At last, we were finally headed out of the state of California and to the state of Arizona! The drive to Gilbert, AZ (which is located outside of Phoenix) was barren, deserts dappled with cacti and rocks. When we arrived in Gilbert, we were extremely pleased to find that our accommodations were venue-provided. Typically, when we travel to each city/venue, our lodging is either venue-provided, which means that it is provided by the theatre at which we perform, or provided by our production company. We are excited whenever the lodging is venue-provided as it tends to be very nice, comfortable and have a lot of character. Up to this point, the only other lodging at which we had stayed that was venue-provided was the beautiful Fountain Inn in Santa Rosa, a gorgeous hotel located in wine country. Our rooms at the Gilbert Hyatt were super posh, complete with sitting rooms, sofas and flat screen TVs, and the hotel had a pleasant café and fitness center.
And the venue that provided this nice housing for us? The Higley Center for the Performing Arts, a single-level, 1235-seat theatre. We performed two shows on 10/30/09, one private show for schools and one show open to the public. Unfortunately, both of our audiences were on the smaller side and were not as responsive as previous audiences that we had encountered thus far in our journey. As it was the day before Halloween, one of our audiences contained a class of kids dressed up in Halloween costumes. Imagine our surprise when we ran out onstage and saw pirates, princesses and a female Santa Claus sitting in the front row! Needless to say, several actors had to make a conscious effort to not break character onstage after seeing our costumed patrons.
We experienced one of our first major show injuries in Gilbert. Jimmy, who plays Papa Bambo, accidentally ran with full gusto into a safety gate when entering onstage and received a large gash and bruise to his groin area. Ouch! A painful and messy incident for him, but luckily nothing too severe…
I also saw one of the strangest things that I have ever seen in any theatre at the Higley Center. Located in both dressing rooms were a series of cages, like the cages that you see at the vet or in a pet store. I can only imagine what the purpose is of having cages in dressing rooms (perhaps to discipline unruly actors?), but my best guess is that they were used for storage or like lockers. As one of the cages was large enough for me, I happily crawled inside and took the picture you see below.
We packed up our van, waved goodbye to the staff at the Higley Center and the city of Gilbert, bid farewell to Kevin (who was going to spend some time with his family locally) and then hit the road for a brief stopover that evening in Flagstaff, AZ.
Next stop – Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. Until the next adventure…
Ciao!
XOXO-
Janine
And the venue that provided this nice housing for us? The Higley Center for the Performing Arts, a single-level, 1235-seat theatre. We performed two shows on 10/30/09, one private show for schools and one show open to the public. Unfortunately, both of our audiences were on the smaller side and were not as responsive as previous audiences that we had encountered thus far in our journey. As it was the day before Halloween, one of our audiences contained a class of kids dressed up in Halloween costumes. Imagine our surprise when we ran out onstage and saw pirates, princesses and a female Santa Claus sitting in the front row! Needless to say, several actors had to make a conscious effort to not break character onstage after seeing our costumed patrons.
We experienced one of our first major show injuries in Gilbert. Jimmy, who plays Papa Bambo, accidentally ran with full gusto into a safety gate when entering onstage and received a large gash and bruise to his groin area. Ouch! A painful and messy incident for him, but luckily nothing too severe…
I also saw one of the strangest things that I have ever seen in any theatre at the Higley Center. Located in both dressing rooms were a series of cages, like the cages that you see at the vet or in a pet store. I can only imagine what the purpose is of having cages in dressing rooms (perhaps to discipline unruly actors?), but my best guess is that they were used for storage or like lockers. As one of the cages was large enough for me, I happily crawled inside and took the picture you see below.
We packed up our van, waved goodbye to the staff at the Higley Center and the city of Gilbert, bid farewell to Kevin (who was going to spend some time with his family locally) and then hit the road for a brief stopover that evening in Flagstaff, AZ.
Next stop – Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. Until the next adventure…
Ciao!
XOXO-
Janine
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