The Works of Ken Bradbury

The Royal Dating Game

A madrigal dinner comedy in which King Henry VIII becomes the bachelor on a medieval dating game show, hosted by Toby the Jester.

Branson Bound

A comedy about a senior citizens' bus trip to Branson, Missouri with the Silver Swarm retirement club, led by an overly enthusiastic tour director.

Lilacs, Land, and Long-Necked Chickens

A readers' theatre celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Pike County Farm Bureau, woven from a hundred hours of interviews with the county's farmers.

A Tribute to Jon Robb

A musical revue celebrating Jon Robb, founder of the Pittsfield Theatre Guild, told through his friends' memories and songs from his shows.

Pike County Farm Theater Project

A readers-theater chronicle of Pike County farm life, drawn from oral histories gathered for the 100th anniversary of the Pike County Farm Bureau.

Cotton Patch Gospel

Ken Bradbury directs and performs in Harry Chapin's bluegrass retelling of the Gospel of Matthew, set in modern-day rural Georgia, at Springfield's Hoogland Center.

The Joke Show (2017 Edition)

Ken Bradbury's 2017 Playhouse Joke Show — a fast-paced New Year's revue of one-liners, knock-knocks, and puns delivered from a row of stools.

A Return to Possum Holler

A 2017 reunion variety show reviving Quincy's beloved Possum Holler Opry, hosted by Toby Dick Ellis with surviving cast and a military benefit.

The Boy from Fishhook

Ken Bradbury's stage history of Robert Earl Hughes, the heaviest man in recorded history and a Pike County, Illinois native.

A Road Trip Through Time

A traveling theatre event by Ken Bradbury staging three short plays at three historic Jacksonville, Illinois sites, with audiences bused between them.

Breakin' Through and Bleedin' Blue: The Story of Triopia

A readers'-theatre history of the Triopia schools, devised from interviews with 70-plus area graduates and reprised in June 2016.

New Year's Eve Joke Show

Ken Bradbury's second annual New Year's Eve Joke Show at the Playhouse on the Square in Jacksonville, an evening of one-liners and vaudeville bits.

Shelebrate!

A musical celebration of the poetry and songs of Shel Silverstein, staged by Ken Bradbury's Lincoln Land Traveling Theatre class to benefit Jacksonville Promise.

The Boys from Nantucket

A two-man musical comedy about an aging Broadway playwright and a young writer wrestling Moby Dick into a show — and rediscovering the joy of creation.

The Tale of Hannah Banana

A cowboy-themed musical comedy written by Ken Bradbury for his LLCC Traveling Theatre class, toured to elementary schools in fall 2016.

A Hardscrabble Christmas

Ken Bradbury's commissioned play sets Lincoln, Mary Todd, and General Grant in the White House on Christmas Eve 1864, awaiting word from Sherman.

Breakin' Through and Bleedin' Blue

A documentary-style readers' theatre celebrating the history of Triopia, built from interviews with more than 70 graduates and community members.

The Joke Show

A New Year's Eve revue of borrowed jokes at the Playhouse on the Square, with Ken Bradbury at the piano and a cast of Jacksonville locals.

Pearl's Place

Ken Bradbury's all-female Texas Swing musical comedy about a struggling small-town diner and the secret recipe that might save it.

Super Hero Show

Ken Bradbury's 2015 LLCC Traveling Theatre touring children's play, performed for 16 elementary schools with a cast of costumed superheroes.

The Boys from Nantucket

A whale of a musical by Ken Bradbury and John Love, staged by Salem on Seventh Theatre in Petersburg, Illinois.

Triopia School History Show (Arenzville)

A spring 2015 LLCC class show on how the Triopia school district was formed and named, built from interviews with community members and intended for Arenzville.

Where I'm From

A spring 2015 original revue devised from Ken Bradbury's LLCC students' own life stories and staged at the Playhouse.

Genesis, the Musical

Ken Bradbury's witty, big-hearted musical romp through the Book of Genesis, staged in 2015 at the Playhouse and Springfield's Hoogland Center for the Arts.

Mary and Abraham: The Last Day

An evening of two one-person Lincoln plays by Ken Bradbury, performed by Pam Brown and Fritz Klein at Illinois College's Sibert Theatre.

A Brook Tale

A community oral-history play drawn from Jacksonville's memories of Town Brook, performed by the Lincoln Land Traveling Theatre.

Ho! Ho! Snow!!!

Ken Bradbury's 2014 Christmas show for the LLCC Traveling Theatre Troupe, performed downtown for Santa's arrival in Jacksonville.

