Thoughts on Christopher Gaul

My heart skips beats...the clock ticks erratically and nothing seems the same.

Our hearts were wounded upon hearing of the death of Christopher Gaul.   A beautiful man inside and out.   A gentleman, if such a thing can exist in this day and age.   And a consummate actor....no, I should say chameleon who enchanted, invigorated, annoyed, perplexed, and always engaged his audience.   We will miss Christopher in so many ways….ways that we cannot even imagine as we grieve his death today.

 

I first met Christopher just before he was to enter junior high school…so he would have been about 12 years old.  I was an ambitious college student who wanted to think that I could actually make money in the summer teaching what I just was taught in theatre to younger kids as my ‘summer job’.   I had what was called “Diana’s School of Theatre and Music” which was conducted for two summers at Grace United Methodist Church in Morningside.   Christopher was one of the students that came into my life those summers.   I had written two musicals (one for each of the summers) and cast Christopher as a Wad of Bubble Gum.   That sounds insulting, but it wasn’t.  I was amazed at his ability to BECOME a wad of bubble gum.   There was no doubt in my mind what I was observing.   As it turned out, Christopher’s wad of gum genius would never be seen publicly as the role of the King (the show was titled THE LITTLE PRINCESS WHO COULDN’T SMILE) became available and I recast Christopher in that role.   Even then his talents were so evident.

Christopher has been a very important part of the LAMB family forever.   I will always remember his German Orchestral Conductor being interrogated by an American Captain (Michael Vinson)in TAKING SIDES.   Those scenes were terrifying and so real….As real as scenes later in DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (a show which I was fortunate to direct) where his Otto Frank dealt with the harsh realities of living in hiding with his beloved family (Debra Marqusee, Aubrey Sea, Emily Dorsett) and total strangers (Karen Sowienski, John Mangan, Luke Saunders).   Christopher was able to morph himself physically, vocally and more important..he was able to emotionally connect and completely embrace the essence of the character he was portraying.   In contrast to the dramatic, he was just as comfortable and fluid with the comic and displayed his spot on timing with the LAMB farce “team” of Karen Sowienski, Mary Madsen and Michael Skaff.   Farce couldn’t get any better.   Whether high drama or crazy farce to heartwarming comedy (LEAVING IOWA with Debra Marqusee, Matt Rixner, Angela Iversen, Melissa Hunt and Rick Myers) or musicals such as ANYTHING GOES (where I was fortunate to play opposite him) or SWEENEY TODD (where we all learned how low his singing voice could go as he enveloped the sinister Judge Turpin.), Christopher was a joy to be onstage with, to direct, to just be around.  

Our hearts go out to his beloved Kyle and to the rest of Christopher’s family.   His theatre family will feel this huge hole for a long time.   However, we can count ourselves lucky that we were able to witness first hand the creative genius of Christopher Gaul.   He was Sioux City’s Own and we all were the fortunate beneficiaries of his life.

Thoughts from Both Duncan and Ben

This was on our travel day to Williston, North Dakota on Sunday, May 6

Today was interesting, there is no other way to describe it. Stuck in a car with Grace, Josie, Ben, for four hours was interesting to say the least. Though I slept a lot of the ride. Today's show had a small crowd, not that that's a bad thing. The stage we performed at was awesome, for a high school that has only ever done one musical. The show is getting better and better every day. Tomorrow is our rest day, so we'll all be trying to get our homework done. 

                                                                       Duncan

This was from our free day on Monday, May 7:

Hey, it's  Ben and today is our free day!!!!!! So today we got to sleep late today   I went to the girls room today and worked on homework with them. Duncan was still in the room but then later joined us. We spent almost all day working on home work.  We were going to go to the pool afterwords, but we didn't because we had lots  of home work . Grace, Josie and I went down to the washing machine.  While the tshirts were washing, Grace and I taught Josie the Seussical dance that she missed. When we got back we ordered a pizza and now we are back in our hotel room watching SMASH ---so good night everyone. 

