Megan asked that we add some more onto this thing, I apologize, I for one, have always hated blogging, so thus am not very good at updating one I am supposed to be active in, HA! But I thought something of interest could be explaining what it is that Sarah and I do on the road.
All the shows that we have a pre- booked by the lovely Ms. Sadie Bowman, the majority of the performances have been at High Schools in the Southeast part of the country, but we have also visited some Colleges as well! We basically get the venue info (address, contact info) and touch base with the faculty person setting up the show. Upon arrival, we usually immediately load in. The load in consists on a Keyboard, keyboard stand, guitar, guitar stand, a garment bag containing 2 of Sarah's more involved costumes, our projector screen, and a huge plastic tub, that I shall hereby nickname "Tubby," full of the remaining costumes/ props, projector, DVD Player, water, and postcards to hand out after the show.
Traveling around to different venues means traveling around to different spaces. This has actually been one of the more fun aspects of the tour. Are we in a Theater? A Library? A Lecture Hall? A classroom? For the most part we have found ourselves in some GORGEOUS Theater spaces. But then the issues always becomes the size of the audience, how soon they need to begin letting students in, what are the tech capabilities, etc... So Sarah and I immediately begin to piece together what needs to be done in order for us to have everything up and running, teach a student (or three) all the tech requirements for the show, run fight call, and have a few minutes to actually warm up backstage. One of the biggest challenges I knew I was going to have to let go of right away was having to do fight call in front of half of a house sometimes, kids suddenly being confused as to if the show has actually started, etc... The bright side is, if it ever does end up happening (which i try to avoid at all costs- being an actor who hates to give away things...) we just use the moment before to explain this is just a reh for us, but a preview for them! Luckily the moment of Robert Hooke throwing Isaac Newton onto the table ALWAYS lands- so no harm done!
The show itself is actually when Sarah and I are able to kick back and relax the most, it seems! The way the show is structured, the fourth wall is something that never really exists from the get- go, so we immediately set up and atmosphere that can feed the comedic nature of the piece itself. Improvisation has been a constant since the beginning because a student that you teach DVD Slide cues to for about 2 mins. sometimes doesn't get them all! HA! (though most have impressed the both of us and been ROCK STARS!) The show itself usually runs about 45- 50 min. and afterward Sarah and I just make sure to thank everyone, and refer them to the website, etc... so they can check out more info on the show.
After the show, we have done everything from Q & As about the Tour and Show itself, encores of songs that kids scream for us to perform again (Usually RIEMANN or L'HOPITAL), but mostly we get a rush of some students just wanting, yes, as ridiculous as it sounds, and is for me to even type it, autographs =) We actually have turned the autographs into Free Homework Passes, HAHA, (Ok that was only once, but it was a great idea...) Then we get to pack everything back up, and load it up, usually with the help of some awesome students willing to lend a hand.
There have been days where we have had 2 shows in a day, and one marathon day where we actually had 3!!! We also have had at least a day or three in each City to really check out the town, etc... which has been great, and we have gotten into much mischeif. (Mostly Sarah)
So there is a little insight for everybody! the glamorous life of a Tour! haha Thusfar, I have had a great time and on the whole it has been a very rewarding and educational experience for me as a performer. So there is my "37 ft. per second," cents!
I have posted a lot of the photos of our travels on my website as well (under "currently") www.danodav.com Feel free to visit!
Aloha and may the next prism you see refract light in a way that blows your mind,
Dano
www.danodav.com