A Terrible Mess At OSS

Ken Bradbury's comic mystery for Our Saviors School, in which a mad scientist kidnaps the faculty and a bumbling sheriff is called to the rescue.

Our Saviors Show

A comic original revue for Our Saviors School, in which the school's teachers are kidnapped and a bumbling sheriff is called in to crack the case.

The Grandpa Show

A traveling readers'-theatre tribute to grandfathers, devised by Ken Bradbury's LLCC class as a companion to their earlier Grandma show.

The Town Brook Play

A spring touring show about the Town Brook in Jacksonville, devised by Ken Bradbury's LLCC theatre class.

Yo Ho!

A pirate-themed children's show devised by Ken Bradbury's LLCC Traveling Theatre class, toured to area elementary schools in fall 2014.

Greasepaint, Bats, and Seasoned Hams: A Celebration of the Jacksonville Theatre Guild

Ken Bradbury's memory revue celebrating four decades of the Jacksonville Theatre Guild, woven from the true stories of its actors, directors, and crew.

The Last Full Measure

A one-man play by Ken Bradbury imagining Abraham Lincoln in the liminal hours after the shot at Ford's Theatre, developed with Lincoln presenter Fritz Klein.

We Call Him Grandpa

A warm, funny readers' theatre piece built from the cast's own true stories about their grandfathers, by Ken Bradbury's LLCC Traveling Theatre.

Little Town on Big Indian

A dinner-theatre celebration of Arenzville, Illinois on its 175th anniversary, written and directed by Ken Bradbury for the LLCC Traveling Theatre.

Potluck

Ken Bradbury's musical comedy about five church ladies racing to save a Methodist potluck and impress a new minister.

Where's Santa?

A 2013 LLCC class Christmas play in which Santa's elves discover their jolly boss has gone missing on the night of their show.

Memories of Mama, Thinking of Dad

Ken Bradbury's two-act readers' theatre quilt of love — five men remember their fathers, five women remember their mothers.

Couplings

Ken Bradbury's comedy following eight very different couples — from junior high sweethearts to the golden years — whose stories unfold all at once.

Grandma's Hands

An original LLCC theatre-class revue devised by Ken Bradbury's students about their grandmothers — the smells, foods, songs and memories.

Hero (Traveling Theatre)

A THE 299 Traveling Theatre piece on the theme of personal heroes, devised by Ken Bradbury's LLCC class and toured to grade schools across west-central Illinois.

Jacksonville Memories Show

A spring local-history show by Ken Bradbury's LLCC theatre class, built from old Jacksonville newspaper columns and interviews with elders about what they miss.

Jacksonville...Works

A 2012 LLCC readers-theatre piece built from student interviews of Jacksonville workers, performed at three churches as a benefit.

Scandal in Middle America... Virden After Dark

An interactive murder-mystery dinner theater comedy set in a Virden, Illinois bookstore, written for the Friends of Art and Drama.

Stoops

Ken Bradbury's two-act comedy about two feisty elderly friends who rage against the dying of the light from their front porches.

The Grandma Show

A class-devised LLCC show celebrating grandmothers, built from the students' own interviews, memories, quotes, and songs.

Workin' it Out…Beardstown!

A documentary musical compiled by Ken Bradbury from interviews with Beardstown residents about a lifetime of work, performed by the LLCC Traveling Theatre.

A Christmas Carol: The Jacksonville Version

Ken Bradbury's old-time-radio retelling of Dickens, set in Jacksonville, Illinois, performed as a benefit for the LLCC Scholarship Fund.

MisFits: The Musical

Ken Bradbury's original musical about a granddaughter, her grandfather's failing pet shop, and a cage full of misfit puppet animals who refuse to be thrown away.

Oddballs, Idiots, Nincompoops and Scallywags: The Unofficial History of Jacksonville

Ken Bradbury's documentary musical drawn verbatim from the Jacksonville Journal Courier archives, staged by the Lincoln Land Traveling Theatre.

Routt–Triopia Production (2011)

Notes and correspondence from a 2011 Routt–Triopia stage project, sketched around a troupe moving from vaudeville to the TV sitcom era.

Scoundrels & Saints, Lovers & Lunatics: A Celebration of Virginia at 175

Ken Bradbury's readers-theatre celebration of 175 years of Virginia, Illinois, commissioned for the 2011 Virginia Barbecue.

Bully Beware

Ken Bradbury's 2011 LLCC traveling-theatre class devised a show on bullying and loneliness, touring it to area elementary schools.

Oh, That's Different!

A 2011 LLCC traveling children's theatre show about appreciating differences, toured to sixteen elementary schools.

