The KID Tour - A Nurse Ratched Perspective

I have dubbed this the “KID” Tour.

Most of the turds, I mean……tour participants, are twenty-somethings which, to me, is a KID. They are quite a group of people and I am honored to have worked with them. I could never have left home for so long at their age. I’m so proud of them. Everyone worked hard and played hard. But, the most important thing is the show was successful – at every venue! Despite any fatigue, travelling, building, rehearsing – come 8:00 pm – everyone in places – all are ready to give a great show.

We all know the tremendous amount of work that goes into producing a show. Imagine doing that in five weeks at eight different theatres! The planning that goes into this tour begins the previous year. The organization it takes to bring 15 people and “herd” them around Ireland WITH luggage is amazing. I am in awe of it all.

THANK YOU to each and every one of you who made the “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” tour successful:

Susan Rhea – Director extraordinaire and the funniest person I know. I hope we made you proud. Fun times!

Mark Rhea – Tour Manager and room assigner. It’s not easy deciding who has to sleep with whom, and I won’t go into details. (actually he makes the tour happen!) Mark Rhea aka McMurphy – Let’s just say the standing ovations didn’t start until you made your bow – enough said. (love, Miss Ratshit)

Rich Montgomery – (and this is totally unbiased) – aka Martini, Tour Production Manager and Senior Biscuit Tosser – you try getting all those “kids” up early to load their luggage in the van, THEN fit it all into the van (pink beast included), then take it out of the van when one or two of them shows up late so more can get squeezed in……also includes organization of the loading of the set, props, costumes, etc. – and making us laugh by squirting water on himself – on purpose. Oh, and yeah, he made the audience laugh quite a bit as a hallucinating inmate who deals cards to someone who isn’t there. (I could go on, but I won’t….) Love you baby.

Amanda Boyd aka Nanny – Stage Manager Delight! Can anyone’s smile light up a room OR theatre like hers? Can props get set in a flash? Can lights and sound be inserted with precision each and every night? But most of all, can anyone stay up as late as she can and still look beautiful in the morning????

Dan Martin aka Scanlon and Lighting Designer/Technical Director – Isn’t that ENOUGH? Try wearing so many hats in 8 different venues and still carry off being a bald rapist in a mental institution who wants to blow up the world wearing a wife beater.

Kevin Adams aka Chief Bromden – The “Keegan” wig never looked so good, an Indian never felt so good, and that flannel shirt never smelled too good…thanks for driving us all over Ireland!

Daniel Steinberg aka Aide Williams –He sings, he plays guitar, he acts, he drinks, he now does lighting and he smiles the best smile ever! You can be my aide anytime babe. (As Dorothy said to the scarecrow, “I think I’ll miss you most of all …”)

Patrick Mitchell aka Aide Warren – Can you say HAIR? That man has a suitcase just for his hair products. Dear Danny – It was a great Summer I’ll never forget – love, Sandy.

Melissa Hmelnicky aka Twitch/Nurse Flinn – Despite that late night laugh and HEAVY pink beast of a bag, this woman can shake an egg!!! (inside joke – ask HER) Thank you for laughing at all of my backstage jokes even if you didn’t think they were funny! Candy Flinn lives!

Mike Kozemchak aka Harding – A limp wrist never looked so good! Mahvelous! The Kids may call you DAD, but you can stay up with the best of them. You’re so bawdy…….

Joe Baker aka Billy Bibbitt – He also sings, plays guitar and has awesome red hair that goes crazy late at night! It seems like yesterday you were a no neck monster in the first Keegan show, then we had to kiss onstage, then I had to make you cut your throat…..I can’t wait for what comes next! It’s always a privilege Joe Wonderful….

Eric Humphries aka Cheswick – I hope I taught you some manners while you were with us…..I tried. J You also learned CHAIRS 101 and how to take a lot of crap from a lot of people and still smile and give a hug. I hope you shaved. Go Skins! And, I made you laugh………………..

K.J. Thorarinsson aka Ruckly and Dr. Spivey – Old MacDonald had a farm – with CHICK CHICK here and a CHICK CHICK there, here a CHICK, there a CHICK, everywhere a CHICK CHICK. (Please learn a new word before I see you again…. ) You can tell a man from the women who surrounds him. In that case, this man is something else! HAlooooooo!!! and thank you to KJ’s Mom for a fabulous lunch! This man got up after 2 hours of sleep just to tell us goodbye – enough said……….

