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Yo Ho!

2014 · Lincoln Land Community College

Yo Ho! was the fall 2014 "On the Road" production of Ken Bradbury's Lincoln Land Community College Traveling Theatre class — the touring children's show that served, in Ken's words, as the "show piece" of Jacksonville's Lincoln Land campus. Written by Ken for his students over the late summer, it was a pirate-themed comedy built around an opening pirate song ("Yo Ho"), British accents, growling buccaneers, a swing dance, and plenty of looney fun. Ken raided the costume shed for pirate clothing in late August and spent September blocking and rehearsing the show with a wide-ranging cast that stretched from an 8th-grader to full-time college students.

As with every year of the class, Yo Ho! was a wholly original, devised-and-staged piece — never repeated year to year — created on its feet rather than from a book. In November and December 2014 the troupe took the show on the road, performing for elementary schools across the Jacksonville area before the class turned to its companion holiday production for downtown Jacksonville.

The Show

A short, fast, comic pirate adventure for elementary-school audiences. Pieces and bits noted in Ken's rehearsal journal include:

• The opening pirate song, "Yo Ho," which opened the show.
• A "If you really want to be a pirate" sequence.
• A pirate swing dance, choreographed by one of the cast.
• A running gag of throwing the character "Rupert" into the ocean.
• A finale song written and performed by cast member Elisabeth Werries.

Cast

Ken's journal and the class roster name the following students who built and performed the show (roles were largely devised in rehearsal; "Rupert" was among the named characters):

• Brittany Davis
• Alex Stanberry
• Brenan Pool
• Elisabeth Werries
• Jamie Schlepper
• Kyler Miller
• Hannah Werries
• Mackenzie Musch
• Clara
• Erika

Other students in the 2014–15 first-term class included Ally Bunfill, Elly Crawford, Emily Burns, Abbie Link, Rachel Skillet, and others.

Production Notes

This was the first-semester touring show of the 2014–15 LLCC Traveling Theatre class. Ken began writing the play in late August 2014, raided the costume shed for pirate outfits on a "hot, hot day," and blocked the show through September, noting both the joys and the challenges of an unusually large, lively cast with several newcomers. Bev (a longtime volunteer "mom" to the cast) ran sound, freeing Ken to direct.

The "On the Road" tour ran four days:

• November 20, 2014 — North Jacksonville, Franklin, Central Kindergarten, Trinity
• November 21, 2014 — Roodhouse, Murrayville, Early Years (Jacksonville), Salem Lutheran
• December 4, 2014 — Washington, Westfair, South Jacksonville, Triopia
• December 5, 2014 — Griggsville, Meredosia, Eisenhower, Our Savior's

After the touring show, the same class turned to its companion holiday production, Ho! Ho! Snow!, for downtown Jacksonville. Ken's journal cover for the semester read "On the Road... 2014."