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Thursday, November 04, 2004 Adventures in Canada, Part I This year's annual road trip to the Stratford Theatre Festival was filled with the expected adventures in unexpected events, from flash floods to general stores in the middle of nowhere. The makeup of the participants varies every year, and this time the old crew was gone, replaced by a handful that was no less fun. Year One consisted of Ryan (and yes, Ryan is a girl)--a dancer and choreographer, Tait--a specialist in Tolkien, anime, and anything British, and myself--a musician, writer, and student of theatre. Year Two consisted of the original crew, Patrick--an architect and composer, and James--a debater and political science major, with a visit from my Canadian friend Steve. Year Three, after many trials and tribble-ations, consisted of myself, Melanie--a poet and swing dancer, Alex--a singer and video gamer (if you've been to a concert lately, you've probably heard him sing with me), and Steph--an art historian and one of my roommates, with plenty of time with the aforementioned Steve and his roommate Daryn. On Friday afternoon, I received a phone call from Melanie, whom I'd told about the trip the night before, confirming that she could come; after playing for the U-M vs. OSU Blood Battle Diag Day in the middle of campus I jumped in a car with the other three and said goodbye to Ann Arbor for a couple of days. We took the Port Huron bridge to Canada for the first time--I've spent most of my life in Metro Detroit, so Port Huron is further north than I'd usually travel--driving through expanses of corn fields and power lines with little to break the monotony. Canada wasn't much better, and throughout the weekend it was nearly impossible to find gas stations when they were needed; all the rural highway prompted a frustrated Steph to say, "Canada's so sparse. How can it have nothing in it?" We made it to Stratford and the Festival Theatre just in time to watch Henry VIII. Alex spent probably half of the performance in the lobby instead of the auditorium, becoming friends with the bartender ("hey, the guy at the bar says there's a punk band playing at this curry shop tonight--want to go?"). But things worked out for him since the production wasn't entirely engaging--little dramatic tension, one standout acting flop (Walter Borden as the hypocritical Cardinal Wolsey), wonderful costumes, a few standout acting successes (Graham Abbey as a sincere King Henry, though he was unexceptional in the title role of Macbeth the night after, Seana McKenna as the long-suffering Queen Katherine, Sara Topham as the charmingly innocent replacement, Anne Bullen/Boleyn). After the show, we went to a restaurant that I'd visited in the past and some of us played the part of the loud American (read: Dawn disavows being the typical American traveler). And then the adventures began. * Props if you caught the Star Trek reference. ^ Top | 5:38 AM | | | 
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