On the Road with Taproot Theatre

By Laura Bannister

There's something about having a disaster/adventure on the way to one of our shows that makes doing the show seem even more meaningful.

Whether it's along the lines of the flat tire we had the other week, or having to leap around puddles in the pouring rain to open a gate, or finding ourselves in a gravel manufacturing lot instead of the school we hoped to find, it is so satisfying to finally perform at those schools! We have never missed a show this year (many of my favorites are the ones we almost missed).

Getting stuck in the snow last Monday was one of these days. Nearly all the schools in and around Seattle were canceled for the day, but our show was up in Ferndale where school was still happening. Four of us were able to get to the theatre in the snow, but Alicia's apartment is in one of the areas that got the most snow and she couldn't make it down to Greenwood. So we headed off to pick her up. Solomon drove, because it seemed wise to have the person from Iowa drive rather than have one of the Washingtonians or the Virginian (me) tackle the snow.

Alicia walked from her house towards the interstate, but when we picked her up and went to turn the van around, we got stuck in the snow. None of us had ever put chains on tires before. Now we know how. The snow was still coming down as we deciphered the pseudo-English instructions for using the chains and wrestled them on the tires. The windshield also picked this day to crack. This proceeded to spread during the day to a giant squiggle nearly spanning the entire windshield.

It was impossible to do our show at the scheduled time, but Adrienne talked with our contact at the school and rescheduled for after lunch.

So we trekked on up towards Ferndale, but realized that we had two extra hours. We wandered about in the mall in Bellingham to stay warm and occupied, then arrived in Ferndale to perform Camp Super Friend.

The kids were very engaged and vocal that day (I always love the suggestions they shout to us during the shows). And it was delightful to know that we had made it through all that snow to their school.

After the show, one of the little girls came up to Solomon and asked him about his speed reading super power. She couldn't quite figure out what was real and what was pretend. Solomon explained how he flips the pages and moves his eyes and pretends to have read the entire book during the sound cue. Finally it dawned on her how this could be possible. She said, "so, the sound is real, but you can't really read books that fast?" I love that the magic of theatre is heightened for the littlest kids.

Labels: bullying, bulying prevention, touring shows, travel

Well last week proved an eventful one for our faithful little Road Company. It all started very unassumingly... We boarded the ferry onWednesday and were happily on our way to Bremerton. Picture us,gleefully driving our big white van down the road, fixing to be righton time to Esquire Hills Elementary School, when Alicia says, "Why isSimone shaking so bad?" (note: Simone is our van's name.) We are all puzzled for a second... that is until we look at the gas gage. We coast down Hwy. 3 until we start back up a hill and then promptly stall on the side of the road. Well, this had never happened before.

After weighing our options (pushing our 15-passenger van loaded withequipment up the 4-lane highway seemed unlikely) we sent Team Find Gas, which consisted of Solomon and Laura, running toward civilization while Daniel, Alicia and I held up camp with Simone the Van and called the school to give them a heads up on our situation. Team Find Gas(both ex-cross county runners) returns with remarkable speed and I start filling the gas tank. Laura is kindly directing traffic around us, as our van is quite large and takes up a little more than the shoulder of Hwy. 3. We all load back into the van happily and I'm thinking, "Phew, we're not even going to be that late!" Until Alicia tries to turn the van on. Well, being that we're parked on an incline and that Simone's gas tank holds at least 32 gallons, the measly 2 gallon can has done us little good. We panic a little and call Josiah for assistance. In minutes Team Find Gas is at it again. Alicia carefully backs the van (with power steering disabled) closer to levelground. Finally, with nearly 4 gallons of gas in her, Simone starts up, but not without much revving of the engine by our trusty driverAlicia. And we were off!

Although we were almost a half-hour late,we managed to get Star Power set up and ready in time for our originally scheduled 10 o'clock show time. I was amazed and very proud of our teamwork and everyone's amazingly upbeat attitudes through the entire experience.

But that was only Wednesday.

On Friday we geared up for a long day filled with four performances of Star Power, two at each of two schools we were to perform at in Puyallup. The first two shows go off without a hitch and we rush to Pope Elementary for our second two shows. We are nearly set up when all of a sudden the gym goes dark. The lights flash and there is abuzzing sound and the lights flash again. I peek out the gym door and see the hallway is also dark. The entire school had lost power. The amazing administration team from Pope Elementary is there in minutes with flashlights, but we aren't sure yet if the lights will be back on before it's time for the first show because apparently the transformer had blown down the street and the whole block is out. We wait to hear and plan for what we'll do should there be no electricity.

When we're pretty sure there's no chance of the problem being fixed before the show starts, we move the backdrop off the stage so we can open the gym doors and at least get a little natural light so the students can see us. Right on time the teachers file the kids into the gym, and we start the show for 350 kids without microphones or our normal sound cues that are built into the show. It was a great experience. The sound cues we needed we created ourselves: applause, the "Talent Quest voice" provided by Daniel backstage, and even our own music sometimes. The highlight for me was humming my own song while I performed the baton twirling routine that my character "Veronica Rouge" does. It was mostly "You're a Grand Old Flag" played on my hand that was curled up to look like a trumpet. If nothing else it made the show more exciting than ever for us. When it was all over (the power was restored before the next show) we sure appreciated our sound cues and our tired voices were very grateful for microphones.

Well, in the battle of Road Company vs. Disaster, I think it's safe to say Road Company is coming out on top. For now at least.

By Adrienne Littleton, 11/21/07

Labels: bullying prevention, teamwork, travel