Rain, Rain Go Away
Wednesday, April 25th
We traveled by bus from Hartford to Rochester. It was already 70 degrees in Hartford by the time we left at 9:30 AM. We all ate outside in the sun at the McDonalds along the thruway. As we got closer to Rochester, the skies darkened. At the city limits, the rain began. I made a quick trip to the Rite-Aid in the rain and spent the remainder of Monday in my hotel room.
Tuesday, the sun was streaming down when I awoke for my 8 AM call. I walked the mile or so to the theatre through downtown Rochester. There are some really pretty older office buildings and department stores downtown. All of them have signs advertising space for rent. The ground floor stores are nearly all boarded up. There are also some ugly modern buildings with lots of space for let. Even the theatre (The Auditorium Center) has space for let. (300 – 8,000 square feet. Office / Mixed Use / Banquets / Meetings / Storage) It seems, however, that Rochester is trying for a comeback. We’re here two weeks ahead of their lilac festival. The have all sorts of concerts and events and every sort of minor league sport you can think of.
Tuesday went pretty well. The building is VERY weird. I’m told it used to be a Masonic Temple, but it looks like a 1930s high school from the outside. The auditorium is part of a large building (hence the office / storage space for rent). The stage is of smallish size – just big enough for our show. There’s no room for an on-stage cross-over, so (like in Atlanta) the actors have to dash through the basement. It also means that our stage left quick-change booths are in the hallway outside the stage house. The dressing rooms are all over the place. There’s one main dressing area that seems to have been built for the stage, the other rooms are up strange stairs and down strange hallways. The show went well, especially for an opening night. I understand that the sound was wacky – the room makes balancing and amplifying everything difficult. Otherwise, pretty smooth.
Wednesday, April 25th
We traveled by bus from Hartford to Rochester. It was already 70 degrees in Hartford by the time we left at 9:30 AM. We all ate outside in the sun at the McDonalds along the thruway. As we got closer to Rochester, the skies darkened. At the city limits, the rain began. I made a quick trip to the Rite-Aid in the rain and spent the remainder of Monday in my hotel room.
Tuesday, the sun was streaming down when I awoke for my 8 AM call. I walked the mile or so to the theatre through downtown Rochester. There are some really pretty older office buildings and department stores downtown. All of them have signs advertising space for rent. The ground floor stores are nearly all boarded up. There are also some ugly modern buildings with lots of space for let. Even the theatre (The Auditorium Center) has space for let. (300 – 8,000 square feet. Office / Mixed Use / Banquets / Meetings / Storage) It seems, however, that Rochester is trying for a comeback. We’re here two weeks ahead of their lilac festival. The have all sorts of concerts and events and every sort of minor league sport you can think of.
Tuesday went pretty well. The building is VERY weird. I’m told it used to be a Masonic Temple, but it looks like a 1930s high school from the outside. The auditorium is part of a large building (hence the office / storage space for rent). The stage is of smallish size – just big enough for our show. There’s no room for an on-stage cross-over, so (like in Atlanta) the actors have to dash through the basement. It also means that our stage left quick-change booths are in the hallway outside the stage house. The dressing rooms are all over the place. There’s one main dressing area that seems to have been built for the stage, the other rooms are up strange stairs and down strange hallways. The show went well, especially for an opening night. I understand that the sound was wacky – the room makes balancing and amplifying everything difficult. Otherwise, pretty smooth.
The Rochester Auditorium Center
I arranged a group outing today to see the Rochester Redwings (the AAA club for the Twins) take on the Pawtucket Red Sox. I bought twenty seats for the Spamily and was super excited about seeing a ball game. About an hour before game time, it began to rain. At noon (the scheduled time for the first pitch) the grounds crew unrolled the tarp. We waited under the stands drinking beer and eating red hots for an hour or so before the game was postponed. The box office wasn’t able to refund our tickets, but they did give us a bunch of credit at the team store, so we all got Rochester Redwings gack. (As an added bonus, we all got stickers for our trunks - some in english: "Go Wings!" and some in spanish: "Viva los Wings!")
With the rainout, we headed off to Dinosaur Barbecue, a local legend. The place was great. They have live music on the weekend and great barbecue all the time. We whiled away the afternoon with ribs, pulled pork, deviled eggs and Genesee Beer. Special mention needs to be made of the desserts. We shared key lime pie, chocolate icebox pie, peanut butter pie and pecan sweet potato pie (my favorite!). I needed a nap before showtime.
Dinosaur Barbecue
I have no rehearsal on the schedule this week. So, I’m going to try and see everything that Rochester has to offer. I’m also awaiting a visit from Marijean that should brighten up the weekend!
JV
1 comment:
Tell me more about this icebox pie...
Post a Comment