Mary's Story ... Life on the Road
Nov. 13th, 2004 12:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrdreamjeansOne of the realities of touring is that much of your life seems to be happening at a distance. Events that happen to your friends and family seem simultaneously immediate and far away.You're not part of the action; your reaction is limited to the four walls of your hotel room, phone and internet. Such is my experience in the past few hours.
For instance, I received an email from my friend Annie this morning. Yesterday was her mom Helen’s 91st birthday. I adore Helen. Helen had a stroke right after the party last night and is in the hospital, but has suffered no debilitating effects from the stroke. Helen has an 87 year-old sister who is a pain in the patoot. Ann’s comment to her mother after the danger had passed. “You’ll do anything not to spend time with your sister:)”
Michael, an actor in “Evita”, found out last night during intermission of our show that his youngest brother, a welder in St Louis, had fallen off a ladder from several stories up, had broken his back and punctured a lung. His brother is not paralyzed, a blessing; the hospital is working on pain management till the swelling goes down and they can determine if surgery is necessary. It took everything Michael had to put the crisis out of his mind till he could complete the second act and phone home for updates. It’s a difficult task to do for anyone who is close to family. It is a helpless feeling. You care - but you can’t help. At least in the moment.
On the other hand, your family and friends seldom get a feeling for the odd reality of life on the road. The company of actors, musicians and crew meld within weeks into a big dysfunctional family. Events that happen to individual cast members are often common knowledge in a very short time. It’s one of the reasons I am so careful about guarding my privacy. Anything I do on my own time, can become fodder for the group:)
My friend Mary, an actress on the 1998-99 tour of “Evita”, and now is this production, had an experience right here in the hotel a couple of days ago that has provided much amusement for the rest of us...at least now that the situation is in the past. I’d like to share “Mary’s Story”. The story is written by Mary. She’s shared it with family and friends via email and is busy right now returning a hundred emailed responses. This is what can happen on the road.....:)
Adventures on the road, Part I
At 7am this morning, (as you know, the middle of the night for an actor) I was sound asleep in my, sort of comfy bed, in the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston when I awoke to the sound of running water. I was thinking it might be a leak in the bathroom but it stopped ..... then started again. So I got out of bed to investigate.
To my surprise, shock, chagrin, (insert other appropriate adjective here) there was no leak in the bathroom. There was, in fact, a naked man taking a leak on my hotel door!!!! My carpet had a growing wet spot running along my hallway wall.
I looked through the (no pun intended) peep hole and saw an obviously intoxicated man with no visible clothes on. Luckily you can only see so much through the peep hole.
I quickly called the "guest emergency" number. It was answered by a man who seemed a little taken aback by my tale of unclothed men peeing on my door. But he said he’d send someone right up.
Back I went to the peep hole. Now, the door was being rattled as the man tried to get in. I had the chain and deadbolt on and I could see through the peek hole that the gentleman was pretty inebriated so I wasn't too worried. Besides there was a cast member in the room next door and I can make quite a piercing sound if I have to.
Shortly two guards came along and that's when I thought I was on an episode of Cops.
"What are you doing sir? Do you realize you don't have any clothes on?” (I could hear the laughter in the guard's voice.) “Get him a towel so he can cover himself. Sir you can't be out of your room with no clothes on. What's your name? What room are you in?"
"770" he mumbled.
I was in room 768. In fact there's a big number on the door, 768, which doesn't look anything like 770, but I guess he was too drunk to notice.
"Do you know the guest in this room?" one guard asked.
I wanted to yell through the door, "NO," but it WAS 7am and reasonable people were still asleep and I didn't want to wake them.
They gave him a towel to put on and went to check out room 770. "The door is wide open," I could hear one guard say "and there's a pile of clothes on the floor."
"Sir have you been drinking?" (Where is the camera crew, I wondered as "bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do when they come for you" was playing in my head.)
There was more talking as they brought him to back to his room. The main point seemed to be that he couldn't be wandering the halls naked and they were going to have to file a report. (I know this because by then I had my door opened a crack so I could hear what was going on.)
After that it was pretty boring. The security detail left him in his room to sleep it off. They came by my room carrying an almost empty bottle of some liquor. They asked me if I knew the guy and I told them "no, it was the sound of peeing on my door that woke me up." Then the hotel manager showed up and told the guards to get rid of the drunk guy, presumably after he sobered up.
I was unable to get back to sleep and so I just waited for someone from housekeeping to come up and wash my rug and door. Also I wanted a new "Do Not Disturb" sign as the previous one had suffered the indignity of being peed upon. Now that I think of it, I guess I was lucky the guy only had to pee.
So that's my first adventure on the road with “Evita”. Is it a portent of things to come? Who knows? There may be a book in this yet.
(Funny enough - Mary seemed disconcerted when I asked what, for me, was the obvious unasked question from her adventure. “Was the guy cute?” LOL!)
