Peer Gynt project blog

Diary of a flying pig: Final Transmission

2006-11-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

Two in one day!

Make sure you read the blog below if you'd like to hear about our marathon of flights back home!
Otherwise, never ashamed to plagiarize a good idea (thanks, Michael Fields), here's a breakdown of the tour, by numbers.

Number of cast members: 8
Number of Days on Tour- 105 (for Oliver & Matt- less for the rest of us)
Number of Performances- 33
Number of Load-ins- 7
...hours worked in the longest load-in: 15 (NYC)
...hours worked in the shortest load-in: 4 (Nykobing-Sjaelland, DK)
...times Tyler called "places": 42 (notice, again, how many performances there were)
...cities Performed in: 9
...cancelled shows: 1
...workshops held: 6
...seats in the biggest capacity house: 1200 (Davenport Iowa, USA)
...seats in the smallest capacity house: 80 (Teatret Møllen, Haderslev DK)
...audience members in the biggest Audience: 250 (Davenport, IA USA)
...audience members in the smallest audience: 12 (Minneapolis, MN USA)
...sold out shows: 9
...Dell'Arte Alumni who attended the show: 48
...relatives Tyler had attend the show: 21 (9 in the USA; 12 in Denmark)
...Closing Lines Joan used in performance: 16
...significant injuries in Blue Lake: 6
... significant injuries on the road: 0
...cigarettes smoked by the Americans on tour: 70
...cigarettes smoked by the Danes on tour: 3,200
...gallons of coffee consumed by the cast: 425 (that's1608.8025 liters)
...gallons of beer consumed by the cast: 184 (696.51L)
...talkbacks scheduled: 10
...talkbacks actually had: 6
...Norwegians REALLY insulted by the show: 3
...Danish words learned by the Americans: 150
...foods eaten with completely unpronouncable names: 3
...photographs taken by the cast: 1,034
...times people got really pissed off at each other: 2
...prop rings for Anitra that were broken: 3
...arrests: 0
...near arrests: 3
...arguments Tyler & Andrew had over the English language: 17
...times Pia asked "does this make me look fat?": 34
...times Tyler said "Yes it does": 34
...times Joan almost forgot her leafy lady lump: 5
...times Lars said the "f-word": 2,103
...times Lars said the "f-word" onstage: 5
...times Malene was stopped by airport security: 4
...dates Matt went on: 21
...times Oliver asked "are you going to eat that?": 44
...times that great fun was had by all: 1,982,641

Thus ends a tour, but begins a relationship that we all know will continue on. Thanks for reading, thanks for the support, thanks for the great times, and always keep your eyes on the sky!

Over and Out-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 11/13

2006-11-14T09:41:00.000-08:00

The Final flight home!

As seems to be the custom in Denmark, Jomfru Ane insisted on a final brunch to stuff us senseless! I had my final flight on the Jomfru Ane winch, and then it was down to the foyer for a final feast- cakes, rolls, coffee, meat, fruit, and some heartfelt speeches. Then we packed everything into the J-A vans and headed to Aalborg airport! Our first flight was delayed by about 45 minutes, so we hung around in the airport cafe until it was time for Joan, Oliver, and me to depart (Matt decided to stay in Europe for an extra 3 weeks...). We waved goodbyes from the gate, and got on the plane, bound for Copenhagen! The flight was uneventful, but once we got to Copenhagen it was a mad dash for our respective gates! Oliver took off at a sprint to catch his flight (which was 10 minutes before Joan and mine) and Joan and I power walked through Copenhagen airport, got in line, walked onto the plane, and took off, bound for Seattle! 10 hours and 3.5 movies later, we touched down in Seattle.
The final hurdle was now in front of us- CUSTOMS. Believe it or not, the show pack was literally the first 7 suitcases off the plane- the travel gods seemed to be with us this day. We were, of course, stopped by a customs agent, as it looked like we had the enitre population of Beirut in our suitcases, but we flashed our very official looking Carnet, which they were awed by, and ran our luggage through the x-ray machine. They asked "Do you really have all 179 items?" to which I replied- yes, indeed, we do. They stamped us through without even opening one case, even helping us get them to the baggage re-checking station, and we were clear! The clouds parted, and the end was in sight!
Our next flight was leaving in 20 minutes, so we hopped on 3 different trains (which all seemed to be going the exact same direction) and went to the gate, to find that the flight to SFO was delayed by almost an hour! It was no issue for Joan, whose final desitination was SFO, but I had a very slim margin of time to catch the last flight to Arcata! So, we headed to the "Red Carpet Club" which Joan is naturally a member of, and a wonderful gentleman by the name of Richard helped us h get onto the flight that was leaving immediately (It had been delayed for over 3 hours). We ran back up the stairs, and got on the flight to San Francisco!
Once in SFO, Joan and I parted ways, and I headed to the gate for the last flight of the day to Arcata- I arrive there to find a HUGE group of people waiting to get on! It turns out that United had cancelled almost half of its flights for the day, and the two flights to Arcata, prior to mine had been cancelled. To add to the bedlam, the plane also needed to carry twice as much fuel as usual because of inclement weather, and had far more luggage than it normally carries, as well! Basically, of the already overbooked flight, United needed 15 ADDITIONAL people to give up their seats! With Smoochville looming large on the horizon, I was definitely not one of those people. Watching the clerk talk covertly with one passenger, I immediately linked up with her, knowing that she had the inside scoop. For some unknown reason, they opened the gate, and we hurriedly made out way to the plane- as much to avoid getting bumped as to avoid the small scale war that was about to break loose. The flight left about 45 minutes late, and I finally arrived in Arcata at 12:30am. NONE of my luggage was there, of course, but no matter, I was home. The pig had indeed landed, and the Smoochville Express picked me up, and took me home.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Joan Schirle is a good woman to travel with- she's got connections.
When the opportunity for free food arises, strike fast!

Penultimate transition...
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 11/12

2006-11-13T01:44:00.000-08:00

Final transimission- Tuesday, November 14- stay tuned!
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 11/11

2006-11-12T01:52:00.000-08:00

Our last Saturday in Denmark!

A day on our own to get that last second shopping in (EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday) found all of us with tapped bank accounts and overfilled bags. Malene, Lars, Jonas, & Tusen invited us all over to a party at their place, and 6 hours of tomato soup, meat, salad, apple cake (again, delicious), smoking, drinking, talking, and laughing commenced. Pia was kind enough to amass all of our pictures onto cds, which she gave to us, along with a lovely pig mug filled with Danish candy. A delightful ending to a delightful day of a delightful tour...

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Even though he's a jerk, Lars can make a pretty dang good tomato soup.
Heated bathroom floors are standard in Danish homes.

Checking the windspeed and weather forecasts for the long flight home...
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 11/11

2006-11-11T06:35:00.000-08:00

Back in Aalborg...

All of our performances done, we now have a couple more days to finish shopping, look around, and enjoy the city. I spent the morning at a tiny little school (52 students) west of town where Annette teaches. She has a class of 13-14-year-olds who are learning English, and Annette asked me to come and speak with them about America, and just so they could hear English spoken for an hour. They were great- a little shy, but had lots of good questions about everything from McDonalds to California to Tornados to the elections- a sampler plate of America, so to speak. Then it was back into J-A for the penultimate flight of the pig- my group of spectators having increased 400% (from 1 person to 4), and I now have a soundtrack, thanks to Oliver Steck! Afterwards, it was back home for me to begin packing the bajillion things I've purchased over here!

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Expandable suitcases rock.
America really needs to get with the program and include tax on all of their prices.
Danish pigs say "grynt grynt"- no wonder I can't understand them!

2 Days 'til launch-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Oliver Gets a shave

2006-11-10T03:47:00.000-08:00

We'll be auctioning off the beard on eBay...

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 11/9

2006-11-10T03:16:00.000-08:00

Denmark Closing!

I woke yesterday morning to a strange Danish man poking his head into my room and saying something in a frantic voice. Luckily, he did so exactly at the time I had supposed to be down at the truck! Maybe I was dreaming when I set my alarm clock for 7:00PM. In 90 seconds, I threw on my clothes, packed my bag, and raced down the stairs to meet Andrew and Niels, still wondering what the frantic Danish man had said. We hopped into the truck and went to catch the ferry. IN the truck I learned that there had been some sort of miscommunication with the theatre housing, and the Danish guy was informing me that we all needed to be out by 8AM! I'm glad I was gone by the time he confronted Lars, Malene, and Pia- all of whom thoroughly treasure their beauty sleep... The three of us techs enjoyed an easy ferry ride, complete with a 50 kroner breakfast buffet- jeez do they know how to eat over here. Maybe the Danes have hollow limbs...

Randers Egnsteater is a beautiful new facility, about an hour south of Aalborg. Another ground-level load-in, we had the set up and ready in about 3 hours. (I even made a short movie of us raising the entire grid apparatus, but I'm afraid only a few people will find it as exciting as I do.) The actors arrived around 1pm, we did a few finishing touches, and then left, giving Constable Tristram reign over the stage to work his lighting magic. We wandered around town, caught up on emails, drank lots of coffee from the theatre's high-tech coffee maker, ate some of the delicious curry soup and cheese the theatre provided for us, and napped until showtime. Our final performance went great- really receptive audience, which included Jean Paul Cook- a former Dell'Arte company member and school director- and went off without a hitch, with the exception of one of the trees crashing offstage in the storm sequence, narrowly missing me, Malene, Oliver's accordian, and a lighting tree... AFterwards, it was another talkback, a 90 minute strike, a meticulous repack for America, some champagne, and at 12:30am we were headed back to Aalborg, our final performance simply another great event at the end of what was a spectacular tour.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Lars and Matt are very speculative people- just ask them what they think a doorknob might cost.
It's best not to talk with anyone else about the parts of the show that almost make you laugh.
Matt, Oliver, and I think the preacher speech should always be in Danish. Our favorite parts are when Lars says the Danish tongue twister, talks about the head of the draft board saying "Cujo," and the speech ending with the words "goose eye".

3 days 'til launch-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 11/8

2006-11-09T06:02:00.000-08:00

Odsherred Ho!

We left Aalborg at around 10:30am tin the morning to catch the 1pm ferry from Århus- a huge catamaran capable of taking cars, moving vans, and tour buses. Rainy weather didn't allow for any sort of view, so we passed the hour onboard updating the script, eating lunch, and relaxing before our warp-speed load-in (2:30pm arrival, 7:30 show). Odsherred Theatre is on the gorgeous grounds of an old mental hospital- tree lined streets, private dormitories, and picturesque buildings. The stage was accessed via a door at ground level, and a crew of four guys fomr the local "high school"- a specialized school in music and production- helped us load in. Within 2.5 hours, the entire set was in! A reminder, it took us FIFTEEN HOURS in NYC- definitely a welcome change in set engineering! A delicious dinner served by the facility cook, a brief look at minor staging changes, and we did the show for an audience of around 150. Favorite audience member: a little old lady that asked Andrew before the show "Is there loud music in this show?" To which Andrew answered "Yes" and she replied "Do you have earplugs?" And then, at intermission, the same woman came up and tersely exclaimed "It's all in English!" Ah well, you can't please them all. After the show, strike was fast and furious, taking a total of 1.5 hours! We all convened on the lobby post-strike for beers, conversation, and camaraderie, to the delightful sounds of Mister Oliver Steck at the piano... Then it was off to bed for the tech crew, as we had an 8:30am ferry the next morning.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
If your coffee tastes terrible, check to see if you put salt in it instead of sugar.
No winch= fast load in and load out.

One show left!
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 11/7

2006-11-08T01:08:00.000-08:00

Our Final Performance in Aalborg!

A clear day before the show found most of us on the town, enjoying the crisp, cool weather. I headed first to the theatre for a repeat performance on Jomfru Ane's chain winch (final PIGformance- Friday!) adding some moves to my already impressive repertoire. Then I was off to the Viking graveyard on the other side of the fjord- a spectacular old village site that is also the home to over 200 graves (marked with circles of stones) and a flock of sheep. I was lucky enough to arrive around 5pm, and so had a chance to take advantage of the spectacularly long Scandinavian shadows...

Our final performance in Aalborg went great- one of our stronbest first acts to date, and the audience of high schoolers were remarkably engaged, attentive, and appreciative. After, we struck the set and loaded the truck in two hours, thanks largely in part to a reserve crew of strapping young men called in by Nils! We take off tomorrow for our final two performances!

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Andrew loves Genesis, and don't you dare comment on it.
English women were very fond of the Vikings because they combed their hair and bathed once a week.

Back on the road-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 11/4-6

2006-11-07T03:04:00.000-08:00

Three Day Special!

A great weekend in Denmark! After our Friday night show, which went well, if not a little quiet (although another commednation goes to Frank Mortenson, who was our laugh leader once again), we met up with Alan, Frank, Michael Mansdotter, and other friends after the show for libations in the lobby. We had the weekend open, so we were all making plans for our last private adventures in Denmark! Joan was planning a trip to Samsø to visit friends, Matt was planning on plans with his Merete, the owner of the Anarchist Cafe, Oliver's plans were up in the air, and I was headed to visit my family in Vejle! So, forgetting the fact that this is supposed to be a blog solely about the Peer Gynt Tour, I'm going to divulge a little about that experience, for all the friends and family who are reading!

