I’m currently working on a play and yesterday I hit a bit of writers block. In an effort to unblock, I wrote this. I think it’s cute, I don’t know. It might suck so if it does, totally skip it. (I’m so good at marketing myself, aren’t I?)

September 16, 2010

I have just moved to Milwaukee and within a three hours of unloading my furniture, books, a kitchenware in my one bedroom apartment, I have received a parking ticket. Three hours. The citation tells me a parking officer has “chalked” my 1997 Honda accord at 11:15 AM and the marking was still visible after 1:30 PM. There is a two hour parking limit on the street which I chose to park. I may mail this citation off with a check for $25 or I may pay online for a $3 fee. I chose to write a check as a stamp costs significantly less than $3.

The welcome wagon Milwaukee chose to give me, a blue and white jeep with a scepter of chalk, has left me feeling perplexed and fascinated. Who are these creatures? What are their habits? Their behavior patterns? How many on a given day? How many at night? I have decided to make an endeavor to find out.

September 17, 2010

After going online and looking at the official rules for Parking in the City of Milwaukee, I see I have a lot to learn. The basics are this: one must obtain a day parking pass and a night parking pass. The day only applies to the the block one lives in and the night may apply to most if not all of the city. I fear there are loopholes to how the night parking pass works. Surely one can not park anywhere in the city. Incidentally, I have received another parking citation for parking at night. I order the night parking pass online and I pay off my second ticket while I am at the website. Convenience, it seems, has won this round.

I am told by the barista whom I order my coffee from that winter parking has a different set of rules and they get complicated. If more than four inches of snowfall accumulates, I may not park in designated areas. Furthermore, if the city declares a snow emergency, arterial roads in the city will be closed off but, according to the barista, the two situations can be mutually exclusive. I want to talk further but she thanks me and sends me on my way, coffee in hand.

September 19, 2010

It appears I will be in for a long winter. The street where I find myself parking has the restrictions for both snow emergencies and four inches of snow. I will cross this bridge when I come to it.

On a different front, I have made the conscious decision to not get a daytime parking pass. Reason one: I want to study how this parking system works. I want to figure out how to beat this system that has already gotten fifty-three dollars out of me. I want to know the tricks the little blue and white jeeps use to extort money and I want to publish my results so the good people of Milwaukee can perhaps feel a little bit more comfortable parking when they go to the local bookshops and restaurants in the city. I want to do my part.

Reason two: I seem to have misplaced my lease, which is the document needed to obtain the daytime parking pass.

October 14, 2010

After two more parking tickets, both paid for by check and stamp, and three weeks of monitoring and stakeouts, I am excited to say that I have results to report. It seems that, at least in my case, the little blue and white jeep only comes by once a day. The hours are usually, but not limited to, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Occasionally, they will leave their chalk mark of shame after 3:00 PM but this is a very rare occurrence. And never once have I observed them after 3:30 PM. My street has signage that there is two hour parking from the hours of 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. However if one parks Before 7 or after 3:30, one will not get a ticket if parked for more than two hours. You’re Welcome.

October 17, 2010

I just got a parking ticket. Fucking assholes.

October 26, 2010

From the time one is chalked to the time one is ticketed, there is at least a fifteen minute to one hour gap between the alloted two hour period and time and the little blue and white jeep returning to reap what they have sown. Therefore, if, hypothetically, one parks in a two hour parking spot at 12:15 PM and finds themselves finishing a chapter of their book at 2:15 PM, they, in fact have hypothetically have at most, fifteen minutes to put down their book to move their car.

Also, if a blue and white jeep sees one simply wipe the chalk off one’s car, much anger and a hefty fine which I do not care to reveal is forthcoming. Duly noted.

November 1 2010

Parking tickets contain a space where the little blue and white jeep can leave comments. The comments usually say, “Chalk Mark Still Visible” or “Expired Meter” My latest parking ticket simply says, “Your Ass Is Mine.” This seems highly unprofessional.

November 9, 2010

I have devised a method for avoiding tickets for my street. At 11:00 AM it will go outside to check the rear wheel of my car. If there is a chalk mark, I will move my car. If there is no chalk mark, I will not. I will then check again at 1:00 PM and again at 3:00 PM. I can also check other cars around my 1997 Honda Accord for chalk marks and If I find them I may move my own vehicle without checking. Constant vigilant attention is necessary. I really should be putting this much effort in finding a job.

