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Sunday, November 16, 2003
Impressions by Darren Frazier
An all-American free day is all we could ask for today! After a long
and busy international week in Brno, everyone in the festival has departed
except us. We are anticipating our arrival in Prague tomorrow. There
were no doubts that everyone was feeling lethargic this morning and
no one knows why -- perhaps it's the overcast weather...or delayed
effect of jet lag... or mental exhaustation from sign language translation...
or our bodies simply need eight hours of sleep daily.
 We embarked on an unforgettable
journey to a local winery in Bolcino,
just miles away from Brno. Upon our arrival at the winery, we weren't
too happy to know that the winery looked like our neighbor's house. Nevetheless,
we got off the bus and were guided into the house. To our suprise, we
found ourselves sitting in a cozy, warm brick-covered dome-style dining
room, enough for 30 guests. As expected, there were plenty of wine
jugs on the table, enough to soothe our weary minds. The winemaker is
a splendid, delightful
and courteous man who came from a long history
of winemakers in his family. To our amazement, he spoke in great detail,
with the help of our interpreters, about the history of his winery and
how it was affected by certain events since the 19th century. Of course,
we started to taste four different wines and all were very good and had
been aged for one year. Then, we were served hearty dishes - roasted
chicken
thigh/leg along with homemade bread and sweet
petite pickles. The chicken was divine -- claimed by Miriam, Willette
and I. I teased Willette if the chicken tasted as good as her Mama's.
Guess what she responded with a thunderous acknowledgement -- "Better
than my Mama's chicken!"
Afterwards, the winemaker jokedly told us, "Please get out!" as
he wished to guide us down to his tiny cellar. Inside the 10 x 10 feet
cellar, there were different barrels of wine lined up against the wall.
On the walls, there were aged bricks covered scatteringly with coins.
If you can make a coin stay on this wall by itself, you will receive
good
luck. Fortunately, I was able to accomplish this feat for everyone. Hopefully,
we will see the good side of our luck soon. Other than sipping wine in
the cellar, some of us were given the opportunity to draw wine into a
long, beautiful pouring glass from a barrel and serve them to everyone.
Quite an experience, it was!
Night fell and we bid our thanks and farewells to the winemaker and headed
back to Hotel Continental. We swore that we drank enough and that the
wine replaced our blood. This night was a perfect ending to a cherished
week full of atonishmet, laughter, goodwill and love in Brno. We can
only say two words to Brno - "Thank you."
Good night!
Monday, November 17, 2003
After a delay at the hotel, we were finally on our way
to Prague! We arrived in the early afternoon and went to check out our
accommodations. We are staying in a pension which are like having small
studio apartments. We received our GastroPasses (food coupons) and set
out to get something to eat.
After eating, we were reunited with some of our interpreters
from Brno. Happy to have us here in Prague, they proceeded to take us
on a whirlwind tour of the beautiful city of Prague. There is beauty
wherever you look. We were fortunate to be able to be downtown in the
Old Town Hall area at the stroke of the hour so we could see the workings
of the beautiful astronomical
clock. When the hour strikes, all of the
hand sculpted
figures on the clock move, parading thru the windows and
the top while the bells toll. It was magnificent. We got a glimpse of
the Jewish quarter of town, looking at the longest practicing synagogue
(there have been continual services there for over 700 years) in the
world! We saw many wonderful shops and we all made notes of the places
that we wanted to return to so we could shop later.
There is so much to see here, we are all overwhelmed...but
we perform Tuesday evening at the Theatre
Ponec, so we will get an early
start in the morning.
--Myra Coffield
Tuesday-Wednesday, November 18-19, 2003
Today, we reported to the theatre bright and early at 8:00am to
set up the lights for the performance of Wings.
The theatre is a wonderful space that has just recently seen renovated.
As a matter of fact, we are the first production after the last series of renovations
were completed. It was a perfect performance space for both Wings and Celebration
of the
Senses.
 There
was a large crew at the theatre that worked very hard setting up lights, assembling
the house area, setting
up the lounge,
and clearing out the lobby. We were able to have everything set up in
time to have a full rehearsal with lights.
The show went well and the audience participated in a discussion
with the cast afterwards. We all assembled for another group
photo with our buddy Petr Smutny at the end of the evening.
 Wednesday was our last day in the beautiful city of Prague
and we did some power sightseeing and shopping. Our sightseeing took
us all around the city to Wenceslas
Square, the dome
of St. Nicholas Church, the statues of Charles Bridge,
the stained glass windows of St.
Vitus' Cathedral, and the Old Jewish
Cemetery.
We then made our way to the theatre to set up the lighting
for Celebration of the Senses performance that evening. The
performance went very well and we had quite a nice crowd in the audience.
Amongst the audience was the
lady who translated the poetry into the
Czech language for us.
After the show, our hosts had a very special surprise for
us. We had a banquet dinner held at one of the highest places in the
city...in a restaurant atop a large radio tower that had spectacular
views of the city. After an emotional gift-giving and good-bye session
to our hosts, we went back to the hotel to re-pack all of our new purchases
for our trip home the next day.
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