Saturday, 11/4
I hopped on the train to Vejle at 9am Saturday, and enjoyed a completely relaxing and eventless ride (although at one point even I had to avert my eyes at a teenage couple who were trying to perform an appendectomy on each other with their tongues- as said before- teenagers are the same everywhere!). I arrived in Vejle at 11:30am, and was met there by my third cousins, Stine Jacobsen & Sarah Dedeiu. They are both cousins I have met before, and have visited my family in Minnesota, accompanying us on all sorts of adventures, Stine & her family in '95, and Sarah this past summer. After a brief trip to the grocery store for lunch supplies, we headed to the DeDeiu for lunch! There we met up with Sarah's dad, Hugues (pronounced Oog) and enjoyed shrimp & egg Smorbrød while catching up on some of the past 10 years, since my family was in Denmark last. Afterwards, we went for a driving tour around Denmark, first stopping at the Gymasiem School (a sort of junior college that most Danish 16-19 year-olds go to) to watch Sarah's younger sister Stephanie rehearse for a musical the school was doing- none other than MOULIN ROUGE. After watching 2 Danish boys and a chorus of Danish girls sing "Like a Virgin" and another couple of dancers tango to "Roxanne," we hopped back in the car to do a little more sightseeing.

Vejle is a beautiful city on a huge fjord, known for its amazing bridge that spans the fjord, and for the beautiful natural environment that surrounds it. We ventured up into the hills around Vejle and out into the farmland, stopping off at another set of cousins' home to visit, but they weren't home. So I left a note stuck to their door with gum saying: "Dear cousins, I come all the away from America to visit and you're not home! If you'd like to see me before I leave for another 12 years, give me a call." Communication posted, we headed off to pick up Sarah's boyfriend Claus, and then on a hunt to find the elusive "Pancake House," which we did eventually find, although it was closed. Ah well, something for next time. We then dropped off Stine, as she was in town for her high school reunion (she normally lives in Copenhagen), picked up Stephanie at her rehearsal, and headed back to the DeDeiu house for dinner!

Sarah & Steph's mom, Elsebeth, had prepared a DELICIOUS meal of a pork roast, complete with crackling skin (which she dutifully watched from the oven window to ensure it would not burn), cabbage salad, carrots & potatoes, and gravy, and then an ice cream cake for dessert. It's amazing I don't weigh 6,000 pounds, I've eaten so much good food on this trip. We ate, talked, laughed, and then were paid a visit from Anders, Jesper, and Louise Olsen, more cousins! Jesper and Stine had both been to Minnesota as well, and were now living in Copenhagen. They just happened to be in town because it was their mother's birthday, so it seems to have been a very serendipitous time for a visit! We talked, drank, ate, and laughed some more, and at midnight, the third cousins (Jesper, Louise, Sarah (& Claus), Stephanie, and I) headed back into town to meet up with Stine. We went to the Mississippi Cafe, and continued conversations over the din of Danish folk music and drunken teenagers singing along. At 2am we parted ways, and went home to collapse into bed.

Sunday, 11/5
We got to sleep in after our night of revelry, and then headed over to Stine's parents (John and Lizzy Jacobsen), home for a lunch! We had more rolls, coffee, cheese, hot chocolate, tea, meat, and of course coffee while continuing to visit, and were joined my Anders, Birthe, and Jesper Olsen, as well as Greta & her son Martin. A HUGE impromptu gathering of Danes, all of whom were familiar faces, which were good to reconnect with after 12 years. The group slowly thinned out, with goodbyes and "come to visit soons" issued from Americans and Danes alike. After all had left but the Jacobsens and the Dedeius (and of course this Olsen), Stine, Stephanie, and I walked in a drizzling rain over to the farm/home of Greta and Martin, walking past the Vejle "mini-zoo" and visiting with the llamas (or maybe Alpacas?) that lived there, and then meeting my second cousin once-removed, John, his two Danish Farm Dogs Sigurd and Buster, their chickens, and their flock of sheep. A Danish wildlife experience! We walked back to the Jacobsens' said goodbyes to Lizzy, John, Elsebeth, Hugues, and another 3rd cousin, Mattias, and then Stine, Sarah, and Steph drove me back to the train station, we hugged our goodbyes, and I headed back to Aalborg. A wonderful, whirlwind trip with relatives, and one that I hope to repeat again soon.

Arriving back in Aalborg, a ran to the theatre, fired off a couple of emails and a phone call to Smoochville, and then headed back to the train station to meet up with Dell'Arte Alum (and great friend) Anna Svensson, and her friend Majken, who had come from Stockholm to visit and see the show! We walked into town, had a great meal at my favorite Thai restaurant, and then walked back to Oliver, Matt, and my place for a good night's sleep.

Monday, 11/6
After a simple breakfast at my place, Anna, Majken & I headed back into town, as I had a very important 1pm meeting at Jomfru Ane. With my pig outfit. And an electric winch on the third story of the building. And a harness. Yes, it's true. Now, thanks to modern technology, I have flow on both sides of the Atlantic. The photo says it all. The Danes have asked for a repeat performance on Tuesday. Who am I to deny them? With everyone sufficiently awestruck, I changed back into my civilian clothes, and Anna, Majken and I went out for lunch and shopping. We met up with Annette, and she had us over to her apartment for buns, cheese, and cake before the show.
The show went fine- the audience was entirely high-schoolers, so there was a constant underscoring of giggling, tapping feet, and candy wrappers. AFterwards, the Americans, Pia, and the Swedes drank beers & soda in the lobby, and then Joan, Anna, Majken & I walked out to Jomfru Ane Gade to a bar for Irish coffees more beer, and talk of feminism, Peer Gynt, and Christina Aguilera. We said goodbyes, and were off to our respective homes.

LESSONS FOR THE DAYS
Nothing will give you a sense of history and roots like meeting the daughter of your great grandfather's brother's grandchildren (figure that one out).
Danes sing when they're drunk. It's great.

Only 3 shows and one week to go!
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 11/2 & 3

2006-11-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

Another 2 day review, as I'm a tired little piggy and will be in no mood to blog tonight!

Thursday, 11/2
With a free daytime in Haderslev, we all went our separate ways for some exploring time. Haderslev is home to a spectacular church from 1627, which now serves as the local cathedral. Joan and I were luck enough to happen upon it while an organist was rehearsing for a concert- truly amazing and a pretty dang spiritual... After being sufficiently awed, I continued a walking tour of Haderslev- a great little town with some beautiful buildings, nice people, good shopping. I again spent far too much money on souvenirs and Christmas presents, particularly losing control at the local wine, coffee, and tea shop, which was run by about the cutest Scandinavian girl I've ever encountered. It yet again proved an old boss's theory that "A oretty girl can sell anything." Several hundred kroner lighter, I walked out laden with teas & wine. Oliver fell prey to her soon after.

The show and audience that night were a great deal more exciting than the night before- a GREAT front row lead the charge with constant laughing and engagement, and I can yet again boast to having the most relatives in the audience- 10 of my Scandinavian cousins were there to see little old me! Afterwards, Joan, Matt, Oliver & Pia had a talkback with a local high school group, and the Andrew, Niels, & I, along with the Møllen crew struck the set, asl Ollie serenaded us at the piano lowered it down to the truck in below-freezing weather (ahhh, says the viking in me) until 2:30am in the morning only to realize that a certain member of our team (whose name that begins with N and ends with iels shall not be mentioned) left the lights on and we had a big fat dead battery in the truck. Thankfully a tow truck was quick to arrive, and as penance, he-who-shall-not-be-named drove the truck for half an hour to ensure it would start the next morning. We finally got to bed somewhere within the hours of 3-5am...

... To wake up at 7:30 am and drive back to Aalborg for a performance this evening. Andrew, Niels, and I got here around noon, the actors around 2, and we finished everything about half an hour ago, thanks largely to the help of Jen, Thomsen, Ellen, Lena, and Stine. Curtain is in an hour and a half- better get moving!

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
A winch significantly adds to your load in time.
Andrew thinks I am funny.

Waiting in the wings...
PIG

p.s. I'm heading out of town for a day or two, so my next post will be on Monday! Hope you can live without me until then!

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 11/1

2006-11-02T01:14:00.001-08:00

Haderslev!

Waking to a crisp autumn morning here in Haderslev, Andrew, Neils and I enjoyed the pleasures of a good Danish hotel breakfast (Thanksgiving dinner, compared ot USA hotel breakfasts) with 50 kinds of bread, cereal, fruit, cheese, eggs, sausage and even bacon! I felt kind of guilty getting both the Bacon and having a trouser press in my room, but Andrew said not to worry about it. After eating, we walked down the the theatre for a 9am load in!

Møllen (Mill) Teater is an ancient Mill, that a group of people took over and turned into a theater. It's a pretty spectacular building, with headers the size of platters, cool old stonework, and great staicases and corridors. The only downside to the place is that it is pretty small, and the theatre is on the third floor. What that means is that you pull the truck up, load small loads into the cage/cart contraption they have attahced to a winch on the 3rd floor, they hoist it up, and pile EVERYTHING on top of itself into the the theatre, and only once everything is in can you actually start setting up! Just getting the stuff in took 2 hours (after which we had a break for tea and coffee- remember, this is Denmark!), and then it was a matter of arranging and rearranging everything constantly so you had space to put everything up. Thankfully, the improvement that the Danes made cut load-in time by about half, and eliminated most of the major problems, but still, the set is pretty finicky and high maintenance, so we weren't totally done with load-in & focus until about half hour before show-whew! The actors got in about 4pm, and we did a work run, as there was only one backstage entrance, the stage was 1 meter more shallow than we were used to, and some traffic patterns had to be reworked.

The show was a pretty weird one- we were working our butts off, but the audience was very tentative with laughter and reaction. I think it was simply a matter of lanugage, as we're kind of out of the bigger city and English probably isn't as prevalent as it is in Aalborg... We made it through the show without any major catastrophes, (although we did have both a watch alarm during the funeral and a cell phone go off in the final "pieta" image, and there was one woman who was very loudly translating the show for her husband), and then headed into town. This little piggy went back to the hotel, but everyone else went to a local bar until 2am for some late night carousing, and by coincidence met up with an ex-student of Pia's who bought beers and shots for everyone, and then invited everyone back to his place for a party. Only Oliver went, and I still haven't seen him.

I hope he remembers there's a show tonight.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
In Denmark, coffee takes precedence over everything.
One key to working with a shallower stage- little steps.
Always remember to check and see if Joan has her "leafy lady lump" on before she enters the stage.

4 legs good, 2 legs bad-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/31

2006-10-31T23:37:00.000-08:00

On the road again...

A 9am call saw the tech crew back at Jomfru-Ane, loading the truck! The Danes have been touring for a while, and have really got it down- they have custom racks for inside the truck, lights preloaded on bars, so you just lift the entire unit off the grid and load it in, the works. The loading doors to Jomfru Ane are actually on the 2nd floor, so they had a winch rigged to lower things- I tried to get them to give me a ride, but they wouldn't bite. Don't they know I'm a flying professional?
Once we were loaded, Andrew, Niels, and I headed out! It was a grey, rainy day but driving was easy. we stopped at a Truck stop- very similar to an American truck stop except cleaner, better lit, and more pleasant to be in- had a brief break and then hit the road again. After about 20 minutes of driving, we came upon traffic that was STOPPED. We waited...

and waited, inching along slowly, if at all...

and waited, making up stories about why it was so backed up...

and waited, ready to go direct traffic ourselves...

and waited...

Finally, THREE HOURS LATER, we got off the highway, having traveled about 10km in 3 hours. The cause of our delay: Pigs. A pig truck had overturned on the highway (we never saw it), so they redirected traffic. I'm going to have rough words with some of my brethren over this one.

We made it into Haderslev- a very cute little town in southern Denmark- parked the truck, checked into our hotel, and then went out to eat for one of the slowest meals I've ever been served. We ate, talked, and walked back to the hotel through blustery late-autumn weather fo a good night's sleep before load in tomorrow.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Look out for pigs. Just when you think you've got them figured out, they go and flip a truck and delay traffic for three hours.
A hotel in Denmark that has four stars means that you either get a trouser press in your room, or bacon for breakfast (according to Constable Tristram).

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/30

2006-10-31T00:05:00.000-08:00

Packing it up...

I arrived at the theatre this morning at 8:30 to help Andrew, Neils, and Jen, as well two girls from a local school, Stine & Lena, who are doing a kind of "work experience" week, and we started taking the set down! It was remarkably easy, and some big improvements were made, such as:
-The trees have pegs in the bottom, which then fit into the floor, so they're always in the same spot and stable
-All of the rigging is connected by its own, separate metal grid, which means you put it together on the floor, and then just fly the one piece , which has almost all of your rigging points attached to it.
-The back cyc is composed of fabric that's all the same size and is cut level, and the frame it's attached to is on extendable legs, so the entire thing can be tied on at ground level, and then raised.
-The stage is bigger pieces, so they hold square better and are all interchangeable
-all of the fly rails and stabilizers are built to attach directly to the set, so they are always in the same place and solid.

We'll see how it goes when we set it up!

The actors arrive around 11am to pack up props and costumes, and do a little backstage cleaning as we worked on the set.
After we struck, Lars, Malene, Oliver, Joan, Pia, and I went to the very fancy restaurant where Kamilla works for a traditional Danish meal of beer, schnapps, and Smørbrod- open faced sandwiches topped with a variety of meats, vegetables, sauces, and cheese, all beautfullt arranged on Danish rye bread. We realized early on the the presentation of the meal is just as important as the food itself, as is the act of eating it together. Michael M. said at one point that without meals eaten together, the Danish family structure would completely collapse. There's definitely something to be learned from this...

