We have “officially” wrapped the Fall 2010 tour with our final two performances – the Paramount Theatre in Rutland, VT and the Stadium Theatre in Woonsocket, RI – this past weekend.
Cindy and I are flying to Arizona on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) to spend the holiday with two of our best friends, Andre and Kathy Kole. It’s going to be a very relaxing and enjoyable time.
When we return, I’ll be home for just a few days before Alan and I leave for Hong Kong. I’ll be speaking at the East Asian International Conference on Teacher Education Research on the Hocus Focus project. I’m really excited about this opportunity and having the privilege to share these concepts with Educators from around the world. I’ll be blogging from China so stay tuned.
Let’s recap the weekend!
THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE – RUTLAND, VT
What I love about the U.S. is the diversity of the landscape and the people. There is no place quite like New England – beautiful, quaint, and historic. And the people are proud, focused, and hard-working…and they really enjoy a magic show!
We pulled into Rutland the night before the performance, checked into our hotel, and found food. The next morning, we were off to the theatre.
It was a very easy day – Tom, the Tech Director, had everything ready for us. I mean everything – curtains were hung correctly, light plot was perfect, etc. It cut our day from 7 hours to about 5 hours of set up.
We had some stiff competition for the evening in this town of 17,000. This was opening night for the high school production of BYE BYE BIRDIE and the latest installment of the HARRY POTTER movies. In spite of it all, we had a large, spirited audience who was there to have a good time.
Bruce, the executive director, sent my office an email after the show: “What a TERRIFIC EVENING for adults and kids alike!! The illusions are refreshingly clean, crisp, and simple without being simplistic. Much of the touring, illusion marketplace is cluttered with effects, music, noise, and distracting production gimmicks. Not The Spencers – very impressive!”
Thank you Bruce, Eric, Tom, the entire team at the Paramount AND the community of Rutland for all your support!
THE STADIUM THEATRE – WOONSOCKET, RI
Immediately after loading out the show, we hit the road from Rutland to Woonsocket. It’s about a 3.5 hour drive so we would take advantage of the adrenaline rush of the show and get a couple of hours down the road. We stopped in Chicopee, MA for some sleep and then finished up the trip on Saturday morning.
We arrived at the Stadium Theatre mid-morning. Dennis – the TD – actually met us at the local Stop-n-Shop and escorted us to the theatre. Downtown Woonsocket is a series of one-way streets, a tough ride for a 65-foot truck!
We backed into the loading area, talked the crew through the necessary paperwork, and started rolling in the cases. We took advantage of every inch of space on the stage as well as some in the parking lot! Cindy never ceases to amaze me how she gets this stuff so organized everyday in a different theatre.
Another easy day working with this crew – I think we’re getting spoiled now. We had many of the same guys working with us this time as we did in 2006 when we were here last. That made it great fun, lots of laughing and comraderie among the guys.
Another fantastic audience too! We had lots of great volunteers during the show and everything came off without a hitch. It was the perfect way to end our time in New England…and our Fall tour!!