FLAGLER AUDITORIUM – PALM COAST, FL
After two great days of workshops in Jacksonville, we jumped into the rig and headed south to the Flagler Auditorium in Palm Coast. This is always one of our favorite places to perform. The entire team here – Lisa, Bruce, Jack, and the crew – treat us like family…and so we feel like family. They even had chicken noodle soup waiting for me when I arrived to help me through my cold.
The stage was clear and ready for us when we arrived. And we started almost immediately loading in the cases and getting things set up. This is a student crew at the Flagler but I’ll put them up against almost any crew we work with. They are professional, friendly, knowledgeable, and hard workers.
The show went up fairly quickly with only a few snags along the way…but with each challenge, the crew jumped right in to make it all work. It was dinner time before we knew it and “mom” had some freshly made wraps, fresh fruits, and some snacks ready for us.
When the doors opened, the crowd made their way to their seats. We had a fantastic audience – a nice mix of young and old, great volunteers, and lots of enthusiasm and excitement. What more could you ask for?? These guys are awesome!
THE FLORIDA THEATRE – JACKSONVILLE, FL
Early Saturday morning, we drove north on I-95 back to Jacksonville to set up for the evening performance at the Florida Theatre. The K-girls – Kendall and Katie – had uploaded their vlog with a bit of humor thrown in to reach out to their YouTube fans. You can check it out here.
We arrived right on time and pulled the truck to the front of the Theatre to begin load in. Saul, the TD here, was ready for us remembering every detail of our last performance here in 2007. The guys had the stage ready for us so it was easy to just sign everyone in and start loading in the cases.
The day moved along quickly and I’m sure we set an all-time new record for load in, set up, and tech rehearsal – four hours! A huge thank you to Saul, Amy, Kenny, and local IATSE 115 for doing such an outstanding job! We had a lot of time to relax, enjoy dinner, and try to doctor our colds a bit (yes, Cindy and Ethan now also have a cold). Take a look at this proscenium – isn’t this a beautiful stage???
And here’s the way the stage started to look as we moved through the lighting….
We enjoyed a good home-cooked Southern-sytle dinner of pork chops, mac and cheese, field peas, and ice cream sundaes. It’s a good thing we had that much time between dinner and the show just to let the food digest!
Doors opened at 7pm and the audience made their way to their seats. Once again, we had some great volunteers on stage with us making it a fun evening and an enjoyable show. In the lobby afterwards, I got to meet tons of them – one of my favorite parts of the day. I heard lots of positive comments about the new magic in the show. One after another, they shared their favorite moment with me. It was a great way to end a great weekend!