A Dream Come True

My cousin sent me a list of places to get wings in Bloomsburg. I don’t eat wings so I had to discover food on my own. On my first day of work I passed by the Columbia County Traveling Library Book Mobile. It’s colorful and wonderful, and I downloaded its travel schedule so I could visit. Unfortunately it was only nearby when I had to be in rehearsal, so I could not visit while I was in town. But I’ll be back. 

I got a room with a Pocono view.

The view from the Bloomsburg University upper campus. I ran here when I could.

The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble rehearsal studio and scene and costume shops are located in an old teeshirt factory that was gifted to the company. This building, called the Mitrani, is located conveniently between my actor housing (college student apartments) and the ice cream shop, Big Chill. Big Chill serves a rotation over two hundred flavors of ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Once one flavor bucket has run out it’s gone for a long time. Their pistachio ice cream is the best I’ve ever tasted. I feel like I say this about every pistachio dessert I try but I mean it every time. The fig was also delicious. 

From there the theatre, the Alvina Krause, is just a short walk away through a series of parking lots and alleys. The theatre used to be a six hundred seat movie house, and it was renovated in the early 80s and transformed into the Ensemble's space. The original light fixtures from the theatre's interior still light the house today. Their design was also incorporated into the the BTE logo. Funny enough, they look like the logo for the London Underground, which was perfect for Curious Incident. 

One of the favorite haunts of BTE’s employees and guest artists is the cafe which is located right across the street. I first ate at Baker’s Guild with my director Elizabeth a few months before the start of my contract. The employees knew her, and everyone that came into the shop knew her. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a regular somewhere and know everyone in town. As soon as I moved to Bloomsburg I became a regular at this place. The Baker's Guild serves a delicious sprouted grain crust breakfast pizza topped with eggs, kale, and the most deceptive vegan bacon I’ve experienced. This facon is serious. One of the employees, Carolin, came up with the recipe, and you can order the bacon in bulk from her. I sat in here many a morning and afternoon with a pizza and coffee. I could come in throughout the day during tech and refill my coffee for free. Most of the cast and crew were in there with me, too. Also, try the tacos. Carolin and Erica insisted that I order them at least once. I don’t usually enjoy Buffalo sauce, but the Buffalo chickpea taco was incredibly satisfying. 

My other favorite haunt was Fog & Flame. The best part about this cafe was the strawberry and chocolate chip scone I ordered every couple of days. I would attempt to savor it as I sat in the leather chairs by the front windows and I did a really good job of taking three minutes to eat it. On Sundays Fog & Flame hosts a jazz brunch. It’s quiche and live jazz, which I spontaneously enjoyed with my friend KD one Sunday morning after church.

I went to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church a few Sundays. The first Sunday I went there was no communion and I was confused for a good twenty minutes during the service. Judy, one of the choir members, introduced herself to me afterwords and told me that there was no communion because the priest had just left and the church could not find a replacement in time. Rev Jenkins was running the show in the mean time, but he was a deacon so he could not consecrate Holy Communion. I met him the following Wednesday when I went to get ashes for Lent. He asked if I was a student and I told him that I was a guest artist down the street. As it turns out, everyone in town sees the shows at BTE, and he had tickets already. 

After church I would usually go to Bloomin’ Bagels for a delicious sweet bagel. I tried the veggie cream cheese on an egg bagel one morning, and I liked it, but I really enjoy sweet over savory. My favorite breakfast from this cafe is some combination of blueberry bagel, blueberry cream cheese, cinnamon raisin bagel, and walnut raisin cream cheese. Bloomin’ Bagels has a sequel called Bloomin’ Bagels II which is located just a five minute drive down the street. Both establishments feature a number of coffee flavors and an open plastic tupperware container of sugar with plastic spoon.

Incredible Popcorn is a short walk away from Weis, where I purchased my weekly groceries. This small shop sells bacon and cheesesteak popcorn batches as well as a number of sweet corns. The store can easily whip up a new batch of whatever you need. And you can eat ice cream while you wait! I purchased bacon, Oreo, and Reese’s popcorn. 

