Pardon My Shorts
2009 · Sophie Leschin Auditorium, Jacksonville, Illinois
Pardon My Shorts was Ken Bradbury's evening of brevity — a bill of very short plays, none running more than ten minutes, that premiered in Jacksonville the weekend of November 6–8, 2009 as a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Morgan County. "It's really not naughty," Bradbury insisted of the title. "The show is an evening of very short plays... A ten-minute mystery, a ten-minute musical, a ten-minute Opera, a ten-minute farce, a ten-minute tragedy. The evening reminds me of several dates I had back in college."
The format was, by his own description, "perfectly designed for short attention spans" — a sensibility he traced to a lifetime of teaching junior high. Across two acts the audience moved quickly between comic vignettes: an attitude-adjustment shop disguised as an auto garage in A Slight Adjustment, a pair of museum busts who long to turn and see one another in the sung Bust Opera ("Rocks of Ages"), and a sweep through History of Mankind and the much-peopled Ten Minute Musical. The intermission notes captured the spirit exactly: "There will be an intermission between acts, lasting as long as it takes you to do whatever you do. Remember: it's an evening of brevity."
The cast mixed familiar Jacksonville-area theatre veterans with newcomers drawn from local civic life, including Chamber of Commerce director Ginny Fanning, alderman Tony Williams, and Lincoln Land WREC administrator Jan Terry, alongside longtime collaborators such as Sylvia Burke, Brad Barnes, Jodi Heitbrink, Travis Deaver, and Cathy Doyle. Bradbury wrote the scenes; Roger Wainwright supplied the "brief" music, and young pianist Brock Gwaltney contributed original interludes tailored to each scene.
The Short Plays
Act I
- Do Not Delete — Brad Barnes, Jodi Heitbrink, Ken Bradbury
- Have a Seat — Jan Terry, Barb Gatlin, Ginny Fanning, Cori Pate, Sylvia Burke
- Ten Minute Musical — Logan Bobb, Madeline Walker, Travis Deaver, Cathy Doyle, Josie Lowder, "and a cast of thousands"
- History of Mankind — Travis Deaver, Brennan Vahle
Act II
- Open To Interpretation — Cathy Doyle, Allen Stare
- The Spot — Travis Deaver, Brennan Vahle
- A Slight Adjustment — Katie Phelps, Tony Williams, Sylvia Burke
- Bust Opera ("Rocks of Ages") — Brad Barnes, Jodi Heitbrink, Allen Stare, Cathy Doyle, Brennan Vahle
Cast
- Do Not Delete — Brad Barnes, Jodi Heitbrink, Ken Bradbury
- Have a Seat — Jan Terry, Barb Gatlin, Ginny Fanning, Cori Pate, Sylvia Burke
- Ten Minute Musical — Logan Bobb, Madeline Walker, Travis Deaver, Cathy Doyle, Josie Lowder
- History of Mankind / The Spot — Travis Deaver, Brennan Vahle
- Open To Interpretation — Cathy Doyle, Allen Stare
- A Slight Adjustment — Katie Phelps, Tony Williams, Sylvia Burke
- Bust Opera ("Rocks of Ages") — Brad Barnes, Jodi Heitbrink, Allen Stare, Cathy Doyle, Brennan Vahle
- Pianist — Brock Barron Gwaltney
Production Notes
- Written and directed by Ken Bradbury
- Musical direction by Roger Wainwright, with "brief" music; original interludes composed and performed by Brock Gwaltney
- Performances: November 6 and 7, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.; November 8 at 5 p.m.
- Venue: Sophie Leschin Auditorium, Jacksonville, Illinois
- Benefit for: the Boys and Girls Club of Morgan County
- Tech: Wes Burton and Kyle Cummings
- Stage Managers: Barb Gatlin, Annie Schone, and Carrie Greening
- Set: Chuck West, Karol Hill, and Gail Trone
- Tickets: Martha Bangert
- Costuming: Janet Long
- Makeup: Sylvia Burke
- Sponsored by Lincoln Land Community College–WREC campus, The Source, and the Jacksonville Theatre Guild, with copyrights waived by Consortium Publishing Company and Bradbury/Wainwright productions.
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