Location: Potsdam, NY
Date: October 16th, 2022
Dear Diary. A confession. I am terrible at committing to writing. Every day I think… Just write something. Two sentences. Something to reflect your genuine living memory of the day. Something to convey the honest feelings of the moment in which you are living.
…
Anyways. I am writing this poolside in Miami, Florida, on October 30th because I am a naughty blog keeper. Here comes a backlog of half remembered stories- buckle up.
October 16th… It’s Showtime! Our first performance of the tour was nigh and anticipation and nerves were high! After a soothing swim at the Hampton Inn pool my muscles were as prepared as they could be for what was to come.
After a few unintentional laps around the SUNY campus we found the loading doors, unloaded all 120 puppets, set them up, and loaded up on green room snacks (they truly spoiled us at this theatre and set an unrealistically high bar- thanks Potsdam)!
To rehearse a show like this for as long as we did and to travel as far as we had- it was easy to forget that there are thousands and thousands of young people across North America waiting for us. The energy of the audience is electric and unlike anything I have ever experienced. Now a treatise on the difference between adult and child audiences:
- Adults come to the theatre with baggage.
- They have to find parking.
- They have to be responsible for not losing the tickets.
- They have to pay for those tickets.
- They have to organize transportation.
- They have to stay awake through the show after being worn down by the minutiae of life in a capitalistic hellscape where their very being as individuals seems to work against the systems in which they are cogs.
- They could be watching Netflix in their underwear.
- They are constantly shying away from joy.
- Children come to the theatre mostly unencumbered.
- They’ve got nowhere else to be (and if they do, it is school, and they are happily on a field trip).
- They have yet to become jaded art critics. If Paw Patrol is the crème de la crème, then an hour of non stop live glow in the dark puppets with an upbeat soundtrack is Citizen Kane.
- They can fall asleep if they want and nobody will judge them
- They can laugh, and cry, and scream, and shout and nobody will judge them.
- They feel little to no shame for the act of unbridled enjoyment and connection with others.
- They are constantly seeking joy.
I am not suggesting that all adults have lost these senses of openness to experience- but maybe, if we left just a little bit of the adult shit at the door, we could live in the moment that theatre offers us. A series of beautiful and fleeting moments that I will cherish as long as I live.
After our show we met Todd Parr’s sister who was absolutely wonderful and were treated to a delicious vegan meal served right in our green room.
Then it was back to the hotel to rest up and prepare for another show and loading out tomorrow!
Find some joy. It is out there in abundance!
XOXO
Lo
Logan Robins 
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