                                                                                 Ben

A Mighty Troupe of Actors- Mrs Wooley's Thoughts

We will begin our final leg of our journey tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. so that we can arrive before noon back on LAMB soil.   I have been very pleased with the progress of this mighty troupe of actors....not only onstage, but offstage as well.   It should be a comfort to all the parents that their child represented their families and their hometown extremely well.  All four were extremely personable with the organizers of the various venues, completed the continuous tasks of setting up and striking with perseverance and humor and were always respectful of their driver/director.   It was encouraging to see how they managed their time and their finances along the way.   There are so many lessons to learn while touring and this troupe learned them well.   As challenging as it is to be in such close quarters for an extended period of time, it is just as challenging to fill one's time when no one else is available or willing to join you in an activity.  Prior to each performance, we would completely run through the show and work on different elements. This workout would last about 90 minutes even though the show itself is 45 minutes!    Every one of the actors grew along the way and the show really took a really cool shape.   The script is rather scattered, but we were able to create a pretty solid through line by the end of our run.   We will be able to perform this show at least one more time for the kids at Camp Imagination in June. We might try to get a performance at the theatre as well.   I think it would be fun for everyone to see how much the show has developed.    We had an organizer in Williston, North Dakota who was a theatre major years ago.   I hadn't realized that he was watching us rehearse.   We would stop and work...change things...."rinse and repeat" until we achieved whatever alteration/improvement we were focusing on.  Some of it got pretty exacting.  He told me after the show that he loved watching the rehearsal as much or even more than the show.   He was amazed at how willing each of the kids were to my requests and how they totally threw themselves into whatever I had asked--no questions asked.  He had never seen such complete trust and respect from kids this age...or any age.   He said that it was like watching an advanced acting class where the students could immediately put their new techniques into practice with a live audience.  He was amazed at their ability and skill level.   That was just one of many, many compliments we received throughout our tour.    An older couple from Dickinson came up to me after the show on Tuesday and said that they couldn't believe how poised, talented and enthusiastic each of the actors were. They had seen many theatre productions around the country and said that this little show totally enthralled them....and this was the performance where the stage fell down!!!!   It was funny.   The kids said after the show when they were signing autographs that not one person mentioned the falling stage or that the actors had to move to the floor below....they remarked at how much they enjoyed the show--nothing about the "calamity".   

Needless to say, I am so proud of Caravan Five.   They performed and behaved beautifully and brought joy to a lot of people along the way.   

Now to sleep....perhaps to dream...... Mrs. Wooley

Story Land -Aberdeen, South Dakota

Just before heading for home tomorrow, we arrived in Aberdeen one last time to spend several hours in Story Land.   This has become a LAMB Caravan tradition.   See below some of the fun we had exploring this incredible park.

What went up....just went down

Aloha! Hola! Bon jour! 