After the meal, which was spectacular, of course, Kamilla gave us a tour of the building, and then we went our spearate ways. I made it an early evening, as it was pouring rain out, so I spent the evening trying to decipher Danish television while packing for tour!

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
A nice big table and cozy meeting area makes meetings not feel like meetings.
Taking the extra 2 hours to make something exactly right is always preferable to spending 15 hours fixing it on the road!

WARNING! I'm not sure what the internet connection will be at our hotel in Haderslev, so it may not be until Friday, November 3 that you hear from me again!

On the road again...
PIG

More photos...

2006-10-29T11:40:00.000-08:00

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/28 & 29

2006-10-29T11:09:00.000-08:00

Two days for the price of one...

Saturday, 10/28- Aalborg closing (kind of...)
After a late night of partying, Joan, Matt, & I went over to Annette & Alan's for an 11am brunch of rolls, pancakes, mimosas, eggs, bacon, coffee, tea... apparently Denmark is convinced that the way to an actor's heart is through their stomach. And in truth, their absolutely right. We feasted and talked about all manners of things with Annette, Alan, and Janni, from politics to the loss of Danish traditions in schools due to the influx of Muslim immigrants- fascinating stuff! Then it was back to the theatre for the last show of our run at Jomfru-Ane before we head out on tour. Another packed house, good audience, some issues with the mechnical workings of the cloth tubes, but otherwise a pretty solid, entertaining show! (On a personal note, I had some of my Danish relatives in attendance- they drove 4 hours to see me in my pink spandex!). Then it was over to the lovely Joan Schirle's for a post-show dinner and soiree- pasta, beers, naan, and Aqvavit, the schnapps specialty of Aalborg. We ate, laughed, talked, and even watched the first 5 minutes of a Snoop-Dogg movie Joan had checked out from the Aalborg library. Mostly, though, it was a hygge evening amongst friends. Afterwards, most of us headed home, but Oliver, Alan, and Lars headed off to the local bar. I'm not sure exactly what transpired, but do know that Oliver woke up at 5AM at the theatre.

Sunday, 10/29- Kids and Dogs!
Getting a full night's sleep due to the time change, Michael and Ebba picked up all of us Americans and headed to Viborg- the city that is home to Andrew, Hannah, Steffan, Thomas, and their brand new chocolate lab, Jensen. They live in a cute little house just outside of city limits in a rural community, about an hour from Aalborg. After ANOTHER spectacular meal- ham, beets, 2 quiches, bread, pesto, cucumber salad, and a surprise from Andrew- a fridge full of MOUNTAIN DEW!!! A blessing from the gods (and an import service Andrew knows), it was a welcome taste of home. After eating and chatting, we took an outing to a nearby authors' retreat/park on a huge lake- gorgeous! We walked along the lakeshore, climbed trees, explored ruins, chased sheep, and had a grand old time just being outside. The seasons are changing fast here- the air is cool and crisp, and we lose about 20 minutes of daylight each day. We then headed back to the house for cheese & biscuits, coffee/tea, and video games with the boys. We left around 5, drove back into Aalborg, and I'm enjoying the rest of my evening by doing laundry and communicating with home.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
The more times you spin Thomas around in a circle, the more times he wants you to spin him.
You know the boys are in trouble when Andrew begins speaking Danish.
Joan now understands why her uncles would fall asleep after meals with the family.

Animal Hero, Third Class,
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/27

2006-10-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

A Surprise Day Off from the Tooth Fairy...

Woke up to hurricane winds (well not quite, but riding a bike was certainly a challenge) and headed into Allborg to meet at Trillium- a wellness center geared towards women and babies. Another morning of yoga with Marlene got us all limbered up for the day. She then took us to the hospital she works at and showed us her "birthing room" there, complete with art on the walls, some wooden device that I'm not sure what it's used for, and a birthing tub. Afterwards, we went to a cafe across the street from the hospital for a delicious lunch (I had the crayfish salad- a delight). Then we divided forces, to regroup at 5pm for a dinner, provided by yours truly. I headed to the grocery store for supplies and a new knife, as the Jomfru-Ane knives are in atrocious shape- and me without me sharpener- and then came back and whipped up an Apple, Celery, & Bleu Cheese salad, a carrot parsley salad, and cabbage rolls stuffed with rice, vegetables, and pork, all seasoned with cardamom and cinnamon- not half bad if I do say so myself.

At 4:30, the evening took an interesting turn. Ebba came in, and said that Malene was out of commission because of her tooth, and the show was cancelled! After calling the cast, I continued with dinner, not to be swayed from my path of culinary excellence. Joan, Matt, Oliver, Pia, Ellen (J-As prop woman) and Troels showed up and we had a delightful dinner. After, with nothing immediately pressing until later in the evening (Marlene had invited us over to party after the show), we hung around, played tricks on Joan, and killed time until we headed out to the Gryesten residence.

Lucky for us, Maya (Marlene's 13-year-old daughter) was having her annual Halloween party. Normally, her older brother Sean (who is in America) pulls a stunt to scare them all. Not to be party poopers, Oliver, Matt, and I hid our bikes and proceeded to "case the joint," looking for a good opportunity to fill in for Sean. We peeked in windows, dove behind bushes, snuck along the outside walls, and tossed handfuls of rocks onto the roof for half an hour, only to find that Maya and her friends weren't there! Marlene led us down the path to the graveyard where they were playing hide and seek, and the fun began. We each staked out a piece of trail, and hearing them approach, proceeded to make scary noises. I struck first, leaping out of the bushes and screaming and growling, and was rewarded to shrieks and Danish exlcamations. After Maya realized who I was, I told them that only Joan and I had come. 20 seconds later, Oliver and Matt struck, along with one of Maya's friends who had defected to our side. The rest of the party disintegrated into a pile of screaming girls on the ground. Sean, we salute you.

After, we headed into the house, and were joined by Lars, Birthe (From Aasen), and Annette and Janni (D'A Alumni, class of '00), and we all chatted, ate way too much (a common theme, as you may have noticed), and partied until 1AM...

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Joan has not had a complete day until she's felt oppressed or cheated by at least one person.
I am not pregnant. Marlene told me so.

Whew!
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/26

2006-10-27T05:45:00.000-07:00

A day on the town...

After another delightful yoga class with Marlene, we headed for lunch at the "Free Cafe" (or something like that), which is a cafe that's sort of a social project, where the woman who owns it hires at risk kids to work it. The service was friendly but not exactly professional, but the food was cheap and very good. Yet another delightful cafe!

At 1pm, Matt, Joan, & I had an interview with Daniel and Lotte- a couple of high school students who ahd seen the show and were doing a project on Mask performance, asking us questions abour our education, why we do theatre, etc. They were very organized and polite, and complimentary of us and the show.

After that we parted ways- I decided to do some exploring, and happned upon the North Jutland History Museum- a great collection of objects, photos, tools, art, silver, glass and artifacts from Aalborg and the surrounding area. The crown jewel of the museum, however, was its "panelled room"- a room in which all the walls, windows, ceiling, and furniture are intricately carved out of wood- I walked in and my jaw dropped- completely amazing. The room had originally been at a house down by the harbor, but was taken apart piece by piece, and reinstalled in the museum at the beginning of the 1900s. Easily one of the most spectacular man-made things I've seen here. (The woman at the reception desk said it was the best-preserved and most famous room in all of Northern Europe). After buying some Christmas presents and postcards at the museum gift shop, I headed out for an afternoon of shopping. Found some great deals, and a terrific glass shop where the glass-blowers worked every day from 11am-3pm. Show call found me 1000 Kroner lighter, and laiden with all sorts of great gifts for the folks back home. A supper of Ebba's leftover soup and some spectacular oat cookies made by Pia preceded the show.

The show went great. However, poor Malene was suffering from a horrendous toothache, and in the moments when she stepped offstage looked like she had been run over by a truck. Bad news! It's a tooth that had been bothering her for a while now, but just kicked into high gear. When they called the dentist about it, he just said to take more painkillers. Glad to know that dentists are pretty similar everywhere. They were going the dentist the very next day, to be sure.

We had a talk back after the show with a group of high school age students, who were very cute, and very shy, us having to wring questions out of them... Their teacher and a couple of confident girls did most of the asking, although they all said they enjoyed the show. Then we had some drinks with Troels in the lobby, and headed home.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Lars Hates Pit Bulls.
The following could be Danish tourist slogans:
"Denmark- Just Different enough"
"Denmark- A Great Place to be a Dog"
"Denmark- It Just Keeps Getting Better"
"Denmark- The Happiest Place on Earth"

Faster than a pound of bacon-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/25

2006-10-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

A delicious day in Denmark!

This morning we met up with Alan and headed off to Aasen- the theatre/retreat center/home owned and operated by Lars & Birthe Rosenfeldt-Olsen (parents of the infamous Helga Rosenfeldt-Olsen), their cat Charlie, and their dog Julius. Aasen is located north of Aalborg, in the Danish countryside. It's a spectacular center, run by spectacular people. Complete with dormitories, a group kitchen, studio space, a small theatre, classic Scandinavian Architecture, gorgeous scenery, and even a viking stone meeting circle, it's no wonder Joan and Ronlin are always so eager to teach come out. LArs gave us a tour of the premises, and then we had traditional and delicious Danish meal, complete with home-made soup, liver pate, baked beets, dessert cheese, roast beef, and a wonderful elderflower wine, all made by Lars' and Birthe. After that, Lars showed us a tape of this HUGE show he did this past summer with a community much like BLue Lake- one that used to have a lake, but then its source was diverted, and it dried up. However, unlike Blue Lake, a foundation had gotten together to re-divert the water and fill the lake in again, and at the same time, donate tens of thousands of dollars to put together a show involving the community. Amazing. Afterwards, we went for a walk, and then had to head back to Aalborg...

...In time for yet another great meal, this one cooked by Ebba! Homemade bread and soup, which were amazing, but the true crown of the meal was the dessert- a simple and delicious "apple cake" which basically consisted of shredded apples, topped with crushed cookies, topped with real whipped cream- quite possibly the most delicious dish I've tasted yet. Engorged with the day's victuals, we rolled through or warm ups and calls, and had a great show. The audience was receptive and welcome, and it was a good ending to yet another great day.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Why bother pulling weeds along the side of the road, when you can simply hire someone with a blowtorch to burn it all away?
If the crotch of your pants is slightly ripped, but you spend most of your time behind a string bass, fixing it becomes an option, rather than a requirement.
Lars LOVES soup, even more than he LOVES apple cake.

Waddling home with a full stomach-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/24

2006-10-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

Back in the saddle...

After 2 days off, we hit the ground running today- well, actually, more like stretching. Meeting Marlene Gryesten, we gathered at the "Secret Theatre" for a couple of hours of yoga. Harkened Matt and I back to our lowly beginnings as Dell'Arte students. Afterwards, we went our separate ways, to reconvene at the theatre for the show tonight. The show went fine, and I think the full-house audience was REALLY concentrating on the language, as they were nearly silent the entire time. Even with my rockstar entrance, I was greeted to the sound of crickets. Incredible. Almost as if they planned it. We were tempted to go out into the back of the house when we weren't onstage to help coax laughs out of them, but Pia let us know that it just wasn't done in Denmark. They were appreciative, nonetheless, and we had a great little talkback afterwards with a group that was organized by an older gentleman who had been seeing stuff Jomfru-Ane from the start of the theatre...

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Just when you think America's got things figured out, Denmark shows you something that they've been doing for years and makes about a million times more sense.

Into the great beyond-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/22 & 23

2006-10-24T04:19:00.000-07:00

Two days off!

Not much happened these days- Matt hung out with his Danish filly, Oliver fixed his Accordian, Joan went to Århus to visit her friend, I did some show laundry... But the afternoon light is great- so here are some photos for your viewing pleasure!

LESSONS FOR THE DAYS
TV in Denmark is just as crappy as it is in the USA.

Zzzz...
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/21

2006-10-22T03:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday!

Had another rainy day to spend walking around the city before a 4pm show. It was th final shopping day of the "Fall Break" here in Denmark- a week off of school for the kids- so the walking streets were packed with folks looking for those end-of-sale bargains... I ended up on a couple of streets I hadn't been on yet, and am beginning to Christmas presents for the folks back home.

The 4pm performance went well- very full, responsive and enthusiastic house (our second standing ovation here), and energetic show. We our in a constant "tweak-mode," initiating small changes here and there to tailor the language and jokes to the Danish audience and keep the momentum of the show and laughs rolling. Seems to be working!

Afterwards, Michael Mansdotter and his wife Gitte, and their daughter Johanne (11) invited us over for dinner at their house. After waiting for 20 minutes for Oliver to find a AA battery (why he couldn't have just bought one is a question we long gave up asking), Matt, Joan, Oliver and I headed out. Michael drove the J-A van (which, as a sidenote, runs perfectly, looks great, and is from a recent decade) with our bikes in it, and we took his car. They live in a very cozy (or "hygge" as they say in Danish) place on the north end of town, and Gitte had prepared a FABULOUS dinner for us, their friend Hannah, and Alan & Annette, two alumni and good friends. There was delicious bread, tatziki (sp?), hummus, pasta with tappenade, an amazing roast potato dish, a glorious tomato salad, a wonderful green salad, and, of course, a plate of roast beef. We ate ourselves silly, and then sat around the table and talked for hours, covering all manner of subjects, from politics to Matt's Danish romances, to Danish private schools, to rotten.com, to Joan's Alexander technique utilization while she looks at small objects, to juggling as a sport vs. entertainment, to jumping rope (after their daughter, Johanne, did a pretty amazing jump-rope demonstration for us). Following the meal was Greek Brandy, desset wine, coffee, tea, candies, and some very controversially named sweets that joan brought. Great food, great company, who could ask for more? We ended up leaving after midnight, Joan driving with Alan & Annette back to her place, and Matt, Oliver, and I riding our bikes back to our house.

