This is the route memo I use before every season flip. Indiana drives look short on paper, but weather, load-in time, and school schedules will eat your day if you stack shows too tight. I learned this the hard way several times and then kept learning it because apparently I do not retain lessons that involve a calendar.
Route rules I do not break
- Keep one recovery day after every two heavy performance days. Your skeleton will thank you. Your costume seams will also thank you, because they are the first thing that fails when you are tired.
- Never run two first-time venues back to back. One unknown per day is logistics. Two unknowns per day is a gamble, and I already gamble enough with card drills.
- Hold a prop reset block before a county fair weekend. Fairs are chaos with a funnel cake budget, and your gear needs to be at full strength before the midway starts screaming.
- Keep one joker segment in reserve for the final crowd. If you burn everything by 3 p.m., the 7 p.m. audience gets the husk version of you, and Indiana crowds can tell.
Current circuit shape
- North loop: Hammond, Gary, East Chicago weekday assemblies. Loud rooms, short bits, fast exits. The coffee on the way back is non-negotiable.
- Middle loop: Lafayette and Kokomo weekend family blocks. Steadier energy, more room to stretch a set, and the occasional McDonald’s that has its act together.
- South rehearsal pocket: South Bend late-night repair and script adjustment. This is where the joker bits get tuned and the seams get resewn and I tell myself I will go to bed early.
The goal is not maximum bookings. The goal is consistent laughs with enough gas left for the final crowd of the day, even if the night ends with one quiet hand of card drills that I continue to insist is timing practice.