A Valentine's Day Post, From the Road

Well, it certainly HAS been a while now since I've posted in this oft neglected blog, but what better time to do so than hundreds of miles away from home while in the middle of a tour? I'm not sure if that was a hypothetical question or not, so let's just move along...

This marks the first post of 2011, with only TWO posts from last year, which really gives me quite a lot to catch up on. So, instead, let's just get to the recent months where I've been busy working on "The Paperbag Princess & More" a show with Prairie Theatre Exchange. We've been at it a while now: Rehearsals began in December, we did about two and a half weeks in the theatre, three weeks touring around schools in Winnipeg and now we are starting week two of touring around Manitoba. It's been a great experience so far, working with fellow actors Ray and Charlene as well as our SM Heather, and I'm happy to say that we've come this far without wanting to beat each other to death, so I suppose that bodes well for the remainder of our time together.

I've been keeping a road journal, which is partly to chronicle the various events on tour, and partly to hold off various writing projects that I've been neglecting: I'm doing a CAFF fringe tour this year- Ottawa, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Victoria and Vancouver, taking Edmonton off to go to Europe for a couple of weeks, which means between this show and that one I'll be spending about half of 2011 on the road. So, that means that show better be pretty god-damned good, which also means I should finish WRITING it. My current plan is to have a draft or two done by the end of the month, which also means that I'm supposed to be doing that writing whilst on the road. Progress has been... well, not the greatest.

I'd be lying if I said that the pressure of writing a show that will essentially be my JOB for months on end isn't kind of getting to me, as well as the fact that I haven't really settled on what show I'm actually writing: My first work was on a show tentatively titled "The Suckerpunch", which turns out to be the name of a movie coming out next month. That's really made my security about said show get a little weak, and so my work has been spread out on that and another show, "The Things We Leave Behind", which is shaping up decently but doesn't have a strong ending and is badly in need of a different name. Basically, I need to shit or get off the pot about deciding WHAT it is I'm making, but that involves locking myself into decisions I'm not sure if I'm ready to make. Basically, I'm being a indecisive asshole. But, those are problems for Future Brent!

As for the tour, things have been going pretty well, although a lack of internet and cell phone coverage have made me realize how much I enjoy having such things. I've been sick pretty much the whole tour so far, but I'm hoping that I'm finally getting over it all: At least I hope so, as our last couple of shows left me with pretty much no voice to speak of and it would be nice to not have to worry about that for the next couple of weeks before we head back home. We've all ready done the most remote leg of the tour, staying up in Leaf Rapids, eventually visiting South Indian Lake for a show. That was particularly interesting after having done a monologue about the history of the place for Unequal Harvest. Now we're slowly making our way southwards, from Flin Flon to the Pas, to Swan Lake, to Dauphin and finally Neepawa before spending a few days back home.

Anyway, that's the basic shape of things for now, with plenty to do once this crazy ride is finished: Specifically, I've got a huge hole in my life from March 20th-June 19th that I need to fill with SOMETHING. So, if anyone has a three month gig they need an actor/writer/professional procrastinator to fill up, let me know. In the meanwhile, I'm back on the road.

Happy Valentines Day!