After Chattanooga we headed south to the sunshine and warm climate of Florida. The first of three stops in this state was Gainesville. Our hotel was located close to a big lake where it was possible to see a lot of local wildlife. After arriving in, most of the company chose to grab a bite to eat at one of the nearby restaurants on the lake. While we were eating, there were huge cranes and other beautiful long necked birds gliding over the water, looking for small fish to eat in the shallows. We could also see several alligators as they surfaced for a minute and then re-submerged. A local man was telling some of the cast that there were literally hundreds of gators living in and around that lake. So obviously it was not somewhere you’d want to go swimming!

Gainesville is home to the University of Florida and the theater we were playing at was very close to the campus so we had lots of very enthusiastic college students at the show every night. The proximity to the college also meant that it was easy to pop into the downtown area before or after the show to experience the eateries, shops and nightlife.

On Sunday the Superbowl was being played in nearby Jacksonville, FL. The crowds were anticipated to be so large and security so tight that our charter flight time when we were flying into Florida on Thursday had to be changed to earlier in the day to avoid the rush. It’s always hard to organize transport for a group so large-but to cope with a last minute change like this definitely takes finesse. Luckily for us our company managers do an amazing job of always staying on top of their job and so this travel change went very smoothly and the cast made it to Florida without a hitch.

Always keen to play a game, the crew organized a betting contest for the Superbowl and we all threw in a few dollars to make the game a bit more interesting. Everyone was given two numbers and at the end of each quarter of play the person with the numbers equal to those on the scoreboard won money. It was good fun and four people walked away at the end of the day with some extra cash in their pockets.

Next we had a short drive to Sarasota, Florida. We thought we were lucky with the weather in Gainesville but it got even better when we went further south. Cast members took full advantage of it by lying around and playing in the pool and walking into town. We are very lucky in the fact that we usually have our daytime free Tuesday through Friday and we can enjoy the cities we visit. But even knowing how fortunate we are to have that time off, it is still very hard to pry yourself away from the poolside and sunshine to go into work in the early evening. Many company members had visited Sarasota before with the Lagan company and commented on how much the city has grown since then. There is a main street that has doubled the amount of business on it, which was great for us. One of the highlights had to be the Whole Foods market which carries a huge selection of organic and freshly prepared foods. This type of store is perfect for us to pick up a healthy lunch or dinner before going into the show.