Atlantic City & Stockton College, NJ

Atlantic City Boardwalk

Days 13 - 14

Wednesday, Nov 2 (Day 13):

Today was a heavy travel day without our leader, Bill, who left us after the Winona, MN show on Nov 1: We drove back to Minneapolis while he drove to WI, to help tech one of the other touring shows Griffin produces; he met us about 26 hours later in Atlantic City,  NJ.  It was a longer drive back to Minneapolis than we had thought or were expecting; we didn't get into the hotel until midnight, and basically laid down our heads for just 4 1/2 hours (my roommate, Ellie, joked that rather than closing the curtain to the street lights blaring in our window, we should just leave it cracked so that it feels more like a nap, "which is basically what it is").

I found it a little unsettling to travel without someone really designated to be in charge. We all did fine and different people stepped up at different moments (I checked us into the first hotel in MN; Ryan and Chris did this in NJ; Cameron and I drove the two vehicles in MN, then he and Lucy drove the two hours from Newark to Atlantic City), but it was still more of an amorphous blob moving together with different people taking over different positions depending on who might be in front of the blob, rather than a group with one head, leading the way.

Silliness in the Atlanta airport: Cameron wearing Ellie's coat
(do you see her face?! Funny girl!)

 Anyhooooo...

I'd say Ryan and Damian were TIRED on the layover        

As I said, we awoke very early to get to the Minneapolis airport, then had the two flights to get us to Newark at about 2pm, then drive a good two and a half hours to Atlantic City.  In the interest of (nearly) full disclosure, this was not a particularly good day for me: I was sooooo tired, and the aforementioned lack-of-Bill leading us contributed to my feeling out of sorts (anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I function best under an organized plan, and I either want to be leading, or want someone else to be the designated leader; the aforementioned "amorphous blob" just contributes to my anxiety). In addition, I then

had to put a charge on my credit card for the car rental due to some corporate account mess-up that I couldn't straighten it out without Bill. I was just irritable. I slept on the second flight which helped a bit, and then didn't even have to drive since Lucy was added as a second driver.

When we got to our hotel just five miles from the boardwalk in Atlantic City, I decided to stay in while a couple of the guys went out (for most of the night!) with some friends/family in town, and the rest of the group went out for some dinner. They actually weren't gone too long and I ended up having a glass of wine w/them when they came back - but in the interim, I had my second emotional melt-down of the tour (jeez, I didn't even make it a full week since the first melt-down!); luckily it wasn't too late so Brett could talk me down from the ledge. We had a wonderful conversation for about an hour, and we even paid bills online while chatting on Facetime.

Looking down the Atlantic City boardwalk

It's funny that what sent my emotions into a tailspin was getting an unbelievably heartfelt and supportive message from my lovely singer/songwriter friend Jenny B.; I couldn't believe the timing - I felt out of sorts and a bit out of control of my surroundings, and she was telling me how supported and loved and appreciated I was by another group of performers. Timing is everything, as they say! - I completely blubbered my way my thankful reply to her, then blubbered some more with Brett.

I'm learning so much about myself on this tour; this is an amazing experience, but also a difficult one; exhaustion plays a big part in how I'm processing everything (constantly being in a new city is confusing; sometimes I have to actually think about where I'm waking up and have to question exactly what day it is - is it wednesday, thursday, or friday?). In addition, group dynamics are powerful, and can contribute to a feeling of lacking control. Add into the mix my missing Brett so much, and my nerves on stage, and you have a strong crazy-brew.

In any case, I went to bed by about 11 pm, and put that day behind me.

Cool, huh? "Zoltar" from the movie, Big, along the boardwalk

Thursday, Nov 3 (Day 14):

We didn't have to leave for tech at Stockton College's theatre until 1:30, so I went to the gym in the hotel about 8:14, then had their free breakfast before it closed at 9:30; showered; and then four of us (Ellie, Nick, Kevin & I) drove the five miles or so to the boardwalk and took a leisurely walk ocean-side on the boardwalk for about an hour.

