Santa Cruz Sandwiches

Long day.

The hard part is over.. well for now. We had our first tech rehearsal with a cue to cue for lights today. It took all day to get the lights to sync up with our show from the show they did last year. After a 10 hour rehearsal we got through the whole show and I think we're ready for tomorrow's run throughs and opening night!

On our 30 minute break today Gilberto and I got went down to the river, the Mississippi River to be exact. I learn about that river in school and now I got to finally see it in person. We don't get much rivers in California, that's for sure. The weather was absolutely perfect today. It was warm with a wonderful refreshing breeze, which made being by the Mississipi that much better. I later found out by our shuttle driver tonight, that this week has been really cold for Baton Rouge. That just makes me happy that I'm in the area when I am opposed to a hot day! A great tip I have for anyone coming to Baton Rouge is to bring some sort of light jacket with you. Not for outdoors however, but for indoors! I don't know what it is, but people LOVE to crank up the AC everywhere and in every building (including the shuttle car!). And this is coming from someone who loves AC, but it's getting a little overwhelming. kinda funny :-)


For dinner break, our fabulous Kate (strega nona) and I went to a nice restaurant. The menu seemed very attractive to me and I found a lot of options that I could eat as a vegetarian. While looking at the menu I realized it was a California style restaurant so I know why I was drawn to it. Nothing like being a vegetarian in Louisiana.


The rest of rehearsal went well. Lots of standing around and working out kinks with lights. It was very productive. Our tour manager is a goddess. She has so much to worry about. She is running lights and playing stage manager, while also managing the tour and making sure the cast is happy and comfortable. She has so much responsibility and she stays calm and collective and ridiculously nice. I admire her so much.

After rehearsal a group of us went to a cool burrito place and on the way back we stopped at a Costco sized super Walmart. I've never been to a Walmart that big before. I'm not a fan of supporting that company, but you gotta do what you gotta do when on tour.

Tomorrow we have a couple run throughs and we get to open the show in front of a paying audience. I'm very excited!


P.S if you have my number, feel free to send me a text. I'd love to connect with people!

Bhagavan Das in the morning..

I'm up an hour early before my alarm clock. I think i'm just too excited to be here.

I forgot about little things that I didn't mention in my last post. I blame my exhaustion I think.

Anyway, the drive to the hotel from the airport was really nice. The shuttle driver from the hotel played tour guide as he explained some history of Baton Rouge as we were driving by the Mississippi River (which is located right behind our hotel). We also have a great view of the capital building, of which he said is the tallest capital building in the US. Anyway, i think I'm going to spend my morning fixing up the blog and looking up more Baton Rouge history.

I didn't think that this tour would also be a history lesson of the US. Makes me feel more blessed to be on this trip.

You best get busy

It's official. I'm on tour

I am in Baton Rouge, LA and tomorrow begins our adventure of Strega Nona. We have our first tech rehearsal at the Manship Theatre

We have been in rehearsals for 3 weeks in Berkeley CA and it has been wonderful and rewarding rehearsal process.

After a 3 hour plane ride to Texas and then another hour to Baton Rouge, we made it to our hotel. This hotel is wonderful. It's very pretty and clean, and the rooms are pleasant. Best of all, the beds are ridiculously comfortable.

We had dinner at a cool American restaurant downtown real close to the hotel. Of course, me being vegetarian, I had a great Louisiana style meal: Salad with strawberries and blueberries with a strawberry vinaigrette (very CA,right?)

Tomorrow will be a very long day, but I am looking forward to seeing the theatre and putting the show together with lights.