Make a Wish!
2013 · Lincoln Land Community College Traveling Theatre
Make a Wish! is one of Ken Bradbury's touring children's shows, written for his Lincoln Land Community College Traveling Theatre class and carried on the road to area elementary schools in the fall of 2013. Like the other Traveling Theatre productions, it was an interactive, roughly half-hour piece performed down on the floor with the children — full of direct address, audience volunteers, kazoos, slide whistles, and live instruments — built around a message Ken loved to leave with young audiences.
The story follows Mackenzie, the cast's perpetually-oversleeping member, who is granted three wishes by a pair of "Twin Genies." She wishes first to be rich — and the genies show her that the only real riches are friends. She wishes to change the world — and learns she can do it with nothing more than a simple smile. Finally she wishes to be powerful — and discovers that the greatest power of all is simply to show someone you love them. Along the way the troupe stages a kazoo marching band, a square dance, and a running gag in which Mackenzie tries to borrow a boy's pants because she overslept and missed the opening of the show.
Songs
- Just Say "Thank You" — the cast helps Mackenzie get dressed while reminding her to show a little gratitude: "Don't be crude and rude! Just show some gratitude!"
- Everybody Needs a Friend — the first-wish anthem, sung over live instruments: "F-R-I-E-N-D… Everybody needs a friend! You can't buy what a friend can give."
- Change the World With a Smile — the second-wish square-dance number: "A little grin from you is all you have to do… You can change the world with just a simple smile!"
- The Power of Love — the closing ballad that delivers the third-wish lesson: "The power of love… When the road seems long you can depend upon… you can depend on me."
The show also features an opening dance and a final dance, and a kazoo-and-tambourine marching bit set to The Stars and Stripes Forever.
Cast
The fall 2013 Traveling Theatre company was drawn from Triopia, Jacksonville, and the surrounding communities, with high-school members earning both high-school and college credit:
Maddy Albers, Jordan Brenize, Alana Bunfill, Ally Bunfill, Emily Burns, Elly Crawford, Brittany Davis, Katondra Haley, Andrew Holtschlag, Sydney Meyer, Kenzi Miller, Mackenzie Musch, Cydney Musch, Kendi Sayre, Alex Stanberry, and Elisabeth Werries.
Production Notes
- Written and directed by Ken Bradbury for the Lincoln Land Community College Traveling Theatre, the class Ken built after thirty-plus years of touring with Triopia groups.
- Music by Elisabeth Werries of Chapin, the cast member who served as the troupe's songwriter and composer — Ken would message her at night with an idea for a song and she'd have it written by bedtime — and who performed in the show. (Brittany Davis choreographed.)
- A touring "traveling theatre group" show designed for elementary-school audiences. The same 2013–2014 company performed Ken's Where's Santa?, We Call Him Grandpa, and A Brook Tale.
- The show was revived in August 2026 by The Esprit de Corps Academy of Jacksonville for its free summer theater camp — see the Esprit de Corps restaging.