Breakin' Through and Bleedin' Blue: The Story of Triopia
2016 · Lincoln Land Community College
"Breakin' Through and Bleedin' Blue, the Story of Triopia" was an original readers'-theatre production written and directed by Ken Bradbury and devised with his Lincoln Land Community College Traveling Theatre class. The class had previously created shows celebrating the history of Arenzville, the town creek in Jacksonville, the history of Jacksonville, Beardstown's saga, and the oddballs of the community — but, as Bradbury wrote in his director's note, they had never tackled the subject of Triopia itself. The idea came from student Elisabeth Werries, who asked, "Why haven't we ever done a show about Triopia?"
Beginning in 2015, the class went out into the Triopia community to interview graduates of Chapin High School, Arenzville High, Concord Elementary, and Triopia, gathering their stories — including the long-debated question of how the school's name was chosen. The result was a whirlwind tour of the school's history, tracing the struggle it took to bring the bitter rivals of Chapin and Arenzville together (with little Concord caught in the middle) into the consolidated Triopia district. As Bradbury put it, many of today's students assumed Triopia "just sort of floated down from heaven one day, settled in a cornfield, and started producing footballs," and were surprised to learn what their parents and grandparents got up to in high school.
Stories featured in the show included tales of legendary Triopia coach Don Kemp — "the king of the malapropism," famous for lines like "Man, you're runnin' around like a man with his chicken cut off!" — along with the time a U.S. president wanted to land his helicopter on the Triopia football field and Coach Kemp wouldn't allow it, the man who kept buzzing Chapin Grade School with his airplane, the night a superintendent tackled a man in front of an entire basketball crowd, the boy who camped out on a girl's doorstep to be first to ask her to prom, and the first-year teacher who mistakenly took her students swimming in a sewage pond.
Cast
- Marcus Blair — a graduate of the Beardstown theatre program and full-time LLCC student
- Ally Bunfill — a resident of one of Arenzville's most historic old German homes and the latest of the Paul family of actors
- Elly Crawford — part of a legacy theatre family, residing in the bottomlands east of Concord
- Emily Burns — a highly organized Chapin gal
- Katia Janes — from the prairie between Arenzville and Virginia
- Abbie Link — from the prairie between Arenzville and Beardstown
- Bailey Littleton — Triopia lineage on both sides of her family, residing near Triopia's original site on the St. Paul's Road
- Kyler Miller — a Wisconsin transplant, track star, and man-about-Arenzville
- Mackenzie Musch — of the Musch and Lakamp families
- Brenan Pool — groundskeeper at the Concord Reservoir; "bowsman, hunter, seeker of truth and beauty"
- Kamryn Portwood — a member of the Chapin team
- Courtney Privia — child of two Triopia graduates
- Kira Sayre — the latest of a long line of Sayre sisters, from east of Arenzville
- Jamie Schnepper — "our mysterious visitor from the east (Jacksonville)"
- Rachel Skillet — a Chapin girl and granddaughter of Triopia grads
- Ben Stanberry — son and sibling of three Triopia actors, from the road toward Literberry
- Mathew Thurman — of Chapin
- Hannah Werries — a double-Triopia-legacy actor, from the Concord blacktop
Production Notes
The show was first staged in 2015 to sellout crowds and reprised on June 1 and 2, 2016. The June 1 performance was held at the Arenzville United Methodist Church and the June 2 performance at the Chapin Christian Church, each with a 6 p.m. meal preceding a 7 p.m. show. The Triopia Public Schools Foundation sponsored the reprise, and all proceeds were donated to the programs supported by that organization.
The 2016 Lincoln Land Traveling Theatre class was a mix of students from Jacksonville, Beardstown, and Triopia, and had given 24 performances that year for audiences totaling in the thousands. That fall they had toured 16 elementary schools with their Super Hero play, and shortly before this reprise they had performed "A Road Trip Through Time" for two sold-out nights in Jacksonville. The class earns dual high school and college credit, with admission by permission of the instructor.
The director's note especially thanked the roughly 70 people who sat for interviews, corresponded by phone or email, or shared their stories over coffee — among them several who had since passed away, including David Roegge, Martin Burrus, and Gene Farmer. Thanks were also extended to the Triopia Public Schools Foundation, the Arenzville United Methodist Church, and the Chapin Christian Church for helping make the presentation possible.