 The four one-act plays were written by central Illinois residents:
"Clean Sweep," by Gordon Petry of Pekin; "Art Appreciation," by
Rachel Stanford of Washington; and both "NIMBY" and "Returns," by
Hale Garrison of Peoria.Tickets are $8 and may be purchased the
night of the performance.
Prairie playwrights
Gordon Petry has been writing plays since he was 8 years old. He
has taught English at Delavan Junior High, Pekin High School and
Illinois Central College and is currently teaching at Bradley
University. His first play starred his pet beagle, Lucy, and
featured an all-dog cast. Each dog had its own speech pattern ("arf,"
"bowwow," "woof," etc.) Gordon has no idea what the play was about
because he doesn't speak canine. His first produced play, "The
Coming of Age in Salem," was directed and performed by his Delavan
Junior High students. It grew from a clever student's turning of
vocabulary words into a story, which Gordon then expanded into a
play.
Rachel Stanford says she's always been a writer. "Even as a
little kid, I wrote odd fan fiction about 'Sesame Street' and
'Barney' on my mom's Apple 2," she said. "It wasn't good by any
means, and there were a surprising number of murders in that little
world for my 7-year-old imagination, but nonetheless I was hooked on
writing. Throughout the years it's progressed, bleeding into every
genre possible. I lay down my pen and paper to the shine of Kurt
Vonnegut, hoping one day to be as talented as his pinkie toe. But if
that fails, I'd just like my art to illuminate the world or one
person's world. In short, I'm the typical struggling writer trying
to survive in this funny little world. "
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"Hale Garrison" is the pen name of Illinois Central College mass media professor
Gary Hale. His plays have been performed previously by Corn Stock Theatre and by
The Great Work Begins Theatre Troupe, Peoria. "NIMBY" was the second-place
winner at the 2011 McLaren competition. Prior to teaching at ICC, Hale worked in
advertising and television. He has a master's degree from Southern Illinois
University Carbondale and has completed writing workshops at the Iowa Summer
Writing Festival, Iowa City, and at the Second City Training Center, Chicago.
Cast members
"Prairie Playwrights: Four Plays Three Authors" is performed and
directed by local residents.
"NIMBY" will be directed by Wendy Schweigert. Cast members are
Sue Gordon, Allison Knapik, Jim Sullivan, Bruce Bradford and
Stephanie Bright. "Clean Sweep" will be also be directed by
Schweigert and features Stephanie Bright, Jim Sullivan and
Christopher Diver. Bruce Bradford will direct "Art Appreciation"
with cast members Allison Knapik and Harry Sullivan. "Returns" will
be directed by Julie O'Donnell with cast members: Wes Springer,
Julie O'Donnell, Stephanie Bright and Jacob Smith.
For more information, call 309-244-9022, email
prairielandtheatrecompany@gmail.com or follow Prairieland
Theatre Company on Facebook.
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