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Community Performance Inc.

May 02, 2008

OK, so I’ve been here a few days now and I haven’t journalled, and I should be doing so. I’ve just been so totally tired. 12 -13 hour days- phew.

After a rather spirited flight here (you may have heard about the tornadoes in Virginia? Yup, flew through that mess) I arrived in Atlanta and made my way up to Franklin County for the cast’s first read-through of the new play. This play has the revisions made after my visit there about a month ago. About 50-60 people were in there, taking in the new space.

Folks were really amazed at the transformation of the armory space, which is now our community performance space. The theater is downright dynamic. We’ve got curving zigs and zags and ramps leading up to the main stage as well as the smaller stages in the middle of the floor, with it’s own curving zag. We’ll be using these wonderful zigs and ramps, of course, with lots of wheeled objects- medicine show carts, wheel barrows, old-timey bicycles, whiskey barrels, and even…shhhhh…an old Indian Motorcycle.

So far, the week’s rehearsals have focused on table work. This is something we do in all of our projects. We sit down with the cast, and read through the scenes, listening for how it sounds coming out of their mouths, making adjustments where necessary, and finding some key elements of the scenes and characters, to help folks get connected to the part they’re playing.

We’ve also had head-to-head meetings in the mornings and afternoons. Most of those should be over, now. The long days of 5-6 hours of meetings and then 5 hours of rehearsal can tire me out. I’ll get home, cook dinner for Richard and myself, and then I’m just no good for blogging after all that. But I’m making some time now, and will try to each day.

The truth is, there are so many extraordinary things that have happened, even today, but if I fall into fatigue, and put it off, it’s not as fresh anymore, I can’t remember the event as vividly, and besides, a new incredible thing happens the next day.

So, I’ll do a quickie recap of today, and from here on out, I’ll try to be more consistent. This will give you an idea of the people I’m working with, who’s stories we’re using, and why I’m excited to be here.

I went to see “Doc” Tommy Scott, the medicine man, at his home today. It was like driving into a Hollywood set. The house was built in California and then moved here. I’ve never seen anything like it, there’s like Pagoda things all over it, the roof has these giant Chinese sculptural pieces on top of it, giving it the illusion of some kind of ancient temple that fell into a 50’s post WWII modern architectural experiment. WILD. There’s a homemade swimming pool dug into the ground, which is fed by a nearby well. The walls of the sides of the pool are painted bricks in various pastel colors. The entire house, outside and in, is decorated in an oriental style, with pieces from the Far East everywhere. He’s got a waterfall and a Chinese waterwheel on a walkway leading from the living room area to his memorabilia room. Super, super cool. His medicine show wagon- which has been used for 75 years now, is under the covered garage. Tommy, in his traveling show, developed the first mobile home unit, also under the covered garage. He put a truck bed on top of some other chassis. He fit it to sleep himself and his wife comfortably, and also to have some other amenities on the road. He spent January through Thanksgiving on the road and did what he could to make the road his home, no matter where he went with his travelling show. So, he designed and made that prototype, brought it to a company and asked them could they make another one. They did. He liked it so much, he bought the company, and he had the company make some more. The company was named for his wife’s name and his business partner’s name. His company manufactured close to thirty of these and sold them, up until he hit some financial hard times. Then he sold his company to another company. Might have heard of them. They renamed the vehicle Winebago.

   

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