BEST We made it to Sibiu today. After a long road trip through the mountains. It's a beautiful city. I can't wait to see it in the day. We made it in time for the festival opening events. It included a parade of lights and fireworks. Also, there was a giant screen than showed video clips from each show in the festival. Our show appeared twice on the series! WORST The trip was long. Though the bus is nice, it's not very comfortable to travel for so long. Especially on very little sleep. WHAT I LEARNED When you get out of the city, Hungary looks like Ohio. NEW BUSINESS
We perform tomorrow night at a military academy. BEST WE PERFORMED TODAY! We rehearsed all morning, and then played to a sold-out house. The audience was with us the whole time. I forgot how much I enjoy performing this story. After the show, we packed up the set and costumes for the tour, and then went out to another garden pub. rehearsal reheasal beer garden beer garden beer garden beer garden WORST We leave Budapest tomorrow. I'm sad! I loved my visit here. I would come back in a heartbeat. WHAT I LEARNED Curtain call in European theater is very different from US theater. In the US, we try to get off the stage the stage as soon as possible. In Europe, you bow, and then false-exit to return and now again, and you keep doing that over and over until the audience is tired of clapping for you. We returned four times before they were done, and I think they stopped clapping because they pittied the confused American actors. NEW BUSINESS
I. Don't. Want. To. Pack. BEST We moved into the performance space. The theater is great. The stage hands were rock stars. We worked hard, and rehearsal felt good. The set looked beautiful. Apparently, it's put together like Legos, and it will be simple for transport on the rest of the tour. WORST it was a long day: we worked until after 10 pm, and we were scheduled to start again at 10 am. We got a free meal from another Hungarian director though. He invited us to his home and fed us a delicious home-cooked meal. WHAT I LEARNED I learned to take the cable tram. Simple enough. Here's Simina on the tram with me. NEW BUSINESS
i found a painted cow. I thought it might have been one of the painted Chicago cows that were all over Chicago a few years back. I remember going on a search trying to find as many as we could with Kalyna and Vuyko Andrij. It wasn't actually one of those cows, but it was a nice memory. BEST It's a tie: I got to spend the morning in the city park. The city park is the site of one of the beautiful thermal baths. There is a castle in the park, and I sat in the sun on the moat. There was a Renfaire happening in the castle, and there were a lot of families around enjoying themselves. I also got to have Gulás TWICE. Yum! WORST The rehearsal space was VERY hot. WHAT I LEARNED There are two different servings of gulás: one is more like a soup. It's popular in the US. The other is thicker and served as a main dish. NEW BUSINESS
We meet with Zoltan in two days. Tomorrow is rehearsal again. And then we have the afternoon off. I'll do some laundry and stay in I think. BEST I went to the House of Terror with some cast mates before rehearsal. It was an immersive and interactive museum chronicled the fascist and communist regimes thinking through hungry in the 1930s and 40s, through 1991. Many of the exhibits were striking and sobering, and it felt important to tour this museum, considering my heritage and family history with fascism and communism and the subject matter of the show. WORST I was very late to rehearsal because the House of Terror tour took longer than expected, and my bicycle rental was complicated. I still got a good picture of parliament on the way. WHAT I LEARNED Art buildings in Hungary are just like art buildings in the states. We rehearsed in a former high school turned arts complex. It felt very much like the Flatiron Building in Wicker Park. NEW BUSINESS
My roommate Dennis and I cooked dinner. It was tasty. BEST I rode the city's bike share system around the "Pest" side of the Danube River. It's gorgeous!! the great synagogue the basilica the opera house WORST Jetlag is the worst. Just terrible. Makes me stupid. I melted a an electric water boiler. I know what an electric water boiler is. How it works. Etc. I own one. I was not confused. Just stupid. Enjoy. oops WHAT I LEARNED I learned how to use European electric ranges (to the detriment of previously mentioned appliances) NEW BUSINESS
The people of Budapest are pretty bike friendly. There are nice bike lanes on main roads. I look forward to using the bike system more. I'm on tour! Finally!!
after a year of planning and fundraising the cast of "How to explain the history of communism to mental patients" at Trap Door theater is across the pond. We will perform in Budapest in Hungary; Sibiu, Baia Mare, Brasov, and Costanza in Romania. After the tour is over I'm traveling to meet and visit with family in Lviv, Ukraine, and visiting an old friend in Frankfurt, Germany. I've been so busy after arriving that I haven't been able to sit down and post the first few days, but I have been logging my journey. So the first few days will come up at once. To log this trip, I'll be using a guided prompt to describe my day: 1. What was the best part of the day? 2. What was the worst part of the day? 3. What did I learn today? 4. Any new business? (Wild card category) Best, worst, what'd I learn, and anything else. Here goes!! |