November 20, 2010

After watching the little blue and white jeep for some time now, I begin to wonder if the whole parking ticket system is really working for the city. If you look at it as a business, does the money brought in by parking tickets really warrant the wages of the drivers, the price of the small army of little white jeeps, the gas that must go into a day’s work, the cost of the system and the overhead of maintaining a department devoted to accepting or rejecting appeals of the parking tickets given out. Then I remember that I alone have given out $539 towards parking tickets in a little over two months. Then I get angry.

December 3, 2010

A little blue and white jeep has placed a chalk mark on the side of my tire as opposed to the surface that makes contact with the road. I may not wipe it off and simply driving will not remove the chalk mark. I really do not know what to do. I feel helpless and small.

December 14, 2010

The first heavy snowfall has occurred in the city of Milwaukee. Seven inches have fallen since 2:00 AM. People cannot move their cars in the icy sludge and the little blue and white jeeps are plugging away chalking up cars on my street. There is no God.

December 15, 2010

I have received a parking ticket for parking over twelve inches away from the curb even though there is a block of snow/ice impacted on the curb preventing me from parking any further. There is nothing I can do to park closer. And I still got a ticket. The rules I have outlined in my previous posts have become null and void. Why did I move here? What business do I have living here? Why do I own a car? I could just take the bus from now on. Sell my car. Buy a bus pass. It would make more sense. I was at a coffee shop this morning and I watched a little blue and white jeep drive drive by. The driver was grinning. Literally grinning. Like he was simply loving his job. Wrecking the days of dozens of people. I have never understood why the people who have lived in Milwaukee for years curse the existence of the little blue and white jeeps. Now I get it. I also get the movie Sparticus.

December 21, 2010

I met someone at a bar who works for the Milwaukee Transit Department. He tells me that if you are at your vehicle when a little blue and white jeep pulls up to give you a citation, you can take the ticket by hand and ask that they void the ticket and they have a legal obligation to accept. But here’s the thing. They will tell you that they can’t because it is already in the system but they are lying to you because it is apparently a hassle to void the ticket. You can then contest the ticket and tell the guy behind the desk that the ticket was never legitimately placed on your car and he will have no recourse but to cancel the infraction. I do not know how this is enforced and how the city curtails abuse but I will personally investigate it further and report back to you good people on if this would work.

I am also told that during a snow emergency, one may park in the playground of a nearby elementary school overnight, however one must move the exiled vehicle before 7:00 AM or severe financial repercussions will apply. Also, the playgrounds are not plowed. This seems more trouble than it is worth.

December 24, 2010

I got a parking ticket. Merry Fucking Christmas.

January 1, 2011

I got a parking ticket. Happy Fucking New Year.

January 7 2011

I have received yet another parking ticket. This one seems illegitimate. I have been at work from 4:30 PM to 11:00 PM. At 6:00 PM and snow emergency was called for the city of Milwaukee. All vehicles must be removed from the arterial roads by 9:00 PM or they will be ticketed and towed by morning. There is no way I would know to move my car as I have been at work. This is very perplexing. But what is even more perplexing is that no snow has actually fallen in the city of Milwaukee. Not one flake. Since the weather would hypothetically drop ten inches of snow, an emergency was called. But though no snow actually accumulated, the orange and white tickets still dot all the cars on the street. The pavement is still a salty dry. The plays of Arthur Adamov and Eugene Ionesco make much more sense.

January 9, 2011

I was driving down Farwell Avenue and and as I was passing Von Trier going the speed limit, a little blue and white jeep pulls up beside me. We drive side by side for a while. A window is rolled down and a ticket is placed on my windshield. The little blue and white jeep then peels away. Words cannot describe.

January 16, 2011

A blizzard has descended on the City of Milwaukee. Snow emergency is in effect. Cars are buried to the windshield with snow. No one can move their cars. On every street, a team of people are helping out their fellow man with snow shovels, rock salt, even kitty litter. There are little blue and white jeeps everywhere but no chalk marks. They seem to be looking for people in the middle of the street, or blocking alleyways or something. This is the first time I have ever seen the little blue and white jeeps show an act of mercy. That, coupled with the sight of dozens of people helping each other dig their car out of the snow, shovel sidewalks of the elderly, dig out doors and street corners… all laughing at the night they had and how no one really can get to work today… It really is a sight to see. I am beginning to see why people actually live here. Actually want to live here. Actually love living here. Apparently, it’s worth it.

