My Theatre

07 February 2012

On the Road with Ramona: Part One

By Rebbekah Vega Romero // Theatre

“Hi! My name is Beatrice Quimby, and my job is to help you.”

Hi! My name is Rebbekah Vega Romero, and my job is to play Beatrice “Beezus” Quimby in the Theatreworks USA/Two Beans Production tour of Ramona Quimby. That means I say the above line at least twice a day (once at sound check, once onstage – twice if we do two shows), six days a week. The tour runs through the beginning of June, and plays venues across the continental U.S.

This tour is non-Equity children’s theater, and as such, it is very much a DIY affair.  The traveling company consists of five actors (including myself) and one stage manager.  We get from venue to venue in a giant red van, which carries not only ourselves and our luggage but also the set, backdrop, props, costumes, and sound equipment.  In addition to performing the show, the actors are responsible for building and striking the set (and everything that goes with it) at each venue.

Being required to assemble and care for the production so thoroughly has had one surprising benefit, from an acting perspective: it has engendered a very proprietary feeling in me.  In other words, I care what the show as whole looks like, and that informs my performance.  My character, twelve-year-old Beezus, acts as the narrator.  It’s implied that she came up with the idea to do a play about life on Klikitat Street, so this play is her brainchild.  Building the set, laundering the costumes, presetting my props onstage: all of these tasks help me to tap into that pre-teen sense of proud enthusiasm, and I hope that helps to keep my work authentic as we continue the run.

It’s been three weeks since we opened. In that time, we’ve played 22 performances in 4 states (NY, CT, FL, GA). We’ve just arrived in Illinois, our fifth state. This is the furthest west I’ve ever traveled. I spent much of the last two hours of the drive up marveling at how flat the land is and how wide the sky seems to stretch. I feel pretty lucky to get to see so much of the country while getting paid to do what I love.  What’s especially thrilling is the wide variety of beautiful theaters we’ve played in, some in rather small towns. The audiences, for the most part, have been packed with children who seem to be genuinely swept away.  If the next generation can hold on to that enthusiasm for theater, then maybe, as Beezus says, “there is hope!”

In: Production Diaries, Tours