An Evening of Shel Silverstein

A short ensemble poetry revue of Shel Silverstein pieces staged by Ken Bradbury's LLCC theatre seminar students.

2010 Traveling Theatre

A 2010 traveling theatre production from Ken Bradbury's archive, of which only an August 2010 audio recording survives.

Mining for Lost Treasures (Knollwood Oral-History Show)

A spring-2010 LLCC class production built from students' interviews with Knollwood Retirement Village residents and local Jacksonville history.

Detention (The Musikal)

A musical comedy about high school detention kids who weather a tornado in a pre-school library and act out fractured fairy tales.

Different

A 2010 Ken Bradbury production preserved through its original sound and music tracks.

Passavant Follies 2010

Ken Bradbury's original benefit revue for Passavant Area Hospital, a devilish 'Season of Friendship' set in Jacksonville, Illinois.

The Shaffer Show

A comic school spring-concert revue in which a wild-eyed huckster named Hummer barges in to fix the music program with cowboy choirs, girl groups, and patriotic standards.

From Behind the Curtain

An original ensemble revue built from the real words of Springfield-area actors, telling the funny, terrifying, and tender truth of life in the theatre.

Tom Beard, Look What You Done!

A historical musical by Ken Bradbury and composer Roger Wainwright tracing Thomas Beard's 1819 journey west and the founding of Beardstown, Illinois.

Precious Memories: Return to Knollwood

A 2010 verbatim-theatre piece built from interviews young actors recorded with residents of the Knollwood retirement community in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Make A Change

A 2009 musical production directed by Ken Bradbury, preserved through its complete cast-recording soundtrack.

A Dr. Seuss Program (Seuss-Tacular)

A 2009 LLCC theatre-class tribute to Dr. Seuss, staged for the Pittsfield and Triopia schools.

Family Skeletons and Other Funny Bones

An original devised theatre piece built from interviews with nearly fifty residents of the Triopia community, with a tribute to coach Don Kemp.

Pardon My Shorts

An evening of very short plays by Ken Bradbury, with brief music by Roger Wainwright, staged as a 2009 fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Morgan County.

The River

A flood threatens a riverside village in this large-cast musical parable by Ken Bradbury and Roger Wainwright.

The Spirit of Lincoln

A bicentennial musical revue tracing Lincoln's living spirit through the people of Central Illinois, drawn from a year of real interviews and historical records.

Triopia 50th Anniversary

Ken Bradbury's gathered correspondence and research on the 1959 founding and naming of Triopia High School, prepared for its 50th anniversary.

We Can Change the World

A touring children's theatre show devised by Ken Bradbury's LLCC students, performed at area elementary schools in fall 2009.

Workin' It Out!

A 2009 musical comedy by Ken Bradbury and Roger Wainwright, uniting students from rival schools Routt, Triopia, and Westfair in a stomping, globe-trotting search for the meaning of life.

The Beardstown Show

A river-town musical pageant scored by Ken Bradbury, tracing life along the Illinois River from frontier crossings to flood and reprise.

A Big Hand for the Little Man

An original 2008 puppet show about a boy who learns that encouraging others is a talent of its own — devised by Ken Bradbury's Traveling Children's Theatre class.

Bystanders

A 2008 musical preserved through its demo recordings, with character songs for Erich, Serena, Denise, Jaymee, Bob, Bill, and Sylvia.

Camp Sunshine

A Christian-themed musical comedy set at a backwoods Arkansas bible camp, where misfit campers find faith, friendship, and themselves.

Doo-Wop

A 1958-set musical comedy about ethnic tolerance, told through the rock and roll, soda jerks, and TV culture of Millard Fillmore High School.

Mary Todd Lincoln: Shadows

A one-woman play in which Mary Todd Lincoln, packing to leave the White House in 1867, sorts through the keepsakes and grief of her life with Abraham.

Puppet Show

A 2008 children's puppet show built around an original score, with a friendship theme and a cast of puppet characters including Felix, Max, and Ralph.

Routt Triopia Show

A collaborative musical production with songs and dance numbers, drawn from a surviving collection of recordings made between 2008 and 2010.

Faith on Wry

Ken Bradbury's gently wry play in two acts, weaving seven interlocking vignettes about faith into one ensemble of believers.

Just Imagine

Fall 2007 LLCC Traveling Theatre show about a boy with everything but no imagination, devised by Ken Bradbury's senior class and toured to grade schools.

The Skinner Story

A readers' theatre tribute to Meredosia's musical Skinner family, performed at the 2007 dedication of the Skinner mural.