January 20, 2011

The sense of community is now gone. Early this morning, in order to clean out the arterial roads, parking has been temporarily suspended. A single sign has been posted on my block this morning letting people know. At around noon today, a minivan has parked in front of it. I should take the time right now to point out another mentality in the city of Milwaukee. “If that guy can park there, then I guess I can too.” This gets a lot of people in a lot of trouble. Since that one minivan has parked in front of the sign that lets people know they can not park there, thereby blocking the sign, the street is lined with cars. The time is now 1:10 AM. Everybody now has a parking ticket on both sides of the street. If it wasn’t for my constant parking vigil, God help me, I would be one of them.

UPDATE:

The tow trucks are out. This is intense. They are all being towed. Everyone of them. There will soon not be a car left. The tow trucks are all working in harmony. These tow trucks can hold three vehicles at a time. Every truck is taking every third vehicle on the street. It reminds me of a ballet. A horrible, draconian ballet.

UPDATE:

It is now eight in the morning. There are a lot of sad angry people on the street right now wondering where their car is right now. Heartbreaking. Simply Heartbreaking.

February 1, 2011

I have purchased a large iron crowbar and I keep it in my car at all times. This is not ward off muggers or for self defense. It is to make sure I can get out of a large ring of impacted snow that has formed into ice. If one parks on less than an inch of ice, One will be stuck for a very long time accumulating tickets and an eventual towing. If I find myself stuck on the side of the road and a snow shovel is obsolete due to ice, I must retrieve my crow bar and slowly chip away at the ice surrounding the front and back tires creating a rudimentary pathway that so that I can rock the car back and forth until the inertia pushes me free. This process can take anywhere from seven minutes to a full hour and fifteen minutes. During this time, I must resist the urge to put the crowbar through my windshield.

February 5, 2011

The rear wheels of my 1997 Honda Accord are caked with snow and ice. I cannot see the rubber on my tire. I can, however, see the yellow chalk mark and corresponding parking ticket. I did not think chalk could write on snow.

February 13, 2011

Another snow storm has hit the city of Milwaukee. It seems the citizens of this city are now just fed up with snow in all of its horrible forms. Phrases like, “I’m so sick of this snow!”, “Why do we even live here?”, and “Helter Skelter!” are heard on the street.

It seems that all everyone really needs is a break. Not just from winter and snow, but from the little blue and white jeeps. They are always there in masses like hyenas in Africa looking for the gazelle that is my Honda Accord to be at the wrong place in the wrong time. I find I can drive for a day running errands only to find a parking ticket caked to ice on the side of my car dated two days earlier. My confidence in my work figuring out the behavior patterns of the little blue and white jeeps is shattered. What once began as a certain fascination has become an outright loathing. How I hate them. I hate them so.

February 20, 2011

The temperature outside is now negative six degrees Fahrenheit. My car will not start. And there are little blue and white jeeps watching… waiting. So is my crowbar.

February 21, 2011

I have just been released from the Milwaukee County Jail after posting bail. An incident occurred the other day which I care not to go into detail. All I would like to say is that my court date is scheduled for March 2, 2011 and it does not look good. I wish I had not purchased the crowbar. And I wish I would have gotten the chance to sincerely apologize to the man driving the little blue and white jeep. My only encounter with him after the incident left me quoting a line from the Paul Newman movie, Cool Hand Luke. “Nah. Callin’ it your job don’t make it right, boss.”

During my time at the Milwaukee County Jail, I learned that one can use an energy bill to purchase a day time parking pass. Fool on my, I guess. I suppose I’ll be doing this tomorrow.

On to the Alchemist, where we are doing the show. It’s hard to describe how I felt. The last time I stood on that stage we were doing the fundraiser for Jason and Andrew. I have a feeling I’m going to be feeling this a lot throughout the next month. Random pangs of deja vu. I want to use the word nostalgia but that isn’t appropriate because there is nothing to really feel nostalgic about. Right? It’s all happening again. Before the stabbing, the whole experience of directing for the first time was really scary and thrilling. After every rehearsal I was asking Grace, you know, “Did I make sense? Is this going well? Am I sucking? Am I sucking? Tell me if I’m sucking.” Not so much now. I’m really comfortable right now about how the show is going. So things are different. But nostalgic? I don’t know. I hope others are feeling it too.

platforms and lumber soon to be a set.