The night's biggest adventure, however, was yet to come! ON our way back to our place, Oliver suggested we take a secret path to a secret park that overlooks Aalborg. Always up for top secret missions, Matt and I agreed. 10 minutes later, we were riding our bikes down a dark, muddy path to emerge on a hill that did indeed give a beautiful view of the city. We explored a bit, and hopped back on our bikes to head home, only to see some sort of security vehicle coming down the road! Fearing for our lives, we ditched down a side path, killed our safety lights, and then road down an unmarked, ungroomed, steep path at mach 5, until we reached the street below and rode back to our house. Check "Escape from local authorites" off the list of things to do in Denmark. Matt's going to see if he can find an abandoned building for us to break into next.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
The more chords that Joan's "Ode to all the women in my father's life" has, the better it is.
Danish candy kicks America's candy's butt.
You haven't truly lived your life until you've raced down a hill on a woman' bike with a kick brake in a foreign country.

Your outlaw,
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/20

2006-10-21T02:50:00.000-07:00

Rain Rain Rain...

Another rainy day here. Not much to report- more shopping/strolling/emailing/etc. Show went well- house was about half full and a little quiet (with some very serious people sitting up front, whom Lars and Malene told us later were local actors. I sure hope I never look that serious). The bigges fiasco of the evening was laundry, which all went into the washer the night before, and when I came to check on it the next day, found it had already been put in the dryer. "How delightful," I thought, "Little laundry trolls!" However, come evening, we very quickly found out that the clothes had not been washed! The troll, (whose identity is unknown) must have mistook our sweaty clothes for having gone through the washing cycle, and put them in the dryer.

Yuck.

After the show, a group went out to a bar to hear a local Danish band. This little piggy stayed home.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
If you want the laundry done right, you better do it yourself.

Into the rain...
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/19

2006-10-20T03:13:00.000-07:00

Another day in Denmark...

Spent the day exploring the city- Aalborg really is a beautiful place! Went to their art museum- a spectacular building full of Danish and Scandinavian contemporary art. Some pretty cool stuff, but my favorite part was the playground for all opf the kids who had some sort of school there. Lots of ropes and such- something that would never exist in America, particularly in an art museum. It was so great to hear the hoots and hollers of little Danish voices while looking at "serious" art- gave it a ll a kind of vitality and presence not found in most American museums.

Also stopped into Stallings, the big department store in town, and was pleasantly surprised to find a marching polka band, complete with sousaphone, playing its way through the store. Only in Denmark.

FOr dinner, Matt, Lars, Peter (J-A's tailor and hair stylist), Oliver, and myself met at Jomfru-Ane, where Oliver had prepared a "practice dinner"- he's not accustomed to cooking, but wanted to make something for the group, but didn't want it to be bad, so thought he would do a practice dinner to work out the kinks, and then make the same meal again for everyone. The dinner (pasta, sauce, bread, salad) was wuite good, and we talked US politics with Lars and Peter, who were amazed at what they heard, as they really only hear that the US is behind the war completely, and we really like it. Our "liberal" media maybe isn't as liberal as others would like to believe....

Show was a little slow, in part due to our energy, and partly due to the composition of the audience, which was mostly elderly Danish women (I thought I might have to bust out the defibrillator at a couple of moments), but they got a lttile boost from a group of Sean Field's teenage friends, who laughed a lot. Afterwards, we had our first talkback, with wine and cheese (arranged deliciously by Anne-Marie) in the foyer. They were rather quiet, so Lars did a lot of backstory on the project and Dell'Arte, and then we opened it up to questions. They were very polite and complimentary about the show, until we got to a Norwegian woman who just couldn't understand why we had to go and change a classic. 10 minutes later, she admitted that we were having a lot of fun with the project, she just wishes we had done another play. Ah well, you can't win them all.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
No matter where you go, actors will ALWAYS be hungry.
Mess with the classics, and you'll have to answer up eventually!

Yours truly,
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/18

2006-10-19T03:08:00.000-07:00

Photos courtesy of Joan, from various points in our adventures here...

A rainy Wednesday...

Today, all of Denmark was blanketed in a gentle, cold, Scandinavian rain... I spent much of the day inside, working on schedules and other such busy work. Oliver was out on his own, Joan spent the day exploring, going to the local fitness club (that she got a month-long membership to for $25!), and Matt spent the day with the owner of the Anarchist bar- a Scando/Aussie woman, who them came to the show tonight.

The show was an interesting one, as the audience was comprised mostly of kids from the local "production school"- a school that is for kids that haven't quite figured out how to function in the Danish workplace. Lars said they were a bit of a rougher crowd, but compared to American High School audiences, they were pretty darn well behaved. With the exception of 4 girls who sat, where else, down right. Right where all of the major dramatic action of the show happens. They began giggling and talking loudly right from the start, and there was no stopping them. It came to a head in the funeral scene, where they pulled out a plastic bag of chips and started passing it back and forth. Lars shot them his best "stern preacher" look, to no avail. Finally, Matt shot them a glare that would melt steel- first, at them, second, at the bag. THey got the message, and were quiet the rest of the show. Come curtain call, after our first bow, a large group of thugs got up and started leaving, in front of the entire audience. So, Joan applauded them off... Ah, youth.

Afterwards, we met in the foyer to celebrate Nils' birthday with brownie cake, beer, and four different birthday songs. The joys of international collaboration keep raising their heads!

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Why double side copies, when single sided are so much easier to read?
If you want nice light, bounce it off something (based on careful observation of Danish lighting, which is spectacular).
No matter where you go, teenagers are still the center of their own private universe.

Over & out-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/17

2006-10-18T03:40:00.000-07:00

A very Danish Tuesday...

MOrning and afternoon were spent at our leisure- it's great being able to relax a little now that we're settled. We received a rather negative review in the "POLITIKEN" the more conservative newspaper in Denmark, saying the show was a little too crazy, chaotic, and, [my interpretation], too AMERICAN. Ah well, you can't please everybody.

Regardless, we had a full house yet again- a little quiet, but Frank Mortensen (Dell'Arte Alum., class of '04) lead the laughs, and by the end of the show, the audience was really enthusiastic and appreciative. From an actor's standpoint, the show was a little bumpy- lots of little snags, prop malfunctions, etc. The highlight of the evening, however, was the floor. There was a very squeaky spot at down right that managed to nearly ruin all of the soft moments in the show last weekend, so the techs worked on it. However, a small amount of the spray-grease they used on it got on the stage, leaving a few VERY slippery spots! Pia took a couple of dives, Malene almost ate it, even yours truly (on my hands and knees) got a little taste of it. Oliver hit the right solution, though, with some heavy duty hand cleaner, which I tastefully applied at intermission, and alleviated most of the problem. All part of a slightly stumbling night!

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Grease clean-up is key to a safe and respectful workplace.

Adios-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/15-16

2006-10-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday 10/15- The Day Off...
Had our first day completely off in awhile, and we used it well. Most of us slept in until noon or so, did laundry, biked around town caught up on email, toured the Viking graveyard, and the day culminated with a delicious pasta dinner at Joan's with Joan, Matt, Oliver, Marlene G., and myself in attendance. Conversation ranged from Danish birthing techniques to mitochondria, and afterwards, Matt whupped our butts in two round game of hot dice, both original and Detroit style.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Arugula is divine in pasta.
Verbal agreements must be made about the rules BEFORE a round of Hot Dice starts.

Monday 10/16- The Jutland Adventure
Michael M. informed us all that today would be an adventure, sponsored by Jomfru-Ane, into Northern Jutland, and we got the tour of a lifetime!

We met at the theatre at 8:30am, and they had great Danish breakfast of coffee, tea, rolls, cheese, and pastries laid out for us. All 15 of us (the four Americans and the enitre staff of J-A) sat down to enjoy the meal, and were also joined by Lars & Malene's wire haired weiner dog, Tøsen. After eating we all hopped into a 15 passenger bus they had rented, and heade north!

Before we headed out on the real adventure, we had to go pick up JOAN'S MISSING SUITCASE, that had been missing since we arrived here, lost in Denmarks' airports. Joan had valiantly been surviving on the clothing that Jomfru Ane gave us as gifts, and the extra underwear that she had packed in her carry-on. Turns out it was in Copenhagen the whole time...

First stop was an old monastery (and by old, I mean older than the United States) that had been kind of a social, political, and religious hub at various points in its history. It's now taken care of by a family that is related to Borglum, the artist that designed Mount Rushmore in the USA. Complete with mannekins of nuns eating wild boar, antique clothes presses, a spectacular old chapel, a witch in the basement, and a video about Mount Rushmore showing in the cellar (how's that for a clash of two worlds?), it was a great first stop on the tour.

Next was a visit to Denmark's HUGE sand dunes on the North Sea. With an abandoned lighthouse and a 360 degree panorama of Denmark, it was photo-op central. It also turned out to be a great place for Lars to pretend he fell off the dunes, only to land on his ass 10 feet down and knock himself around pretty good. (Although, to come clean, it was my idea... The older sibling in me just wins out sometime.) Photoed out and covered in sand, we headed to our next destination...

... which was a quaint little fishing village on the North Sea, where we took some more pictures, and then headed to lunch at this vacation getaway hotel called Tannishus. There we were served a delicious sampler of the fruits of the North Sea- shrimp, salmon, and assorted whitefish (except Matt, the vegetarian, who was given a pair of scissors and told to cut something off the hotel lawn, and then given a powl of pasta.) On the edge of food coma, we got into the car, and headed further north...

To Skagen (pronounced Skane), the northenmost tip of Denmark, and the point where the Baltic Sea and the North Sea collide into each other. After a ride on the sandworm (a tractor pulling a bus), we got out onto the peninsula, and treated to the site of the Baltic Sea coming from the East, and the North Sea coming from the West, and huge collisions of waves into each other, in a bizarre natural border dispute that has gone on for Millions of years. VERY cool. Then we hopped back onto the Sandworm, paid a visit to the Skagen giftshop for postcards, ice cream, coffee, and hot chocolate, and then bac onto our bus and into the little town of Skagen. Being the end of the tourist season, all of the shops were having huge sales, so we walked around town, some buying, some just looking. 45 minutes later, we were back on the bus, headed to Pia's house for dinner.

A feast of Epic proportions awaited us there- rice, pasta, curried chicken, beet-leek stir fry, a cauliflower/yogurt dish, homemade bread, hummus, salads, wine, beer, tea, olives- you name it, all prepared by Steen (sorry about the spelling on that one) and Pia. After another hour of drinking and stuffing ourselves silly, we sat around and talked and laughed, and then they served the dessert- a plate of delicious cheeses from throughout Europe, crackers, coffee, and tea. Bursting at the seams, the Danes sang a round about a guy who takes the fat of mosquitos and then sells it to buy boots (don't even begin to ask), we said our goodnights, and headed back to Aalborg...

... But the night wasn't over! Once we were on the road, one of the Danes asked how the USA's national anthem went, so the Americans sang "The Star Spangled Banner". Then the Danes sang their national anthem. The we sang "America the Beautiful"- and so began an hour long sing-a-thon, which included all of the American patriotic songs (including Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever"), Danish Children's songs (including one that went on for fiteen verses), the National anthems of Norway and Canada, Danish drinking songs, pop songs, and songs that I'm convinced they made up as they were singing them, American folks songs, parodies, and finally ending with a Sound of Music Medley as we pulled up to Jomfru Ane.

Needless to say, a GREAT day, and one none of us will soon forget.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Weiner dogs are bilingual.
DOn't by postcards at the attraction- go into town and buy them for half the price.
The Danes are completely comfortable with putting postcards of gorgeous watercolor paintings alongside postcards of a line of men's naked sand-covered butts. And we love them for it.

Sand still behind my ears...
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/14

2006-10-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

Our Denmark premiere!

With a 2:30 call, the morning was ours. We had originally planned to go on a bike tour of the viking graveyard, but partying with the anarchists by one of us (guess who)postponed the trip for a later date. INstead, I spent a nice morning cruising around town, which was a hotbed of activity on a Saturday, emailing, and catching up on some reading. At 2:30 we convened, and at 4:00pm the show was on. Despite some computer issues with the DMX (which Andrew and Nils handled with professional aplomb), the show went off smashingly, with applause for Joan, Oliver & my re-entrance at the beginning of ActII, raucous laughter, and ending in 4 curtain calls and a standing ovation. The Jomfru Ane folks were thrilled, as were all of us, and after the show they had a wonderful reception/dinner for everyone involved in their cafe, with fare from one of their sponsors- a local restaurant called Bentons. The next four hours were filled with eating, speeches by Michael Mansdotter & Maya Fields on behalf of Michael Fields (thanks for the great words, Michael), drinking, laughing, drinking, dancing, drinking, piano playing, drinking, singing (including a spectacular set by Oliver on piano, and J-A's Mowita singing the blues, and J-A's Thomason repeatedly yelling at everyone to be quiet to so the singing could be heard) and overwhelming camaradrie. When I left at 10:30pm, the party was just as loud as when it had begun, with a quarter of the people there, and not one of those people was fit to drive a bathtub. All in all, a hugely successful opening for all of us- Congratulations all around!

