Springfield Theatre Centre opens its production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman this week on the main stage of the Hoogland Center for the Arts. Don Russell, Loretta Hess, Mac Warren, and Rob Decroix, respectively, star in the roles of beleaguered Brooklyn salesman Willy Loman, his wife, and his two sons. The casting of […]
Arts Features
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Rugrat Rembrandts embrace art early at Springfield Art Association
Some social anthropologists suggest that the impressions made on the life of a young child through the age of 5 “set the table” for how the young person relates to the rest of the world for the rest of his or her life. Thanks to the Springfield Art Association and teacher Kathy Harvey, a growing […]
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backstage pass 10-28-04
Halloween is here, and it seems that theater practitioners have decided to produce more than the usual haunted-house fare this year. First, the Roxy Group has created an original show of its own, a musical revue titled Halloween Dreams that plays Friday-Sunday, Oct. 29-31, at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. The show, directed by […]
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Little (art) house on the prairie
Springfield’s oldest retail art gallery was launched in 1970 as an afterthought to the restoration of the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices at the corner of Sixth and Adams streets. Three families had joined forces to rehabilitate the historic law offices. “When we considered what we wanted to put next door, we decided on an art gallery,” […]
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backstage pass 10-14-04
The community has lost another champion of the arts with the passing of Martha Jackson of Petersburg. Jackson and her partner, Linda Nordeman, owned the City Arts Venue art gallery, a space dedicated to new artists and their work, downtown on South Sixth Street. The first time I met Marty, she asked, “Why don’t you […]
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He’s not playing with your head
Morrisonville native Thomas “Thom” Whalen saw a lot of the country before settling down almost where he started. After grad school at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Whalen lived in Kansas City, Seattle, and Phoenix. When he came to Springfield, he bought a design company, which fared well, and did some adjunct teaching in […]
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The gifts of Grace
Danville native Grace Eckert didn’t take art classes in high school, even though she knew she was going to be an artist. Her father, a math professor at Illinois State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, insisted on classes that would pay off for her as an adult. “He was a formidable man, […]
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Backstage pass 9-23-04
The Springfield Theatre Centre’s current production Sunday in the Park with George is a show not to be missed — in fact, I recommend that you see it more than once. I have never witnessed such a prolonged audience ovation at the end of a first act as I saw last week. When the auditorium […]
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backstage pass 9-9-04
One can take the pulse of a community’s theater scene by counting the number of new or little-known shows that are produced. It’s always a risk to stage something new because, more than likely, the audiences will be small. But theater patrons who are willing to try something new are also an appreciative lot, and […]
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Sweet 16 for popular craft fair
More than 60 artists from 12 states have registered for this weekend’s Edwards Place Fine Crafts Festival, an annual event hosted by the Springfield Art Association. The number of participants is especially impressive in light of the competition offered by other cities, says Carole Walton, one of the event’s chairwomen. When it started, the fair […]
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Chips off of an old block
As a tide of “getting back to our roots” sweeps the country, woodcarving is gaining in popularity. The phenomenon will be in evidence this weekend at the 14th annual Sangamon Valley Woodcarvers Show, dubbed “Go Ahead, Make My Day!” Carvers will converge to display and sell their works and teach their craft, and vendors will […]
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backstage pass 8-26-04
The fall theater season is fast approaching, and many new and exciting shows are scheduled in the Springfield area. Let’s start with a brand new show. Jacksonville Theatre Guild and Allegro Productions present 63, an original musical, at the Sophie Leschin Theatre (Sept. 10-12, 17-19). Mike Savage’s show centers around the lives of two best […]