This is Josie Kasik with todays daily news! Well I woke up at 10:30 (hahaha all the kids in school had to wake up early-- but not us!!!!) to find that Grace was already awake because the nice cleaning lady came a bit too early! Then Ben really wanted to go swimming, even though the pool was just a large hot tub. So we all went down at 11 and stayed for about a half an hour. Grace and I went over "Oh the Thinks You can Think" (from SEUSSICAL) while in the hot tub and it was fun. We came back up and got ready to leave by 1:15 p.m. We stopped at Wendy's again to eat lunch. Before leaving Bismark we stopped at Little Dukes for gas. We drove to Dickinson, which was an hour and a half away, but the time changed into mountain time which was cool. We got to the hotel that we would be performing our last show about a half an hour early so we wasted time until the hotel stage was set up. At that time, I think we were all really annoyed with each other because we started fighting. But Mrs. Wooley made us all say three nice things about each person and then everything was fine. So we setup and ran the show. We got dressed and ready. We only performed for a small amount of people, but the number never matters as long as we make at least one person happy then that means we accomplished something. So the show went really well for a while until half way through when...the stage collapsed!!! Yes I said collapsed, I still don't even know what happened. Ben was jumping and it just fell, so Ben went up and the stage went down! Of course we acted like nothing happened, but we only made it 5 minutes before Mrs. Wooley had to stop the show because the kids sitting on the floor started playing with the broken part of the stage so we stopped and the kids had to move back and we had to move to the floor which was much more sturdy. Good thing the stage was only 18 inches high or else someone would have gotten hurt, but the show went on and everyone still loved it, which was good. We tore down the set and ate at the resturant at the hotel. By then it was 9 o'clock mountain time which means 10 in Bismark. So we drove back and mostly played the game Catch phrase again, which is the best game in the world( I think I already said that but, oh well) We had some funny ones like "quiet as a moose"- Me (it was really quiet as a mouse) and "snow farts" instead of snow forts. Lets just say we were all over tired. (except for Duncan because he watched Friends the whole way home) So as you already know Grace and I were craving fruit so we stopped at Wal-Mart to buy some and it was midnight by then, but we finally got our fruit and we had a nice check out lady. I started singing an Elvis song and she started singing along with me!!! She was awesome so then we got back to our hotel and went our separate ways. Oh, one more thing! We made up nicknames for each other: Dincan Feagus, Bean Wagtun, and Grease Boomler!! They were pretty funny at the time but I think it was because we were all going insane!!! So that leads us to right now, Grace is showering, the boys are in their room, and I am writing this blog and it is 12:50 a.m. So I should probably go to bed because we are going to Story Book Land tomorrow!!!

From, Josie Kasik:)

P.S. Sorry about all the mistakes, I am just tired

P.P.S. And sorry it was so long

P.P.P.S One more thing...Hillary Ping, if you are reading this...WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!

This was the stage that fell down.   Not that side...the Downstage Stage Left side.  Not a long way down....but what a surprise to feel yourself tumbling.......

May 7, 2012

Hi.
I'm gonna keep this short and sweet.  Yesterday, May 7, 2012 was a homework day.   Here is a list of what we did yesterday.
10 hours of homework
1 hour of laundry
2 hours (breakfast, lunch, dinner) of eating
You can see how eventful our day was.   (Read this sarcastically)
From
The Fruit Cravers (Josie and Grace)

Saturday and the Caravan Crew

Hello, this is Josie, and I will be giving you a recap of what happened today! We got to sleep in because we didn't have to leave until 12:30, but of course, the guys had to wake me and Grace up at 8:30 because Ben needed a rubber band. So we got ready and packed up everything. Before we left Aberdeen, we stopped and Wendy's to eat lunch and then we stopped at a gas station/grocery strore where Grace bought goldfish, but she didn't know how to use her visa card so the lady told her that she would learn her how to do it. (yes" learn her how to do it") Then we started heading out to Bismarck, North Dakota. Along the way we played more Catch Phrase (the best game in the world) and we had some really funny things happen while playing like "it rhymes with merbel"-Grace and "To stir fry love"- also from Grace and "mildly hot beans"-Ben. I guess you just had to be there. We got to Bismarck and saw Dr. Mershmallow's cousin-a big overgrown white blob in the field and went to the place where we would be performing. We set up and ran the show. Before the show started, we had some interesting conversations backstage! The actual performance went super well, definely the best one yet. We performed in front of about 200 people. We signed more autographs and then we tore down the set in 7 minutes!! We left and went to our hotel called the Expressway Inn. (We will be staying here for 4 days) On the way there we named our new GPS Harry and we tried to sing Crazy Train but it failed. We checked in and dropped our stuff off and then went to T.G.I. Fridays for dinner and had some great food! We also discovered that Duncan is dating a dog. (inside joke) After dinner we came back to the hotel just in time to see the beginning of Saturday Night Live. And that was our day!! Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

From your friend with a curly-q mustache, 

Josie

P.S. Yesterday a little boy told me he loved me! He was the cutest kid EVER!!!!

Photos from Day One in Aberdeen

Setting up on the beautiful Thomas F Kelly Theatre in the new Aberdeen Central High School (2006)

  Do you see that the stage has two different levels?   

