New Salem Summer Season 1998

1998 · Lincoln's New Salem, Illinois

This page preserves the summer 1998 performance schedule for Ken Bradbury's work staged at New Salem, the restored historic village in New Salem, Illinois associated with Abraham Lincoln's early years. The source is a tentative weekly calendar grid (Sunday through Saturday) annotated "Tentative as of August '97," mapping a season that ran from June through late August 1998. Ken Bradbury programmed the season, mixing his own original works — Abraham! and the Coonridge material — with one licensed musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which he directed.

Abraham!, Ken's own work, anchors the summer with performance dates marked across the season — June 14 and 28, July 3, 5, 12, and 19, and August 1 and 15 (August 16 noted "Abraham! or Gospel"). Joseph fills a concentrated late-July through early-August run (July 24, 25, 26, 30, and 31; August 1, 2, 6, and 7), with Joseph rehearsals beginning July 24. The grid also marks "Coonridge at New Salem" for August 9 and pencils private Abraham performances for July 1 and August 3, before the season closes with the "last New Salem show" on August 23.

The Coonridge at New Salem show is Ken's own original sketch comedy — a string of bits, not a musical — set in the fictional town of Coonridge with recurring characters Herb and Freida Marie Crump. Ken wrote and directed it and performed in it himself. The run sheet (titled "New Salem Coonridge / 14 Aug 98," with cast intros dated Aug 13 1998) lays out the order across two acts. Act One: Bob's Intro; Star Spangled Banner (with drugged soprano); Opening Music (Dave Zink on keyboard); Opening Lines; Men and Women; Small Town Laws; Tele Sales; Nebo (lights narrowed to Bob and Ken down-stage); and Harold and Church. Act Two: Act Two Opening Lines; Stained Glass Reflections (Katie Phelps, down-stage spot); Redecorating; The Big Buffet (Marian Levin and Judith Beiderbecke, down-stage spot); Mope & Whine; and Night Falls on Coonridge (lighting reduced, fog added, angels lowered from the fly spaces). The sound and light notes kept the actor mikes and keyboard up the whole time and narrowed the lights to the down-stage spot for the bit introductions. The evening's order of worship called the cast at 6:30, with Linda Schneider performing a pre-show at 7 p.m. and Bob Large reading Coonridge excerpts in a 7:20 pre-show discussion ahead of an 8 p.m. curtain (Bob's speech, then the soprano at the end of the National Anthem, then Dave Zink beginning the music as the cast enters); the company rehearsed Thursday night at Bob Large's rehearsal hall.

Songs

The Coonridge at New Salem run sheet calls for two musical moments, both opening the show:

Star Spangled Banner (with drugged soprano) — "the soprano scares away the birds at the end of the National Anthem"
Opening Music (Zink on keyboard) — "Zink will begin on the keyboard as we enter"

Cast

The performers below are drawn from the Coonridge at New Salem materials (run sheet and cast introductions); the Abraham! and Joseph company rosters are not preserved in the schedule.

Bob Large — Coonridge at New Salem (also Abraham! as Jack Kelso, et al.); a painting contractor from Jacksonville and a bass fanatic
Katie Phelps — Coonridge at New Salem (Stained Glass Reflections); assistant director of Joseph; a sophomore communications major at Illinois College
David (Dave) Zink — keyboard/music for Coonridge at New Salem; a Jacksonville auto mechanic who plays every instrument, plays Ken's music, and has written music for children's theatre
Judith Beiderbecke — Coonridge at New Salem; originally from Chicago, she has appeared in Vachel with a V, The Shadow of Giants, and the title role in Mame
Marian Levin — Coonridge at New Salem; two summers in Abraham! at New Salem; formerly danced in New York and St. Louis; one of the Springfield area's finest directors
Linda Schneider — pre-show performer (7 p.m.) for the Coonridge at New Salem show

Production Notes

Venue: Lincoln's New Salem, Illinois (the Coonridge show rehearsed Thursday night at Bob Large's rehearsal hall)
Season: Summer 1998 (June through late August), laid out on a tentative Sun–Sat calendar headed "Summer '98"
Organized and directed by: Ken Bradbury
Original works (written by Ken Bradbury): the Coonridge sketch material; Abraham! is Ken's own work, which he also directed
Directed licensed title: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Ken directed only)
Joseph run: July 24, 25, 26, 30, 31; August 1, 2, 6, 7 (rehearsals begin July 24)
Abraham! dates: June 14, 28; July 3, 5, 12, 19; August 1, 15 (August 16 noted "Abraham! or Gospel")
Private Abraham performances: penciled for July 1 and August 3
Additional offering: "Coonridge at New Salem" (August 9)
Final show: August 23, marked "last New Salem show"
The schedule footer reads "Tentative as of August '97," indicating dates were planned nearly a year in advance rather than confirmed-final.

Ken's accompanying planning notes, headed "New Salem '98 ideas...," list the candidate Coonridge sketch slate — Tele Sales, New Men and Women, Small Town Laws, Opening Lines (original version), Night Falls, Harold and Church, Redecorating, Mope 'N Whine, Night Falls on Coonridge, Big Buffet, Nebo, Questions?, Standin' in the Need?, Katie's Stained Glass Reflections?, Midwest Familiar? (a re-write), and Air Travel? The references to "the new scripts," "the music I write," and Ken's own down-stage bit introductions confirm his authorship of the Coonridge material. A 1998 Joseph (JTG) recording corroborates the late-July/early-August Joseph run, and a 1996 Coonridge at New Salem recording supports the recurring Coonridge component of the season.

A 1998 Joseph (JTG) recording exists but is of a licensed title Ken only directed; it is not published here. No Abraham! or Joseph company roster or song titles appear in the schedule or planning notes, and no cover image was found.