Virginia Renaissance Festival

My Story About How I Came to be in a Band at a Renaissance Festival

June 1, 2014

So it's 3:00 P.M. on a Sunday afternoon in Virginia: It's 83 degrees out but it feels like 93 because I'm wearing a petticoat, an over skirt, a sash, mid-sleeve shirt, a corset, a belt, and a hat. I'm staring with envy at the ice cold beer sitting near the man at the other table with full knowledge that I would not be able to get anything of the sort until all the sets were done for the day in 2 hours. Cold water would do, but the performer tents have run out for the time being and going out of the faire to the cooler in the band tent would take far more energy than I possessed. So there we sat, in the shade, simply trying not to sweat through all our layers.

It's at about this time of day, with sweat dripping down my leg and my hair sticking to my neck, that I say "Why the Hell Do we do this?!"

When I was a kid, my parents would bring us to Renaissance Faires once a year just for a day of fun. I think they liked to see the joust and eat the faire foods and see some of the shows. I'm unsure if they quite knew what the faire was about, probabaly hoping, like most parents, that it would be a lot more historical than it really is. God bless the faire cast, they try to maintain historical accuracy, but faire culture has swelled to a totally different, fantasy-based beast. Some people get caught up in how the reenactment of the faire is inaccurate. Yes, accurate reenactments are done well elsewhere (mostly civil and revolutionary war battlfields, and Historical Williamsburg). But a Renaissance Faire is different: Vendors sell leather works with Tardises and pop culture references on them; Chain mail vendors have a carrying case for your phone; deep fried snickers are certainly not historical; and so many of the costumes (even of performers) use bright colors or spandex. But to me, that's fine. Renaissance faires are sources of entertainment, not collegiate level historical knowledge.

Regardless, as a kid, I was rather fascinated by it: I wanted to be a part of it! Heck I even tried out for the cast when I was probably 13 or 14 (to no avail but I think that was all for the best at the time: I am certainly no actress). At the time I didn't quite understand it all: I just wanted to be a part of it.

But growing up can be hard. So often you feel the need to satiate an unspoken social expectation that certain things are "cool" and other things are not. For a preteen or teenager, expressing an independent thought that maybe the ren faire was cool was among the greatest struggles in high school, just after the confusing pressures of the opposite sex and just before the overwhelming expectations of applying for college. Yet even in this state of life, I was trying to break out of the typical teenage mold and was finding courage to say "I don't like Maroon Five, I like ren fairs!" (it's a small token of rebelion, but it was mine all the same, and one, I think, even adults struggle with: the fear of being judged because they like something outside the status quo). I think, if you let me, I could spend a whole post filled with my thoughts about how an unspoken culture of what is deemed as "social normalcy" tends to confuse and harm people's creative and outgoing process not only in their adolescence but well into adulthood: I think that often we prevent ourselves from fully experiencing new things for fear of what others may think of us. This struggle is real and I believe it is the reason why many are unwilling to take a risk and express the mechanizations of their creative mind in favor of simply placating a perceived societal norm by watching the T.V. shows and movies they think everyone else is watching. But I am neither a sociologist nor a psychologist and therefore a post revolving around that would simply be theoretical and mostly reflections from my own experiences.

That aside, I learned (and am still learning) how to be myself around people. I had friends in highschool who did not scoff at the idea that perhaps the ren faire was exciting and in fact joined me at the faire once (two of us made dresses but as I was the one who had the sowing machine, mine was the only one that was finished in time... and it's not the best thing in the world, but for a first attempt at sowing, at least it was wearable). Soon after that though, I went off to college and had to face again the uncertainty of finding friend who would understand that I sorta like nerdy things. I'm grateful to those friends of highschool, Maria and Elizabeth, for being there for me as I learned what it meant to be myself: it made it easier for me to find like minded people in college and it made me really recognize what a gem I had in Justin right away. I had felt the struggle to find good friends like Maria and Elizabeth in highschool: people I could talk to and be myself around. That to be said, it was easier for me to be brave in college about the things that made me happy without fear of judgement.

So that all to be said, let's fast forward to about 2010: Justin and I are sitting at Piratz Tavern in Silver Spring, watching our friends from Bible Study (Stage names Captain Mulligan and Bess) perform in Scales and Crosstones with the brother/sister bass/soprano duo Chauncy (who left the band to go to college) and Saber. Having found kindred rennies in the Captain and Bess, Justin and I supported the early band's endevours to make their first CD and visited them while they performed at the VA Ren Faire later that year. When their first CD came out and they scheduled their CD Premier party, they approached me with an interesting question: will you chest wench for us? "You want me to what?!"

