Family Skeletons and Other Funny Bones
2009 · Lincoln Land Community College
Family Skeletons and Other Funny Bones — subtitled Tales of the Triopia Community — was the main staged production of Ken Bradbury's Lincoln Land Community College theatre class, performed jointly with Triopia students in May 2009. Over the semester the class interviewed nearly fifty folks from the Triopia community about their own family skeletons, adventures, embarrassments, and mishaps, then melded those true stories into an original theatre piece the students devised and performed themselves. The show took its spirit from George Bernard Shaw: "If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you might as well make it dance."
Woven from real voices, the piece moved through the foibles, foul-ups, and foolishness of the families it celebrated — church mishaps, fishing disasters, kitchen calamities in the Triopia school cooks' domain, and tender remembrances. It carried a special dedication to former Triopia coach Don Kemp, the gruff, beloved figure whose stories thread through several scenes. Admission was free, and the class also spent the semester teaching improv to fifth-graders at Triopia and Meredosia.
Scenes
- The opening "family" sequence of true stories gathered from interviews
- All in the Family — the family scene
- Tales of the Triopia Kitchen — the Cooks' scene, stories of the school cooks
- The Kemp scenes — remembrances of coach Don Kemp (including Faye's and Connie Walls' stories)
- A Boy and His Bike — Ken Rhoads' bike story
- Kids scene, school scene, work scene, romance scene
- A Dr. Seuss tribute reading
Songs
- What's a Family? — by Carrie Greening
- That Ain't Right! (The Ballad of Gary Beard) — by Granger Snodgrass
Cast
- Kati Anderson
- Andrew Austin
- Carrie Greening
- Jacklyn Robson
- Michael Roegge
- Laura Roth
- Annie Schone
- Catherine Smith
- Granger Snodgrass
- Joe Strattman
- Kim Troxell
- Brennan Vahle
Production Notes
Directed by Ken Bradbury and presented by the Lincoln Land/Triopia Theatre Class. Performed May 16, 2009 at 6 p.m. at Chapin Christian Church, and May 17, 2009 at 2 p.m. at St. Peter's Lutheran of rural Arenzville. The program thanked the interviewees, the host congregations, and Jan Terry and the staff at Lincoln Land's WREC campus. Costuming for the show was simple and unified: jeans, bare feet, a white (preferably long-sleeved) shirt, and suspenders.