corinna! Andy! Lisa! And the wonderful fringe volunteers (especially my flamingo base painter!)

I’m now looking forward to greeting Andrew and Llysa here in Oz next week!!!

The Traveling Show

G'day all! Traveling Moe here....with my first of many Down Under posts!

Working in the theater allows you many new and different experiences. But even though most people would assume these experiences have to do attending parties and 'hob-nobbing' with the stars...most have to do with every day life and tasks.

Take traveling: Since we tend to travel quite a bit with our shows, we’re always putting together very interesting items in our luggage for custom agents to poke through. When we took The Big Time over to Oz in 2004 I was carrying the bag that had most of the funny costumes in it. When the customs agent pulled out a pink puffy vest that had bubble wrap attached to it, she gave me a very strange look and asked….”What is this for?”. I explained that she was holding the costume for the character Shampoo, and then I did a brief summary of the show.

“We all play house hold items that start a rock band and become house hold hits!” I explained. “I play a sock!” To which the customs agent took a long look at me and replied; “Your parents must be very proud.”

This year I was traveling with a bag full of large plastic pink flamingos, a number of packages of bunny and spooky cat PEEPS and bar-b-q skewers. (too mention just a few things)

As I went through Customs I began explaining again that I was part of a theater company, and gave a brief explanation of our show.

“It’s a theater piece staged as a family reunion. The audience rolls the dice when they arrive to see how they are related to the family, and then they are taken around to different performances within the site. One of the things that we get them to do is Bar-b-q a PEEP.”

“What is a PEEP?” the customs agent asked me. I pulled out a couple boxes from the bag and showed him as I explained; “they’re marshmallow candy covered in a colored sugar coating! We’ve brought both bunnies and cats with us, but they come in all sorts of shapes.” I then told him to come to Adelaide to see our show and we’d make sure he got a well roasted one!

After looking through the rest of the top part of the bag, he asked what was in the bottom. “Large plastic pink flamingos,” I replied smiling. “Do you want to see?” He gave me another long look, looked at the PEEPS in my hand and started shaking his head. “That’s quite a good bag,” he said. And then he told me to have a great time performing at the festival.

I can only imagine if they keep notes on these sort of things…what kind of comments would be on my traveler file!

Nice to know that we’re entertaining even when we’re not on stage!

here we go...

We have news from Monique Down Under that people are already engaging with CARAVAN CHRONICLES and leaving story plates! YAY!
And that a four year old girl made friends with every single flamingo we had on-site, before taking the tire border for a horsie-ride! (4 half tires attached that we are using to divide the space- very decorated-white-trash action. And obviously a great alternate mode of transport of the imagination.)

Andrew and I (Llysa) begin the trip in less than 2 hours! Packing madly - hoping that whatever I foget(and I will forget something) won't be dire...
biggest stumbling points right now: getting some grants' support materials together... MAKES MY BRAIN WANT TO EXPLODE. And I just don't have time for that. And I'll needmy brain to keep up with the audiences. So there.

...tick...tick...tick...

Well, while Andrew and I swivet about trying to cram all we need into many suitcases, (and speculating what losing an hour in the wee hours of Sunday morning will do to our crack-of-dawn flight from Canada back to Seattle to then get to LA), Monique is in Adelaide, whirling like a proverbial dervish getting things looking awesome ready for opening day of the Fringe. (Actually, being in Australia, she is whirling like a Disney cartoon from Tasmania...)

She, with the able help of Graham Norman, and a trailer from Graham's mum has been constructing PARK BENCH, our mobile point-of-view (yes there is a 4ft x 6ft trailer underneath that lush grass) that will be roaming the streets of Adelaide, and gathering interviews with willing passersby. It currently looks like a rolling hill. I kind think it's cool. Isn't that juicy looking astro turf? We'll post the finished product, and certainly one with it in motion/on the scene.
Imagine also a flower box, and a tree of some sort all sitting upon this little 'oasis' , parked across from the big towers in the Central Business District. You can step up from one artificial environment to another, and talk about how you got there, and what you want to do. Maybe a little about what you wanted to be or do as a kid. It'll be interesting, and it will be podcast. More on that later - DEFINITELY check the website.
See you around the world! (Whirled!)
And NOT ONLY does the Fringe start in Adelaide (a mere week after the fringe ended in Wellington, NZ - where we will go in April!) it is also WOMADelaide weekend! Non-stop things to do, see, buy, experience or ... I think I'll take a transPacific flight, myself... and a long nap. I am thinking there will be NO time for naps after we land, sprinting...
Llysa

countdown to Lift Off

...or might that be lift OOF....

Llysa here. Monique is already in Australia, making Andrew and I crazy jealous that we are not.
We (A & I) instead are lingering in Seattle (admittedly enjoying BEAUTIFUL weather today) before we begin our travels on Friday.

Our schedule: drive ourselves to the airport Friday around noon - take small tiny plane to Kelowna, Canada. We have a performance of 52 PICK UP on Saturday at the Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre, so we will fly in Friday, settle, then tech, perform and strike the next day.
THEN - taking into consideration the Daylight Savings Time is starting months early (!), we need to be at the airport at dark-thirty, as our flight is at half-past dawn! (6am!) So - if all goes well - and it HAS to - we'll fly home Sunday, drive ourselves back to the house, do a little laundry, repack a bag or two, maybe NAP (since we won't have had time for a snooze!) before we go BACK to the airport for our flight taking us to Australia via LAX. A theater simple first: three different international flights (not in transit) in a little over 48 hours. I wonder what our security numbers will jump to? [WHY, you may be asking, are we scheduled like this? Michael Cade in BC booked us first, waaay before the Fringe made the leap to annual. So - hither we'll go, before heading off yonder, leapfrogging borders for HONOR. And a good story.]

In Australia, we will be admiring all the handiwork of Monique and her minions, Graham and Andy in anticipation of CARAVAN CHRONICLES - our Trailer Tales show translated to Adelaide. Which I am totally excited about. Whee!
There will be many more comments soon about the Fringe, and our wee public project (not so small, actually - we perform LOTS) so keep checking back, and see who is writing what.
And write back - this is sort of a form of postcard, after all...
The pic, by the way, is Andy and Sandy. (Andy is the one with the Coopers beer in hand)