LESSONS FOR TODAY
Oatmeal is a good breakfast for many, but steak is the choice for only a few.
You have to eat a lot of licorice in Denmark, because their strong cheese makes those of weaker digestinal constitution constipated...

Looking forward to a Sunday off (our first official day off in almost 2 weeks)!
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/13

2006-10-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

Danish preview!

After a morning off, we had another tech run to go over the changes from yesterday. Starting the run was a bit delayed because we got a delightful surprise visit from Cal Pritner & Evamarii Johnson (Dell'Arte guest teachers, critical analyzer and vocal director, respectively, and good friends)! After hugs all around, we got into the run, which went smoothly, and then there was a dinner break before coming back for call.

I'd like to take a moment to sing the praises of all of the staff and crew here at Jomfru Ane. They have gone above and beyond on all fronts, from bags of presents, to getting us cellphones, to scoring us a free entry into the local bathouse, to lunches, to an overwhelming sense of being welcome and part of their family. And that doesn't even begin to get into production! The stage is spectacularly well built, they're efficient and accommodating, friendly, tirelessly inventive and creative in their solutions to things, and overall just great folks. For all of that I'll overlook the box FULL of honest-to-god LEAD that they use for weighting small pieces like the fabric tubes. This in a country who puts a separate piece in a water carafe so it doesn't dribble... If OSHA was here now. God bless Denmark.) And HUGE Kudos to Anne-Marie and the publicity staff, who have managed to place at least one advertisement for the show on every 50 square feet of Aalborg.

Our "preview" went great. It was a part of the "Culture Night" here in Aalborg, where lots of different arts and culture organizations- from avante-gard art in the park to theatres to the anarchist bar to the 400-year-old pharmacy- open their doors to the public, who can then come to the events, free of charge! We had an all-but-full house, and, believe it or not, they got just about every joke! With the exceptions of just a few vocabulary issues, they laughed a lot, even laughing at jokes the Americans never got. They even started clapping too soon, and gave us three curtain calls- a great night overall.

Afterwards, Michael Mansdotter invited us all down to the lobby/cafe at Jomfru Ane for drinks. We also met up with Marlene Gryesten (who baked us a DELICIOUS "Humboldt style" vegan apple cobbler) and Lena (a friend of Joan) and spent a good time drinking, talking, and going through the small vocabulary changes that will help the Danes understand the show, and laugh even more...

LESSONS FOR TODAY
Oliver can and will play Christmas carols on the Jomfru Ane piano if you hand him a beer.
Suitable alternatives for the word "trifles", according to the Danes, are "small things," "little things," or "minor things"
Suitable alternatives for the word "trifles" according to the Americans are "miniscule nothings", "minute amounts of inconsequential nonsense," "particles of rainbow beams", and "daisy-filled vases of bothersome liquid"
Oliver can and will play Christmas carols on the Jomfru Ane piano even if you don't hand him a beer.

Up, up, and away-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/12

2006-10-13T02:23:00.000-07:00

Woke up, went to the theatre, did a little work on the trees, and then started our tech rehearsal on the new set! Not too many problems- some space issues with placement of the bier and houses (the stage is about 40cm more narrow) and just dealing with issues of the new space and new everything took awhile. Worked from 12-5pm, with a delicious lunch supplied by Mowita (who was in Blue Lake in July). After rehearsal we worked on various things for a while (I helped Joan set up her Mac email account so she no longer is at the mercy of AO-Frigging-L (time to change, Michael!)) and then we headed back to the Thai restaurant for dinner. Matt had to leave early for a backgammon date with a Canadian professor he met the night before, and Joan, Ollie, and I spent the evening wandering the city looking for movies- the only one we found was a Finnish murder mystery with Danish subtitles- tempting, but no- and being constantly amazed at the consistency of good looks amongst Scandinavians. They must put something in the water here.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
When Pia starts yelling, it's not because she's mad.
The Danes can open beer bottles with damn near anything

Until tomorrow-
Pig

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/11

2006-10-12T03:03:00.000-07:00

Another Day in Denmark...

After a much too restful night's sleep, which included sleeping late, we convened at the theatre around 10am to get ready for a TV shoot and photos in the daily paper. The Danish version of the set is looking GREAT, with lots of much needed improvements happening on it. While waiting for the crews to arrive and set up, Oliver, Joan and myself did a little jamming along the lines of ACDC, Chinatown, Andy Griffith, and a particularly soulful version of "I Will Survive" by Ms. Schirle. For the shoot we did the opening number, Pee & Aase's first scene together, and the Troll scene. Afterwards, we talked and posed for some shots for the daily paper. Anne-Marie threw me a curveball and said that the reporter wondered what the flying pig symbolized. I replied "As far as I know, it's just a friggin' flying pig." But, seeing the disappointment on their faces, proceeded to backpedal and say that the pig symbolized a messenger between worlds, etc. etc. These Danes are so deep!

Our media time being done, we split up for the afternoon- Malene and Pia went home, I stayed at the theatre for some communications and to help with the rigging of the tubes, and Lars, Joan, Matt, and Oliver headed to the local bathouse for swimming, sauna-ing, jacuzzi-ing, and the rest. Afterwards, the Americans met up at the theatre, and headed off to find a place for dinner. There are lots of places to eat within 5 minutes of the theatre, all with dinners right around 100 kroner ($20) each. Yesterday it was Thai, this evening it was at the Veterbo Cafe- a very cozy cafe with a young clientele. We waxed eloquently about various things- the touring life, the cleanliness of Danes, Scandinavian beauty, the Danish grip on excellent lighting, you name it. Then we divided up again- Joan home, Ollie and Tyler bacck to the theatre for communications, Matt to the Anarchist bar he found (there's one in every crowd). Matt came back to the theatre to invite Ollie and I to "International Night" at the student house, which turned out to be PACKED with all nationalities of 20-something students. I left Matt there. PErhaps there will be more about that tomorrow...

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
If you ask for a glass of water at a restaurant, it will cost you a minimum of $2.50. FOR A GLASS OF TAP WATER.
If you meet a Chilean Neurosurgeon at an Anarchist Bar, he'll generally know where the party is.

Over and Out-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: Danish Tour 10/10

2006-10-11T03:30:00.000-07:00

A stellar first day in Denmark!

Oliver, Lars, and I started the day at the local radio station for an interview, Lars talked a lot in Danish, Oliver played and sang, and I exuded my irresistable swiney charm- we knocked'em dead. Then we went to a grocery store for some laundry detergent, and then got to see Lars & Malene's home. Then Lars took us back to our place. I headed immediately to the theatre on my bike, where I talked with Andrew, Nils, and Jen (the tech crew), about the set, which is nearly done and looks great- improvements have been made, construcion wise, and it's all but done! Then it was into email land, blogging, and catching up with computer stuff. We all convened at the theatre at 2:30, and headed to the Old Aalborg City Hall for wine, fruit and chocolate with the Aalborg Vice Mayor. He gave us some history on the place, and then showed us some spectacular paintings done by a local artist. Then it was back to the theatre for more emailing and busywork. At 5:45, we met up with Marlene Gryesten & Maya (Michael's daughter) and Lars & Bierte (sp?) from Aasen theatre. We went out for a great dinner at the local Thai Restaurant (buffet for 99 kroner- awesome). Then we went to the Aalborg Theatre and saw "Dans!"- a sort of retrospective of the 20th Century through scenes at Dance halls. Alan Jensen, a Dell'Arte alum, was in the cast as well. Finally, jetlag kicked in and we parted ways and headed home for sleep...

Until tomorrow...
PIG

More photos

2006-10-10T04:54:00.000-07:00

From NYC & Denmark...

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour- 10/2-10

2006-10-10T03:06:00.000-07:00

Whew! What a week! Apologies for lack of updates- you know, at the end of the day, if there's a choice of going to sleep at 3am, or trying to write something intelligible, sleep wins out. However, thanks to all of the "where's the blog?" messages- good to know people are actually reading this thing...

let's start at the very beginning...

Monday, 10/2- Day Off (Truck en route)
Nothing very exciting today (unless you really want to hear about my having lunch and dinner with friends and packing my suitcase, which I think is fun, but have a feeling I'm in the minority...).

Tuesday, 10/3- To NYC!
After a morning of last minute errands, Lars, Malene, Kamilla, Jonas, Oliver, and I headed to the airport, saying a goodbye to Minneapolis- thanks to everyone there who helped and supported us, with special thanks to the Olsen Family Circus, for their Herculean efforts on all fronts! We boarded the plane at 1:15, and arrived in New York around 5:30. After picking up the luggage (no problem) we made it through the gauntlet of taxi hawkers, called a car for the Danes, who headed to Staten Island and their home at Ganas (http://www.well.com/user/ganas/home/index.html) and Oliver and I caught a cab to Brooklyn. Upon arrival in Brooklyn, I realized that parking the 24 foot moving truck (which I was told by my host, the delightful and infallible Ruby Gomez, would not be a problem) was going to be an issue, as the streets were PACKED. Thankfully, (although not for them), Pia and Andrew had a heck of a time even getting into the city, as the truck was too tall for most of the tunnels and bridges, so they spent an extra 2 hours driving around, as I frantically called parking garages, to see who could accommodate the beast. I found one that MIGHT work just as they called to let me know they were in the neighborhood, so Ruby and I went out to meet them. I hopped in the truck, we turned the corner to get to the main drag, and there, in a ray of light beaming down from heaven, was a HUGE parking spot, as if 5 cars had just left from a party. Overjoyed and nearly in tears, we parked the truck, went to a bar to celebrate, and headed home for the night.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Ruby is always right.

Wednesday, 10/4- the Epic Load-in
After a decent night's sleep, we all reconvened at the theatre for load in at 9am. Theatre for the New City had "coned off" a spot for the truck, and it was an easy path to the theatre from there. We also had the extra help of Lars' sister and brother-in-law, visiting from Denmark, and the infamous David "Ferndawg" Ferney. By 10:30am, the floor was in, and things were looking good. Appearances, can be deceiving, however, as I went up to rig the first cloth tube in the grid, and 45 minutes later I was done, due to the fact that the grid was about 10 feet higher than the Dell'Arte grid, and it suspending an object from that height that still needs to be operational involves a PHD in jury-rigging. One rigged piece= 45 minutes. Guess how many rigging points this show has: FIFTY. Guess how many ladders the theatre had: ONE. Needless to say, after all of the ground work was done, most of the crew went home, as they would really just be sitting around while they watched 3 of us run up and down ladder & Scaffolding. Dave Ferney stayed until 10pm. Matt, Andrew and I were there hanging lights and trees and shipmasts and fabric tubes until 1:30am. At 15 hours, this is officially the longest load-in in the Dell'Arte touring history (according to Joan Schirle). Giddy from exhaustion and caffeine, we headed home for the night.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Mountain Dew makes Tyler more aggressive, to the point of him threatening to dismantle everything with a ball-peen hammer.
The proper British term for a light is a "lantern," as stated by Constable Andrew Tristram.

Thursday, 10/5- Our NYC Opening.
A day of final preparations and rehearsal. Andrew and I arrive early to make sure things are ready for rehearsal, which starts at noon. Well, it was supposed to start at noon, but due to travel times in NYC and lack of alarm clocks, it didn't actually start until 1:15pm. Ahem. Michael meets us there, and we tech through the show, working little bits and getting used to the space. We take a short dinner break, and then open THE LIAR in New York City! The opening night was GREAT. Packed house, lots of alumni, VIPS, friends, family, and strangers, and a great reception afterwards. BIG thanks to David Ferney and Michelle Seekamp who did the groundwork for the evening and pulled off an awesome event. The show was well received, and it was great to be able to stop and visit with folks afterwards. We finally left the theatre (actually, they kicked us out) at 1am, and sauntered off to dreamland.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Pay-what-you-can really sells tickets
If you have free food at a reception in NYC, an elderly couple from Northern Queens will show up and quietly steal it all night long, and that's OK.

Friday, 10/6- On the town.
With our daytime free, we all split up from our various locales (Matt at his place in Brooklyn, Ollie with alum. Zeb West in Brooklyn, Tyler with Ruby Gomez [roomate of Sayda Trujillo] in Brooklyn, Joan at Gina Leishman's in Manhattan, and the Danes with the hippies at Ganas) and spent the day exploring the city. I had forgotten what an exciting place New York was. In any given minute you will:
Hear a dozen different languages
See a minimum of 30 beautiful people.
Get ignored by every single one of them.
Almost get run over.
See someone using a plastic bag in a way you've never dreamed of.
Say "excuse me" 15 times, even though it's common courtesy to bump into people.
Get pooped on by a pigeon.

Needless to say, if you're not used to it, it's EXHAUSTING! We arrive at the theatre looking like we've been hit by a train (when I walked in, all of the Danes were sleeping in the audience), and perform for about 70 people. They're a little quiet, but seem to enjoy it, nonetheless! Afterwards, Danny Frank (class of '05), who owns JOHN'S PIZZERIA with his brothers, has the entire cast to the pizza a place for post-show pizza and beer, all of it on the house. We also hear from Will Howard and YongZoo Lee, who have flown into town to drive the set back to Blue Lake. Full, and in good spirits, we part ways until tomorrow.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Nothing tastes better than free food.
The F-train to Brooklyn is under construction at 2am, so when the driver tells you to get off and switch trains, YOU SHOULD.

