Bringing Father Nathan Monk to Woodstown, New Jersey
with post script: the element of surprisingly being in my element
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Last night I had the honor of hosting
on the Philadelphia/South Jersey stop of his Broom of Doom Tour. The honor came by chance; I saw a call he had put out for venues for house shows/small venues for the tour on Facebook and excitedly threw my hat in the ring for a couple of reasons:We here in South Jersey consider ourselves “Philadelphia-ish”, as one of Nathan’s friends put so succinctly last night during the VIP Meet & Greet.
I serve on the Tourism Advisory Counsel for Salem County, New Jersey. Bringing people here and showing them what we have to offer has always been a passion of mine, and one I’ve been able to get a footing on in the past couple of years.
A note about Salem County… Our ~lovely~ area is a bit of a red smear on a nice blue state, so a chance to bring my own like-minded community together within walking distance of my home was a bonus.
Last, but not least… Selfishly, I adore Nathan and have always had a smidge of a crush on him. Shh… Do
n’ttell him or his lovely partners ;)
I was contacted by his team and we put together the plan to host the show at my town’s Blue Moon Theatre, a non-profit, community theatre that exists in a historic opera house. Coincidentally, just a short while later I learned Nathan would be at Campersand doing a writing workshop, and then staying as a Campersand attendee for the rest of the week.
When Camp rolled around, I introduced myself as his host for this stop on his tour, and through out the week I got to know him a little bit more. I couldn’t wait for September 2nd!!
Yesterday morning, Nathan text me that he would be arriving around mid-day and we established a plan to go around to a few of my favorite local antique shops. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Papa Luigi’s restaurant in Woodstown, and set out toward Salem, New Jersey for our first two stops: Royal Port Antiques and Market Street Treasures.
I had never actually been in to Royal Port, but had driven past it several times through out my years here. While they had a ton of interesting old antique doors, signs, and anything else you could possibly need to restore a historic house or antique piece of furniture.
Market Street Treasures has become a favorite of mine in the past couple of years for their seemingly endless antique mall, with vendors in every corner. Nathan found a few fun items, I found a vintage Walz Coronet B light/exposure meter (much to my heart’s glee!), and we drove off toward Quinton’s Cawman’s Mall.
Much the same as Market Street, Cawman’s Mall is a sprawling, seemingly endless building with more rooms and vendors everywhere you look. I came out of that store with a blown glass bottle in my favorite color, a stained glass night light, and a silly little tablet holder for my 3 year old (don’t judge me, this is how we parent as millennials).
Onward toward home, we finished our little “antiques trail” at The Find Marketplace in Pilesgrove, New Jersey. I grabbed a few things to up-cycle into art, but Nathan found some of the coolest items I would’ve never even seen/known about. Bonus: he was able to educate the ladies there about several pieces he purchased… getting to hear some of his knowledge of antiques/relics in person is so fun!
We made it to the venue just as rehearsals for Rocky Horror Picture Show were ending. After a quick tour of the green room, stage area, and entrance, Nathan and his traveling companion set up while I went back home to get ready. Plus, I needed a few moments to truly let the inner fan-girl (and I’m not talking about my unborn daughter) absorb the fact that I just took Father Nathan Monk out to lunch and we went antiquing after. It all felt so ~normal~ that I had to remind myself of how truly unique of an experience it was, and just how lucky I am to have had it.
Show Time.
After pinching myself a few times, I drove back to the Blue Moon Theatre to get to the main event. Guests arrived as I sat back in the green room with Nathan and got a chance to just chat while we waited for the VIP’s to come join our huddle. My friends started to arrive and I elected to shuffle them into our cloister as other VIPs also joined us. The conversations were much what you’d expect, but I’ll keep them in the confidence of “What happens in the green room stays in the green room”.
As showtime approached, all of the VIPs got a selfie via polaroid with Nathan (I happily accepted one, as well <3), and we all filtered into the audience to enjoy the show.
I walked on stage to give the required information about emergency exits, and asked the audience if I could take a picture of everyone, and exited the stage to take my seat amongst the crowd. People continued to filter in as music played over a wireless speaker, until out came the main event.
Nathan’s presence on stage is something to be noted. If he has any anxiety or stage fright, he has a hell of a poker face, otherwise he seems at home in front of an audience. He regaled us with tales of humor, sadness, awkward moments, and discussed a wide array of topics before opening the floor to a Q&A.
It was in this moment, dear reader, I realized I had made a small error. I had brought my father (also named Nathan) to the show. My dad, for better or worse, is a curious human, but much like the rest of us neurodivergent folk, he has a hard time getting his point across sometimes. To say I wanted to crawl under a table or disappear completely a couple of times is an understatement. The dear women sitting around me, and campersand crew behind me, all comforted me as my bestie fed me a third edible for the night.
God bless my bestie, and Nathan’s ability to handle an audience.
The evening started to come to a close after the Q&A. Nathan spoke with everyone individually as they exited the venue as I sat on the stage with some friends and my dad, barely being present in the moment because I was too busy glowing from the success of the show. A sold out crowd: some friends, some close neighbors, others from afar… we all came together as a very concentrated blue dot in the center of a rather red community. It was truly beautiful to see everyone who came.
The time came to say goodbye to Nathan and his companion, and as I drove away, I was completely in awe of, and in love with, life.
Post Script
I captured and edited images from the performance, and sent them over to Nathan as a thank you for bringing such a successful event to my tiny little town. When he posted the pictures, one of my friends from Campersand said it was so nice to see me “in [my] element as the hostess with the mostess”. Call it imposter syndrome, call it a case of the ugly duckling, but I do not know where this version of me came from. Growing up, I always felt invisible. In my late teens & early 20’s I dated a man 6.5 years my senior who chewed me up, spit me out, and TOLD me I was invisible around every corner. I spent my mid to late 20’s hiding in the shadows, trying to be invisible.
It wasn’t until I was forced to step out of my comfort zone through many strange circumstances that led me to pitching my business for 30-60 seconds once a week in front of a room of professionals I did not know. Trial by fire. Through the grace of Xanax and my mantra of “It is necessary, therefore possible”, I unknowingly stumbled my way into being a social butterfly who can command a room and use my voice to say what needs to be said.
Being told by someone who has recently met the ‘now’ me that I was in my element, seemed such a foreign notion, but when I looked at the magic of the evening, the steps it took to get this entire production together, and the bravery I’ve discovered… maybe this is my element.
In the words of our friend Amanda Palmer, “Fuck yes, I am exactly the person that I want to be.”
Natalie this is amazing! I wish I knew I about it. I need to insert myself on social media more to avoid missing things in the future lol. Your pictures are phenomenal and you are truly inspiring to me. 💜
The perfect stage manager (SM): making it all happen by getting everyone on task but remaining invisible in the dark backstage.
Great SMs are hard to find and worth double their weight in gold. They control the magic of theatre.
👏👏👏 on an event well done.