A Few of Kat's Favorite Posts: The Band of Liberal Actors Heads South

So, after we finished up with the Northeast, we piled into the van for an entire month away from New York City and headed to, of all places, the South. We were fortunate enough to be in West Virginia on election day, which was depressing. Interestingly enough, I was the martyr (aka designated driver) as most of my cast wanted to drink heavily and get into fights with red-neck Bush supporters.

I did managed to get the HUGE van stuck in the mud, and decrease the turning radius by at least 50%. It took us about an hour to get the car out, and the best defensive driving I could muster. My arms are still sore from trying to turn the wheel. Now, the car makes a groaning, dying cow noise whenever we try to steer...I know how it feels!

After West Virginia, we headed to Lexington, Kentucky, where we performed the show for a week in...you guessed it...a horse pavilion. I kid you not. We performed in a "theatre" (I use the term loosely) for show horses. We also found some great bars and clubs and I befriended a talking parrot in a local liquor store. Again, I'm not kidding or exaggerating on this: the parrot sold customers dirt cheap bottles of Captain Morgans. And when you're performing on a horse stage, what can you do but drink rum purchased from a talking parrot?

Our next stop was Greenville, South Carolina. We performed in an amazing facility, but there were some draw backs:

1) We ended up staying a the Red Roof Inn known for housing gay truckers. Fellow female castmate Melinda and I were able to roam freely at all hours. However, the boys were even afraid to sneak cigarettes. Men trolled by in their cars any time of the day and well into the night. On the second to last night, we returned from IHop to watch "The Biggest Loser" in one of the guys' rooms to find that a note had been slipped under his door.
It read: for a discreet BJ open your shades at 10:45, or just drop by room 205.

2) The first racial slur I have ever experienced happened there...and it was completely disgusting. We were eating ribs and coleslaw, (Southerners do know how to eat) and at the booth behind us, this guy was mad because his waiter was taking too long. He started calling our black waiter a number of inappropriate words that I, up to that point, had only heard in movies or from Chris Rock specials, in addition to calling him a retard. I was pretty upset and ended up almost getting our scrawny cast members into a fight when I turned around and gave the guy a little Yankee sass (after all, I waitressed in Manhattan, I picked up a few soul-shattering insults along spilled-cocktail-row). I'm sure if I hadn't been such a "cute little lady," I would've gotten my ass kicked.

It is not often that I wish I were big and powerful. Most times, I like being 5'4" and fairly petite. In fact, let's be honest, most times, I wish I were "wither away into nothingness" thin. But at that moment, I truly wished to be formidable, intimidating, and 6'5"...or at least wished our cast included someone like that. As it was, I think my male castmates cried harder than I did about the entire experience (once we were safely in the van listening to Ben Folds).