The assorted members of MCV gathered from far and wide to a Halifax Camp Weekend in Bedford, Massachusetts, at MITRE Corporation, our home away from home. It was great to see so many familiar faces return to the wig and delightful to see how many new folks have dared to join us.
We kept up a grueling rehearsal schedule, with two hours on Friday night after a long work week, EIGHT hours on Saturday, and another two on Sunday before we donned the wig and gave the premier performance of the Halifax show,
PLUS a full day of parades on Monday when "normal" people were enjoying a holiday. We emerged with a better sense of what we don't know, which is a useful thing, but also a great sense of self confidence that this show is actually going to work! It's come such a long way already and we have plenty of time to polish up the fine points. Many kudos to our new members who are getting thrown right into the thick of it and are blending right into the Collective, as we like to say! I am personally amazed at the hard work everyone has put in to make this little folk music band shine! Many thanks to our drill sergeant, Bill Phenix, and to our Support Staff for clothing us, feeding us, and taking care of our equipment. We couldn't do it without you! I'm really looking forward to everyone experiencing the joy of creating something bigger than the sum of its parts. Useful discovery learned from this weekend: Peanut butter cookies and salsa are actually pretty good together! Too bad we're not having any fun!
– Andrea Wirth, drummer
[photo credits to Michelle Godin and Glenn Harder]