Vachel With a V
1994 · Jacksonville Theatre Guild
Vachel With a V is a non-musical play built on the life and poetry of Vachel Lindsay, the Springfield, Illinois poet whose chanted, music-driven verse made him one of the most distinctive American voices of the early twentieth century. Ken Bradbury co-authored the piece with Robert Crowe and directed it; this text-driven poetry play spotlights Lindsay's verse in performance, framing him through the eyes of two men and two women. Ken directed the Jacksonville Theatre Guild production, with David Zink at the keyboard underscoring the staging.
The program for this production was preserved courtesy of the Ken Bradbury Foundation.
Cast
- Vachel — Robert Large
- 1st Man — Richard McCoy
- 2nd Man — Karl Bockemeier
- 1st Woman — Judith Beiderbecke
- 2nd Woman — Sylvia Burke
Production Staff
- Co-author & Director — Ken Bradbury
- Co-author — Robert Crowe (Dr. Bob Crowe)
- Keyboard Accompanist — David Zink
- Stage Manager & Light Operation — Roger Deem
- Lighting Design — Greg Floyd
- Publicity — Bob Berry
- House Manager — Betty "Liz" Aldridge
- Tickets — Judy Driver & Cindy Fawkes
Production Notes
- Ken's own resume lists Vachel...With a "V" as a non-musical play, co-authored with Robert Crowe, and separately credits him as "co-author and director of Vachel...with a V over Convocom Network" — the production was also broadcast over the Convocom television network.
- The play was deliberately staged spare so it could tour. Stage manager Bob Large said it was Vachel, With a V that taught him "The play's the thing": "We'd played that show in every conceivable setting and because we concentrated on the play and not the set, it always played successfully." (Ken's Faith on Wry journal, March 27, 2007.)
- A remembered highlight was watching Vachel recite "The Bronco" — Lindsay's poem "The Broncho That Would Not Be Broken."
- Cast member Sylvia Burke called being in the show "the most satisfaction ever."
- A restaging ran a week at Lincoln's New Salem in late August 2000, closing August 28, 2000; Ken directed it on short notice after co-author Dr. Bob Crowe was hospitalized, praising "a most courageous cast, rehearsing with frighteningly little lead time." (Ken's Distant Thunder journal, Aug 24–28, 2000.)
See the full production record at JTG Memories.