When we first arrived in Fayetteville, there was a house nearby in the very beginning stages of renovation.  At first it looked like the owners were merely adding a garage, but as the days passed we realized there was a lot more building and expanding going on.  That house reminds me of what the three of us are going through as we slowly (and quickly) grow in this strange and wonderful new land.  The last time I drove by the house-in-progress I noticed that while it’s still got a long way to go, it’s getting closer and closer to looking like a real home.  Just like us!

Our friend Cheryl, who with husband Russell just up and left Brooklyn for California around the same time we headed for Fayetteville, likes to call what we’re experiencing a “brave new world,” and sometimes you have to be, well, brave in it. I’ve spent most of these last 11 weeks coaching Huck in the bravery department, what with his fear of spiders, spider webs, wasps, bees and all flying insects, and sometimes I have to remind myself to take my own advice. No matter how amazing this new place is, fear can creep in at any moment.

Here are some not-so-scary (& a few really scary) things in our life these days: Troy has been working quite regularly as a substitute teacher with babies, toddlers and preschool children at a child development study center, and he also volunteers at just about every organization in town.  Sunday night he did a 10PM-5AM shift at the Walton Arts Center loading out “The Jersey Boys” and somehow managed to be wide awake for most of Monday.  I opened “Julius Caesar” last weekend (pictures below courtesy of our costume designer Ruby Kemph) and this week I begin high school workshops with a couple of other actors from the production. I’m also playing a Columbian male puppet named Luis every Tuesday morning at pre-school centers (if you know how bad my accents are you understand how scary this is), and on Tuesday afternoons I’m teaching the after-school drama class at Huck’s school.  Speaking of Huck’s school, he is particularly crazy for his math group, P.E., library activities, technology club and the Chinese language and culture class. In dog news, we officially adopted Sunny last weekend (who we usually accidentally call Molly).  She still won’t go from room to room without being led on her leash, but we see her grow a little less afraid everyday.  We finally found the dog park (see previous post) and witnessed her run and play like the most normal dog you ever met.  And the cherry on top of everything is that  last week our dear friend Shana arrived here from NYC to direct for TheatreSquared.  She’s staying with us for the first two weeks, and though we sometimes go days at a time without seeing each other (theatre directors and third graders have completely opposite schedules), we are certainly enjoying every minute we have with her and fantasizing about the day she and husband John do what we did and make this place their home.

Maybe by then the house down the mountain will be complete and we will have finally navigated this brave new world, doing what Sunny does at the dog park and forgetting the scary stuff.

Huck watched part of our final dress rehearsal and got a front row seat to my creepy Soothsayer.

Most of the “Julius Caesar” cast after Opening Night