I arrived in Phoenix a week ago. The first few days were passed, as I suspected they would be, in a haze of exhausted relief. My kind hosts took me with them to share in a family reunion on the first day, which involved lots of laughter, wine, beautiful food and a great sunset.
I am staying with friends in Gilbert, one of the outer cities that rings Phoenix. Public transport hasn’t made its way here yet. In fact, today I drove to where Google told me I would find a Light Rail Transit stop with Park and Ride facilities, only to discover that the rail hasn’t been extended this far yet. The car park was there, and a bus stop, but quite a wait for anything else.
I have been placed in a little self-contained cottage in the back yard of the main house. It’s delightfully comfortable, and private. A car has been placed at my disposal, and today I finally stopped wimping out and drove myself several miles to Mesa, the next city along the way to catch the light rail (what I would call a tram, but a very modern, fancy one) into downtown Phoenix. I got hopelessly lost, in spite of having Google maps printed out, AND my TomTom with local maps, but what the heck, I got there in the end.
Still haven’t seen what I would call downtown Phoenix. I appreciate it’s a lot like Houston, with its centre a complex of businesses and offices. What I did find were 3 or 4 blocks with charming little cafes and art galleries scattered among car parks, waste ground, and blocks of apartments. This is apparently the arty end of town, and where most of the Phoenix Fringe will happen.
Speaking of which, rehearsals are going well. My new company is shaping up beautifully, and I reckon this revised show will be a bit of a cracker – not better or worse than the last version, but different.
We had a look at our Fringe venue this afternoon, and it’s adorable. I’ll say more about that at a later date.
Tomorrow I’m running a free all-day intensive workshop on Archetypes. Looking forward to it immensely.
Catch ya later 🙂