Don't they look fun loving and sweet?  Two seconds later Grace stuffed a curly fry up Duncan's nose....or so the story goes....  Now THAT's a Democratic Surprise Party, right Ben?

Josie, finally calm after her pre-show energy noises and gyrations....

Taking Time Out from Being Stuffed in a Van

 It says Pet Exercise Area

Have empty South Dakota Field....will travel....Ah, the wind in our hair, the cool breeze on our face.

Wait a minute.....you mean there isn't a shuttle back to the van?

Come on you slowpokes!

Photos as we readied to leave Sioux City on Friday

 

 The placing of the magnetic sign.    It is OFFICIAL....we are OFF!

Time to say goodbye to our families

Words of wisdom from Mr. Wooley

First Touring Day By Grace Beumler

Hi from Aberdeen!

This is Grace writing about our very first day on tour. This morning we all woke up bright and early to be at LAMB by 7:45. After some goodbyes to our family and some advice from Mr. Wooley, we were off. In our first hour in the car we talked about the show, listened to music, and talked about TV shows (such as SMASH) and how skorts are just a mullet for your butt. After one hour we all decided that we hadn't annoyed each other ...yet. We played “catch phrase”, a very quick game of vocal charades, when we discovered Ben wants to have a democratic surprise party (inside joke). We took a rest stop to run around and get some energy out. After only about a minute of being in the car, it started down raining and lightning-ing :) We had a Sound Of Music sing along to keep us occupied, because some of us (Duncan and Ben) don't really like thunderstorms.

                  We finally got to Aberdeen SD, and passed by my favorite place from last year, the Dollar Loan Center. I am very obsessed, don't ask why. I made up a song and an advertisement about it. When I saw that they also have a website, I was very excited. (go to dontbebroke.com to see) We got to our hotel, which is very nice, and discovered instead of 3 rooms with 2 beds we got 3 rooms each with 1 large bed each. Now Josie and I don't mind, but the boys were a little freaked out about sharing a bed. Duncan created a chair bed made of pillows and chairs from our room. When a little down time before our show got too long Josie and I decided to make coffee to bring to the boys. Apparently it wasn't very good. After falling off the bed we packed for our performance at Aberdeen Central High School's Thomas Kelly Theater. Josie and I both were on the tour last year, so we knew what to expect, but the boys were surprised at the size of the high school. (It's huge!) We had to set up and run through several parts of the show to adjust to the stage's levels. We had a great show for an audience of about 450. Mrs. Wooley said she heard many great things from the audience members.

                  After packing up our big Mrs. Mershmallow (our van) we went to the Dollar Loan Center once more so we could take some more pics. (see picture) After that we all decided we needed food, so we stopped at an Arby's, where we all got some sort of roast beef sandwich thing. In the car we talked about who was going to write the blog. When we got to our hotel we turned on some old re-runs of Friends and listened to Seussical music while practicing our dances.  Then I sat down and started writing this blog. It was a long, but fun first day. 1 day down...6 to go. :)

signing off,

Tracy (Grace)

Five Days BEFORE Takeoff

One rehearsal left before we start packing our bags!   Grace and Josie are utilizing the experiences of last spring's short tour to prepare the two boys for the upcoming tour.   We have decided that boys think differently than girls as last spring and last fall tours were all female and girls have a certain way that they put the set pieces together.   Grace, Josie and I noticed immediately that the two boys had a definite way to put the poles, curtains and bases together.   It wasn't wrong...probably more intuitive...but definitely LESS creative than the way we were putting things together for the last year.   These four kids really get along with each other and I am anticipating a wonderful tour.   The show is going together very well and these young actors have such energy!  BLUE HORSES is a story of relationships between four 10 year olds and their discovery of how differences between them add to their friendship.  It also demonstrates how great using your imagination is and how it can propel you to become who you really want to be.   Although this play is not a traditional story, it has a super message told in a fun and exciting way. I think our audiences will really enjoy the play and the actors.    Now to bed.   I have to catch up on some sleep before we begin our long journey.   We are anticipating 1500 miles.   Let's see how close we get to that number.