These are a couple of load in pics from my crappy camera on my phone. I’ll do better next time. After that we visited a couple of Value Villages for beds and also found a better cassette player. Yahtzee.

We  blocked the second part of the show and now we’re doing runs and getting into memorization. Going well. After rehearsal I had the cast watch the movie Shortbus. I wanted them to see it to give them a new outlook on sexuality onstage and basically to have a discussion on sex and art. I think it was a good decision. We had a good discussion.

Next day got a bed from the Value Village at Riverwest. This one of my favorite parts of doing a show the Youngblood way. “We need a bed. Time to go to Value Village and start looking. Oh look. A tape player. Yoink! Maybe that dumpster has something we can use.”

That and after rehearsals. We have a pretty good time after rehearsals.

Last night was our second rehearsal for Red Light Winter. It’s crazy how much people remember from the last run of the show. There were a couple of places here and there where we had to stop and investigate what the blocking was, but it’s pretty much all there. We are keeping, as of now, most of the blocking. I feel like we are going to see things that could be improved upon as we work the show more but actors are remembering lines from last year. They’re even emphasizing the same things. Maybe this is how a remounting is.

To be honest, when I was making the rehearsal schedule, I was a a tad worried that we were not giving ourselves enough time. We blocked half the play last night. The other half will be blocked tonight. So, knock on wood, it’s going really well.

Very often actors will look back on shows they did a month ago or a year ago and they think to themselves, “You know, I wish I had another chance to do that one show I would have done this differently and I would have done this and that.” I know I though that. This time we get the chance to do it again. It’s a unique experience. It’s hard to describe the feeling we had last night before we began. It was this mix of nostalgia and excitement. Then we got to work.

For whatever reason, here's a picture of my sister's dog with a cone on its head.

Freakshow was a blast. We didn’t blog about it much… like.. at all. We were all pretty busy with a slew of acting and working in a warehouse, eating Transfer Pizza and whatnot. Regardless, we will endeavor to make Red Light’s remounting  blog worthy deal.

A few of us had a reading last night of the show with red wine and crostini things. It was nostalgic and fun. It felt like an old winter coat. We have old ideas we want to revisit and some new ones to throw out there. We have all grown a year physically and  leaps and bounds mentally and emotionally from how the last production ended. It seems as though the next production is going to reflect that.

I’m finishing up laundry and then I’m heading over to the warehouse space to clean up a bit of stuff. I’ll have a few photos of the rehearsal and production up soon.  We have a lot of ideas for the next few months and beyond and we’ll be announcing them as we get closer to opening for Red Light. On to the next show…

Megan Peters, The photographer came up the day before last. Her and Andrew are going to a wedding and flew out the last day. While she was here, however we had a good time.

Lillian, Megan, Andrew, and myself went to the Minneapolis Zoo. That place was constructed really well. The trip was well worth the journey out of the city.

You could crawl into the monkey cage through a tube. We didn't even know monkeys were sitting on our head.

We ate at Spaghetti Factory and then went to Bedlam. The roof had a makeshift dance party.

Curt, one of our "host parents" is the guy in the Obama shirt. I really don't think we could have asked for more awesome/generous people to stay with.

Kelly Crandall is talking with Andrew. She was really really helpful throughout the trip. If we had any questions, she was out very informative and encouraging insider in the fringe.

I danced. No pictures were taken of that. And none ever will.

The next day we We swam at Lake Minnetonka, took a nap, and had our last performance. These are pictures of us striking the set and getting rid of it.

Afterwards, we had one more trip to Bedlam. Called it an early night.

Our show at times really didn’t seem to fit at the fringe. We had some less than desireable reviews. (The one labeled our show as “Avoid like the Plague” was comically bad. We had a good laugh at it.) We had some great responses as well. We were loved by the techs who had no reservation hanging out with us  long after the show and into the night. Audience members were talking about the show long after they headed out from the building and had great things to say. In retrospect, for a bizarre show in the middle of one man shows, one hour musicals about robots and inside Minneapolis jokes, for a first time theatre company that no one had heard of from Milwaukee, We did really well. Our audience attendance was above average for first time out of town companies. People want us back.

It’s really good to be back in Milwaukee. I don’t think I ever got homesick while I was there until the drive back. It might just have been the cramped truck but somwhere during the ride, I just itched to return. Jeff Grygny called Minneapolis the “great northern theatre Valhalla” in the Examiner. He also expressed a possibility that Youngblood would go there and not want to return.  We wanted to return. I suppose  I cannot speak for the group, but I’m going to do it anyway. We love Milwaukee. We are not going anywhere.  I’m sitting in Alterra right now and I’m going to head to the lake after this and read. Minneapolis is great, but Milwaukee is home. I like to think that we are all in agreement about that.