Saturday,10/7- NYC Closing.
After a morning of shoe shopping with Ruby (for me, not her. And when is New York going to get some WIDE shoes, I wonder?), I go to the Budget Rental Center and rent out our final truck for the American tour. Will meets me there, and we plan for him and Yongzoo to meet at us at the theatre that night. The rest of the dayuntil show time is spent in the city, getting what we need for Denmark, stocking up on books, and discovering another of my top-ten favorite stores of all time: The Container Store. Millions of different containers, for everything you have. I know, I'm an addict. Then it's off to Theatre for the New City for our closing night. Things before showtime are running smoothly, until the truck arrives. The theatre had again "coned off" a spot for the truck on the street, but this being New York, a coup;e of cars saw no trouble in moving the cones a bit, making the spot about six inches too small for the truck. After 25 minutes of surgical parking, we realized it was no use, so Will drove the truck back to Budget until after the show. Closing night went great- another BIG house with great laughers. Afterwards, it was STRIKE and PACK time, with extra help from Josh Matthews ('00), Michelle Seekamp (MFA'06) and Matt and Adam, from Strike Anywhere- a fellow NET member. We get everything together, have a final meeting, and leave about 1:45am.

SunMonday, 10/8-9- Denmark Ho!
Our flights leave about 5pm, so the morning is spent packing- I have a delightful breakfast and bonding time with Ruby at a local restaurant, write some postcards, and then head to the airport! It's the four of us Americans traveling together, Lars, Malene and Jonas on another flight, and Pia, Andrew, and Kamilla on a flight later that evening. We check in, go through security, head to the gate, make some final phone calls, and get on the plane!

7 hours later, we're in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Boy, air travel is wild.

We have three hours to kill in Copenhagen, so Joan and I head into the SAS Lounge, courtesy of Joan's "Red Carpet Club" card, whip up some free sandwiches and fruit, and then head to our gate for lunch and hot dice. We meet up with Lars & Company, and get on the plane to Aalborg. 45 minutes later, we're in Aalborg, where we're met by Michael Mansdotter, Nils (one of the theatre techs.) and Lars' family. They take us to Jomfru Ane Teatret, give us a tour, a huge Danish Lunch, and bags of presents (including t-shirts and fleece jackets). After some visiting and talking schedule, we begin to get a little delirious from jetlag, and they take us to our apartments. Joan is at a great little place a couple of blocks from the theatre, and Oliver, Matt, and I are at great house just outside of the city center. We settle in a little, Michael takes us to the grocery store (always a cutural experience), and then we head back to the apartment. Determined to beat jetlag, Matt and I take a couple of bikes which the theatre supplied for us and bike into town. Aalborg is a spectacular little town- cobblestone streets, colorful buildings, nice people, lots of restaurants, and really friendly. After a couple of hours, we grab some Mediterranean-themed food, bike back home, and collapse into bed.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Have you ever gotten a rotisserie chicken form the supermarket, put it into the fridge, and had the fat congeal? The Danes put that on sandwiches. It's not bad...
Bikes= Awesome.

So, here I am, hours ahead of anybody who might be reading this, and in a different country. We're all well, Jomfru Ane is spectacularly hospitable, and things are right in our part of the world. Neither of the places we're staying have phones or internet access, so communications won't be as instantaneous as normal, but Michael Mansdotter just bought us a cellphone for use while we're here- I'll send the number out, should you need to get ahold of us!

Your world travelling (they had to pull me behind the airplane),
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour- 9/30 & 10/1

2006-10-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

Our second- and third-to-last days in Minneapolis- action packed!

On Saturday, Andrew and yours truly spent the morning at Roseville Area Middle School theatre, where Margot Olsen (my mom) teaches. After 15 years of being in a dingy old theatre, it's undergoing a MAJOR makeover, and we were there to help move in! Andrew and my brother Soren commandeered a more than eager team of 12 & 13 year olds, climbing around in the catwalks, hanging lights, and looking at schematics, while I was in a closet, organizing the schools prop collection. To be honest, it was quite satifying... Afterwards, we went to Red Robin, a "gourmet burger bar" with my family and the crew. A new drink was created, joing the ranks of the Gunslinger & Bone Crusher- the Slingshot (Sprite & peach grenadine- delicious!). After lunch, we picked up the moving truck, and then headed (sans truck) with Bob & Margot for a Mall of America excursion. Andrew, quite understandably, was impressed- 4 floors, five bajillion shops, an indoor amusement park, and an aquarium underneath. Next was a quick jaunt to IKEA, next door, and then we headed back to the theatre for our final night. It was our biggest house- 60 people, GREAT laughers, and a nice ending to our Minneapolis run. Strike afterwards was a mere two hours, thanks largely in part due to the reinforcements, supplied again by the Olsen clan, in the form of the Falcon 6, the Miller brothers, and of course, the Olsen Family circus. We got the truck loaded up, and headed off to dreamland...

This morning we meat up again at 9:30am- sans Joan and Matt, who were preparing for their 1pm flight. Andrew and Pia headed off in the truck, and the rest of us (LArs, Malene, Kamilla, Jonas, Oliver, Michelle, and moi) headed for the Minnesota Renaissance Festival! After meeting up with one of the my many connections and by passing the $18 admission fee (big thanks to Jenn Newman), we spent the next hours in the Middle Ages- jousting, outdoor shows, juggling, exotic dogs, visiting old friends, insult tennis, giant puppets, giant turkey legs, and beautiful weather made for a tremendous day! After the festival, we headed back to the Chateau d'Olsen for a delicious dinner of ribs, pesto, roasted vegetables, and apples and caramel, followed by a theremin-accordian duet in our garage by Bob and Oliver.

LESSONS FOR THE DAYS
Don't talk to Joan about school business 2 minutes to places
Jonas has a good embouchure
My dad is a variable capacitor
The american flag doesn't run, and doesn't obey the laws of physics
Mayer (our weiner dog) enjoys DVDs

Adieu-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour- 9/29

2006-09-29T22:46:00.000-07:00

Another day of culture for the gang! A 10:30am show at Minneapolis' IN THE HEART OF THE BEAST THEATRE- the local mask and puppet theatre. The current show is called "In the Company of Angels" and was by the group Horse + Bamboo in England. A neat little puppet & mask piece about a girl turned artist in the Holocaust. No words, so even Jonas liked it! Afterwards folks went to the Bryant Lake Bowl- a Theatre/Cafe/Bowling Alley in Uptown Minneapolis. After splitting up for the afternoon, we reconvened at the theatre for our second-to-last show in Minneapolis. Another 50-person house, appreciative and very complimentary, as always! (Sadly, there was no review in the paper today, and the show was still listed under dance...) Then it was off to Geoff and Lena's (Dell'Arte grads) for a party!

Tomorrow- our Minneapolis grand finale!
PIG out.

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour- 9/28

2006-09-29T07:14:00.000-07:00

After a brief (and well needed) visit to Smoochville, yours truly returns in top form, braving the frigid air and fierce birds of the Rocky Mountains on his return flight... The others have enjoyed days off as well, with trips to the Guthrie, Mall of America, Off-Leash-Area theatre, the Ballet of the Dolls, and some good old fashioned doing nothing. Today, Oliver's girlfriend Michelle joins the crew for a few days on her own little Smoochville vacation.

The day starts a little stumblingly, (or maybe, even, kimberly), as we all return from two days off. After we all get our heads back into the communal game, we talk about the weekend ahead, go through notes and thoughts from ground control, rehearse some of the aforementioned notes, and then zip through a brush up rehearsal. Afterwards, we break for dinner, Oliver, Michelle and I to the Olsen Family Circus for an Asian themed meal of egg drop soup, fried rice, and of course, lots of yelling. Michelle survives the onslaught with grace.

Then, it's a return to the theatre for call, and an 8pm go. A 25 person, very receptive and appreciative audience of friends and strangers enjoys one of our better shows to date! The most frequent comments I've heard are huge praises for the masks and music, and about how long Malene's legs are. I have a lovely conversation afterwards with an elderly Swedish woman about why we call Peer "Peer" instead of "Pear"- ah, Minnesota. We also meet up with a couple of the folks from Commonweal, who join us for post-show carousing.

After the show, we go off to one of the Olsen boys' favorite haunts for Karaoke and Chicken wings. We put down one hundred wings without breaking a sweat, and are treated to the dulcet tones of Jordan singing "Son of a Preacher Man" (I remind you that Jordan is an exact likeness of Paul Bunyan) and Oliver wailing away on a Jackson five hit.

We say goodbyes, and return home for the night...

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Pia is impervious to the ship masts- I tried assaulting her with one during the show, to no avail.
If you want to keep Oliver occupied, simply hand him a book with 1,000 song titles

Nighty night!
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour Day 11

2006-09-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

After a night of recovering from the twelve-person-audience trauma from last night, we woke, ready to greet the new day. After a delightful breakfast of cereal and Mountain Dew (it is Saturday, after all) while emailing everyone I know about coming to the show, Joan and Andrew and yours truly head into town. The first stop: AX-MAN Surplus, probably one of my favorite stores in existence. How to describe AX-MAN? I guess the best way would be to list the items we purchased:

7 red dice, numbered 2 to 7
2 squiggly straws with rotating bloodshot eyeballs
1 baby doll arm
Various hats
some velcro tape
various assorted bottles and metal tins
a patch from the DuBois county fair.
hologram stickers

and things we had opportunity to purchase, but did not:
a dentist's chair
a torpedo
various stoplights
enough surplus electronics to power the Pentagon
an iron lung
5,000 magnets and bike handles

Needless to say, it's a place that you can only appreciate if you go and see it. Joan Schirle was in heaven.
After that, we went to PORKY'S, a 1950s diner where you can eat in your car- Hamburgers, onion rings, french fries, milkshakes, and of course, grease. Arteries thoroughly clogged, we headed for Minneapolis. First stop was an accordian shop, located in an old White Castle restaurant. Joan bought a very sexy pair of new red leather accordian straps (at least that's what she said they were for...). Next stop was Uptown, where we wandered around, buying used books, cds, movies, and killing time before heading to the PANGEA world theatre open house. However, despite the fact that the infallible and omniscient Joan Schirle was convinced that the open house was on Saturday, this humble swine was convinced it was tomorrow. We opened the door, only to reveal... a rehearsal in progress.
The pig prevails. The open house is tomorrow. Joan gave me permission to report that she did indeed make a mistake.
Afterwards, we did a spot of more shopping, then headed back to Chateau d'Olsen for a brief respite and dinner before heading to the show. The Olsens have been busy mobilizing the masses to come to the show and makign food. Dinner consisted of the usual fare- soup, hotdish, salad, lots of yelling, and Bill Brasky stories from my brother Jordan... We hop in the car, and head for the theatre.

The show went great. 50 people in the house- thanks largely due to the Olsen clan, who were responsible for 18 people. A great crowd- lots of teenagers and ex-students of the pig, Katie Kauffman & company, and Ralph Hall & Carol from Iowa City! An impromptu gathering of everyone onstage leads to a dividing of forces- the big kids go to th bar, and the rest of us come back to the Olsen house.

So here I am, it's midnight, I'm sitting at our dining room table, there's 10 people in my living room, Oliver's been playing piano and singing songs about my family and pets for the past hour, and shows no signs of stopping...

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Joan is never wrong. The world is wrong.
Need a large group of people? Call Alex and Soren Olsen.
There was something else, but I'll be damned if I can remember...

Matinee tomorrow- let's keep our fingers crossed!
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour Day 10

2006-09-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

A morning off saw the Danes going to the outlet mall, Joan and Andrew going to the Walker Art Center, Oliver working on Soren's car, and Tyler out running errands. We meet at the the theatre at 6:30, all a little out of sorts, but ready to work. 8PM rolls in, and we go to perform the show.

For less than 100 people.
For less than 50 people.
For less than 25 people

For 12 people.

That's right, 12.

Thank god they were a good 12- very receptive, very appreciative, lots of laughs (special thanks to Bob and Jordan Olsen, who were fearlessly amused.) and a great group.

But there were only 12.

Hopefully they'll tell their 500 friends.

Afterwards, All but Tyler and Andrew headed to Matt's friend's art opening, and Tyler and Andrew headed to the Olsen's for a night of beer and board games with the family- always an epic event.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
12 people.
Let's get some more.

In solidarity-
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour Day 9

2006-09-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

Our Minneapolis opening! A noon tech call had everybody at the RITZ, fresh and rested from the day before... After a brief check-in meeting about days to come, social plans. etc., we went through a tech rehearsal with relative ease, and then took a break for dinner. Our lobby display was installed (thanks to Bob Olsen for mounting each of our headshots onto foam core with such skill) and our banner was hung, and we were ready for a crowd! The opening show went great- a pretty small house (about 50), but the show was received well, and hopefully word will spread fast! Opening night guests included Rolf Hansen (the Norwegian Consulate General), Bob Rosen (of Theatre de la Jeune Lune), my family and some of my friends, and a host of Dell'Artians (Noah Bremer, Lina Wiksten, Geoff Wold, Dylan Fresco), as well as a crowd of relative strangers... The reception was excellent- big thanks to Bob & Margot Olsen, Tara Nitz, and Jenn Newman for helping arrange things! We stay in the theatre until 11:30, and then cruise off to sleep to do it again!

