They Can't All Be Greenville

Week 27: Oklahoma City, OK

America is a nation that conceives many odd inventions for getting somewhere but it can think of nothing to do once it gets there.
--Will Rogers

Summer is here in Oklahoma. We stepped out of the airport and were hit with hot, humid air and a temperature climbing above 90. And the wind does "come sweeping down the plain" here. It is one of the windiest places I have been to. The weather has been erratic at best--on Thursday night there was a terrific storm with lightning, torrential rain and hail. Oklahoma City is another of those stops in which my hotel is located on a highway amongst the strip malls, about 12 miles from the downtown area where we are working. I am staying in a studio at an Extended Stay hotel, which, while it has a kitchen and basic amenities, is one of those rather depressing, anonymous places where people go when they are getting a divorce. My room is gloomy and poorly furnished--when I arrived I had two hangers and one fork. However, on the bright side, we do have Target right next door. Where would Americans be without our comforting and familiar megastores? Unfortunately, this is one of those weeks where I am pretty much stranded out in strip mall land. The performers do get minivans to carpool to and from work and the gym, which is fine, but even if I had my own car it would be useless to me. Yes, friends, that's right. I am a grown man who does not know how to drive. I have never driven. The second most anticipated teenage rite of passage passed me by. I just never got a license, and living as I have in midtown Manhattan for the past 15 years, I have never really needed to drive. It is something I always say I am going to get around to but never do! However, I am determined, especially if I continue on with the tour next year to California, to learn to drive.

At any rate, there is not a whole lot to do in Oklahoma City. One can appreciate the history of the place. Established in the late 19th century on "unassigned lands" during the Oklahoma Land Rush, in one day settlers erected a tent city which in time became a metropolis so large that it supplanted Guthrie as the capital of Oklahoma. In the film "Far and Away" there is a wonderful depiction of a land rush that captures the determination of those early settlers. And just as Grand Rapids was obsessed with Gerald R. Ford, so Oklahoma City is with its favorite son, the great humorist and wild west performer Will Rogers. Rogers was an early 20th century icon--vaudevillian, movie star and beloved American celebrity--who tragically died in a crash during an experimental flight over Alaska in 1935. Will Rogers is everywhere in OK City--the airport is named for him as is a local highway, as well as the horticultural gardens.

The city is home to two universities, the Softball Hall of Fame, and several other cultural institutions, including the Civic Center Music Hall, where we are performing this week.
Called "The Municipal Auditorium" when it originally opened in 1937, the building was renamed the Civic Center Music Hall in 1967 when it was renovated to be strictly a performing arts hall. The original structure and two other civic buildings in the area were built by the WPA and still retain their solid, art deco exteriors. By the 1990's, of course, the Hall had begun to deteriorate and was very out of date as far the amenities available to performing companies. Extensive renovations began that essentially rebuilt the interior of the historic building.
The Music Hall's original seating capacity was 6000, an extraordinarily large auditorium (which nonetheless housed eight sold out performances of "Hello Dolly!" during its original tour, according to our stage manager Jovon), and the streamlining of the space in the 90's reduced that capacity by half, while installing state of the art technical facilities and creating an impressive space of dark wood and royal blue seats. The facility is enormous and very well equipped; the principal dressing rooms are especially nice, and laid out with comfortable sitting areas and televisions. After the intimate traditional setting of the Orpheum in Minneapolis, we had to adjust to this cavernous space and the distance of the audience, especially in the upper tiers of this mammoth house.

So OK City seems to be just, well... okay. However, you know me. I look for the beauty in every place I visit, and I did have the opportunity to visit the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, which has the distinction of housing the largest collection of Chihuly glass in the world. Dale Chihuly is one of the greatest and most prolific and beloved glass blowers and sculptors ever.
For over 40 years, his extraordinary pieces, created by Chihuly and his team of glass artists, have been seen and enjoyed all over the world. The exhibit here in OK City did not disappoint. The scope, sheer virtuosity and exuberant creativity of Chihuly's work is spectacularly represented here. Also included are pieces that resulted from a collaboration between the artist and some of the greatest masters of glass blowing in the world, including the two acknowledged masters of the Venetian tradition. A remarkable documentary film accompanies the exhibit and all in all, it was a thrilling display. They also permitted photography, so I was able to take some very nice shots there.




I also visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial, honoring the victims of the tragic Oklahoma City bombing perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh in 1995, which, prior to September 11 was the worst act of domestic terrorism in American history. Following our performance one night, a group of us went to this moving and beautiful monument.
Two monumental gates stand as entrances to this starkly beautiful park on the site where the Murrah Federal Building had stood. They bear the numbers 9:01 and 9:03, documenting the two minutes in which the destruction took place. Sculptural empty chairs are arranged on one side of the reflecting pool, each bearing the name of one of the victims, and laid out in rows corresponding to the four floors of the building where each was either working or visiting at the moment of the explosion. Touchingly, there are smaller chairs for the children who were killed and all the chairs are illuminated at night, creating a peaceful and moving landscape. It's a remarkable work of art, this monument, and we all expressed the wish that a similar simple and powerful memorial will be erected in honor of the victims of 9/11 in New York. And so, friends, while Oklahoma City did not speak to me in many ways, there is beauty and humanity here that speaks to everyone. My faith in us as humans and as Americans is being continually renewed as I explore our great country. Now if we could just do something about the strip malls...

My dresser in Oklahoma City is Megan. Megan has been razzed by fellow stagehands this week because her usual "gig" is as an electrician and lighting technician for concert events.
Megan had to overcome sexism and skepticism to prove herself before becoming this region's only female spot light operator--not an insignificant achievement in a male dominated area of the business. So this rough and tough gal has had to endure the indignity of ironing clothes and working zippers this week! However, Megan has done a great job and been very helpful. I am constantly amazed by the stories of people I meet along the road. Megan's story includes having been a figure skater from the age of five and having her Olympic dream ruined by a car accident which left her with an injury that never healed right. She told me, movingly, how much she is enjoying working with us but how jealous she is too that she is dressing someone instead of performing herself. I felt profound gratitude that I have the opportunity to be in my metier and to go out there and give my all for thousands of people a week.

I won't lie. Touring life can be grueling. And as we near the end of a series of 22 one week engagements in a row, and I approach the six month mark of my personal tour, I confess to feeling somewhat depleted, weary and homesick. These feelings come and go and certainly don't overshadow the pleasure of doing the work I love and the satisfaction of earning a living in my profession. That said, I think all of us have our sights set on Vancouver, where we will stay for a whole month, going about work and daily life with some sense of normalcy. But that is three weeks away, and Albuquerque, New Mexico is next. More from there next week. Meantime, hug the ones you love, express appreciation for your coworkers, and cherish whatever place it is you call home--you don't appreciate it quite as much until you are away from it for a long, long time.