STEPHEN FALA: I’m Stephen Fala, and you’re listening to Pipe and Drape, the only podcast that spotlights the creative minds behind the theatre for young audiences industry.
Many people have been surprised to hear that I have a fitness regimen and dietary restrictions after running around doing a show for a few hours. In order for me to perform at my best, I need to adjust my habits outside of the theatre to support the work that I do on stage. The type of work that I do and the budgetary restrictions of the companies that employ me have a major impact on what I eating and how I exercise while I’m on a tour. I’m going to go through the basics of two very different TYA jobs I had and what I did to take care of myself off the clock. The routines I summarize in this episode are what worked for me: a less than five foot six cisgender male of Irish and Mediterranean descent who may or may not be lactose intolerant. I am 0% qualified to give any sort of weight training or nutrition advice to anyone else, this is just a brief overview of the habits I developed to help me work at my best in a very physically demanding field.
First I want to talk about how I took care of myself while on a very typical pipe and drape TYA tour. To set the scene: it was just me and another actor in a minivan filled with props, costumes, pipes, and drapes for the three shows we performed in rep. We set up our own set and performed very physical shows in elementary school gymnacafetoriums for three hours every day and then sat in a van and drove for two to five hours every night. The living accommodations on this low-budget tour included motel rooms that sometimes had occasional wifi and mini-fridge access—rarely a room that could pass as a fitness facility and breakfast was never provided. We were in very small towns. If you’ve ever heard of Matthews, NC I think I stayed in that Red Roof at least six times.
Long drives like the ones I did every day can cause all sorts of hip tension and leg and back stiffness. During this contract I needed to find a routine that would counteract all of the side effects from the car trips so that I could perform and carry the set without injuring myself. I added an extended hip and back stretch routine to my workouts, which I often did right after driving. Believe it or not, performing the show and carrying work equipment was not enough of a workout. In order to maintain the core strength and stamina to do my job I needed to exercise daily. Since I was not put up in hotels with exercise equipment, and since large gym chains like Planet Fitness were not yet popular, I got very inventive with bodyweight exercises that I could do next to my bed or outside. I had learned a few push-up, plank, crunch, and burpee routines from dance professors in college, and with the assistance from fitness apps and videos online, I was able to string together a series of exercises and stretches that kept me in shape for the demands of this contract. I had to be my own coach at this point. If my routine felt stale or became easy I changed it up. The body gets used to certain movements after an extended period of time.
It was important for me to stay properly fueled to support the work I was doing on the clock and while working out. Most days my coworker and I had to hit the road around 6AM to get to our first venue, and since there was not a buffet of food waiting for us in the motel lobby each morning, we had to be stocked with granola bars. If there was motel coffee we would fill up our thermoses before hitting the road. This was enough sustenance for me to get through one load-in/load-out and show, but not much more. We’d eat lunch on the road between venues. I usually had something light and inexpensive like a salad because it is difficult for me to perform with grease, bread, or cheese jumping around in my stomach. I would consume a bigger meal around dinner when shows, travel, and workouts were finished for the day. Since our motel was usually on the outskirts of town my options for dinner were microwaved meals (if the motel had a microwave for me to use) or delights from Cracker Barrel, Panera, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, or Olive Garden. They do not sponsor this podcast but they did sponsor my spirit in the fall of 2014 xoxo.
A few years ago I did an arena tour with Nickelodeon. The show lives in the world of TYA, but it’s not a pipe and drape model tour. I sang and puppeteered six shows a week in one or two arenas, did a few meet and greets with VIP audience members, and I was bussed or flown from city to city. My company and I were able to spread out across a set of bus seats on long travel days (say bus seat over and over) then crash in a nice hotel in the center of town. Our hotels always offered a sit-down or continental breakfast and had a gym, and my only duty on this contract was to perform and greet VIP guests—I did not have to set up my own set.
The show itself, like most theatre for young audiences pieces, was a workout, but in order to do my job well I had to train and keep training. My fitness and nutrition routine on this tour changed to support the work I did in the arena: manipulating a sixty-five pound puppet. It was essential for me to continue weight training while on tour, so even after I finished performing for the day, I made my way to the gym. I worked to strengthen my back and core so that I had the endurance to perform. I needed to roll out my back, hips, and legs every day because of the weight of the puppet I was strapped into.
The puppet attached to a back brace and harness contraption I wore. This was wrapped tightly around my stomach, so I have to be very conscious about the food I was putting into my body, because if I felt bloated getting into that harness I was done for. I found that I could get through a day of performances if I started my morning with two English muffins, scrambled eggs, potatoes, and at least two cups of coffee. We stayed in hotels that usually provided these things so that made my life very easy. The tricky thing with this menu was that I did not know how the eggs and potatoes were prepared from hotel to hotel. One morning I ate a bunch of breakfast potatoes that were loaded with oil and wow I felt it during my show and it was not great. On a normal two show day I had about an hour and a half between the end of my first show of the day and curtain for the second show. I usually ate a Clif Bar between these shows, this was enough food to keep me fueled, but not so much that it would make me feel bloated when I had to strap myself back into my harness/corset. On the rare three show day the company provided food for my cast in the two and a half hour break between the last two performances of the day. I had to eat more than just a protein bar to get through the feat that was the third show, but I could not eat the cheesy pasta, pizza, beans, rice, or burgers that were provided. I had to stick to salad so I wouldn’t feel nauseous when I went back out on stage.
Motels, hotels, cruches, and dumbbells: I have accepted that my body will change depending on the circumstances of the contract I am doing. When I was on the low-budget minivan tour I was at my leanest. When I was touring an arena spectacular I was probably the most muscular I’ve been. Regardless of the shape I was in I felt great because my body supported my work, and nothing makes me happier than sharing a story with an audience.
And while my primary focus on the road is the story I am telling, right behind that is my hunger for adventure and all the food and drink that comes with it. My off the clock meals and activities are always heavily influenced by the work I am hired to do, but if I have the chance to travel for work I’m also not just going to watch it pass by in a bus window. I’m gonna take the delicious opportunities but make conscious decisions about the where and when. If I had a day or two between shows and I saw something delicious or unusual that was full of process sugar and greasy goodness I got it and I ate it. When I went to Magnolia Market in Waco I ate the cupcakes, when I was in Chicago I had many slices of deep dish, when I was in Wisconsin I ate all the cheese. I applied this idea of alcohol consumption as well. Tour can feel like a party/a paid road trip, so it’s possible to find reasons to drink every day: you're at a cast gathering, everyone's going to a club, you miss your ex, there are forty six brewing companies in town, the hotel offers a free reception with house wine. Alcohol tends to have a lasting effect on me. I know that I’m not gonna be able to sing well after a night of drinking, so I don’t drink very often on tour, especially if I have a show within the next day or two. And when I do have some time off and I want a drink, I get something new or unusual to me like a city drink special or new kind of wine. I love to try a local favorite. When I went to New Orleans I had to get a Hand Grenade and Fish Bowl and danced the bachata in a bright purple wig because that's what you do in New Orleans. If you’re not taking the time to try new things and have new experiences while touring the country what are you doing?
[The end of the Dinky Pipe and Drape theme plays.]
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Host: Stephen Fala
Artwork: Stephen Gordon