12th Night: Meet The Illyriacs!

Our band for 12th Night affectionately named ourselves The Illyriacs. Chris on pipes and flutes, myself on bodhran, Steve and Jon Patrick on guitars, Andrew on violin and guitar, and Leslie on flute. We have to admit to ourselves every so often that we are a pretty good band. Over the past 5 weeks, we have made as much of a tradition as we can of meeting behind the Delacorte stage before the show begins to warm up. Herb Foster (who plays Valentine) is always there ahead of everyone, settled upon a folding chair, gazing out at the evening's Turtle Pond activity. Leslie is quick, too, usually sitting next to Herb playing her flute. Steve will arrive, have a quick bout of tuning with his funky guitar, and then we play our opening song and anything else we have time for. By time Stage Manager Kaus calls places, our pulses are usually settled into a collected tempo.