Breakin' Through and Bleedin' Blue
2015 · Lincoln Land Community College Traveling Theatre
"Why haven't we ever done a show about Triopia?" The question came from cast member Elisabeth Werries, and it became the seed of this show. Ken Bradbury's Lincoln Land Traveling Theatre class had already staged performances celebrating the history of Arenzville, the town creek in Jacksonville, the history of Jacksonville, and Beardstown's saga — but it had never tackled the story of Triopia itself. So thirteen students went out into the community to interview graduates of Chapin High School, Arenzville High, Concord Elementary, and Triopia, gathering their stories and chasing one persistent mystery: how in the world the school got its name.
What emerged is a documentary-style readers' theatre stitched together from the words of more than seventy folks who sat for interviews, talked by phone or email, or simply shared their memories over coffee. The play opens like a fairy tale — "Once upon a time, in a land not far-far away, there was a Chapin Bearcat and an Arenzville Raider, bitter enemies" — and traces the unlikely, hard-won consolidation of Chapin, Arenzville, and Concord into one school. As the program notes, many of today's students assume Triopia "just sort of floated down from heaven one day, settled in a cornfield, and started producing footballs." The interviews told a different story, full of struggle, stubbornness, and a fierce family loyalty that outlasted every disagreement.
Much of the music came from the fertile mind of Elisabeth Werries, "an idea factory," and the show is woven through with original songs about keeping the fire alive and falling in love. Between the numbers, the cast relays the community's most memorable moments — a war pilot leaving skid marks on the highway in front of the school, President Reagan's helicopters landing on a football field a coach didn't want messed up, snake-dance conga lines through neighbors' living rooms, and the tender, plainspoken grief of a town that took care of its own. It closes not on an ending but on a challenge: "Well, we're not there yet. The end is up to us." Proceeds from the performance were donated to the Triopia Student Council.
Cast
- Ally Bunfill — unpredictable, off-the-wall, every inch a delight
- Elly Crawford — quiet unless called upon, dangerous if crossed
- Emily Burns — tough, determined, the world's sweetest pit bull
- Elisabeth Werries — delightfully "out there," wonderfully musical
- Abbie Link — eager, prepared, looking toward the stars
- Brittany Davis — born to perform, eager for more
- Mackenzie Musch — one talented enigma, afraid of nothing
- Alex Stanberry — up to any challenge, a pillar of performance
- Jamie Schnepper — tall, curled and determined; willing to dive deeply
- Kyler Miller — talent colored in shades of spastic
- Hannah Werries — a girl with grit, with poise, with wonder
- Brenan Pool — enjoying his trip on the journey of becoming
- Rachel Skillet — still waters running deep, growing and growing
Production Notes
Breakin' Through and Bleedin' Blue was created and directed by Ken Bradbury for the Lincoln Land Community College Traveling Theatre, a dual-credit class in which most of the cast earned both high school and college credit. The show was the second-semester readers' theatre project for the 2014–2015 year; that same year the group had toured seventeen elementary schools with a pirate tale, Yo Ho. Because the class never repeats a production, students could enroll for multiple years.
The script was assembled from original interviews conducted by the students themselves, who fanned out across the Triopia community in rounds of visits during January. Several interviewees — including David Roegge, Martin Burrus, and Gene Farmer — had passed away by the time of the performance, their stories preserved through Abbie Link's last conversation with Roegge and through those who had carried the others' tales for years. Proceeds were donated to the Triopia Student Council, with sponsors Karen Werries and Laura Burrus.