So what's going on exactly?

Well, this appears to be actually happening. I don't know if it's the months I've been waiting/searching for a touring job or my general tendency to avoid change but I kept fearing this was all going to fall through at the last minute.

However, I have a contract, a plane ticket, a hotel reservation in NYC and I'm on the contact sheet so apparently I'm actually going on tour! And the Wardrobe Head - Mike - emailed me to say that he was "very impressed" by my resume so I really have gone through the looking glass. (I did not email him back "you were???" but it took a lot of effort...)

When I first started looking for a touring job, back in November, I actually googled "how to get a job on tour," to see if there's anything out there on the subject. The answer is no. Theatre is a very medieval little world, not 21st century at all, and that goes double or triple for touring. Touring jobs aren't typically listed in a public forum and the people who tour tend to keeping touring and thus get the touring jobs available. It's a pretty closed circuit. The hard part is breaking into it - and possibly breaking out, ask me about that some time next year.

The one consistent piece of advice I got from the two people I talked to about touring was "apply for everything and then reapply for all the stuff you just applied for." essentially, systematic harassment. So for anyone reading this who wants to go on tour, that's my suggestion. Keep yourself on the radar by applying, emailing or calling every three weeks or so until they are so tired of seeing your name come up that they give you a job.

And yes, that's the best advice I have.

As to the rest of my life? How about a few pictures...

And then because it obviously can't go smoothly, here's the major complication:

So in a place where "but it's a dry heat..." should be the state motto, in the past week we've had so much rain that the air is wet enough to wring out, the paint is literally curling off my walls and everything has a dampish, wilted sort of feel...

4 days and counting...