Holiday in the Heights

 Girls!  Girls in shows!  Angela has been a delightful addition to Red in the Heights.  Also, just know that's a Plaids poster behind us.  Not an AIDS poster.

 But wait!  Jess snuck back in for a show!  She understudied her own understudy to do a quick etc version of our holiday show. 

We discovered that in our opener accoutrements, Jess and I look French and Russian, respectively.

 New mom!!  Here's the woman who is responsible for submitting our payroll and driving us to our venue each night.  Swimming in stage fog.  We love Dawn.

Ah the noble cast of Holiday in the Heights.  RedCo until the end of 2010.

 Angela truly is JJ's understudy.

 Mom sits in tiny chairs and eats southwest tofu salad.

 And meanwhile, when we get stuck in a room with multiple pianos, music bits happen. 

 It's been nice to be home, but it's been almost a year on the road and I've found myself kind of missing airports.  Airports!  Those places suck.  But I am excited to get back on tour...in February.  January is all suburbs all the time.  You're welcome for all the RedCo, Illinois!

Happy holidays!!

Tours #21-28

What the F, Natalie???  Where have you been?  Well, we were on the road a lot.  And as such I have been remiss in updating this.  Here is a sampling of some stuff that happened in Minnesota, Okalahoma, Virginia, Washington and right here in Illinois...

Our first (and last) road version of RedCo's original holiday revue in Rockford, IL.  Tilliski, buddy, that's a mugshot.

SEAN!!!!!!!!!!  So we're in Abingdon, Virginia and I turn around to find this guy, my best friend from high school.  Come on, universe.  You're killing me. 

Also in Abingdon, Tilliski enjoys the best milkshake of his life.

 Catsuit for Lady Gaga bit courtesy of Jessica Joy and Ragstock.  Thank you?

 Seattle, WA.  We had a free day to explore the city and an understudy stage manager along with us.  Kim was a delight!

 Back a couple tours to Sebastopol and Pleasonton, CA.  Mom and dad came to see it and we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge driving from the airport.

 This was Kyle's final tour with Red :(  Technically it was Jess's too, although she was able to join us one last time in Tacoma.

 And back to Washington...Pike's Market was awesome.

We had to fly into Tennessee to get to Abingdon, VA.  And what a fortuitous name for a county.

 Way back to tour #21, TJ joined us as an understudy MD for Minnesota State University.  Go Golden Hurricane!

Kyle's last homeshow...Yep, my shirt features K's in honor of our outgoing SM.  Edgar wrote an awesome rap tribute for the set.

That's a real whirlwind summation, but it's been a real whirlwind time.  Red has since added Dawn Wilson and Angela Dawe since Kyle and Jessica went on to the ETC stage.  Although we will have JJ back in January.  Our new team wrote an awesome holiday show and we're taking it to Arlington Heights after Thanksgiving.  Oh yeah, and I turn 30.  Crazy.

Happy holidays!

Tour # 20: Madison, WI

Wisconsin's lovely capitol city, Madison!  We had a little time to walk around before Edgar and I headed to our workshop with some great theatre students.  It was a beautiful fall day at the U of W.  However, we were not playing the U of W, we were playing a small private college nearby called Edgewood.  It was a small house, but a really fun show.

 I can't resist documenting things with the family name.

 And speaking of documenting things, I wanted to take this photo before Kyle killed himself.  Spoiler: he's fine.  But don't think we weren't all terrified. 

With Derek out at a wedding, we had Mr. Witaske in for the night.  He did a great job.  Thanks for being Red, Chris! 

Next stop: Mankata, MN

Tour #19: Salt Lake City, UT

 Before we head to Salt Lake City, you should know that Derek made us all Human Centipede cookie versions of ourselves.  Here I am acquainting myself with little pede-me.  Then I ate me.

Oh Salt Lake City, you are beautiful.

We had a great show at the U of U.  Salt Lake City was a delightful place, I am surprised to say.  I'm not sure what I expected, but it was a kind of hippie town that is clearly pushing toward the antithesis of its conservative, Mormon reputation.  I'd love to spend more time there.  I should've taken more pictures, but it was a true whirlwind.  We were escorted by some of the students who were great hosts.  They took us to lunch at Whole Foods (well, Jess predictably ended up at Taco Bell) and out for drinks after.  It was also Tilliski's birthday.  Happy b, T!

Next stop: Madison, WI

Tour #18: Iowa and South Dakota

Long.  Road.  Trip.

RedCo took on the world by travelling by van to Storm Lake, IA, Ottumwa, IA, Watertown, SD and back.  It started with a radio phone interview...

 Derek, Ross and I all did interviews for the shows in Watertown.  They were apparently very excited to have us.  But first, we stopped in Storm Lake...

 Much of the drive looked like this.

And in Storm Lake our dressing room looked like this.  I'm always delighted by our make-shift dressing rooms that are normally classrooms.  The show was fun, and the theatre was lovely, but we found that the town was...quiet.  Back in the van to Ottumwa! 

Edgar wanted to gift us all by contributing a van muffin.  What a great bit, I thought!  Let's take a photo.  Oh man...I didn't need to clarify what the van really looks like.  The muffin didn't stay long.

Oh hi, Jess.  How's that iPod going?

