the TEAM at 10: Jill On Eggs…

Jill and Libby in Particularly in the Heartland

Over the month of December, as the TEAM celebrates its 10 Year Anniversary, the company will share their favorite memories from the last 10 years. 

There’s a lot of eggs in Particularly in the Heartland. There are six glitter filled eggs for New Years (hand blown each day into large bowls filled with raw egg. We ate so many omelettes on those tours our company cholesterol was at an all time high). There’s five raw eggs for audience members to throw at Anna Springer and one for her to crush on her forehead in a lesson about consequences. One raw egg to be blown directly onto my face during the Biblical alien invasion, and of course one hard boiled egg to be stored in my mouth for ten minutes and magically appear upon waking up human.

Jill accompanied by Anna and Todd’s hands.

Thank god for awesome stage managers to help coordinate all this.

The mouth egg was my personal responsibility, though. It had to be just right- not too big (ten minutes playing dead in a wheelbarrow is a long time to keep an egg in your mouth. I lived in fear of getting a cold and not being able to breathe through my nose) and not too small (if any of the cast living through The Rapture bumped into the wheelbarrow I’d swallow it). There was also the matter of actual hard boiling- sometimes on tour we were without kitchen. I remember once boiling an egg in the top of an electric tea kettle- not recommended.

After the raw egg was blown on my face, there’s a music sequence where Anna and Todd wash me off. I’ll never forget the day we forgot to put water in the bucket. Being dry rubbed with industrial sponges on my egg covered face is a vivid sensoral memory. The way my costume smelled after dozens of eggy shows was also…vivid.

We performed Heartland over 100 times, and I’m proud to say I played Tracy Jo each and every time. It took awhile, but I can eat eggs again now too. – JILL