Jacksonville Memories Show
2012 · Lincoln Land Community College
The Jacksonville Memories Show was a spring local-history project staged by Ken Bradbury's Lincoln Land Community College theatre class. As a class production, it was researched and devised by his students under his direction. The students dug through the Morgan County genealogical society's collection of old Jacksonville newspaper columns — the "Glance Into the Past" and "Looking Back" features — and interviewed area elders about earlier days in town and the things they remembered and missed.
What they gathered became the show: a portrait of an older Jacksonville and the people who lived it, ending with the voices of the people the class had interviewed reflecting on what they miss about life as it used to be. The closing was carried by an original song, "Memories," written by cast member Elisabeth Werries — "Travelin' back in memories down the road that used to be… / Memories are a gift to open when we're all alone / Oh may I keep on making these great memories of my own."
Songs
- "Memories" — original closing song written and performed by Elisabeth Werries, sung as the interviewed elders speak about what they miss about life as it used to be.
Cast
- Cathy Colburn
- Brittany Davis
- Jackie Harris
- Ryan Harris
- Andrew Holtschlag
- John Love
- Tim Phillips
- Malory Scarber
- Billie Smith
- Cody Springer
- Erin Washington
- Cydney Musch
- Elisabeth Werries
- Kendi Sayre
- Alex Stanberry
- Brooke Batterson
Production Notes
The show grew out of the spring-semester project of the LLCC theatre class (Theatre 110). The research drew on the genealogical library on South Main in Jacksonville, which held a large run of the local "Glance Into the Past" and "Looking Back" history columns.
The Jacksonville show was performed May 11–13, 2012:
- Friday, May 11 — Centenary Methodist, 7 p.m. (cast call 6 p.m.)
- Saturday, May 12 — Faith Lutheran, 7 p.m. (cast call 6 p.m.)
- Sunday, May 13 — Grace Methodist, 3 p.m. (cast call 2 p.m.)
The show's title is not formally stated in the surviving class documents; "Jacksonville Memories Show" reflects the project as the class records describe it.