Bully For You!
2005 · Area elementary schools (Lincoln Land Community College Traveling Theatre tour)
Bully For You! was an original anti-bullying musical written and directed by Ken Bradbury for the Lincoln Land Community College Traveling Theatre, which toured it to eighteen area elementary schools in January of 2005. Built for young audiences and running a tight thirty minutes, the show followed Freddy, a boy who is picked on by Spike and his gang, and the three angels — Michael, Uriel, and Raphael — who appear to help him find his courage through a string of imaginative adventures, from X-Men dancers to medieval knights to historical battlefields. Its message was simple and direct: stand up to bullies, and treat others with respect.
The play taught its lesson with a memorable mnemonic the cast called "R-O-C-K": Really mean it and look the bully in the eye; Outsmart the bully by asking questions, using humor, or changing the subject; Calm down and remember that it's the bully who is doing something wrong; and Kall for help by staying near adults and confiding in someone you trust. As Bradbury explained to teachers along the tour, the show addressed not only outright bullying but the more everyday cruelties of leaving people out, picking on others, and lying about classmates — the methods "most experts recommend for a child who is harassed or bullied."
Bradbury's journal traces the writing across the late autumn of 2004. The idea began with a phone call from student Ricky Waters, who pitched a Traveling Theatre show about "accepting people for who they are." A daydream on a November drive about "a little boy being picked on" gave it shape, and over a series of late nights — and one wicked snowstorm that postponed auditions into a two-day affair over Thanksgiving weekend — the script, songs, and music tracks came together. "I think the play is done. Strong message this time," he wrote on November 21. "This is one play in which somebody might get hurt if we give the wrong advice."
Musical Numbers
- Opening (Happy)
- Why Am I So Lonely?
- Why Am I So Lonely? (reprise)
- Sometimes You Win
- Sometimes You Win (reprise)
- X-Men music
- Freddy, Are You Ready?
- Knight Music
- Dangerous Sir Spike music
- You Gotta Rock
- Don't Laugh At Me
- Don't Laugh At Me (Finale)
- Bow and Exit Music
Cast
- Freddy — Ricky Waters
- Spike — Nick Jackson
- Jose — Ryan Hoots
- Jim-Jam — Granger Snodgrass
- Gabriel — Nick Stephens
- Mike — Andrew Hill
- Harvey — Melissa Beard
- Ervin — Alex Beard
- Reba — Carly Joehl
- Haley — Katie McGinnis
- Michelle — Kayla Stock
- Sherry — Rachel Schone
- Donald — David Meyer
- Michael (Angel) — Stephanie Nobis
- Uriel (Angel) — Hannah Stephens
- Raphael (Angel) — Lauren Beal
- Princess Storm — Jillian Preston
- Sir Freddy's Horse — Alex Beard
Ensemble roles included X-Men dancers and fighters, Spike's Knights, Medieval Bystanders, Blue Coat Soldiers, Red Coat Soldiers, and Finale Kids: Carly Joehl, Derek Carls, Jillian Preston, Kayla Stock, David Meyer, Jenna Post, Matt Snodgrass, Melissa Beard, Andrew Hill, Katie McGinnis, Jacob Mattes, Alex Beard, Rachel Schone, Erich Nobis, and Brittany Morrison.
Production Notes
Written and directed by Ken Bradbury, Bully For You! was produced through the Lincoln Land Community College Traveling Theatre and performed by Triopia students. The tour ran January 18–25, 2005, carrying the thirty-minute show by bus to roughly eighteen schools across the area, among them North Jacksonville Elementary, Westfair Christian Academy, Washington Elementary, Lincoln Grade School, Rushville's Webster School, Beardstown Gard, Bluffs, Eisenhower, Murrayville Elementary, Franklin High School and Elementary, Our Saviors, Jonathan Turner I and II, South Jacksonville Elementary, and Triopia Grade School.
Behind the scenes, Adam Carls and Chris Meyer served as road managers and Dave Surratt ran sound, while Bradbury composed and recorded the music tracks himself — finishing missing songs and fixing levels in the days right up to opening.
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