Just Imagine!

A mini-musical by Ken Bradbury urging kids to switch off their gadgets and rediscover the power of imagination, toured to area grade schools.

Traveling Theatre 2006

Ken Bradbury's touring school production, taken on the road to elementary schools across central Illinois.

More than Words

An unrealized Ken Bradbury play, sketched in 2005, about a baggy-pants mime who tells a story through movement, music, and light rather than dialogue.

Follies 2006

Ken Bradbury's early planning notes for a pirate-themed community follies, sparked by a 2005 call from Gin Fanning.

The Magic Key

A 2006 traveling mini-musical from Ken Bradbury's Lincoln Land Community College theatre class, taking the message of education to area elementary schools.

Bully For You!

Ken Bradbury's 2005 anti-bullying touring musical, carried by the Lincoln Land Traveling Theatre to eighteen area elementary schools.

Knollwood

A summer 2005 LLCC theatre class traveling play devised from oral-history stories gathered at Knollwood Estates retirement community.

Wonderful World

Ken Bradbury's original 2005 Triopia musical — a creator dreams up a world, then sends his son to change one heart and save it.

The Miracle Kid

A Depression-era musical that drops the boys of Bethlehem, Illinois into the locker room of the 1932 Chicago Cubs, with speakeasies, gangsters, and a pennant on the line.

Charlie's Magic Box

Ken Bradbury's 2004 Triopia traveling-theatre road tour, a Peanuts-inspired original musical performed across schools in west-central Illinois.

Mr. Lincoln Comes to Pittsfield

Ken Bradbury's historical play dramatizing Abraham Lincoln's 1858 visit to Pittsfield, Illinois, as the town awaits his courthouse speech.

Coonridge Live! — A Kuster Fundraiser

Ken Bradbury's Coonridge comedy revue, staged October 1, 2004 as a benefit for judicial candidate Larry Kuster at the AmVets in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Man of La Mancha

The Jacksonville Theatre Guild's intimate 2004 production of the Wasserman-Leigh-Darion musical, directed by Ken Bradbury, who also played Sancho.

Abraham!

A musical play by Ken Bradbury and Robert L. Crowe about Lincoln's New Salem years, staged outdoors at Theatre in the Park in New Salem.

Samson

Ken Bradbury's original cowboy musical retelling of the biblical strongman Samson, staged at Triopia High School in 2003.

Singing at Seven

Ken Bradbury's favorite play: an aging couple in a retirement home fights the American way of dying with the only tool they have left — humor.

Yo Ho!

Ken Bradbury's 2003 Triopia Traveling Theatre show — a band of bumbling pirates learns why we should tell the truth, performed for elementary schools across central Illinois.

The Runaway

Triopia High Schools 2002 production of "The Runaway" by Ken Bradbury

Kaleidoscope

A traveling musical comedy about tolerance and non-violence, toured to area elementary schools by the Triopia Traveling Theatre in 2002.

Jonah (The Runaway)

Ken Bradbury's original 1950s rock-and-roll retelling of the Jonah story, staged as the Triopia High School all-school musical in 2002.

Pazzamatazz

Ken Bradbury's original gangster musical comedy, written and directed as a 2002 benefit for Passavant Area Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Joshua

Distant Thunder

An original musical of New Salem, Illinois, told through the voices of the frontier townsfolk who shaped young Abraham Lincoln's formative years.

A Perfect Mess

Ken Bradbury's 2001 Triopia Traveling Theatre show — a 45-minute fairy-tale romp toured through area grade schools, with a message that nobody is perfect.

Jacksonville 2000! A Celebration of Jacksonville's 175th Birthday

A slightly irreverent, vaudeville-style musical celebrating the 175th anniversary of Jacksonville, Illinois, written by Ken Bradbury and Dr. Robert Crowe.

Esther

Ken Bradbury's 2000 Triopia musical retells the Book of Esther as a gang story set in a juvenile detention facility.

Children of the Rainbow

Triopia High School's 1999 production of "Children of the Rainbow

Cotton Patch Gospel

A bluegrass retelling of the Gospel set in modern-day Georgia, directed by Ken Bradbury for the New Salem Lincoln League in the summer of 1999.

The Ballad of Dead-Eye Doc

Ken Bradbury's original 1999 Passavant Auxiliary Follies, a Wild West musical comedy set in a frontier Jacksonville saved by lawman-turned-doctor Dead-Eye Doc.

Bradbury by Bradbury: Cries of Faith

A world-premiere evening of Ken Bradbury's original short plays on faith, staged by Illinois College TheatreWorks in the fall of 1999.

