Halloween, Steinbeck and Abilene

I haven't celebrated Halloween since I was in 8th grade and went to school dressed as Tom Selleck from "Magnum P.I.", hey what can I tell ya, it was the 80's.
Last week we opened "Of Mice and Men" at the Great Plains Theatre in Abilene, KS. I hadn't done any serious theatre for the past year so I felt a little rusty. I kind of felt that way all the way up until the tail end of rehearsal when everything just kind of came together. I'm a firm believer in the theatre goddess whom I call Theatrelonia, she always comes in when the chips are down and saves the day.
We performed our 1st of 6 matinees for students yesterday and I must say this is one of the reasons why I came to Kansas in the first place. Most of these students haven't seen live theatre before or studied John Steinbeck's work so for all intents and purposes we're the launching pad for them. Not to get on my soapbox but it's so important to lay the seed as early as possible for people to get turned onto literature and live theatre. As corny as it sounds even if it touches one of their hearts then we've done a great service to mankind because there's no telling what that one person will do with their future as a result of seeing our show. I've seen it happen time and time again in my travels all over America.
The Sunflower State of Kansas is just how I remembered it when I last performed here in 2004. The plains are just as visually arresting and there's still lots of interesting places to check out. The town I'm performing in is called Abilene which is where our 34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower was raised and where his Presidential Library is located. There's some neat places to go in this town, so far I've seen a Rodeo practice and visited the Seelye Mansion and Gardens. Seelye mansion contains Edison light fixtures, 25 bedrooms including a ballroom on the 4th floor, gold French furniture and one of the oldest bowling alley's in the country. The bowling alley is so legendary that the Bowling Hall of Fame offered the estate 3 million dollars for it and was turned down! I bowled a couple of games there and it's looks unlike anything I've ever seen.
Tonight I'll go to a bonfire where I'll eat s'mores, drink hot chocolate and enjoy a crisp fall night here in the Midwest. I won't be dressed as Tom Selleck this time but I'll be thinking of 2 great Halloween poems "hist whist" by e. e. cummings and "5 Little Monsters" by Eve Merriam. When October 31st comes around again you would be well served to perform those poems for your friends and loved ones.