The Fool's take the day for Laura's B-Day!

June 6th, 2010- A partially recovered Laura welcomed her most favorite day of the year. Her birthday! Lou and Laura headed downtown for a lunch, some shopping and general meandering. The rest of the Fool's met up with them, had a drink at Gertie Brownes and went home to get ready for dinner. Laura wore an outfit that was in part her birthday gifts from her friends and husband. The Fool's treated themselves and Mary Broderick to a delicious dinner at Kin Khao Thai. Laura was able to have her favorite thai meal, Tom Ka, while the rest of the Fool's had various curries.

After dinner we retreated to Mary's house to a delicious homemade cake from a local bakery with fresh whipped cream and cherry compote! Filled nearly beyond capacity, the Fool's sought some entertainment. They found it at The Fiddler's Pub. Singing an array of songs, James Singleton (not sure on that name) got the locals and the Fool's joining in, in no time. Our personal favorite was, "That's Amore," with the alternate lyrics. While the traditional lyrics are "when the stars make you drool, just like pasta faglioli (italo-american pronunciation: pasta FA-ZOOL)," Mr. Singleton's version was "when the stars make you drool just like pasta food." A for effort Mr. Singleton, we are in Ireland after all.



Lou made friends with a local who grabbed his hands during "Pretty Woman."

Laura made friends with a local child whose grandfather was Mr. Singleton. She thought Laura looked like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. They danced about as the locals looked on. We went home shortly there after as we had a day of travel on Monday. Happy Birthday Laura!

The Kitchen became our studio! A Fool falls ill!

June 5th, 2010- The Fool's arise the next morning to find that Laura has fallen ill. She developed a sore throat and cough over the previous days and it finally hit her full force on Saturday. Fortunately, we had no shows or rehearsal planned for the day. Laura spent the day in bed. Lou and Rita designed, sketched and painted the portable drop for the children's show. Ann and Austin ran other miscellaneous, but important errands about town. Lou and Rita stepped out for a bit to do some secret birthday shopping for a certain sickly Fool. We ended the evening watching the final performance of Britain's Got Talent. See how exciting theatre life is!?!


(From left to right- Lou and Rita painting the drop. Rita finishing up some flowers. Ann and Austin totally enthralled with Britain's Got Talent.)

Photo Shoot! Lunch Time with Elaine!

June 4th, 2010- The Fool's headed back Ballyfermot for their photo shoot at The Base. We had the pleasure of meeting Joe, the Ballyfermot Echo's photographer who was so generous and friendly! We took some shots ourselves, but he has his photos on disk waiting for us in Dublin, swell guy! Patrick from The Base was also present and aided us in having a smooth and enjoyable session.


(From left to right- Ann K. Flynn as Matt Damon and Laura Ione as Ben Affleck in Matt & Ben. Laura Ione as Ben Affleck in Matt & Ben. Lou Adducci as Henry Harry and Rita Broderick as Rosannah DeLuce in Brilliant Traces.)


(From Left to Right- Rita Broderick as Rosannah DeLuce in Brilliant Traces. Ann K. Flynn as Phantom, Austin Terrell as Count Wollefkrad, Laura Ione as Selggin and Lou Adducci as Mortimus in Selggin and the Battle of the Mollinduffs. Ann K. Flynn as Phantom and Austin Terrell as Count Wollefkrad in Selggin and the Battle of the Mollinduffs.)

We were also pleased to our names up in their main display!




After our photos were taken, we gave a visit to Elaine (Rita's sister) who surprised us with an excellent lunch of sweet potato/squash soup and fresh bread with currants, and Kerrygold Butter. Austin entertained us with his old timey voice...

...and a gull dropped a present off on our outdoor luncheon, a near miss on Laura.


(From left to right- Elaine serving up lunch. Pile of Kerrygold love. Lou cleans up gull poo splash on Laura's head.)

We headed back to Athlone later that day. Ann and Lou first ventured downtown to pick up some canvas for our Selggin set and Austin, Rita and Laura stayed in Ballyfermot dispensing fliers and posters for our shows.

Guess what? More rehearsals! And Boys vs. Girls.

A note from your blogger-

It is simply amazing how quickly a week goes by! Thank you all for keeping up with us as I try my best to keep the blog updated!

June 3rd, 2010- The Fool's spent another day rehearsing, with Lou and Rita spending the morning getting copies for fliers (which we unfortunately had a misprint on, oops!) and Ann and Laura working Matt & Ben. After lunch we worked on Selggin and the Battle of the Mollinduffs. That night however, Lou and Austin did a mini-pub crawl while the ladies cavorted about Athlone, visiting the shops and gathering some delicious pastries from a US transplant working in a bakery in town.

After Lou and Austin scrounged up some dinner, they joined the ladies at Sean's for pint.

Rehearsing, BINGO!, playing in the park, followed by laundry and more rehearsing

June 1st, 2010- Mary's house became an acting conservatory. We spent the day, 11am-6:30pm rehearsing our entire repertoire. Moved furniture, music playing, and scripts akimbo were the scene about the small Irish house. The Fool's minus Rita spent the evening doing a bit of exploring of the city. Rita was a good daughter, attending Bingo with her mother.

June 2nd, 2010- Additional rehearsing with a midday break to the Passionfruit Theatre. Fiona, our contact there, was awesome! She offered us the space for performance and rehearsal. She then informed us that the Children's show was already sold out. She filled the house for us. Fantastic!

A great lunch, internet cafe, some groceries, a walk by the Shannon and an impromptu rehearsal of Selggin in the nearby park finished off the afternoon. Laundry was started as our clothes began stand on their own. While we utilized the washing machine, the clothes were line dried. We ended the day with some shepard's pie and whiskey. Delicious!

Off we go!

May 31st, 2010- We hit the road to Athlone on Monday. Nearly a straight shot west from Dublin, Athlone is close to the center of the country. We took a trip to Clonmacnoise. Clonmacnoise was a monastery established 600 A.D. Serene and beautiful, the Fool's spent several hours looking at this picturesque, pastoral, incredibly Irish setting.



We drove into Athlone after several hours of sight seeing. We were greeted by the lovely Mary Broderick at her two story home in the Batterys in Athlone. Athlone is much smaller than Dublin and was home to Rita for a handful of years. Mary was ready with pork chops, roasted potatoes and vegetables. Amazing! We rested after dinner then headed off for drink to end the day.



In addition to being home to our lovely hostess, Athlone is also home to Ireland's oldest pub. Sean's Bar was established in 900A.D., verified by Guinness World Records. We had a few before we splashed through the puddles on our first rainy evening in Athlone.

When Fool's start performing...

May 30th, 2010- ...people laugh. At the appropriate times of course. The Fool's minus Rita (who was receiving much deserved squishes from her nieces) walked about town trying to shake their nerves. We arrived in downtown Dublin to check out the performance space at The Belvedere Hotel just off of O'Connell St. With plenty of time to spare, Lou, Laura, Ann and Austin sought out dinner and took in the sights. Laura made friends with a babbling Dubliner!



Gary dropped off Rita just before the performance as the Fool's and Comedy Dublin discussed the set. Lou and Laura were nervous, this being their improv debut, however Ann, Austin and Rita gave the duo the confidence they needed. Laura truly shined in her debut while being supported by Ann, Austin and the great folks at Comedy Dublin. Things went very well with a full house in the odd conference room. Elaine, Gary and Elaine's friend, Tess arrived to pepper the audience with friendly faces.

Afterward we managed to get home with Laura at the helm!