LESSONS FOR TODAY
It's a good thing our water is a rope, as we we'll be able to take it on the plane without hassle.

Until tonight...
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour Day 8

2006-09-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

RITZ Theatre- the load-in continues...

After a brief meeting about reception victuals with Bob, the pig is ready for a new day. Andrew and yours truly head to the theatre for a day of work at 9am (we've given the actors a well-deserved day off). After a brief stop at an electrical supply house for three 10-foot lengths of conduit to act as extensions down from the grid, we hit the theatre like a ton of bricks- the masts and pulleys go up, and then Andrew and the focus crew work on lighting while I wallow in the mud, continue to work on rigging, screw the trees to the floor, and take care of my Martha Stewart joneses by arranging the rubber mulch and beach grass ( I went with the "Norwegian Savannah" pattern- very becoming). Once focus is done (about 2pm), Andrew and I take a lunch break, walking a few blocks to the local Vietnamese restaurant, only to discover it's closed, and then walking over to the famous MODERN restaurant, whcih is 3 houses down to the theatre. One excellent slab of meat loaf and a great potroast for me, and we head back over to finish up for the afternoon. The space is a great one- we're really looking forward to seeing the show play in it! Joan meets us at the theatre, rehearsing as we finish up, and then we all head over to the Olsen house for dinner.

It's been a busy day at the Olsen house- Oliver has stayed in bed playing the game on his cell phone, my digital camera has been run over in our driveway, and my brother Alex, while putting away things in the loft above the garage, has stepped through the floor of the loft and partially crushed our garage door. The funny thing is, this is a pretty average day at the Olsen house... Joan, Oliver, and Andrew join us for dinner, and afterwards Joan heads to the Guthrie to catch a Stoppard play, Oliver and Andrew help Alex repair the garage door, and I work on a lobby display for the RITZ lobby! Not a word form the Danes all day- I think they've been deported...

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
While digital cameras may be durable, they're not much of a match for the weight of a car (pix from past few days to follow)...
Oliver's headshot could easily be a mugshot, and he likes it that way.
Garage door panels are not meant to hold human weight (especially an Olsen human weight).
Beware phone calls from Matt Chapman- the moment you pick up, the dogs will start barking, 3 conversations will start in the room, the TV will jump to full volume, and in the process of the call 3 people will call on the other line.
Nothing beats good old-fashioned cloth spike tape (thank you Norcostco).

Dress, show tomorrow- broken legs and appetizer plates for everybody!
PIG

p.s. As the camera is currently out of commision, photos tonight courtesy of Joan and Lars...

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour Day 7

2006-09-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

Minneapolis!

After a good night's sleep at the Olsen house (also known as the home that never sleeps), Oliver, Andrew, Lars, Malene, and yours truly meet up at the newly renovated and wonderful RITZ Theatre in Northeast Minneapolis for a 10am load in! Joining us were the Olsen Boys- Jordan, Alex, and Soren- Lee Peters, and Rich Olson- all good friends and experts at grunt labor.

The RITZ is a great space- brand new with the old seats from the Guthrie, concrete walls and that oh-so-chic industrial look- very cool. Double doors right onto the stage, and a dead hung grid complete the space, and make for a relatively painless load in. The stage goes in fast, thanks to the great crew, and then Oliver, Jordan, and Soren take off to return the rental truck and bring Soren back to school. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew makes a somewhat startling discovery- the RITZ grid is about 1.5 feet taller than the Dell'Arte grid, meaning that all the drops, tubes, and ship masts are 1.5 feet too short, and to our knowledge, there is no system in place to remedy this in the technical plans. So, 3 hours and some jury-rigging later, we have everything up but the ship masts, although certain elements have proven more troublesome than others (i.e. the backdrop takes over an hour and a half to rig because each piece is a different height, width, and not square...). In the middle of it, Oliver calls. Apparently, after gassing up the truck, the Olsen car travelling with it is sideswiped by, no joke, an erotic supply truck (the motto on the side: "What happens in your bedroom IS our business."), so Oliver ends up waiting at the Budget place while the police arrive and take insurance information. No one was hurt, but the Olsen family car received a big nasty scrape all along the driver's side (apparently, the Dildo delivery mobile tried to pass them on the left shoulder...). We break at about 2:30pm. After that, Tyler and Andrew head out to Home Depot and Norcostco, the theatre supply warehouse, to buy the necessary hardware to install the masts both in Minneapolis and NYC, just barely squeaking through rush hour traffic, and taking a brief tour through Minneapolis.

Upon returning back to the Olsen House, we begin to prepare supper for the crew- fajitas are on the menu, so a deluge of chopping, mincing, mixing, and yelling (this is the Olsen house, after all) commences. Joan, Matt, and Pia arrive at 5:30, safe and sound from Decorah, Iowa where they've had an extremely successful workshop with Luther College and the Commonweal Theatre Company of Lanesboro, MN. In addition to the workshop, they were able to tour Commonweal's space, get treated to a dinner and four bottles of wine, talk with Luther College about physical theatre, and take one of the more scenic routes of southern Minnesota. Lars, Malene, Kamilla, and Jonas arrive 6:30ish, and a delightful meal commences inside and out, although the temperature has dropped, so two bonfires accompany those dining al fresco. A relaxing evening finishes with shots of all kinds of alcohol, including Snowshoe and Jagermeister, and then all go off to bed...

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Jonas likes fajitas, provided he can eat all the ingredients separately
The Danish black theatre straps truly are the bomb
Who needs TV? 3 dogs will entertain you for hours.
Actually looking at the technical needs and specifics of each venue and planning the set with alternate fittings to each space is always worth enocuraging

Tomorrow- Day off for almost all- Andrew and Tyler back at the theatre for fine tuning...

Full of refried beans and six-minute chocolate cake...
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour Day 6

2006-09-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

A day on the road, events in shorthand:
10:30am- Say goodbye to Ralph in Riverside to Rendezvous with the truck at the University of Iowa.
11:30am- actually leave Iowa City, due to a slight delay for some essential coffee buying
2pm- have lunch at KOLBY'S in New Hampton, Iowa. Classic Midwestern Lunch buffet: Fried CHicken, mashed potatoes & Gravy, cheddar potatoes, BBQ, frozen peas and carrots, and of course, soft serve ice cream. All served in a bar with exactly ten people in it- the waitress, the cook, the guy playing darts, and the seven of us.
4pm- Stop for gas, switch drivers so Lars gets to drive the truck
6pm- Stop at the Olsen house
7pm- Out todinner at Ken's Kitchen, the locally owned Chinese place- LOTS of food and of course, Chinese food coma...
8pm- THe family to the Motel 8 for a much-more-complicated-than-needed check in.
8:30pm - Drop off Andrew with the Olsen family house, South campus (my dad's brother & his wife)
9:00pm- Tyler & Ollie at the Olsen Family control center for bed- load in at 10am tomorrow!

Pig out.

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour Day 5

2006-09-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

Another day in Iowa City, albeit a VERY hungover Iowa City- workshop at noon, sympsium with the grad students 4:30-6:30pm (very interesting- we talked about things we maybe wouldn't have heard from each other... it's nice to simply have time to sit and talk), then we all drove out to Ralph's place, where we got to ride in his vintage truck, eat vegetarian chili and homemade cornbread, spill things on his white carpet, and plan for the next day. Then it was off to bed before splitting forces- Joan, Matt, and Pia going to Luther college in Decorah, the rest of us heading to Minneapolis! Fare thee well, Iowa City, I hope we meet again soon!

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour Day 4

2006-09-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Iowa City! A mecca of drunken co-eds, life or death football, and a beautiful city. Joan and Matt depart about an hour before the rest of us for their workshop, and the remainder of the team checks out at 10:30am, but doesn't leave until 11:20 or so, due to a postal clerk who was very interested in talking with Malene, and then Jonas with Malene translating- it seems foreigners are truly an oddity here in the midwest. After resisting the temptation to stop at the world's largest truck stop, we arrive at half time of the big game, can hear the crowd of 80,000 people from the theatre building, and the drunks have already hit the streets. The weather is hot, but not hot enough to warrant the strips of denim masquerading as miniskirts on the nubile forms of college women, nor the shirtless wanderings of the hopelessly drunk large midwestern farmboys, but this pig takes it in stride (note to self, eloquence improves in the description of skin and other prurient interests). The group meets up with the illustrious Dana Hanson (friend of the pig, and one of the two twins in EVERYONE SCREAMS of the Edgefest 3 years ago), who is currently attending the University of Iowa, and who leads us on a brief walking tour through Iowa City, ending at an extremely affordable and delicious vegetarian Indian restaurant. One lunch later, and the group splits, to reconnoiter at the theatre building. And then the bomb hits- THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA WINS THE GAME! Thousands of revelers fill the streets, and the drunk in public law is ignored for the afternoon...

After wading through the post-game mayhem, we meet back up with each other and the king of hosts as of yet on this tour, Ralph Hall. He has maps, he has hosts, he has contact numbers, and he has an invitation to a free dinner! We again divide forces and drive to our respective homes for a brief respite. This swine and the Danish family hosted by the aforementioned Ralph in his quaint country home in Riverside- Iowa's Blue Lake equivalent, sans Dell'Arte, post office, and hippies.

Dinner occurs at the palatial McVey estate, home of the U of I department chair (Alan) and acting teacher (Carol), and their friendly dog, Max. A magnificent oak tree welcomes you to their home, situated on 4 acres of beautiful woods-filled Iowa landscape, and dinner is served on the gorgeous screened in porch- vegetarian enchiladas and fresh salad, followed by a homemade apple crisp and whipped cream, and hot tea. Food is delicious, company is good, and spirits, although exhausted, are high... Tomorrow is indeed another day.

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Jonas does not like Indian food
Jonas does not like enchiladas
The cross between a pug and a beagle is a Puggle
90 degrees Farenheit= 32 degrees Celsius= HOT.

Amidst the drone of cicadas and a cool summer breeze,
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour Day 3

2006-09-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

So long Davenport!

A great day yesterday. 9am tech rehearsal which meant an early meet up at the car, and the treat of a string of Danish profanity as Lars realized he had overslept a bit- a funny way to start the morning! Rehearsal was relatively painless- no major alterations needed, and done by 1pm! Lunch immediately followed, and we inadvertantly left Andrew at the theatre, but later picked him up as we saw him walking down the road. The lonely lot of a technician (I promised him it wouldn't happen again). Folks headed back to the hotel as Oliver and Tyler had a lecture/demo on the life and superbly refined technique of an actor/musician to a class comprised mostly of underclassmen who couldn't have looked more bored if they tried. A good workshop overall, though, and well received by the faculty and Lance, our host.

The performance went great- a crowd of over 250, LOTS of laughs at lots of new places, a reception beforehand with Norwegian art and food, and glowing response afterward from our hosts and the crew. A quick load out (only an hour and a half later) with a new pack order, and we were on our way back to La Quinta for a little party with Pizza and beer in Tyler's room. Again, major kudos to our IATSE crew, who rocked the house big time.

Now it's off to Iowa City, in the middle of the biggest football game of the year- U of I vs. Iowa State. Word on the street is that folks start tailgating at 6am- hopefully we can cash in on some of the festivities!

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
Technicians are not to be forgotten
Sauerkraut on a pizza is friggin' delicious
Don't mention Norwegian art and food to Pia- she'll only get upset

State Sucks!
PIG

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour Day 2

2006-09-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

Another day down the tubes! And have no fear, the tubes were clean and ready to be jumped down. A 10am load in call at the Galvin Center for the Arts in Davenport, IA found the crew in good spirits (although Lars was very disappointed when I told him we couldn't take the 3 wheel roadmaster motorcycle that was pakred in the hotel lot- Pia said it was for handicapped people). We had a GREAT union crew (with all the good crew names like "A.J.," "S.T.," "Doc," and "Ray," (who has been an IATSE member for over 50 years)) that, after eating the Krispy Kreme donuts we brought to win them over, were very patient and understanding as we put the set together for the first time with no plans (except the ones Andrew had made for Denmark, which were slightly off because of the metric conversion). The theatre is a great one, and although we have to play 25 feet away from the audience, (no battens above the apron to hook trees, rings, and masts to), the stage looks gorgeous on it. After 4 hours of work, we took the required lunch break, while Matt and Joan taught a workshop to a small group of acting students- very well received and lots of laughs from what I heard from backstage. After that, we returned for some final adjustments, traffic pattern checks, etc. and most of our Dell'Arte crew left as Andrew and I wrapped things up. The TD, Brad, was even so kind as to weld us a stand for the funeral bier to sit vertically, as we no longer have the back wall of the Carlo to lean it against- great guys- we're buying them whiskey as payment.

