And so begins my first foray into summer stock, playing Lucas in Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor at Paul Bunyan Playhouse. In preparation for my three weeks in the remote college/resort town of Bemidji, Minnesota, I packed only necessities. Clothes, bedding, toiletries, books, Toddy (homemade cold pressed coffee!), Star Wars Monopoly, Fluxx, etc.

Around 7:00 PM, I arrived at our actor housing: Tamarack Hall on the campus of Bemidji State University. Our company manager Katherine was there to receive me, and I quickly got settled in.

In front of the dorm is a short, brick mound whose purpose is unclear. If you stand on its apex and clap, you get a strange echo effect. Your clap is accompanied by a loud squeak. Weird.

I never stayed in a dorm when I was in college, and I thought I’d dodged that bullet. In fact, just being here reminds me very strongly of Memphis in 1999. I dated a girl who went to Rhodes College, where she lived in the dorms. That was my only direct experience with them, hence the association.

Incidentally, all of Bemidji simultaneously reminds me of both Hammond and Skagway. It’s a college town very similar to Hammond, though much more remote and insular, and it’s a Northern, outdoorsy, small town with lots of seasonal tourism, like Skagway. Also, I’m spending part of a summer living in actor housing and performing full time, which also gives me Skagway flashbacks.

After I unpacked, I made a grocery trip, determined to save money on food while I’m up here, and returned to the dorm. While the other actors were watching baseball and partying, I hid in my room and learned lines, then went to bed early.

Tomorrow: The first read-through, and blocking.