As usual, so much has happened that I don't really know where to start. I'll just start with the weekend. All the stuff during the week is pretty boring and makes me feel pathetic to right about how much I eat and sleep and shop, so we will skip over it.
On Friday we woke up and checked out of the hotel to prepare for a 1pm call time at the venue in Florence SC. Since we hadn't rehearsed all week, our director wanted to have a full dress rehearsal of the show before our first performance with an audience. It was all such a crazy experience. Performing in an arena is incredible. I've always wanted to know what goes on behind the curtains at an arena show and to sum it all up, it's madness. Anyway, the dress rehearsal went well. It was challenging to deal with everything being in different spots and dressing rooms so far away (they weren't actually that far in comparison to how far away they will be in certain places, but compared to 10 feet off stage like in the theatre.....they were miles away)
After our dress rehearsal, we had some catered food then prepared for our big event. Listening to the arena fill up with loud ass kids was really fun. I was very nervous but happy that we did a dress rehearsal even though it was exhausting to do the show twice in a row (yes, I know that most weekends we will be doing 2-3 shows a day. Don't remind me). The first thing that happens in the show is Mickey and Minnie coming out of the side to walk up on the stage. It is my favorite part of the show. Listening to the kids completely lose their minds when they see them is absolutely adorable. Long story short, the show was great. So many things on my bucket list being checked off. It was a very emotional show in the best possible way. I sure do love performing.
We packed up, loaded the semi's and buses and headed out.
We made our first stop at Wal-Mart at around 1am then headed to Spartanburg SC. We drove through the night and when we woke up in the bus in the morning, we were parked outside the next venue. We woke up to breakfast catering in the venue and then began company meeting and venue tour at 11am quickly followed by cast warm up then off to get ready. The warm ups are another one of my favorite parts. It is the first time on stage and getting to really soak up the empty theatre we are about to perform in. Very very fun. The audience wasn't huge for this show but they were loud and loving it so it made it all worth it. Another great show.
Again, we loaded the buses and the semi's and were off by 7pm to another Wal-Mart/food stop then to Athens Georgia. The drive was pretty short to Athens (just a couple hours) so we got there and some people headed out for food and drinks while others of us just stayed in the bus and watched Will and Grace for hours on end (thank goodness for saturday night binge episodes). Sunday morning, same drill. Food, meetings, tour, warm up, show. This theatre was beautiful. It was huge and stunning to look at. It was also fun having such a high balcony that i'm sure most the people could see my bald spot. After the 1pm show, we had the rest the day to hang out and enjoy Athens. It is a beautiful little place. We got to walk around campus which was gorgeous and go downtown for food and drinks. A very nice afternoon. I'll post some pics at the bottom. At midnight, we headed out for a 6 hour drive to Fayetteville NC.
Side note: The thing that hit me hardest this weekend was how do you freaking pack for that? Our suitcases are shoved under the bus so we have to pack everything we will need for the weekend in other smaller bags to carry on the bus. I was a mess. I tried to pack for warm ups, then real clothes to go out, then more clothes to wear in the venue and 4 pairs of show and oh my. It was bad. Some serious planning needs to happen next week. haha I think i'll just spend the whole 3 days in the same pair of sweats. Perfect.
And here we are. We have the week off without a show until Friday here in Fayetteville. We got unloaded and checked in this morning and I think most of us are just enjoying a quiet day in our hotel rooms. Tomorrow we shall venture out and see what we can find. There is a pretty nice mall near by and such so we should have plenty to do. If not, I always have The Walking Dead :)
Thanks to everyone for being so supportive and keeping me company on long drives and boring days of waiting and sitting. I am loving my time here but am definitely missing all the ones I love back in Utah and Idaho. I can't wait to get to see everyone!
Much love ##
Dixon
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