I spent the day in Starbucks - apparently if you buy a starbucks card in a tiny mitten, you get 2 hours of free internet everyday. Plus, they have awesome hot chocolate. A good deal in my books.
Finally, I head out of town - although this show is listed as Calgary, it's technically on the outskirts in a beautiful log cabin home - the dream home of Karen and Bill, who meet me and welcome me to their lovely home. They're Ontarians and theatre folk, so we're instantly related - Karen's a director and teaches high school theatre, while being totally involved with the Canadian improv scene. Bill's a technician who has built, run, flown, and teched every aspect of theatre shows. They moved out to Alberta a while back and, since they were building their dream home, decided to construct a full black box theatre in the basement. Seriously, who knew?! There's a booth, a grid, a green room, and theatre seating - it's pretty cool!
We eat dinner and I get introduced to their lovely cats - Gizmo, who likes to hug people and chew on buttons is my favourite.
Karen and Bill have been doing house concerts in the theatre for a while - I decide to continue with the acoustic route and forego the sound system, since the acoustics in the space are beautiful. People arrive and I meet some of them - this house concert is a bit more formal or professional than the others, possibly because of their theatre experience, not to mention their theatre! Everyone troops down to the basement, Karen gives an intro and I come out from backstage. With the stage lights on, I can't see the audience and it all feels a bit bizarre compared to the living rooms I've been playing in the past couple days. But the audience is lovely and even if I can't see them, I can hear them laughing and clapping along.
On my 2nd song, one of my strings breaks. I hate this. It generally throws off my whole show. I get rid of the string while telling a story - I can't change the string since all my gear is backstage, so I play the rest of the set on 5 strings which constantly go out of tune. I'm sure no one cares, but I feel a bit off balance.
The 2nd set though, once restrung, is excellent and intimate. The crowd asks me Muppet and touring questions and it feels like a great dialogue rather than a one-way show.
After everyone leaves, Karen, Bill and I sip wine outside on their deck with a fire blazing. We share theatre stories and they tell me that deer frequently come up to their house. I stare into the darkness hoping to see one, but none come. Eventually, wined out, I head to bed.
The next day, Karen and Bill leave me the keys and I hang out, using the internet, playing with Gizmo and eating delicious home made bread. Way better than Starbucks.
