The Chronicles of Jason: Grand Forks, ND (It's COLD)

Chester Fritz Auditorium at the University of North Dakota
Tuesday, November 16, 2021

I wrote some of this blog from my comfy hotel room in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin; some of it from the bus ride on the way from Wisconsin Dells to Benton Harbor, Michigan; and finished it from the dressing room at the theater. Wisconsin was a stop-over between Grand Forks, ND to Benton Harbor, Michigan -- in total it was a 12.5 hour trip. We've never done a stop-over before; the typical rule was that if the next venue was over an 8 hour drive, we'd fly and have a travel day in between. Not so this year. We will have one other stop-over day in early December on our way from New York to Tennessee.

We had one show in Grand Forks, ND, which was about a 5.5 hour drive from Burnsville, MN.

It was an interesting show. Our shows prior to Thanksgiving every year are typically smaller crowds. Perhaps it's simply psychological, but audiences don't seem too ready to dive into the Christmas spirit prior to having their turkey/ham/cranberry sauce/mashed potatoes/PB&J/Honey Nut Cheerios/whatever people eat for Thanksgiving.

With that said, the audiences so far, though small, have been excited and happy. I can't say the same for the folks in North Dakota. That isn't to say they didn't enjoy it--no one threw anything at me from the crowd, anyway. :)

Imagine you're in a giant theater (seating 2,300 people) and only 600 seats are filled. Though 600 is a perfectly respectable number, in a giant theater it simply feels empty. If you're sitting in the audience and there aren't many people around, you may not feel as free to laugh/clap/stand up, etc. as if you were surrounded by excited people. Again, this isn't to say that the audience didn't enjoy the show, it just wasn't the same energy as the previous performances so far this year. It's also possible that people are still hesitant to attend theater shows with lots of people, due to the COVID craziness.

This was my first time in North Dakota, and it was COLD, as expected. With the wind at 22 mph, it felt like it was 18 degrees outside. I loved it, but it was definitely cold.

I'd like to add a bit of new theater vocabulary to the list you may be making for yourself: the fly system. The last blog post had you learning about a scrim, one of the previous years I taught you about a cyclorama.

When we're on stage, there are lots of metal bars that go across the stage far above our heads. Those metal bars are basically pipes where the lights are hung and focused. They are able to "fly" in and out, meaning they are able to be lowered down to stage level to make hanging the lights easier, then they fly back out to their original position above our heads. The fly system also includes any flying scenery (in Rudolph we have windows and ribbons and curtains) that can be lowered into a scene. I'll need to take a photo to help describe it, but we also have a giant snow bag that hangs above our head and sends beautiful snow (small, chopped up pieces of white plastic) to the stage at the right moments.

These pipes are all operated by local folks who work for whatever theater we're visiting. Usually there are no issues, but in North Dakota there was a slight problem with some curtains flying in or out when they weren't supposed to. I can't go into any more detail, but it caused some really frustrating moments for the stage manager.

Pretty sure I've described the stage manager's position before. They are the person who "calls" the entire show. They wear a headset that communicates with everyone important. They call out the cues over the headset to make everything happen--that includes sound effects, lighting changes, music cues, and most importantly, the fly system. There are two curtains that fly in or out in our show--the scrim and the black curtain that is directly behind the scrim.

Our stage manager is incredible. This is her 4th year with the show. She is one of the main reasons I decided to come back this year. She's had plenty to deal with as far as the technical aspects of this show. Crazy stuff. And it continues to be crazy.

Anyway, the theater in North Dakota was on the campus of the University of North Dakota; here are some pictures.