Toad in the Hole

The 10th Anniversary Production of Toad in the hole. Produced by the Jacksonville Theater Guild Written by Ken Bradbury and Bob Crowe

The Time of My Life

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Ken Bradbury directed the Jacksonville Theatre Guild's 1998 production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's beloved musical.

New Salem Summer Season 1998

Ken Bradbury's summer 1998 performance schedule at New Salem, featuring runs of Abraham! and Joseph.

Abraham!

A musical play in two acts by Ken Bradbury and Robert L. Crowe, following young Abraham Lincoln's frontier years at New Salem, Illinois.

Into the Light

Triopia's production of "Into the Light"

Princess Puffer's Perfect Present

Ken Bradbury's original touring Christmas play about a spoiled princess who learns the true meaning of the season, performed by Triopia's 8th-grade Creative Arts class in 1997.

Booneville

A collection of monologues and vignettes about life in the small farm town of Booneville, written by Ken Bradbury in 1996.

Rock Around the Doc

Ken Bradbury's 1996 Passavant Hospital benefit musical sent two teens spinning back to a rock-and-roll fifties Jacksonville, Illinois.

Ah, Vaudeville!

Ken Bradbury's 1996 Triopia musical about Burt and Helen's Traveling Vaudeville Show, a worn-out tent troupe of has-beens chasing one last booking.

The Dogwood Boy

The 1995 production of "The Dogwood Boy" written and directed by Ken Bradbury

Quilters

Ken Bradbury directed the Jacksonville Theatre Guild's all-woman musical drawn from the diaries and quilts of the women who settled the American Midwest.

Honey to My Mouth

Ken Bradbury's play for MacMurray College's 150th anniversary, dramatizing the founding of the school through circuit rider Peter Cartwright and Peter Akers.

Holy Moses

Christopher

Triopia High School's 1991 production of "Christopher"

Giant Killer

Who Is Henrietta Hoover and Why Is She Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?

An old-fashioned melodrama set in Buzzard's Leg, Tennessee, written and directed by Ken Bradbury for the Triopia Class of 1972.

Merry Christmas For Pete's Sake

A Message at Midnight

Ken Bradbury's Christmas Eve drama set in the 1864 White House, where Lincoln, Mary, and General Grant share a few quiet hours in the midst of war.

An Evening with Ken Bradbury and Friends

A touring musical-comedy revue Ken Bradbury built for small Illinois towns, blending Broadway tunes, sketch comedy, and homegrown local history.

The Burrus Sales Meeting Shows

Ken Bradbury's long-running comedy and variety shows written for the annual Burrus Seed sales meetings, from the late 1990s through 2014.

From Broadway to Bedpans!

A vaudeville-style dinner theatre revue for the 20th Annual Mason District Hospital Auxiliary, set in small-town Havana, Illinois.

Grant

Surviving photographs from a Civil War-era costume drama featuring Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and a lady in period dress.

Getting on the Bus, Waiting for the Hearse

Ken Bradbury's two-act comedy spanning birth to the grave, pairing teenage actors with senior community performers at the Playhouse on the Square.

Hospice Show

A benefit show Ken Bradbury developed in support of a local hospice, drawing on the stories of its volunteers.

Lincoln and Horace Mann: A Readers-Theatre Presentation

A readers-theatre presentation on Abraham Lincoln, education, and the little-known Lincoln–Horace Mann connection, proposed for a leadership gathering in Springfield.

Hotrods, Ghosts & Hatchet Heads

An original musical celebration of the history of Jacksonville High School, told through ghosts in a dusty attic and a century of songs.

I Wanna Be...

Ken Bradbury's original musical revue built from the dream careers of fourteen young Jacksonville-area actors.

New Berlin Tales

A reader's-theater portrait of New Berlin, Illinois, weaving the town's German-immigrant origins with the funny, tender memories of its longtime residents.

New Salem Coonridge Devotions

Ken Bradbury's Readers' Theatre revue of small-town church humor and faith, performed outdoors at New Salem's Theatre in the Park.

One Grand Old Lady

Ken Bradbury's documentary readers-theater play about the Marbold family of Greenview, Illinois, and their grand home, Elmwood.

Roger Wainwright Music Directory

Roger Wainwright's music archive for Ken Bradbury productions — orchestrations and recordings for shows including David, Just Imagine, and Camp Sunshine.

To This Place I Owe Everything: Mr. Lincoln's Last Evening in Springfield

A one-man play by Ken Bradbury imagining Abraham Lincoln alone in a Springfield hotel the night before he left for Washington and the presidency.