Once Andrew and I returned back to La Quinta, we rendezvoused for dinner fo dinner at set off towards downtown- Lars, Ollie, Pia, and Joan in the white car, Matt, Kamilla, Jonas, Andrew and me in the red van. After a few exploratory twists and turns on in Davenport, we foujnd ourselves travelling over the Mississippi River and into Illinois. Feeling adventurous, Lars (driving the white car) lead us on a circuitous adventure through the industrial park area of Moline, Illinois until we finally found downtown. While scanning the streetsides, the red van was passed by another red van, and Andrew ominously said "Doesn't that red van look suspiciously like our red van?". Sure enough, it did, and as the red van that wasn't ours passed the white car that was ours, the aforementioned white car proceeded to follow it, and in the process lost us. Thus began a merry chase through Moline, which ended in LArs pulling up alongside the red van that wasn't ours and telling them to roll down their window, at which point the midwestern women who were inside it did so with a smile, and the jig was up (had this been another city, I'd imagine this story would have ended in a more violent conclusion.). We eventually caught up with each other, had a nice italian meal, and headed off to our beds, to be well rested for our 9am Tech rehearsal tomorrow (no, I'm not a masochist- Oliver and I have to teach a workshop at 2pm...).

LESSONS FOR THE DAY
-Don't trust Lars
-The proper tip for a server at a restaurant where they don't take your order- 10%. If, once you leave the restaurant, they chase you down the street TWICE because two of you forgot your hat, it bumps up to 15%.
-"Kimberly" is now the universal adverb. If you don't know how to describe an action, use Kimberly. (i.e. Please jump up and down in a Kimberly fashion" or "I took a Kimberly stroll through the park".)
-Tech plans and and a way to discern whether a loose-axis parallelogram is square before you start loading platforms on top of it would not be bad things at a load in.

More soon!
PIG

p.s. sorry no pix- camera cord is on the lamb...

Diary of a flying pig: American Tour Day 1

2006-09-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we're on the road! Joan, Oliver, and yours truly (Team Delta) were the last to leave Blue Lake last night- a five hour drive later, (including a dine and dash with Oliver's Aunt and Uncle- a delcious green pesto), we reconnoitered with Team Beta (Danes minus Pia & Andrew) and Mr. Chapman at SFO and caught our 12:30am flight without a hitch (although Matt did have a suspicious looking tube of toothpaste that had to be confiscated, and Malene had both a hand creme sample AND a tube of chapstick- we're lucky we didn't all get strip searched (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it...). Six hours later we land in Minneapolis, greeted by a gorgeous Minnesota morning. It being 6am, and us having already traveled for a good six hours, we thought a break might be in order. One phone call to the amazing Bob Olsen later, and we were on our way to the home of the Olsen Family Circus for a delicious breakfast of eggs, potatoes, homemade bread, fruit, and coffee, and some napping.

A brief visit to the mall concluded our business in Minneapolis for the day, and we headed south. A lovely (if not a little long) drive through Southern Minnesota and Iowa followed, with frequent stops at Sammy's Family Restaurant, Skippy's Grocery Store, and even an infamous "Kum and Go". Finally we arrived in Davenport, reunited with Pia and Andrew, who had a superb drive, and celebrated with a delicioso Mexican dinner ( I had the Pollo Loco- that s&^t was CRAZY!). Now it's off to bed- we load in tomorrow at 10am!

LESSONS FOR THE DAY:
The rural Midwest is hereby also known as Vegan Hell
The wooden side supports on a Budget truck may look strong enough to hold a rack of fake trees, but in fact they are not.
For every 2 people, add 30 minutes onto travel time.

Yours truly,
PIG

Diary of a Flying Pig

2006-06-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

After 3 rehearsals of flying in above the heads of the audience in my underwear, I'm convinced that the costume designer has it in for me, and that a pig costume was never and will never exist. Instead, I'm condemed to my "Fruit of the Looms", ballet slippers, butterfly wings, pig nose and ears, and safety harness for my nightly appearance as everyone's favorite airborne mammal, squeaky and squealing to my hearts delight. It only goes to show where $20,000 for a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre will truly get you: 20 feet above the ground, grunting and snorting, and hoping people can't see through the crotch of my boxer briefs.

...at least I don't have to wear a diaper...

...oh, wait...

-Flying Pig

The masks of Big fat Liar

2006-06-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

Big Fat Liar is in rehearsals. The new stage for the outdoor amphitheatre is built. The burning ship will be done soon. Brochures and posters are out. Commericals are airing. Here are some photos of the fabulous masks Dell'Arte Instructor Bruce Marrs has made for the production, good job Bruce!

BIG FAT LIAR: Part II of the PG Project

2006-05-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, Dell'Arte is in full summer mode as we gear up for our 15th annual Mad River Festival! The highlight of this year's festival is Part II of the Peer Gynt Project: BIG FAT LIAR.

Flying pigs, a troll kingdom, a flaming sinking ship and a tree full of monkeys are just a taste of the adventures Peer Gynt will embark upon this summer as the Dell’Arte Company embarks upon the second stage of a project created to commemorate one of history’s greatest playwrights, Henrik Ibsen.
Thirty-three members of the Arcata Interfaith Gospel Choir, the Dell'Arte house band lead by the inimitable Tim Gray, and the physical comic virtuosity of the full Dell'Arte acting company combine to bring you THE BIG FAT LIAR: Part II of the Peer Gynt Project. “BIG FAT LIAR” is a story of self-interest and immense possibility wasted. Join Peer on his outrageous adventures to places far away, deep beneath and totally imaginary as he strives to become a true human being in a world riddled with tall tales and treacherous trolls.

We are about 5 weeks from the start of the monthlong event and all seems on track (I know, famous last words). Designs are in the works and the masks are done. New amphitheatre stage is done, and on time! Rehearsals start today. I'll post pictures and design sketches later.
Don't forget to post some lies here, if you've got a whopper to share, add a comment to the GOT LIES? post. You never know, if it's good we may use it in this summer's show!

GOT LIES?

2006-02-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of Peer Gynt and all his tomfoolery, we are on the search for the world's best lies - and this is where you can post them!
We want to hear them all. The whoppers you've told your mother, your teachers, your loved ones, the IRS? OK, maybe this is not the place for the details on your crafty tax evasions, but there has to be other untruths nestled in your closet you can share withour legal ramifications
Let's hear them, the fabrications, fairy tales, falsehoods, falsities, and fibs. Tell us of your trickery, the guiles to beguile.
We may even use some of the best lies in our upcoming summer show, the second production based on Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt.
Come on, Peer Gynt is know as the world's most renowned liar. Make him proud!
You can also send them to gotlies@yahoo.com.

Fall 2006 Tour

2006-01-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

2006 Tour report:
The Peer Gynt Project is in the process of securing venues in San Francisco, Minneapolis and New York. We have done some great exploration with the Scandinavian community in Minnesota. Meetings with the Norwegian and Danish consulates have been very positive. They are both interested in supporting the project. We are currently reaching out to university theatre departments in the midwest and the northeast to explore residency and performance opportunities. No dates are set, but we expect to have some dates confirmed by the end of this month (January).

Posted by David Ferney, Booking Manager, Dell'Arte Company

WE'RE BACK!!

2005-12-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

FROM GREG LOJKO, STAGE MANAGER/SOUND & LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR:
After touring around the CA north coast we STILL haven't found Peer. We're sad but our spirits are high with determination. This week through Sunday the trolls will be concentrating their efforts in Blue Lake spreading the word to northern Humboldt that "the greatest liar of all" could be here. Over the past two weeks some have suggested we go east but alas, that's where we came from. We might suggest looking in your local community forest, overgrown railroad tracks, town square, local watering hole or more possibly even your community meetings. For those of you who have been so kind and hospitable but not quite convinced why we are looking for Peer, be patient with trolls. We are staying a little longer and we're bringing friends to help us search for that tricky little devil Peer Gynt!!

more photos from the holiday show!

2005-12-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

Trolls, fantasy and folklore abound in "MYTH-O-MANIAC"

2005-12-09T12:27:00.000-08:00

The first stage of the Peer Gynt project took the form of Dell'Arte's 25th annual holiday show this year. "MYTH-O-MANIAC" has spent two weeks touring to schools and performance venues throughout the North Coast. Thanks to our generous sponsors, it will be seen for free by more than 7,000 folks in our community.
Complete with flying reindeers, an epic quest and, of course, treacherous trolls, this stage of the project, again based on Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, focuses on Peer's most elaborate and infamous lies. Our young man is forced to ask himself whether one becomes a troll (interested only in himself and individual gain) or to embark on the more difficult task of becoming a true human being.
"MYTH-O-MANIAC" was adapted and directed by Dell'Arte Company's Producing Artistic Director Michael Fields and features three students of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre: Kali Quinn and Audrey Finkelstein, both third-year MFA students, and Chris Beaulieu, a PTP grad from the class of '05. As always the illustrious and multi-talented Tim Gray composed the original and mostly live music. Dan 'the-man' Stockwell did his magic with the set and lights while Lynni Horrigan designed and crafted some of the coolest Christmas-esque troll costumes you'll ever see. Resident master of all things neoprene, Bruce Marrs, created masks of all shapes and sizes. And then there is Mr. Greg "i'm in the Rubberneckers you can call me Fugazi" Lojko who keeps this motley crew together on tour.
Besides a severly twisted ankle on Chris the third night into the run and a rowdy Hoopa audience, all has been running smoothly. Chris has been performing the show in a wheelchair ever since and apparently doing a bang-up job ... ah the joys of physical theatre.
We had a visit from Michael Mansdotter, artistic director of the Jomfru Ane Teatret in Denmark, last week. He has the best smile ever and I think having him here did much to solidify this collaboration. Many friendships were established over pints at Blue Lake's lone watering hole The Logger Bar, them Danish like to drink!
"MYTH-O-MANIAC" has a couple more shows on the road and then they are back in the Carlo for closing weekend. It wll be good to see how it has evolved on tour and I'm sure it will be nice for them to be back on home turf.

Dell'Arte takes on the world's most renowned liar

2005-12-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Peer Gynt project Blog!
Dell'Arte International, a physical theatre school and professional touring ensemble based in Blue Lake, California, has embarked on an exciting new project with Jomfru Ane Teatret, one of Denmark's most acclaimed theatre companies.
A project soaked in farce, riddled with fabrications and etched in unfact.
Ever heard of Peer Gynt?
Well, before a Norwegian band infamous for torching perfectly good Fender guitars on stage took the name, Peer Gynt was known solely as a young chap created in the mind of a man internationally acknowledged as the founder of modern drama - Henrik Ibsen (that's the handsome bearded gentlemen up top).
Peer Gynt is a troublemaker, a scamp, a young man who is charming, gifted, and self-centered like a child.
But most importantly, Peer Gynt is the WORLD'S MOST RENOWNED LIAR!!
Now I know that is quite a claim considering the political climate we live in today, you may have even thought that title was taken by a certain Texan suit who shall remain nameless, but it's true, he's the best. He can lie at any time, to anyone, about anything.
Perhaps it is the frightening parallels found in our world today that spurred these otherwise honest theatre companies to take on this project, we'll probably never know. But they're doing it and here is where you can read about it. We'll talk process, we'll talk pitfalls, we'll relay stories from the tours, we may even blatantly lie to you on occasion. The actors involved will pipe in every once in a while, because really, besides politicians, aren't they the best paid liars around? You'll surely hear from directors, 'cuz who likes to hear themselves talk more?
And we want you to lie to us!
What's the worst lie you ever told your mother, your boss, a teacher? Come on bring on the whoppers, we may even use some of the best in an upcoming show. Make Peer proud.
If you are interested in learning more about Dell'Arte or Jomfru Ane check out, www.dellarte.com or www.jomfru-ane.dk. Of course you'll need to speak Danish for the latter.
Soon to come is peergynt.org, the official website for this project that we promise will be without guile, trickery or falsehoods.
Of course I could be lying.

Killer Bees attack Saddam Hussein!

2005-10-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

In a freak beekeeping accident at an undisclosed military location, Saddam Hussein was assaulted by a gargantuan swarm of killer bees. Peer Gynt, the army's resident bee keeper, gave us an eyewitness account: "I was tending the bees as usual- the Armed Forces' bee training program is one of it's best kept secrets, and I take my duties very seriously- when all of a sudden, a group of seemingly harmless honeybees shed their American Bee disguises to reveal their true colors a red and purple coat marked with a skull and an oil well, markings that I knew were consistent with a lethal species of terrorist assassin bees. Luckily, I was wearing my army issue beekeeping suit, which kept all but the most persistent insects out. However, Saddam Hussein, ex-dictator (and pop star, unbenownst to many) who was out getting his daily Pilates regimen, was savagely attacked by the red swarm, covering his body with nearly 900 stings. I kept my wits about me and was able to chase the bees off with a flamethrower, whereupon they were promptly dispatched by an F-16 fighter jet piloted by my uncle Nils, whom we keep on hand for just such emergencies, but Saddam Hussein was severely burned, having lost his fireproof skin without the constant exposure to Iraqi heat. He was rushed to the nearby hospital, where a team of Japanese bikini model surgeons were able to tend to his wounds and psyche." When asked what the army was doing about the possibility of another terrorist assassin bee attack, Peer answered, "I'm afraid that information is classified, but I will tell you that I'm sleeping with a can of RAID under my pillow now, and you should be too..." Comment from other military authorities unavailable at this time.

Titanic resurfaces!

2005-09-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

After decades of being submerged deep within the Atlantic ocean, Peer just happened to be there, camera in hand, for the amazing resurfacing of the SS Titanic! When asked what he was doing there, Peer humbly stated: "There are times when you should not listen to the orcas, and there are times you should. This was one of those times." No authorities were available for comment.

Stay tuned for upcoming blogs!

2005-09-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome! This will soon be the BLOG of Dell'Arte's upcoming 3 Part project, PEER GYNT! Stay tuned for updates!