A summary of the last few weeks

Life is busy and I've not really had time for blogging, so my apologies.

Let's see. In the last few weeks, we played capture the flag all over the hill, we went to Dollywood, I began directing a 3 act farce called Engaged, the Tonys happened and I dressed in drag, I began rehearsals and performances of Time of War, there was a blackout which cancelled the big show for an evening as the whole hill was encompassed in blackness, I saved one of my castmate's lives, I watched an incredible one man canteen show, I traveled back home briefly, I saw a production of Henry V, and I got stung in the eye by a dive-bombing bee.

So....... Any one of these things would merit its own individual blog. However, ain't nobody got time for that. Instead, here's the quick versions. Each section will be titled so if you're only interested in small chunks, you don't have to read the whole blog!

Capture the Flag

It's a dark, wet night. Two teams spread across the hill from the theatre to the dorms. Our flags are placed. Our hearts are pounding. The game is almost upon us. A phone buzzes. We have word that a black bear has been spotted in no-man's land. The game comes to a standstill. We wait. Ten minutes later, we decide to go forth with the game anyways. I guard my flag, hiding under the bridge of the theatre. I see Anthony, one of my enemies sneaking close under the bridge. I run towards him. He scurries away. I hide again. A few minutes pass. Anthony return. He's cautious, wary, fearful. As he starts to reach to scale the bridge, I run towards him. He jumps ten feet into the air onto the bridge. I stand beneath my jaw agape. He grabs the flag and takes off. I cut him off at the pass. In the meantime, my team has stolen Anthony's teams' flag. We win the first round.

Round 2. I'm on offense. I go up into the woods. I'm planning on circling around the enemy team's defenses. Suddenly I hear feet pounding. A chase. Anthony again. He has my team's flag and David is in pursuit. I race down out of the woods behind him. It's too late. He makes it to his base. We've lost the second round.

Round 3. The teams switch up. Anthony is on my team. I'm thrilled. I'm on offense again. This time, I spend 45 minutes army crawling across a mulch pile, across an open grass field, towards the enemies who guard their flag. Just as I am within 10 feet of their flag, I hear a mess of confusion as first Anthony and David searching for the enemy flag. Then, out of nowhere, Barbara, our fight director, shows up with my team's flag. We lose. I crawled for nearly an hour across open land without being seen to no avail.

Dollywood

I get free tickets to Dollywood all this summer for me +1. (So if any friends ask nicely I might take you to Dollywood, hint hint). A group of us went one Sunday. We ran around riding every roller coaster and any other rides we felt like. We spent the full day there being an obnoxious tourist group. We would chant "UTH! UTH! UTH!" on the rides. We took lots of group pictures. We laughed and carried on and had a blast. We even had a brief flash mob of the hoedown dance from our show. It was a lovely day.

Engaged

I'm directing W.S. Gilbert's 3 act farce Engaged. Gilbert is the Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame. The play is absolutely hilarious. I am having as much fun working on it as I've ever had with a production. I had 17 people audition for the show, which made casting it extremely difficult, as it only has 10 roles. I don't want to say too much here, as it performs next week and I don't want to spoil it for the audience. It is so much fun and I can't wait to share pictures (and possibly video) later!

Tonys

The Tonys took place the same day as the Dollywood trip. Elena, one of my cast mates, and I decided we were worn out of group events, so we went to her house (she lives in the next town over, Sylva) instead of going to the big group party. We watched the Tonys casually and enjoyed just chilling. Then, Elena says, "So... Want to go make an appearance at the group party? You could dress in drag." And I was like, "Sounds great!"

So, I dressed in drag, we went to the bar, we all laughed. It was great fun.

Time of War

Time of War is the extra battle reenactment performance I'm in with a few of the other guys. Three days a week we go next door to the Oconaluftee Indian Village. It's a brief show, where basically all of us white guys play evil British soldiers who get beat up and killed by Cherokee warriors. It's fun, lots of quick action, and it's nice to be involved in another performance. We perform the show twice a day. The most interesting event so far is a day that my regular battle partner couldn't be there for the second performance. His understudy knew our fight just fine. However, we accidentally didn't tell him when to enter. Thus, he ran in during the first wave of the fight instead of the second. So... we had a bit of an improv battle and I died a solid 5 minutes earlier than I normally do. It was pretty funny and fortunately the show was able to continue without any big issues.

Blackout

It rained. And rained. And rained. The evening sky blackened and then lit up. The world shook with the force of the thunder. The lights flickered once, twice, and then they cut out. For the next three or four hours, the entire hill, theatre and dorms alike, were enveloped in blackness. The darkness was eerie all across the hill. After all, they say the hill is haunted. Alas, I had no spiritual encounters. I did not stay on the hill long during the blackout. I ended up going with my regular group of friends (David, Elena, and Felix) to Cookout in Sylva. We hung out eating the gloriously cheap junk food and enjoying the surprise night off--though honestly, I'd have rather not have had the blackout and just done the show as normal.

