We’ve officially been on the road for one week. I thought I’d do a summary, for you and for me, since locations and theatres and car trips are already starting to blend into each other.

We left Harlem bright and early Tuesday morning and drove to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where we had the pleasure of staying with one of our cast member’s parents. Candy’s family graciously cooked us dinner and put all seven of us up for the night, saving us the cost of the hotel and food. I had a slight fever this entire day but the sick feelings were put on hold because I was so excited about finally being out on the road.

We drove down to Ashland, Kentucky from Pittsburgh and we opened our show there at the Paramount Arts Center on Thursday morning. The opening show was a bit shaky (and at 9:30 am to boot!) and I think it jolted us awake as we realized, “Oh, wait. There’s an AUDIENCE out there. UM.” Doing the show for kids is quite different from adults–they laughed at things I didn’t expect and were extremely vocal. When kids actually yell back responses to your lines…well, let’s just say it requires a lot of flexbility, composure and energy.

By the time our shows were done, my fever was raging and a headache compounded on top of that. It was our first time loading the set in and out of a theater and it took a really long time. We have gotten a lot better since then and when theaters have their own crews on hand to help out, it moves a lot quicker. I tried to fix my illness with various medications, thinking that I had allergies or something but HEY I’ve never had allergies and the Claritin I bought didn’t work so it was probably a mild flu. Awesome. I ended up curing myself with multivitamins and copious amounts of cornbread.

We spent the next three days in various parts of West Virginia. Oh. West Virginia. So mountainous and beautiful and winding and welcoming and lovely. My favorite show so far occurred in the Smoot Theatre in Parkersburg, WV, which is an 83 year-old theater. We were able to do a meet and greet with the kids after the show and it was just adorable. Most of the kids we’ve performed for so far have never seen live theatre, ever. The expressions on their faces are priceless.

Since this musical is based on a very popular children’s series, we were warned from the get-go that the kids were going to go crazy as their favorite books were brought to life on stage. Well. That was an understatement. We are like freaking ROCKSTARS, people!!! The kids scream and yell and cheer and recognize and point out all their favorite characters. Though my character, May, is written in the books as fairly mean and bossy, my director stressed over and over that they didn’t want to portray a negative stereotype and so he guided me in different directions. Instead of outright mean, it was decided that May is just self-conscious and suffers from a minor bout of OCD. Knowing this, her “mean” comments should come from a place of insecurity and a longing to fit in with the others in her class.

Story of my life, right? Anyway. It sounds silly and actory again but ugh, it was hard. May’s lines are easily interpreted as mean, bossy and totally irritating. I was told by a former cast member that the actresses who play May always have a hard time with the interpretation. Awesome. My director was relentless about not making her mean and I was given a note every other day that at least a scene or two was coming across a little too harsh. But I got better with each show this week and figured I’d mastered the art of making her lovably bossy. Or so I thought.

Sure enough, at the meet and greet on Saturday, I asked one little boy what his favorite part of the show was. He answered without missing a beat, beaming up at me, “YOU!! WHEN YOU WERE MEAN TO EVERYBODY!”

I cringed. And somewhere, in New York City, my director died a little bit inside.

I suppose kids will see what they see but OH MY GOD I’M GIVING YOU LITTLE CHILDREN AN EMOTIONALLY COMPLEX PERFORMANCE. IT IS LAYERED WITH RAW FEELINGS OF INSECURITY, HESITATION AND REALISM. Whyyyyyy!? Whyyyy won’t you give me some credit?!??!!? PLEASE? Before my director comes down here and fires me? THANKS!

Sunday was a travel day and we spent it driving from 50-degree mountain weather to 87 degree Huntsville, Alabama where we performed two shows this morning. Life was going swimmingly until I attempted to take a few pictures and noticed an odd smudge on all of them. I cleaned the lense and cleaned it again, to no avail. I took it to Walmart and had the camera specialist (HA) look at my precious new camera. And then it was confirmed. Something (a bug? some dust? a leaf? what?) has worked its way into my camera and will ruin every picture ever taken from now on. The only thing to be done is to send it back and get a new one.

UM. IT IS BRAND NEW.

PS. I AM IN LOVE WITH IT.

PPS. I LOVE TO TAKE PICTURES.

And of course, tonight, in Chattanooga, Tennessee (which I LOVE! I love Chattanooga! I am moving here! For life! Because, seriously? Chattanooga Choo Choo WOOO!!) everyone decided it was picture night and we ran around town taking tons of pictures. We even drove up a mountain and upon ascent of this huge mountain, we crossed into Georgia. WHAT?! Halfway up the mountain! In a new state! Unbelievable! You wish you had a picture of it, right!? That’s how unbelievable it is, correct?! Well, you can’t. Because MY BRAND NEW CANON CAMERA HAS A BUG INSIDE IT.

Dear Mr. Bug,

How the hell did you get into my brand new camera and ruin my life in Chattanooga? HOW???

Sigh. We drive onto Atlanta tomorrow and I’m hoping to crash a Best Buy and offer to trade pieces of New York City paraphernalia in exchange for a new digital camera. I think that is an excellent plan. We’ll see. I have to stop complaining about the camera because Melissa called me a Debbie Downer and trust me, that is NOT what you want to be labeled as. Ever. So. I will shut up about the damn camera and hopefully have it repaired or replaced because seriously you guys?

I loved that camera.

And now a bug lives inside it.

His name is Fred.

Regardless, it’s been a long week. Fevers and great shows and bad shows and computers that won’t log onto the wireless internet (mine), cameras that have issues (mine), beautiful children dancing in the aisles and making me laugh. There are new pictures on flickr, pictures I took BEFORE MY CAMERA DECIDED TO RUIN MY LIFE.

We’re on to Week #2 and I am SO excited for Atlanta and to have more 80′s Sing-A-Longs with members of my cast. We did a rousing rendition of “Open Arms” the other day, with harmony and everything. It woulda made you WEEP, it was that good. And so, I press on. Tell God to surgically remove Fred and his bowels from deep inside my camera so that I don’t have to have anymore emotional meltdowns. Thanks y’all!

Click here for pictures from the past week! They have not yet been organized into a set, but they are the most recent pictures uploaded.