Chest Wench n. \'chest 'wench\ : a female who works for a performing group which performs for conventions, renaissance faires, or similar events, typically dressed in event appropriate garb, who collects tips, sells CDs, and speaks with patrons while the main group for whom she is working is otherwise occupied. Examples: If you would like to give us a tip or buy one of our CD's, go see our chest wench.

More performers than not collect their own tips, but with multiple instruments and in a faire or tavern setting where people often come and go in the middle of a set (or even song), it's incredibly convinient to have a dedicated person to collect tips, sell CDs and just answer general questions in the middle of a song with a patron or faire goer. There are many times when people have seen me walking around with CD's and wanted to look at the back of the CD or ask me a question on the spot. A performer simply cannot stop and talk in the middle of a song or set like the chest wench can.

So I started wenching for them and that summer I went to VARF with them for the first time. I had been there before but honestly I don't remember the first time I was there. The only reason I know I was there in 2010 is because I stumbled on some pictures from 2010 when they were singing there...The 2010 Virginia Renaissance Faire at Lake Anna Winery was just a bit different than the faire that is there today. Smaller, fewer vendors and acts. They have grown substantially (which is spectacular).

However, I do remember (vaguely) 2011 VARF. I remember Bess and Saber having to help me with my garb because my garb at the time was rather ad hock. I believe the shirt I wore was borrowed from Saber, the hat from Bess, the skirt was from a costume from a highschool assignment, the belt and boots were both borrowed from a cosplay I did (and were both purchased at Ross), the scarf was a gift from a friend from Israel (which I still incorporate in my garb and remember my friend each time I use it). The corset was something my parents bought me during the early days when I was 10 or so and wanted to dress up for faires (it is reversible and origianally went with a maroon, crushed velvet dress my mom made me). I remember still trying to figure out what it meant to chest wench. They only had the one CD at the time and a tiny red box (with the sharpest edges in the world, I may add) in which to collect tips. I know I learned to walk up and down aisles at this time and I would sorta sing a long sometimes on the choruses if only to get the audience more excited about things, but I was certainly still learning. I didn't quite know what to look for in patrons who may have wanted to tip but were too bashful. I was unsure what to do with cameras pointed at me and pretended to ignore them best I could or try to get out of sight of them. I was awkward at handling people for the most part I think (sincere, nice, but awkward all the same).

A lot has changed in the three years since my first VARF chest wenching for the band. In July of 2012 I picked up the Concertina and began playing casually. I began playing more seriously with the band for a few songs here and there in 2013 and have continued to work on it since then. I continue to be the chest wench though (I just have to remember where in the set list that I'm performing so I can hop on stage at the right time). In my few years of experience, I have learned a lot more non verbals from guests. I'd like to think that I am good at being around for people when they want to ask a question or buy a CD without hovering over them and making them feel uncomfortable. I sing a bit louder now and strategize my routes around the venue during the song according to when the verses are so that I may be in the audience during the chorus and therefore encourage those who know the words to sing (and also to alert people subtly that I'm around to take their money). I know what to do with cameras now! (and this sounds dumb, but the solution is to smile at them and be a ham). I have my own garb now and not just one outfit, but at least two (two shirts, especially, is super essential for hot Virginia Renaissance days). I have certainly grown to enjoy it and am learning each day what it means to have stage presence and to play an act. Like I said earlier, I am no actress, but this experience is certainly stretching me.

I enjoy having my boundaries stretched, to be challenged to play concertina better (and to hide it better from the audience when I royally screw up). I enjoy looking out at the audience and seeing the knowing nodd of an elderly man as we sing an homage to a late fellow performer. I like seeing the little, three-year old girls dressed up as pirates dancing along to our songs and the kids respond "argggh" to us when they see us around. I like watching the wide eyed tween looking up at the stage with that oh so familiar look in her eye, that look I can identify with so well. I wonder if she also has the struggles I had, the struggles of acceptance and the fear of rejection; I want to go up to her and say "It gets so much better, you just wait and see."

That's why we do it, I think. We want to get better at our music, yes. Perhaps we want to perform or challenge ourselves in a way. Mostly, I think, what gets us through the overwhelmingly hot sets and irrationally layered clothes is the audience. They can really make or break our sets and sometimes I want to thank them: some audience members really should get more appreciation than they get for as much support and positive energy they give out, if only in non verbals, to performers. I am so grateful to all the people who have graced us with their presence at our shows: they are the driving force which helps me keep going.

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