Starcatcher

Imagine a wooden platform with the walls of a cabin on wheels that rolls on and offstage. Now imagine a 7 or 8 foot drop to the side of the platform down to a concrete floor. Imagine it is night and that rain has glazed the platform into a slick deathtrap. Now, imagine a young, athletic man walking across the backside of the platform to exit after a scene. The man's name is Max and he plays Junaluska, one of the lead characters in Unto These Hills. See, if you will, as his moccasin covered foot slips and he spins trying to grab something that isn't there to catch himself. He's falling backwards, down, down, falling speeding towards the ground. His head will almost certainly bust. He might break his neck or an arm or a leg. A handful of people look on in horror, all too far away to do anything to help. Pause.

Let's backtrack just a bit. A water bottle is sitting offstage next to the moving platform. It's my water bottle. I leave it there by mistake as I exit after having helped pulled the cabin offstage. I have walked down the stairs to head back to the dressing rooms when I remember it. I turn around and head back to grab the bottle. As I walk along the path beneath the platform, I look up and see the above scene unfold. So, let's continue.

Max falls and I step forward reaching out catching him. I set him on the ground safely, unharmed. So yeah.... I kinda saved a dude's life. Um. What. Thanks, water bottle.

An Iliad

Algernon D'Ammassa, one of my cast mates, performs a one man retelling of The Iliad. He's toured it around a bit and brought it to the hill as a canteen show. He's planning on doing another performance of it in July in Black Mountain, NC. I plan to attend again and will write a proper review at that time, because he deserves a proper review. Suffice to say, his performance astounded me the first time. I cannot help but give it heaps of praise. Incredible.

Home

I went home briefly to gather various costume pieces and props for Engaged.  I took Elena and Felix with me--David opted to go to his own home for father's day. The eclectic items we gathered varied from a chunk of fence to a super soaker backpack gun to wigs, blazers, and skirts. It was a most excellent expedition full of good food (Dino's! Kimchi! Wedding cake and ice cream with raspberries!) and enjoyable company.

Henry V

On the way back from home, we stopped in Asheville to see an outdoor production of Henry V. One of Elena's former theatre teachers was performing in the production. It was an enjoyable evening. We ate Japenese takeout as we sat in our grassy amphitheater seats. A handful of other UTH cast/crew members met up with us for the production, and it was a lovely evening of theatre.

OUCH!

Yesterday morning we had a read through of a musical being workshopped this summer. Chief Little Will is kind of Unto These Hills: The Musical! After this, I had Time of War to perform. In between the two events, I was standing outside some of the dorms talking to a couple of my castmates when all of a sudden I felt a sharp pain right on the bottom edge of my left eyebrow. A bee had, for no apparent reason, swooped in attack. Fortunately, I'm not allergic. I went on to Time of War, where Mike Crow, the Cherokee man who plays the lead in Unto These Hills, gave me a plant stalk to rub over the battle wound. He said it would help stop swelling, as well as help it feel a bit better. He was right. The swelling ceased, I hardly felt the sting anymore, and my day continued as normal.

In conclusion

So, it's been a super busy few weeks and continues to get busier. Engaged is taking most of my focus right now--next week is tech week, and I've been cast in Glengary Glen Ross in the part of Baylen, the detective, so I'm working on lines for that. I've got the mainstage show performing 6 days a week, Time of War 3 days a week, pick up rehearsals for both of those shows, plus rehearsals for Chief Little Will. Every day is an adventure here--some good, some not so good; I'd rather not have to save any more lives or get stung by a bee again. Ah well. It's certainly an eventful summer so far!

"unto the hills"

The terrain, air, weather, and water in Cherokee are all imbued with an earthy, mountain flavor. Flat roads and paths are brief, man-made atrocities in the midst of the mountains. The motion of the mountains is like that of a musical movement: full of crescendos and decrescendos, ebbing and flowing and bleeding into one another constantly, creating a unique kind of beauty. These mountains are old. Their symphony began to be crafted long before we invaded the land. But invade, we did. And our invasion introduced new instruments into the mountain orchestra. We built roads and buildings and cultivated the land into the new world where we live now. But the land will outlast us.

The Mountainside Theatre is just as the name suggests: a theatre built into a mountainside.

A brief walk uphill from the theatre takes a person to the dormitories our company calls home for the few months we're spending here. The housing area is referred to as "The Hill." If you continue uphill from the dorms, you can follow the winding, thin road to the Oconaluftee Indian Village. Here you can view reenactments and demonstrations of Cherokee life in the mid 1700's. Just above the village proper is a nature walking path, the Cherokee botanical gardens.

The Cherokee Historical Association was founded in 1948 and Unto These Hills began performing in 1950. It has, of course, changed a fair amount over time. Still, I find myself humbled and honored to be welcomed into this historical company. I get to spend my summer working as an actor. I perform both in Unto These Hills and will also be performing in the village in Time of War, a battle reenactment. I may even direct an in-house canteen production.

Given that I grew up in the mountains only about 120 miles northeast of Cherokee, I feel at home here simply due to the flavor of my surroundings. I am comfortable. I am happy. When I accepted this position, I hesitated, because I had another offer to work across the country in Olympic National Park, an offer I really wanted to take. However, I chose to follow the path that made the most sense career-wise. We are only three weeks in and I have no doubt that I made the right choice. I am exactly where I need to be.

Psalm 121 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

² My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
³ He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
⁵ The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
⁷ The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
⁸ The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.