A Tribute to Jon Robb
2018 · Pittsfield, Illinois
A loving celebration of Jon Robb, the teacher and director who founded the Pittsfield Theatre Guild and put generations of Pike County, Illinois performers on the stage. The tribute weaves together the songs from his many productions with the real words of the people he directed, taught, and shaped over more than two decades.
The show opens in joyful chaos: cast members scurrying back and forth with props and half-finished costumes while a director figure strides to center stage, clipboard in hand, barking out Jon's own legendary instructions — "Places, everybody! Check your props! Project! Project! Don't touch the damned curtain! And smile, damn it, smile!" From there the company launches into "Let Me Entertain You," and narrator Warren Winston traces Jon's story: a grocer's son from Barry, Illinois, a Drury College English graduate who was told that play directing "came with the job," who came to teach in Pittsfield and, after two bored young women said "Let's do a summer play," helped birth the Pittsfield Theatre Guild with a production of Ah, Wilderness!
Between the songs, readers share story after story — funny, profane, and tender — of a man who demanded Broadway quality from small-town kids, who caught bats during play practice without missing a beat, who once spray-painted an actor's torn tights (and her leg) black just before curtain, and who, beneath all the "temper tantrums" and shouting, became "everyone's greatest fan." As the contributors put it again and again: the goal was always to give Jon the chills.
Musical Numbers
The revue moved chronologically through the shows Jon directed, with songs performed by original cast members where possible:
- "Let Me Entertain You" (Gypsy) — Full Cast, opening number
- "Hernando's Hideaway" (The Pajama Game, PHS's first all-school musical, 1963) — Gloria Grigsby and Company
- "Bali Ha'i" (South Pacific) — Mary Ellen Schimmel
- "Oklahoma" (Oklahoma!, 1973) — Full Cast
- "Get Me to the Church on Time" (My Fair Lady, 1966) — chorus
- "Day by Day" (Godspell) — original Godspell cast
- A number from Pippin or Cabaret — Missy Acuff
- "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (Evita) — Christie Mendenhall
- "Do-Re-Mi" (The Sound of Music) — Judy Steers and chorus
- "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" (South Pacific) — Phyllis Hoover Roate
- "Consider Yourself" (Oliver!) — entire cast and former PHS Dramatists and PTG members, closing number
Cast
- Narrator — Warren Winston
- Reader — Trent Halpin
- Reader — Ed Dodson
- Reader — Becky Acuff
- Reader — Julie Boren
- Reader — Chris Robb
Production Notes
The tribute was assembled in 2018 by members of the Pittsfield Theatre Guild and PHS Dramatists community, with Ken Bradbury writing the script and Nanette working on the music. Organizers reached out to alumni across the country — gathering as many of the original Godspell cast as possible and bringing back performers from Chicago, Pennsylvania, and Springfield — to return and sing once more.
The body of the piece is built from memories collected from those who knew Jon: Kellie Cox-Capps, Trent Halpin, Jenny Dodson-Vieweg, Leanne Oakman-Bowman, Karen Martin, Becky Browning, Vicky Chaney-Little, Cissy Jo Stiles, Randy Hall, Rhonda Vinyard, and Warren Winston, among others. Jon Robb began teaching in 1959, founded the Theatre Guild in 1973, and stopped teaching in 1986. His shows over the years included Gypsy, Godspell, Oklahoma!, Fiddler on the Roof, Peter Pan, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, 1776, Annie Get Your Gun, On Golden Pond, No, No, Nanette, The Lion in Winter, and many more. His favorite role to play — onstage and, by several accounts, on Halloween — was Dracula.