Here are a few more pictures from the Milwaukee run of the show.

Our next show is Freakshow by Carson Kreitzer. It’s going to be Awesome.

Youngblood met Carson Kreitzer te other day. She wrote Freakshow and she was a really cool person.  She had drinks with us the next evening after our show.  We now have some more really great ideas of what we want to do with the next Youngblood play.

I’m winding a bit down from the updating this thing. It’s been a weird past few days but we’re all doing well. The show is going well. Our audiences have been growing. Last show a volunteer’s cell phone went off right in the middle of the show right outside the theatre door. Everyone could hear it. I had to leave the theatre and find her. She was banging on her cell phone as it was beeping, going… “I don’t know what to do with it! It’s never done this before!”

I’ll post a few more topics, a few more pictures over the next few days. Right now, most of the cast is heading back to Milwaukee for a couple of days of working. They’ll be back on Wednesday. I’ll be walking around, seeing many shows.

Here are a few photo shoot pictures from the Milwaukee run.

This morning was a tad more relaxing than those before. Most of us woke up around ten or so and we kind of went our seperate ways. Andrew went off to get the zippo butane lighter parts that he needed, Tess, Rich and Tommy went for a bike ride, and Grace, Dave, Lillian and I found ourselves in the American Indian Cultural Corridor. We were talking to a shop owner and he was telling us about the large Native population they have in Minneapolis and, specifically, in the area of Franklin Ave. I knew there was a large population, but I didn’t know that it was so concentrated in one little area. There were shops, clinics, a few headquarters of tribal agencys and the Cultural Community center. We headed over there where there was a small café area. We got some frybread.

So good. And filling like crazy. They were out of taco meat which was sad, but frybread and honey’s still good.

We went back to the house where we slept off the food.

Andrew’s working on making that damn zippo work for us. We didn’t get it totally working but We should have it for the next show.

Oh yeah. We had our first show. Holy crap! So get this. A dumpster caught on fire outside our theatre. A dumpster CAUGHT ON FIRE.  For our show DRIVE ME TO ARSON. Someone must have thrown a cigarette in there or something. I’m in the space and the cast’s like, “Ben come look at this! I look outside and I see this:

How am I as a writer supposed to do this circumstance justice? I ask you, how?

As I stare at this, a yellow Dave says in my ear, “I did it for you, Ben.”

I was half expecting cops to interrupt the show asking how committed we actually were to our art.

The show went really well. We had a small house but that was okay. We’re first day on a thursday and we’re getting momentum. We’ve head really really good things about our show from a lot of different people so I’m feeing good about this. Yesterday, I was really nervous about bringing the cow to market. After today, I’m feeling really damn good about my cow.

The actors with Lillian before our first run.

Drive Me to Arson opened to torrential rains that drowned the city of Milwaukee. After we opened and the house was leaving the building, we were getting these crazy reports that I-43 was closed. Downer and Oakland had huge floods that were taking out cars. Gridlock everywhere and people are stranded. And a huge sinkhole opened up not fifty yards from where I live. We go outside and there is no rain falling. The streets are desolate. My truck seems fine and it starts. Lighting is flashing all over the place. And all you can really hear from a normally loud east side was sirens off in the distance. Holy Crap.

We’re driving back to my apartment and slowly we see crazy random damage. Two cars collided for no apparent reason in the middle of the street. WE energy trucks scattered here and there with people shouting orders at each other. Cop cars all over the place. Two more cars have collided. We get to my place and there is this huge sinkhole with cops all around it. I could hear the Escalade’s engine but I could not SEE it.  This is how it looks the next morning.

The view from my apartment the morning after opening night of Drive Me to Arson

Flash forward to last night. Um… Well. during the act where I scene was scheduled,  torrential rains hit the city with huge gusts of winds and one of the umbrellas on the roof of Bedlam snapped and flew off into the evening sky. Tommy thinks my play is cursed. I really can’t … disagree.

Opening is tonight. The weather forecast looks good. It’s gonna go so well, a sinkhole’s going to form outside the Guthrie.

