Ethan Gets "Fired"

Yes, it’s true. I got fired from the Max and Ruby Red tour. However, so did everyone else in the company. Don’t worry, nobody did anything bad, and we all knew it was coming. In fact, we’re pretty OK with it.

Emileena received termination notices for us while we were in Wilmington, NC, where we gave four really good shows at the (almost) 150 year old Thalian Hall theater. Great kids, even better adults, a perfectly-sized space, really nice sponsors, awesome crew members, a full spread of food each day, shower facilities with fresh towels… we were in touring company heaven! I have actually fallen for Wilmington’s downtown area, and think it would be a great town for an SPT (small professional theater) or summerstock company. If anyone in Wilmington is reading this and knows of a professional theater in the area that might be casting NYC actors, would you please let me know? I’d really love to come back!!

Anyway, back to getting fired. Theatreworks was unable to fill the last two weeks of our tour’s run, so they have chosen to end our contracts early. However, in order to enable us to collect unemployment (and, of course, not pay us for weeks we aren’t working) they formally terminated our contracts. I know, I wasn’t really “fired” per-se, but it’s fun to hear people’s reactions when I tell them. And I like getting my kicks any way I can.

It’s also interesting to see how the impending end of our show is playing out communally. I remember how, in college, high school and some of my non-paying gigs in NYC, the end of a show signaled a time for some serious celebration. In high school, it was the excitement of a cast party at someone’s house and a trip to Perkins. College and NYC brought bars (dive and otherwise) and diners, where the party lasted and lasted. However, here in the “real world” of paid acting gigs, the end of a job is met with a mix of relief and trepidation. Sure, we’re having a lot of fun (as made clear, I hope, by this blog), but touring is hard, hard work, and we’re all in need of a break and a change. At the same time, however, we’ve all just lost our jobs and, unless you have something lined up (which a few of us do; I’m back at the zoo, for those of you familiar with those exploits), it’s time to rock the unemployment, or return to temping, as you audition like mad for your next job. And you can never be sure where it will come from, and how much it will pay. And that’s the scary part.

However, we’ve got 33 more days left on this contract, so I intend to have as much fun with these folks as I possibly can. Besides the fact that I’ve been paid for 16 weeks to dance around in a gorilla suit, wear fluffy bunny ears and sing in my falsetto, by the time this ends, I’ll also have set foot in every state on the Eastern Seaboard (plus Alabama, but we don’t talk about that), vacationed in Florida for 2 weeks and learned how to drive a giant Dodge Sprinter van without causing (too much) damage. And, perhaps most importantly, I’ve made some good friends, people who I hope I’ll be able to keep up with after this tour, both personally and professionally. We may be in each other’s hair a little bit too much right now (such is life in a maxivan for four weeks on the road), but, deep down, I love ‘em all, and am happy to have new faces in my “Urban Tribe.” So, let the adventures continue, even if they’re being cut a little short!!

Kid quote of the day: At the end of the show, Ruby becomes panicked when she looks at the town clock and discovers that “It’s almost 4 o’clock!!” During one of the Wilmington shows, after Ruby gave her line and all the Bunny Scouts gasped, a little boy very excitedly told his mother, “Mom, it’s almost 4 o’clock!!”

Call tomorrow: 7:30am, parking lot outside Hulbert House, Boonville, NY. Oh Lordy! We’ve got a 9am at a school, we’re expected to get to our hotel around 11pm and we’ve been driving since 7am.