Jane Petkofsky aka Sandra – I’m not going to mention the “L” word (and I don’t mean lesbian). Sandy baby! As a fellow “older” person of the Group, you can hang with the best of ‘em. Thank you for keeping me snapped up and pressed. I would say I enjoyed being on stage with you, but you jumped out of the window too fast! p.s. I think you should keep the wig.

Steve Shiny Shaw aka Ruckly stand-in – So, this guy from Scotland meets us in Galway, builds our set, then goes onstage as the lobotomized inmate who apparently clucks like a chicken (for some reason). Sounds weird, but boy do we love him!

I will miss you all so much. It was an amazing journey from start to finish – and it’s not over yet!

Until then……BEHAVE YOURSELVES BOYS!

Love,
The Big Nurse

the things i can't say

this is amanda, i'm saying that because i didn't before. words really cannot describe this tour. i touched upon that before. but i'll try. i'm sitting here post contest. a contest that mark proposed. he asked that all of the talented musicians on this tour come up with a song that would describe what this was all about. this beautiful struggle, time, dedication, companionship and love of one another to be put into chords and lyrics. a pretty tall order to fill right? but all four that entered, and in order of straws that were drawn, joey beaster, daniel steinzo, kj and mcpatty brought to the table the best. and all were so proud. mcpatty won. no one is ready to leave. all laughed and teared up at appropriate moments and understood on some level that the realization of what happened on this tour will not be felt until we are all home and back to the  "normal". the lives that were touched just by being around each other. getting to know souls that would otherwise not have met one another. lives being altered, some more so than others by the love and honesty that was given. sure i've had some jameson tonight but that does not inhibit the absolute certainty that this huge cast will be forever be connected by what we've all experienced here. we may not keep in touch as what happens in tour life, but somewhere in our lives there will be moments where we will think about someone in this cast that we will all regard with love. what a strange place to be. at the end of a run and not want to be away from the people we've been forced to be around. i feel this more so than others because i live in ohio for the time being, but i know the sentiment resounds with all. thank you keegan. thank you mark. thank you susan and dan and richie. my cupeth run over.

DESPERATION

Closing night in Cork tonight...

I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that's it for now...more to come later.

-Melissa

Greetings from Cork!!

And now the end is near, and so we face our final curtain....

After our lovely stay in Thurles, we packed up and headed south for Cork, detouring briefly to check out the impressive Rock of Cashel. Well, folks, it appears we're coming full circle. It's funny how this tour has been mapped out. Our start in the small, yet vibrant, city of Galway helped to ease us into the Irish way, and take a much welcome break from the rush of the American mindset. Time and again, we have been pleasantly surprised by each of the smaller villages we have visited along the way, enjoying each others' company and that of the many friendly locals we have encountered. This has been a dream of a tour, and I will truly miss everyone that I have had the pleasure to work and play with over the past five weeks. Sure, we'll see each other again stateside, but there's something special about what we've shared here on the Emerald Isle.

So here we are in Cork, a thriving cosmopolitan city full of shops restaurants, cafes, museums and galleries. We've left the small villages behind to ease ourselves back into city life and prepare for our return home to DC. This is our last hurrah on the tour, and boy what a hurrah it is. First of all, we are performing in a 100+ year old opera house called The Everyman Palace, and it is stunning! It seats somewhere around 650 people, and I understand we will be pretty much sold out Friday night. Our smallest house, thus far, has been an audience of about 130. They may have been a small audience, but they were certainly very enthusiastic. No word on the count for tonight, but I believe we neared 300 last night. Just awesome.

One of the best things about Cork is that it is arguably the music capitol of Ireland, and we have only been too willing to check out some local (and not so local) talent. After our show on Tuesday, we rushed out after a quick pint in the theatre bar to The Old Oak to see an awesome bluegrass band. Mark showed up and impressed all by showing Melissa a few quick moves on the dance floor. Who knew he had it in him? When the band wrapped, we headed off to a bar called Cranelane Theatre, where we caught the tail end of a solo acoustic act.

Last night, we started off at a piano bar called Classic to show support to a female acoustic/piano duo, half of which we met the previous night at Cranelane. Shortly thereafter, we headed back to Cranelane where we checked out a lively 4-piece rock band and danced our collective butts off with Richie and Melissa kicking it off. Joey B and Amanda joined the fray shortly thereafter. Their energy was so infectious that even I got out there and flailed about for a bit. Hopefully, no one remembers that part of the evening. :)

That's all for now. The Cork Folk Music Festival starts tonight, so it's a safe bet we'll be hitting the music venues once again. I'm looking forward to it.

Cheers!
Mike