Welcome

So tonight was the opening ceremonies -if you will- of the 2012 class of Dell'Arte and I just can't tell you how amazing it was. The MFA students in their second and third year put on quite a show. As a newbie, I stood awkwardly outside the main building waiting for an escort to the building with my new comrades. We were waiting for the MFA students to escort us to the Riverview campus building to put on our performances we had created over the course of 24 hours. We are all new and nervous. Just outside the main building is this funny little bar called the Logger Bar. All the sudden the door swings open and a man is thrown out into the street. He was being thrown out of the bar. He was dressed in a tail coat with a top hat, thick side burns and dark coal rimmed eyes. He was shouting at whoever had thrown him out of the bar. As he stood and dusted himself off he noticed the group of us and sidled over. He was clearly not in good spirits having just been thrown out of the bar but nevertheless began to tell us about his family the "Picadildo" Family Circus -not to be mistaken with the Picadillys -of course. Just then we hear a ruckus over the hill. The family had arrived. A man complete with a body of tattoos was pulling a huge truck that then pulled a cage with a half human animal. The truck was stuffed full of a family of circus freaks. It was quite a sight for sore eyes. A woman was covered head to toe in warts and she was obsessively cleaning the car. Another woman had greasy hair, dark circles under her eyes and was passing out tickets and talking a mile a minute. A woman was dressed in a wedding dress. I think her brother and new husband was driving. He had a whip. Unfortunately I didn't catch any of their names.

They herded some of us into the back of the truck, and some into the cage. A few of us were even tasked to help pull the truck down the road. This was just the beginning. Once we reached the Riverview campus, the night just got even better. It was filled with song and dance, ridicule, applause, laughter, a magic wardrobe. I was forced to eat vomit. It was magical. I just couldn't have dreamed up a better beginning.

There is a lot of love here. And talent.

I am thrilled.