So, even though we have left Boone and are now back home in Los Angeles, we still have the memories of the Appalachian mountains, ASU's (Appalachian State University) summer festival opening and Cha Da Thai.In Boone, North Carolina we were graciously housed by Denise and Marshal Stein-Grohs, who are actually family. Denise is Leilani's aunt. They have a wonderful home tucked away in the mountains. We traded the mechanical noise of the city to the natural sounds of the wilderness. Fireflies, wasp, deer, chipmunks, wild turkey and birds galore.
Our performance in an art gallery impressed a lot of people as well as confused a lot of people in the audience. Some thought we were doing something on Japan. Maybe, because we mentioned bombs, who knows! Nonetheless, as performers we projected our voices and bodies to make Refugee Nation matter. The festival went well. The staff and students, especially Hank, head curator of the gallery were wonderful in assisting us in the gallery, putting out fires (almost literally) before our showing.
In the meanwhile as we explored downtown Boone and what boon it may have, we encountered Cha Da Thai, a fairly new business in Boone. Curiously, Leilani had a hunch that the Thai fine dining place may have Laotians. Well, the picture above says it all...the owner is Lao. Please meet Bountha, she runs the place and gave us a little insight into why it's not Cha Da Lao. Nobody's heard of Lao restaurants! So there you go. We did our best to get them to come and see the performance but as you may have guessed...they are working, morning until late. We may have to consider doing our excerpts in restaurants so the people we are performing about can see our show.
