Elmira, NY

Clemens Center
Tuesday, December 7, 2021

We played Elmira in 2018, and to no one's surprise, I didn't remember it at all. Once I get into the theater certain things can seem slightly familiar, or not. 

In this case, we got to Elmira early enough to be able to not only walk to the theater, but walk through a bit of the town in order to get some food before the show.

The town, at least the part we walked through, is vacant and abandoned and desolate. It was sad. It didn't help that the McDonald's I went to was out of every soda but Coca-Cola. :)

On the way to the theater, this sign was not a good omen (the theater is the Clemens Center and is in this area).

Sometimes, when I know I've been to the theater before but can't remember anything about it, walking into the theater itself helps. I don't just mean walking in the stage door (which is usually on the backside of the building or something), but actually walking into the theater itself; technically called the "house". The mural at this theater seemed familiar to me, but not much else. 

Before we could even walk into the theater, we actually had to take another COVID test. We wouldn't have been able to enter the main building if we didn't test negative. Thankfully, we all tested negative (again, for the second time in three days) and were able to go to our dressing rooms and prepare for the show. We're still two cast members down, so it could be extra bad if even one more person tested positive -- we may have to cancel the show!

Elmira went on without any major issues. I have been remarkably resilient and able to manage the weird travel days and varying temperatures without it affecting my performance. I haven't lost an eyebrow, I haven't forgotten a prop, and I haven't flubbed any lines. Don't get me wrong -- there is still time! But I definitely feel more focused each performance.

We had the one performance in Elmira and were off the next day (as far as a show goes), but we had a long travel day the next day -- we drove 8 hours to Roanoke, VA as a stop before heading to Chattanooga, TN the next day. You can imagine that 12 hours in a bus over two days is not ideal. But I did get to see my sister in Chattanooga and explore the city a little bit.

That's next!