Woke up yesterday to cold foggy rain.
Like I wrote in the previous entry, we had a great show in the morning for about 1,000 students. A few of us headed back to the hotel to chill out for the afternoon. Others stayed near the theater to explore the area. That night, before dinner, we reunited at the theater. Vince, Rick, and I took a stroll around outside to take a few shots.
The front of the theater faces a pedestrian street filled with cafes, restaurants, bars, and shops of all kinds.
Looking one way...
And the other...
Behind the theater, an early holiday decoration sprouts between building and touring caravan.
The Paramount...
Headed up the elevator to dinner. Sean and Ashley. Beauty incarnate.
Someone from the theater put out a few copies of a local newspaper on each of the dinner tables. They wanted us to see the ad for the show tonight... (double click to see it more clearly)
Yeah. A-mazing.
And the evening just got better and better with the entrance of Sheri Pilcher! It was so great to see her.
Dinner was one of the best on the tour. The cookies! The cookies! Oh! I yearn...
The General Manager of the theater chatted with us for a bit at dinner. She said that refugees from Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and Pakistan rescued by the International Rescue Committee (http://www.theirc.org/) would be in the audience that night. She had met a few of them previously and shared some of their stories of how war in their respective homelands had torn their families apart, both through forced relocation and murder. They were brought to the US to help them restart their lives. In addition to the refugees, there would be service men and women on R&R from Iraq in the audience. All performances are important and somehow cathartic for all those involved. We were reminded of the potential for healing to which we have a great responsibility.
Another happening... Gannon spent the afternoon walking around the area near the theater. He walked into a bookstore to do a little shopping. And who walks in? John Grisham. Yeah. Just a little cool.
Charlottesville is a special place.
Downstairs in the basement were photos of the theater pre-restoration - which I believe took place only a few years ago.
The hallway walls in the basement that led to dressing rooms and the like were lined with signatures of shows past....
The show went well. Headed to Morganton, North Carolina at the moment.
We have a show tonight at 7:30PM.
Gonna have a reading in the front of the bus of Rick and John's new film script after lunch. (I'm grateful to have the chance to write that last sentence.)
Swaying slightly through the foggy fall...
O.
That ad. That ad. That AD! Killing me!
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