My frequenting of these delicious establishments was only one of the ways I was able to connect with this community. April is Autism Awareness Month, so the whole Curious Incident process was festive. The audience was invited to stay after each performance to ask questions and and share experiences with the cast. The talkbacks usually began with questions about the research I did for the role, then they moved to comments about our tech (projections made possible by the Nation Endowment for the Arts), and then many audience members talked about their connections to people on the Autism spectrum.

The Exchange Gallery held an exhibit in conjunction with Curious Incident, and it was open and free to the public an hour and a half before each performance. The show featured paintings, sketches, and sculptures by artists on the Autism spectrum. Julius L. Brown, based in Atlanta, used cardboard as a base for his geometric animal sketches. These were my favorite.

We had a number of school groups attend our weekday matinees. The entire senior class at Bloomsburg High School came to see the show, so a few cast members, Elizabeth, and I sat in on their English classes to discuss the content, careers in the arts, and answer any other questions.

After opening night my director presented me with an envelope. "Rat Tail Ministries wanted you to have this." Inside the envelope was a stack of business cards with inspirational and biblical quotes, puns, and photos of rats doing things. Every actor at BTE is presented with this. One of the characters in our show was a rat, so for this production the gift made sense. 

One night we walked to the creek by the light of the moon and sang “Happy Birthday” to KD as she bathed in the March water.

Capital Grille is the closest thing to a club in Bloomsburg and the dance floor includes pool tables and corn hole.

And these dollars. Delco represent.

On weekends, 11PM shouts of glee made their way through my skylight. The source was the crowd around Pink Wieners, a neon hot dog stand that provided late night munchies to the university students. For $5 you can get two hot dogs and a Pink Wieners shot glass.

My late night food consisted of veggie calzones from Calios. I usually finished my post-show talk back around 10:30, and Calios is open 4-4. Late night cheese is my jam.

Filet 18 serves falafel that is made from fried hummus balls. This makes for a very unusual but very pleasant taste and texture that I was not expecting upon my first bite. They also serve Magners, which I find is hard to find. Find Filet 18.

Rose Marie’s is another popular attraction for post show drinks. BTE employees usually take their families here. Everything is good, but the bread is rosemary and the oil is equally herbed and like many Italian restaurants I just go for the bread. Get the fig and goat cheese salad.

Mom Mom likes this plate.

Nannycakes is moving, but when my parents and I wandered in and we got a free lemon blueberry cupcake.

One night the fire alarm went off in my building. The hall smelled like burnt something, so I grabbed my computer and external hard-drive because this fire could have been real. We learned it was not. Someone left their wooden cutting board in the oven and then turned the oven on. The students took the flaming board out of the building, but the smell remained for ten days.

None of the property managers answered their phones and the fire department took twenty-five minutes to show up.

One evening the interns and I attempted to watch Bee Movie, then switched to Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, which is brilliant, and then we commissioned a gallery.

One day I met with an accompanist, Bonnie, to record an audition video. She was talking about her work schedule and mentioned that the hours varied because her job was to drive the Columbia County Traveling Library Book Mobile! I couldn’t believe I was singing with the person behind the magic book bus.

Before the end of my contract I went to the rail bridge with my cast and crew. 

Just as I was packing up to leave town Bloomsburg was in bloom. Across the water there is a field of blue grape hyacinth. When I go back I’d like to traverse it. I didn't take a picture.

On my second to last day the sounds of Block Party rang through the street. The spring-fling event began at 8AM on my last Saturday. Throughout my contract I said I would do my first keg stand at what would be my first frat party, and Block Party would have been the day, but I was tired and had to pack and also I didn't want to do it.

My roommate Jake was the Easter Bunny and hid eggs everywhere for us.

Side note:

I had been dreaming of doing Curious Incident since I saw it on Broadway. In the months between my offer and the first pre-rehearsal movement workshop I conducted hours of research to prepare myself for what might be the most difficult show I'll ever do. From the time of our first movement workshop I felt so safe, comfortable, and free to build this production with this wonderfully supportive and creative cast. They made it easy for me to be fearless, and the trust and love I shared during this process was incredible. I got to play and explore every day. I was surprised by how much I learned about myself. Playing Christopher was an absolute Dream Come True. 

The Market Place knows