Nick, Cutie-pie Ellie, and Kevin (and part of a short older woman)
on the boardwalk

The campus was absolutely beautiful (it reminded me of my alma mater, Coe College, in the fall - but was much larger, about 5000 students). We spent the rest of the day and evening at the college; the theatre was wild and different with a unbelievably steep rake to the seats; it kind of blew all our minds. Tech was smooth, then we had free dinner at one of the college cafeterias (this was NOT like Coe's food, as I recall; what a selection! amazing food).

Stockton College Performing Arts Center

We played a new energizing/focusing game during our warm-ups before this show, called, "Bippity Bippity Bop": I. Loved. It! I hope we do it again soon. This is how it works: One person is in the middle of the circle and he says, "Bippity Bippity Bop" to his chosen victim around him in the circle; that victim must say, "Bop" back before Center Person finishes the phrase, or he is "It." Sounds easy, right? But here are the curves you're thrown:
(1) If Center Person says, "Bop" only, Victim can NOT say "Bop," or he is "It";
(2) Center Person has other options to say, and then count to 5; if "Victim" does not complete the directive before Center Person counts to 5, Victim is "It." Examples of these options are, "Charlie's Angels!" - Victim & each person on his right and left must form the Charlie's Angels picture; or Center Person may say "Toaster!", or "Elephant!", and Victim and those on his right and left must formulate these pictures. It was hilarious and made us have to think fast. I loved it!

rehearsing in one of my spot

The show itself, however, was NOT smooth for me, nor for others, as we all commiserated afterwards; there was something about the really bright lights coming from a hard overhead angle, and the steep rake of the audience - into which I had to look so far UP in order to "see" the audience (which I could not see at ALL) - that made me feel so disoriented, like I was going to fall over; I couldn't stop swaying fore the entire production. It was so distracting to me that I had to work extremely hard to remember all my lines, not just ones I've had difficulty with before (another scary situation for me). It was just such a weird feeling; I was glad to know that it wasn't just me feeling that disorientation.

My costumes

After the show, two men came backstage - one was a Vietnam vet (Bob), and the other a member of Special Forces (Tom), and he is a Dean of Students at Stockton, and in charge of Veteran affairs at the college. They invited us to meet them for a drink and food at a local restaurant (luckily I was able to forego ordering MORE FOOD, and I didn't eat - jeez, I'm going to get fat if I eat every time we're offered food!).

To try to bring a very long blog entry to a close, I'll try to encapsulate my very interesting conversation with Tom O'Donnell. Wow, he had such a fascinating life!  I asked him a ton of questions, and just like Gary in Oregon and James in Texas, he was so willing to share his life with me. Here's a man who came from a military family, was athletic (football player) and went to West Point, graduated as part of the Special Forces in - I think he said -1968, and then was able to avoid actually serving in Vietnam because he went to college in Nebraska. He said he knows he would have been killed had he been sent over.  He had a young wife who died of cancer at age 21; he went to the South  and marched for Civil Rights; he demonstrated against the war (and he was a member of Special Forces!!!); he studied psychology and authored studies about the culture of communes; he developed a program at another college (where he got hired prior to even graduating!) for call-in centers for those who needed support or were depressed; he did many other things that I can't recall now because I couldn't get to this blog until now, but for the last 14 or so years, he has been at Stockton College.

Me and Tom O'Donnell

Tom seemed to me to be an extremely happy, satisfied man; he laughed shyly when I kept asking, "So, what did you do next? And what was that like?" Tom also said that he does not consider himself a veteran, since he never served.  He feels that the training he got through Special Forces helped him in his ability to be focused, but otherwise, the point of Special Forces is to prepare you to die, and to kill, and that is training he has never used. He was fascinating, and I loved having such a focused conversation with just him (The other man, Bob, was talking to the whole group about some of his Vietnam experiences and kept reiterating how important our show was, but I like the one-on-one conversation for finding out about another person).

Tom and some of the cast - Cameron is hidden, as is Bob (the waitress never took
photography class!)

Outside the Performing Arts Center - see the little moon above the gorgeous fall trees?