The tour of North Dakota wrapped up Friday night, leaving me with one night to spend in Minneapolis. Kat and I went to Northeast for pizza at Punch and drinks and dessert at Times. Aahh. Glad to be done with North Dakota. The tour went well, though the travel and sightseeing aspects left much to be desired.

At Midway Middle School, which is a miniscule facility many, many miles from even the nearest house, the principal approached us after the show and said, “You guys did really well!” with no effort to conceal the surprise in her voice. We thanked her, and she continued, “You guys should get a new backer!”

We paused, not sure what she meant. Mike’s and my first thought was that she had some beef with North Dakota Securities, which was the corporate sponsor (in our minds, the “backer”) of the North Dakota Mad About Money tour. I said, “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”

She said, “You know. Your company. The one that does this program.” She was apparently referring to NTC. We paused again, appalled. Then she said, “Why don’t you guys do real theatre?”

This fanned our irritated confusion into full-blown ire. We both said, “We do,” told her that we’re actors in the Twin Cities, and proceeded to mention some other acting projects we do. She made some comment I don’t remember, to which Mike replied, “Acting is a pretty freelance kind of thing.” She said, “Well, it must be hard to make a  living then,” and left. All the while, she had a fake, condescending smile plastered on her face.  She was trying to give us a backhand compliment, telling us we were too good for this kind of work.

This woman, who apparently thinks children’s theatre is bullshit and something desperate losers do, is in charge of educating children. And what she told us to our face is the equivalent of one of us saying to her, “You seem like a pretty good principal. Why don’t you work at a real school? Why would you want to be in a shitty place like this?”

On the other end of the spectrum, Mike and I had a blast at Turtle Mountain in Belcourt, which is in an Indian Reservation. It’s a very poor area with a reputation for being rough; several different people expressed concern about us going there, as if we would not be welcome. But that show was probably our best. The crowd was huge, and they all loved it. We felt like rock stars.

After the Belcourt show, we drove an extra twenty minutes out of our way to see the International Peace Garden, which sits at the U.S.-Canadian border. It was cold and gray, and we were almost the only ones there. It was indeed quite peaceful. The U.S. and Canada have yet to declare war with one another, and I attribute that to these empty gardens.

Since the entrance to the Peace Garden is between the U.S. and Canadian border guard posts, we didn’t have to enter Canada, but we did have to re-enter the U.S. We showed our IDs and stated our business, then we were instructed to pull off to the side for a car search (God knows what we might be bringing back in from the Peace Garden). We complied, and just as the border guard was opening our trunk, we realized that we had bags full of lead pipes, props, and costumes. We hopped out of the car and explained what we were carrying. He asked where else we were headed, and we told him that our next stop was Langdon, ND. He told us that his uncle owns the Dairy Queen in Langdon. When we reached Langdon, we ate there and saw someone whom we assume was his uncle. Two relatives across the state from each other, both spotted in one day, without either of them knowing about it. We felt special.

North Dakota is now done, and Mike and I are beginning the second act of our three-act story: Alaska.