So life goes on....off and on the road...I’m trying to be more than a spectator in the lives of my family and friends; but if I can’t, due to distance and a traveling job, I can at least observe and find the humor in life’s little skewed moments. Though I'm often far away, I do keep my friends and loved ones close... in my heart, in my thoughts and even in my prayers....
For instance, I received an email from my friend Annie this morning. Yesterday was her mom Helen’s 91st birthday. I adore Helen. Helen had a stroke right after the party last night and is in the hospital, but has suffered no debilitating effects from the stroke. Helen has an 87 year-old sister who is a pain in the patoot. Ann’s comment to her mother after the danger had passed. “You’ll do anything not to spend time with your sister:)”
Michael, an actor in “Evita”, found out last night during intermission of our show that his youngest brother, a welder in St Louis, had fallen off a ladder from several stories up, had broken his back and punctured a lung. His brother is not paralyzed, a blessing; the hospital is working on pain management till the swelling goes down and they can determine if surgery is necessary. It took everything Michael had to put the crisis out of his mind till he could complete the second act and phone home for updates. It’s a difficult task to do for anyone who is close to family. It is a helpless feeling. You care - but you can’t help. At least in the moment.
On the other hand, your family and friends seldom get a feeling for the odd reality of life on the road. The company of actors, musicians and crew meld within weeks into a big dysfunctional family. Events that happen to individual cast members are often common knowledge in a very short time. It’s one of the reasons I am so careful about guarding my privacy. Anything I do on my own time, can become fodder for the group:)
My friend Mary, an actress on the 1998-99 tour of “Evita”, and now is this production, had an experience right here in the hotel a couple of days ago that has provided much amusement for the rest of us...at least now that the situation is in the past. I’d like to share “Mary’s Story”. The story is written by Mary. She’s shared it with family and friends via email and is busy right now returning a hundred emailed responses. This is what can happen on the road.....:)
Adventures on the road, Part I
At 7am this morning, (as you know, the middle of the night for an actor) I was sound asleep in my, sort of comfy bed, in the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston when I awoke to the sound of running water. I was thinking it might be a leak in the bathroom but it stopped ..... then started again. So I got out of bed to investigate.
To my surprise, shock, chagrin, (insert other appropriate adjective here) there was no leak in the bathroom. There was, in fact, a naked man taking a leak on my hotel door!!!! My carpet had a growing wet spot running along my hallway wall.
I looked through the (no pun intended) peep hole and saw an obviously intoxicated man with no visible clothes on. Luckily you can only see so much through the peep hole.
I quickly called the "guest emergency" number. It was answered by a man who seemed a little taken aback by my tale of unclothed men peeing on my door. But he said he’d send someone right up.
Back I went to the peep hole. Now, the door was being rattled as the man tried to get in. I had the chain and deadbolt on and I could see through the peek hole that the gentleman was pretty inebriated so I wasn't too worried. Besides there was a cast member in the room next door and I can make quite a piercing sound if I have to.
Shortly two guards came along and that's when I thought I was on an episode of Cops.
"What are you doing sir? Do you realize you don't have any clothes on?” (I could hear the laughter in the guard's voice.) “Get him a towel so he can cover himself. Sir you can't be out of your room with no clothes on. What's your name? What room are you in?"
"770" he mumbled.
I was in room 768. In fact there's a big number on the door, 768, which doesn't look anything like 770, but I guess he was too drunk to notice.
"Do you know the guest in this room?" one guard asked.
I wanted to yell through the door, "NO," but it WAS 7am and reasonable people were still asleep and I didn't want to wake them.
They gave him a towel to put on and went to check out room 770. "The door is wide open," I could hear one guard say "and there's a pile of clothes on the floor."
"Sir have you been drinking?" (Where is the camera crew, I wondered as "bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do when they come for you" was playing in my head.)
There was more talking as they brought him to back to his room. The main point seemed to be that he couldn't be wandering the halls naked and they were going to have to file a report. (I know this because by then I had my door opened a crack so I could hear what was going on.)
After that it was pretty boring. The security detail left him in his room to sleep it off. They came by my room carrying an almost empty bottle of some liquor. They asked me if I knew the guy and I told them "no, it was the sound of peeing on my door that woke me up." Then the hotel manager showed up and told the guards to get rid of the drunk guy, presumably after he sobered up.
I was unable to get back to sleep and so I just waited for someone from housekeeping to come up and wash my rug and door. Also I wanted a new "Do Not Disturb" sign as the previous one had suffered the indignity of being peed upon. Now that I think of it, I guess I was lucky the guy only had to pee.
So that's my first adventure on the road with “Evita”. Is it a portent of things to come? Who knows? There may be a book in this yet.
(Funny enough - Mary seemed disconcerted when I asked what, for me, was the obvious unasked question from her adventure. “Was the guy cute?” LOL!)
So life goes on....off and on the road...I’m trying to be more than a spectator in the lives of my family and friends; but if I can’t, due to distance and a traveling job, I can at least observe and find the humor in life’s little skewed moments. Though I'm often far away, I do keep my friends and loved ones close... in my heart, in my thoughts and even in my prayers....
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}