Winnipeg

Ooch.  I'm homesick already.
Man, for a while there I was reeling in my vagabonding instincts of the past.  Maybe it's just something about being on the road and once I'm on it again, it'll be easy for him to slip back in that mode.


That said, I am so happy to be with Rhea, her stage manager Lucia, and her mother.  We're all crashing at her mom's house at the west end of Winnipeg who is taking good care of us.

Rhea and I get together and don't stop gabbing so the first night we walked around the city and then got home and talked some more and didn't realize it was almost 2pm.  Love this girl.

The Fringe here is huge!  Something like 170 performances, 30 venues, and all centralized in the downtown square.  Winnipeg knows how to throw a festival that the whole city can get involved in - though San Francisco's is younger, it's super small in comparison and I hope it can get this big one day.  Maybe I'll be the one to do it.

I've spent a lot of my time at the fringe square and just wandering around downtown, soaking up the sun and feel of this city.  I found the library which lead to a long tunnel that ran though all of the shopping district.  There is definitely a sense of displacement among the First Nations people which is easy to spot from the outside looking in.  I don't know enough about the history and current structure to speak to it, but the struggle is there.

I've spent a lot of time with Rhea's mom who is a long-time actress, teacher, and creator in the arts community of Winnipeg.  She and I helped promote Rhea's show and she told me about the history of Winnipeg's art community in between hellos to everyone who knew her, which was quite a few.  I also met her father briefly who is an actor as well and is so happy to have a performance at The Fringe at the same time as his daughter.

Rhea had a really good performance and it was incredible to see her onstage in a solo work.  My friend is a comedic natural and a fierce writer.  Friendships are so vital and I am very glad I made this trek to see her.