@ltdanchoi: Today we all celebrate the enduring power of our Constitution, Equality, and Love. @amerequalrights #prop8

a recent tweet: @ltdanchoi: Today we all celebrate the enduring power of our Constitution, Equality, and Love. @amerequalrights #prop8

And from Rachel Maddow: “In general, when you ask for a majority rules vote on minority rights, you get results like what we’ve seen on the gay marriage issue. 31 out of 31 times, in 31 out of 31 states, voters voted it down. But here’s the thing about rights: they’re not actually supposed to be voted on. That’s why they’re called rights.”

"If we get lost, just follow the little Rothrocks back home!"

Our first stop is the Guthrie where we go on our own little tour of the gigantic theatre complex. I was there last spring so I know what to look for but Andrew goes nuts in how big and beautiful the place is.

We also find out that we can get $20 seats to Streetcar Named Desire. Good to know.

After the Guthrie, we both went on the light rail in a small exploration of the city. We made our way to uptown throwing up cards lefts and right. We got off the bus all dehydrated and weak right in front of Sebastian Joe’s. I ate there the last time I was here and it was über awesome. We get some ice cream, drink their water, throw some cards on the table and walk around uptown. After finding the Garage Theatre and diving into a thrift store, we head back on the bus downtown and to the University.

After asking a few people which bus to get on and transferring of busses, we get to the university and find ourselves the Rarig Center. So, we got the small business cards because they fit into people’s pockets and they can be handed out easy. They fit into people’s wallets and I prefer them to the post cards. But EVERYONE else here has the big postcards thereby dwarfing ours. I think I go a big creative on how to display ours.

I was talking to a few people and all I need to do is revisit the table and do a little maintience to our show’s “Display”. Not a big deal. Thinking too much into it? I don’t think so.

We talked around the theatre complex. It’s this multi level complex with a nice looking lobby. We didn’t go into any spaces, as people could be doing tech work, but we kinda mapped out what we wanted to do as far as the load in.

We get back the truck, feign losing the ticket so we don’t have to pay for two days of storage, and head out to the host family: two guys that are really nice and warm. This looks like this will work out great. We unload the truck, unpack ourtucff just in time for the rest of the group to get there. Rich, Dave, Tess, Grace, Tommy, and Lillian. As soon as we get there, Andre, Tommy, and I head off to the Guthrie to catch Streetcar.

Great show. Blanche was freakin’ awesome. Stella was fantastic. Stanley? Not so much. He had good moments, but overall, he wasn’t the best. The play was three hours long. I got a coffee at intermission and I think I am going to do that as much as possible. Sitting in a theatre watching actors and drinking coffee just is like.. a great evening. Made me all warm ‘n content ‘n such.

After the show, we head out to Bedlam for the third time hoping it would be open. And It was. And it was awesome. The whole feel to the place. It’s hard to describe. Like a red interior with beer on tap and random theatre people laughing at the bar talking about lights and load ins. The ambiance was like.. a decaying theatre that was taken over by bohemians. Wonderful. We go up to the patio to see a wonderful view of the city. It’s a really nice place.

We head back looking for a decent route to get back to the host family. Light rail and a transfer to the 4 except the next four bus doesn’t run for another hour. We go into a gay bar that is not Gay 90s. The other one there. I don’t even remember the name. Have a drink, get to the bus stop. Listen to a drunk salesman’s sad story of getting out of detox, ad head back home.

Around 9:00 AM we were in load in.

And at ten we had the tech.

Two… major areas of concern: The show has zippo lighters that are lit. We can’t have open flame on stage with zippos ’cause if they drop it, they don’t go out. We have been told that if we can rig a zippo with a bic lighter, then we can do it. Andrew’s on it. It anyone can jury rig a zippo with a bic, he can.

The other major area of concern is the show has an hour slot with lights going up at the sixty minute mark. The show is fifty-seven minutes long. We have a three minute window. I’m going to be freakin’ out if the lights go up and awkwardness ensues. Cue pickup. And if I have to cut a line here and there we will. I don’t want to do that, but we’ll take the hurdles as they come. We got this far, right?

After some more publicity in Dinkytown, and a trip to the Guthrie for Dave to see, we are resting for an hour or two. We head out for the fringe showcase at six. No idea what to expect. It seems like the thing could be a bit of a clusterfuck. They have a number of out of town companies performing snippets of their show. It’ll be fun, I think. Just enjoy the absurdity if it comes to that.

Tomorrow, we open. We open the fringe. Holy crap.