A new Ken Bradbury play is coming into production later this month.
The Ken Bradbury Foundation announced that “From the Writer’s Desk, (and the Director’s Chair)” will debut August 26-28th at Green Pastures Campground.
Ken’s brother, Keith says that origins of the work come from Ken’s years as a playwright and director: “If you have ever been in a show of Ken’s, you are familiar with his journals. When he first got a concept of an idea for a play, he would start a journal for each play from the beginning of writing it until the last performance. He kept notes. A lot of it would be about the cast and the people involved with the show, even the people in the audience…he would keep that journal. As the show ended, he would print it up and give each cast member a copy of it. It is a nice keepsake for them.”
Bradbury says that long-time Bradbury collaborator Jim Yale of Petersburg has compiled and created a two-act readers theatre show out of the journals.
Bradbury believes that people will enjoy supporting the cause and hearing Ken’s words performed on the stage once again: “This is entirely for the benefit of Green Pastures. Green Pastures is constantly needing funds to keep the gates open, so to speak. This is part of what we are doing to make that possible. We are hoping that people coming to Green Pastures will find it. By the way, many people don’t seem to know where the campground is located. I can tell anyone, if you get to Capitol Records former location on the west side of Jacksonville, and go west – you are only about 10-15 minutes away. It’s very easy to find on Illinois Route 104/U.S. 67. I think people will really enjoy this…to hear Ken’s words again. This is such a small sampling. I’m talking about 36 years of doing this, and we are only covering about 4-5 years of Ken’s work. I think people will really enjoy it. You can hear the Ken Bradbury humor in it.”
Keith says that Ken was on the ground floor of Green Pastures’ opening more than 40 years ago, and that the Performing Arts Camp, one of the pieces of Ken’s legacy continues to go strong with attendance each year at the campground. All proceeds will go towards upkeep and maintenance at the campground as well as continuing to fund programs.
Tickets are $10 and are available at County Market in Jacksonville, Isaac’s Coffee Shop in Arenzville, online at greenpasturesretreatcenter.org/registration, or at the door.
The show will be performed Friday & Saturday, August 26 & 27 at 7PM, and for a Sunday matinee on August 28th at 3PM. Green Pastures is located at 1936 U.S. Highway 67, just 15 minutes west of Jacksonville. For further information, call 217-473-4735.