From Behind the Curtain
2010 · Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, Illinois (Springfield Theatre Centre)
From Behind the Curtain was an original ensemble show that Ken Bradbury and composer Roger Wainwright built entirely from the actual words of local performers. Rather than stage a pre-made script, Ken did what he loved best — he watched a show come together from scratch. Beginning in the spring of 2010, when producer Bill Bauser asked him to direct something for the Springfield Theatre Centre, Ken sent out questionnaires, conducted round-table interviews, and transcribed reams of anecdotes from actors all across the Springfield area. The promise to every contributor was simple: the show would use only their real words, with a single mass credit and no names spoken onstage.
The result is a warm, raucous, and surprisingly moving ensemble piece. The actors enter the theatre without costume or makeup and prepare for a show in front of the audience, turning to speak directly to us about their lives onstage — their first roles, their anxieties, the reasons they keep coming back. Scenes range from the universal agony of auditions ("They always say, 'Great, great.' Believe me, auditions are the last time you'll hear a choreographer say that.") to a parade of theatrical disasters: bugs swallowed mid-song in outdoor musicals, fainting choruses backstage at Mame, a musician relieving himself in the orchestra pit, and the unforgettable terror of going blank in front of five hundred people. Underneath the comedy runs the show's true question, set to music — Why do I do it? Why do I care? Why put myself through all this misery?
Conceived, interviewed, written, scored, and rehearsed across a single whirlwind autumn, the piece was an ensemble in the fullest sense: the cast seldom left the stage, and every actor was needed at every rehearsal. It is a love letter to community theatre and to the people who, against all sense, keep walking back into the light.
Cast
- Performer — Brad Barnes
- Performer — Sylvia Burke
- Performer — Kyle Cummings
- Performer — Shelly Flickinger
- Performer — Alyssa Furling
- Performer — Jim Hepworth
- Performer — Cynthia Higginson
- Performer — Lauren Ingram
- Performer — Jonna Kauffman
- Performer — Katie Kauffman
- Performer — Gil Opferman
- Performer — Ann Opferman
- Performer — Zach Pickens
- Performer — Nate Saint
- Performer — Leigh Ann Smith
- Performer — Cory Street
- Performer — Shirene Thomas
- Performer — Jim Yale
Production Notes
- Concept and book: Ken Bradbury, an original show assembled from interviews and questionnaires sent to dozens of Springfield-area performers. Of 78 actors who said they'd take part, roughly half returned material; Ken supplemented written responses with phone interviews and round-table sessions (including a memorable, well-lubricated round table in Jacksonville).
- Music: Original score by Roger Wainwright, written alongside the developing script.
- Producer: Bill Bauser, for the Springfield Theatre Centre.
- Venue and run: Presented at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield, Illinois, planned for February 2011 (developed and rehearsed across late 2010).
- Working titles: Early drafts circulated under titles including "Behind the Curtain" before the show settled on From Behind the Curtain. Ken's newsletters to the cast went out under the running header "Backstage Whispers."
- The band: Jeff Helton (guitar), Sam Roth (drums), Mark LeVault (bass), Kevin Cox (sax), Kayla Primm and Roger Wainwright (keys).
- Production team: Kevin Kulovic and Malcolm McKean (set builders), Ed Smith (lighting design), Justin Bell (light operator), Glenn Jones (sound design and operation), Deb Iams (costumes).
Ken's production journal captures the joy and exhaustion of building the show from nothing — late nights drowning in transcripts, lost files recovered, and the quiet thrill of the first auditions: "A sweet, sweet start… But thanks, Lord — a nice beginning."