Some things always remind me of our time in Lansing:
This “J” mug was a prop from the Dark Night production of The Early Girl I organized and produced as a Second Company member at the BoarsHead Theatre. It belonged to my character Jean. All the female characters in the show had one with their character’s initial on it. I love this mug. I use it for everything – milk, soda, tea, cider, cocoa. Everything.
All black – I have quite the collection of black shirts of all lengths and varieties, black shoes, and black pants. When you spend 5 nights a week backstage, you learn to embrace the theatre blacks. I can’t wear blacks without feeling like I’m backstage, charging between the green room, shop, and dressing rooms.
Square cut pizza – especially if it’s square cut pepperoni pizza in a pizza box! The theatre’s spring production of All Childish Things called for a pizza. The greasy spoon Arts bar down the street was contracted to provide said pizza. It came hot and delicious nightly, a large circular pepperoni pizza cut into squares. The best part? After the show it was ours. And it was delicious.
Jimmy John’s gourmet subs! If you had 30 minutes between work and show call, this was the go-to chow. They were located like 0.8 miles from the theatre, they delivered fast, and were cheap. The bread is especially tasty. Totally Tuna, California Club, the Italian Vito, and the Vegetarian Sub were my favorites! Someone on staff would round up all the Jimmy John’s orders and we’d all pile onto the floor of the lobby, chow down and gossip. I can’t smell, see, or eat a Jimmy John’s without Lansing flooding my brain. Another helpful tip: set the cookie in the sun – warm and gooey goodness! The grand opening of the Jimmy John’s near our house was today – I scored a Totally Tuna for $1. Mmmmm! It was quite the nostalgic Lansing day.
This picture always makes me smile. Sometimes life in Lansing was a real pain in the ass. Living at the intern house wasn’t cake and we all seldom got along nicely. Too many psychopaths creative minds at play. But it didn’t all suck. I loved the internship itself and there were a handful of happy memories like the WillPower – Shakespeare’s Ladies rehearsals and touring performances, playwriting classes with Kristine, group outings to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream during the workday, piling in the BoarsHead van to see a show at Williamston Theatre, opening night champagne toasts and catered parties, the company heading to Leo’s Outpost for a drink, post-stike beer and pizza onstage after striking 85 stage lights, the fun Permanent Collection cast & crew party we held at the intern house, hanging gels in the living room, and the day we helped Holly clean out the costume shop. That ridiculous red headpiece on the dude? I totally made that.
Tons more things bring Lansing to mind – stain glass windows, reading scripts, coffeeshops, great breakfast, little glass animals, ice cream and the park, billboards, the smell of Home Depot, a bunny running across our yard – so, so many thing. Too many to name.
We love Cincinnati, but some days Ted and I both miss Lansing.
