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‘Thursday’s Child’

[AUG. 14, 2002]  ^"Thursday’s Child," by Sonya Hartnett. Candlewick Press, 2002, 261 pages.

This is a haunting and sometimes dark story set in the outback of Australia during the Great Depression. It chronicles the desperately hard life of the Flute family. Harper Flute, the narrator of the story, gives a grippingly realistic account of a family mired in poverty, mixed with a surreal account of the strange life of her brother Tin.

The family consists of parents Court and Thora, oldest daughter Audrey, oldest son Devon, middle daughter Harper, younger brother Tin, and new baby brother Caffy.

The family lives on a farm that the government gave them after Court fought in the Great War. He knows nothing about farming, so he does nothing about the land. The only income the family has is from trapping rabbits and selling their pelts. Their diet consists of boiled rabbit most every day.

The story opens with 7-year-old Harper introducing us to her brother Tin, who she says was "born on Thursday and so fated to his wanderings" and is by far the strangest member of the family. The day Caffy is born, Harper is told to take 4-year-old Tin and go play somewhere away from the house. They go to the creek, where Tin gets temporarily buried in a collapsed creek bank.

It is after this incident that Tin begins his digging and tunneling, which his father considers a gift. The family sees him only occasionally, and he gradually becomes barely recognizable as a human. This part is very hard to take at first and seems strange combined with the realism of the rest of the story, but eventually it is more acceptable.

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Things look like they may be looking up when Court is notified that he is the sole heir of his estranged father’s will. Their hopes are soon dashed when he returns home with almost nothing after paying his father’s debts.

Against Thora’s wishes and the advice of Vandry Cable, a wealthy neighbor, Court buys three cows and a horse for Devon. This causes a lot of trouble between Court and Thora.

Then one day, without warning, their house collapses and falls into a hole in the ground. They soon realize that the reason it fell was because Tin had dug so many tunnels under the house that the earth couldn’t hold it any longer. The family is eventually reunited under one roof only because of the help and kindness of neighbors.

Audrey becomes romantically interested in a young man who has come from the city to the country to try to get work. Things seem to be going better when tragedy strikes again and Caffy dies in an accident. Devon eventually leaves home, and Audrey goes to work for Vandry Cable. Things don’t seem quite right with Audrey’s situation, and we soon find out why in a page-turning climax.

This book is a strange story and is not for everyone, but at the same time it is fascinating and definitely worth reading. Sonya Hartnett has written several other novels and has received many prestigious awards in her native Australia. This book is recommended for eighth-graders and up.

For more information about this book and others, visit the library at 725 Pekin St. or call (217) 732-5732.

[Linda Harmon, Lincoln Public Library District]

• Lincoln Community Theatre

• Logan County Arts Association

Jennifer Sydney awarded Steppenwolf internship

[AUG. 20, 2002]  Jennifer Sydney, a graduate of LCHS, Lincoln College and Illinois State University, has been awarded an internship in Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater. She will begin her one-year paid internship immediately.

"I couldn’t be happier," said Jennifer, who appeared in six theater productions at Lincoln College along with the vocal group Express and the college’s dance group. "I’ll get to do a little bit of everything. I’ll be acting in Steppenwolf’s next play, ‘The time of Your Life’ by William Saroyan.

"After that show is over I’ll be an understudy, work in the box office, possibly work backstage. I don’t have any definite assignments yet."

Because many of Steppenwolf’s founders are ISU graduates, the theater company chooses as many as two interns each year from ISU’s theater program. This year 15 students auditioned, and Jennifer and a student from Indiana were chosen.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is an international performing arts institution, which was incorporated in 1976 with nine members, most of them Illinois State University graduates. The company now includes 33 theater artists, whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting and textual adaptation, and has performed more than 200 works.

It has produced a number of nationally known actors, including John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf and Gary Sinise, who are still members of the theater company and come back from time to time to work in Chicago.

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"Steppenwolf takes interns only from ISU. It’s a kind of tribute," Jennifer said. "ISU has an excellent theater school and has a lot to offer students who are passionate about theater.

"I wouldn’t have gotten where I am now if I hadn’t gone to both schools," she added. "Dan McLaughlin and Jerry Dellinger [theater directors at Lincoln College] have been good directors and good friends. The teachers at ISU are also very supportive and very smart about their craft. They have had professional experience and can prepare students for the world of theater."

Jennifer has also signed up with a talent agency in Chicago. "I did a showcase at the end of my last semester at ISU for theaters and agencies looking for new, young talent. I signed with Stuart Talent, which can provide experience in modeling, acting and making commercials.

"My family is so happy for me. They are very supportive. I couldn’t ask for better parents."

She thinks she’ll probably miss Lincoln, but she’s very excited about this new opportunity.

"This is a big step — the start of the career that I’ve been dreaming of since I was a little girl."

[Joan Crabb]

Movie classics

Logan County Arts Association upcoming films

All upcoming monthly features in the Logan County Arts Association series of classic films will start at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Cinemas, 215 S. Kickapoo.

Thursday, Sept. 12

"Breakfast at Tiffany’s" (1961)

Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Buddy Ebsen, Patricia Neal

Based on Truman Capote’s novel, this is the story of a young jet-setting woman in New York City who meets a young man when he moves into her apartment building.

Thursday, Oct. 10

Horror/sci-fi double feature

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1931)

Frederic March, Miriam Hopkins

Based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson. Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men: a good and an evil side. He faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run wild with a potion that changes him into the animalistic Mr. Hyde.

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"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951)

Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe

An alien (Klaatu) with his mighty robot (Gort) lands their spacecraft on cold-war Earth just after the end of World War II. He tells the people of Earth that we must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.

Tickets will be available at Serendipity Stitches, 129 S. Kickapoo; the Lincoln Public Library Annex; at the door; or by calling (217) 732-4298. Ticket prices are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2.50 for children 13 and under. These features are one show only, with limited seating.

[Logan County Arts Association ]

Lincoln Community Theatre’s box office, phone 735-2614,  is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday for the summer season. The office is located in the lobby of the Johnston Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Lincoln College.

Performances of "Dearly Departed" are scheduled for July 12-20, and "The King and I" will be presented Aug. 2-10. Show times are 2 p.m. on Sundays and 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

The LCT mailing address is Lincoln Community Theatre, P.O. Box 374, Lincoln, IL  62656; e-mail: lincolncommunitytheatre@yahoo.com.

Visit the LDC website at www.geocities.com/lincolncommunitytheatre/index.html. Pictures from past productions are included.

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