 Here's our press in Ottumwa, in the lobby of the performing arts center where we played.  Another good show.  We found some seriously great Mexican food in Ottumwa (weird?) before we were served a huge pork chop dinner by the theatre.  Bleh.  Delicious and painful.  Back in the van to our final stop...


 Garmin wanted us to take this mud road to our hotel.  We listened, but learned to ignore it on the way back.  Kyle was a real trooper getting through this mess.

 At the end of the dirt road was our casino hotel, haloed by a dreamcatcher.  Nice work, Dakota Sioux!

 Our venue in Watertown was amazing.  The Goss Opera House was really beautiful.  And besides being historic, lovely and welcoming we got to hang out in this living room...

 We even got to hang out after our Saturday show to see Vanessa and Paul's SNL debut.  Huge thanks to our new friend Eric for taking care of us.

 The beautiful stage.  And look at all those ghost orbs!!  Seriously!!!

The trip was awesome, and despite a combined 28 hours in the van together RedCo remained happy.  Things I learned about this part of the country: there was a surprising amount of Mexican food, Tilliski is a terrible Black Jack player, and you may just find a few actual "Oath Keepers" in your audience.  Ok, the middle thing isn't region-specific.  Sorry, buddy.

Next Stop: Salt Lake City, UT

Tour #17: Ann Arbor, MI

OK, so I'm a bit behind on my travel report.  At least 7 people are simply heart-broken!  For you, here is the update on the last few trips in our busy fall season...

Ann Arbor's Ark Theatre was lovely.  I hadn't been to Ann Arbor since a quick drive through the town while I was doing time at Second City Novi.  We had two nights there and found some fun in the town on our free day.  Right, Jess?

 We were all amused that our fruit bowl included lemons. 

 On the way out of town, I stopped to enjoy this ad.  Werewolves!!

 Here is a view of the backyard Jess and I had behind our room. 

I didn't do Ann Arbor photo justice, considering we had quite the time on our second day.  We walked about the town, taking in comic book shops, cupcakes and Zingerman's, the most awesome deli ever.  Our two shows at The Ark went well.  Good to see you again, Michigan. 

Next stop: long road trip to IA and SD!

Tour #16: Long Beach, CA

Our trip started with a long plane ride for a short trip.  A lot was packed into the 24 hours we spent in Long Beach/Los Angeles, CA.  Derek made me some entertainment for the ride.

Once in Long Beach, we got lunch and settled in to our hotel...to get ready and get over to the hotel where our showcase was happening.  Oh yeah, this wasn't an actual show.  It was a showcase for the Western Arts Alliance.  We were an exhibit!

We had an airtight RO set for the fine arts council people. 

Including Lady Gaga.  Look, if Edgar's nip tape doesn't get us booked, I'm not sure what will.  Oh wait.

This'll do it.

Hot, hot RedCo had a great show, got some free drinks from our agent and then set out for LA.  Jess, Kyle and I went to Second City to see my friend Kevin's show, and Derek and the guys went with an LA friend to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles.  We met up for karaoke later.  Second City LA was sort of surreal.  All the same pictures, smaller place, and odd sightings.  We hung out preshow here...

The Lounge?  Sure.  It was a fun space, and Kevin had a great show.  We met some surprise guests (Dave and Carissa, old friends from Chicago) who joined us out later.  All in all the trip was a whirlwind and I was very happy to be getting home.  And thanks to our successful showcase, we have another one in Indianapolis on Monday.  Significantly easier journey. 

We technically had a tour the next day to DePaul, but since it's only a matter of blocks from the theatre, I didn't consider it tour blog material.  The show was great though.  And speaking of touring news, check out this awesome vlog Jessica put together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcGg7tiB4BA

Next stop: Indianapolis, IN

Tour #15 Lancaster, PA

Franklin & Marshall College!  Oh and Amish Country.  And Hershey Park.  This place wasn't sure what it was all about. But we had a good time. 

There are so many things to do!  Where will we start??  Ross and I had a workshop to teach first.  It was for an improv group at F&M called, appropriately, Rumspringa.  They were really fun, and they were also slated to play with us in the set following the show.  So, on four hours of sleep, I plowed through the workshop, the show, the set and some hangout time with Red and Rumspringa. 

Like the classy ladies we are, Jess and I went to the campus brewery for drinks in our hot travel clothes. 

We had a whole second day and second show in the same venue, so we got to go explore the confused region.  We chose Hershey Park, which was awesome.  I managed three roller coasters which reminded me that I'm getting a little older when I had to balance myself each time I got off one.  Funcussions!  They were pretty great. 

JJ enjoyed some cotton candy...

And then we enjoyed some Civil War reenactment.  Old, old RedCo.

Back to work, we had another successful show back at F&M.  This was the first time we had a full version of Gaga in the show on the road, and it killed.  Turns out college kids love Gaga, dancing, autotune, and members of RedCo in various stages of dress and tape.  And speaking of music, it was this guy's first tour...

Hooray for Tilliski!!  He's been great to have around and it's awesome to have a full RedCo moving into our new shows.  He's really adding a lot to our company.  As you can see.

It's great to be headed into fall with these jerks.  We're getting busier and it will be like we're actually on tour again. 

Next stop: Long Beach, CA!