Bradbury by Bradbury: Cries of Faith
1999 · Illinois College TheatreWorks, Jacksonville, Illinois
"May Thy Children Bring Thee Fame." So begins Ken Bradbury's rehearsal journal for Bradbury by Bradbury: Cries of Faith, a world-premiere evening of his own short plays mounted by Illinois College TheatreWorks in the fall of 1999. Rather than a single story, the production gathered a handful of Bradbury's faith-themed pieces — realistic, allegorical, and highly stylized by turns — and wove them into one continuous evening around a common theme. As Bradbury told the cast at the first rehearsal, his aim was for the audience to leave with "a sense that faith is powerful, that each of us find it in a different way, that it's our strength, that God has a sense of humor."
The pieces ranged from the grounded realism of The Spot and the spoken monologues, to the broader comedy of Camp Sunshine, to the boldly stylized Jack Boy, with its mountain set and slinky-suited Shadows. Some of the material was autobiographical, some allegorical, and some drawn from the experiences of close friends. One short play — referred to throughout the journal simply as "the seventh bit" or "the new script" — was still being written during rehearsals; Bradbury describes wandering his backyard, watering his trees and gazing at a ginkgo, "waiting for the rest of the script to appear."
Director John Austin, then Illinois College's Director of Theatre, served as producer, dramaturg, and, in Bradbury's words, "confidant" and "third eye." For Bradbury — an Arenzville writer who had spent years sending his students off to college theatre programs — directing at his beloved alma mater was a homecoming. "It has been a very long time since I've hated to see a show end," he wrote to Austin afterward. "Not so with the Illinois College production."
Pieces in the Evening
The running order shifted across the rehearsal process; the pieces that made up the evening included:
- Camp Sunshine
- Sermon Diary
- The Spot
- Saved Again
- Cross in My Pocket
- He's a Good Kid!
- Jack Boy
- A newly written "seventh" piece, composed during rehearsals
- Interludes of song, including an introduction to Amazing Grace
Cast
- Jack Boy — Josh Ryder
- Uncle Ernie / Marleybone — Robb Glatz
- Preacher Man / Saved Again — Luke Crawford
- The Spot, One / Grandpappy — Daren Hofmann
- The Spot, Two / Yarn Woman — Sarah Brinton
- Celeste — Kristin VanAken
- Cross in My Pocket / Pa — John Kniola
- Gloria / Shadow — Melissa Rigsby
- Margo / Shadow — Leah Lowes
- Lucille / Calico — Anne Trujillo
- Mama — Christy Heaton
- Skip / Lum — Buford (Tim) Stowers
- Ginger — Deitra Suter
- Jenny — Elizabeth Butler
- Miz McGuire — Lisa Archer
- Shadow — Melanie Boyce
- Shadow — Katie Phelps
- Shadow / Manzy — Kristin Clinton
- Monologue — John Austin
Production Notes
Bradbury by Bradbury: Cries of Faith was produced by Illinois College TheatreWorks in Jacksonville, Illinois, with Ken Bradbury serving as both playwright and director and John Austin, the college's Director of Theatre, as producer and dramaturg. Auditions ran in groups across early September 1999 — first auditions September 8–10, callbacks September 12 — with the first rehearsal on September 20. Bradbury's casting drew heavily on improvisation skills, noting that the actors "have been chosen in large part by your ability to improvise." The production ran in November 1999; Bradbury's thank-you letter to Austin is dated November 8, 1999.
Technical direction was handled by Chris Gray, with Tony and crew earning Bradbury's praise for their "professionalism and dedication," and Kim Shafer serving as stage manager. Bradbury kept a candid running journal throughout — equal parts prayer, craft notes, and affectionate portraits of his young cast — that survives as a rare, intimate record of his process. "When God is your co-author," he told the company, "you don't always know all the answers right off the bat."
This page is drawn from the Illinois College (IC) collection in Ken Bradbury's archive, whose central project was this production.