Shows Archive - Page 5 of 130 - Community Players

A Raisin in the Sun is a play about the Youngers, a lower-class black family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. They are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000 from the deceased Mr. Younger’s life insurance policy. The money is life changing and tensions rise over how to best use the money. On the surface it tells the story of a lower-class family's struggle to gain middle-class acceptance. But this play is also about family and dreams; what it means to dream big, to lose faith in your dreams, and to discover new dreams.

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? This question is posed in Langston Hughes poem "Harlem". Lorraine Hansberry explores this question in her award winning play “A Raisin In The Sun”.

A Raisin In The Sun made its debut on Broadway in 1959 as the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway. Although Hansberry’s play is arguably one of the greatest in the American theatrical cannon, we don’t get many opportunities to partake of this gem on stage. This is the first time A Raisin In the Sun has the opportunity to grace the stage of Community Players Theatre. We get the amazing opportunity to peer into the lives of The Younger’s, an African American family who are living in a tenement apartment on the South Side of Chicago, during the late 1950’s. The play explores such topics as, but not limited to, the American dream, racism, segregation, integration, gender, feminism, and Pan-Africanism.

Lorraine Hansberry was on time and ahead of her time with the writing of A Raisin In The Sun. Her work still speaks today. It speaks to recent events such as the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and this list goes on and on. May we all embrace the sentiments of Hansberry’s work of art and know that dreams do matter.

Thank you Lorraine Hansberry for speaking truth to power, and for letting the world know that Black Lives and Dreams do indeed matter.

Elf is a musical based on the motion picture of the same name, with a score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin. The musical ran on Broadway in the Christmas seasons of 2010-11 and 2012–13, and also toured the U.S. in 2012 and again in 2014.

Buddy, a young orphan, mistakenly crawls into Santa's bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole. The would-be elf is raised, unaware that he is actually a human until his enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa's permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity. Faced with the harsh realities that his father is on the naughty list and his half-brother doesn't even believe in Santa, Buddy is determined to win over his new family and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas.

There is something very special about a holiday…. any holiday. There are the special foods, decorations, songs, and traditions that create memories with those we love and pass down to generations yet to be born. I am so pleased and proud to be able to help kick off your holiday season with this premiere production of Elf at Community Players. I told the cast during rehearsals that I truly feel everyone in the audience will be able to relate to one or more of the characters on stage. It may be feeling like an outcast yourself at times or struggling with seeing your children grow up and lose that spirit of imagination they once had. It may be finding the balance between the importance of work and the value of family. It may be giving yourself permission to let yourself go and enjoy life to the fullest. But whatever it might be that puts a smile on your face or a tug at your heart during your evening or afternoon with us, may it last more than just a little while. May the warmth and joy of this experience be with you the whole year through. In this time of division, illness, and stress in the world, it is even more important to pour yourself a cup of hot cocoa once in a while and sing loud for all to hear. Consider this production our gift to you and yours. In the words of Buddy himself. “Does somebody need a hug?”

By Simon Stephens | Based on the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a play by Simon Stephens based on the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon, referencing a Sherlock Holmes’ short story. It opened in 2014, and won the 2015 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, 2015 Outer Critics’ Circle Award Outstanding New Broadway Play, the 2015 Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play, and the 2015 Tony Award for Best Play.

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. He lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. Then one day, a neighbor's dog, Wellington, is killed and his carefully constructive universe is threatened. Christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favorite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes. What follows is a funny, poignant and fascinating portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally.

This simple story of Christopher Boone and his quest to find the killer of the dog Wellington, who lives next door plunges the audience into the mind of Christopher himself. Christopher is a mystery himself. He struggles with the human touch and sound but is a math’s genius, knows complex physics and all about the stars and the universe. He catalogs and really sees the details in everything around him.

He is quite brilliant. As a neuro divergent individual Christopher stands out among neurotypical people. Neurodivergent is used to describe anyone who has a brain that develops atypically, whether they are autistic, hyperlexic, dyslexic, or have some other type of neurodivergence such as ADHD, Tourette's, or intellectual disabilities.

However, this story at its heart is about understanding, forgiveness and acceptance of the differences that make us who we are. Christopher’s story is funny, charming, heartbreaking, and celebratory. I would like the audience to leave the theatre with questions. As a teacher I hope some of the questions will be about how we treat those who are neurodivergent. How and why do we stifle their creativity or learning styles in our educational system? How can we serve these students better? Where can we find genius today? Who else in our history achieved greatness and was neurodivergent? Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Albert Einstein, Alan Turin, Billie Eilish, Emma Watson, Simone Biles, Henry Ford and many more have come forward to share their struggles with ADHD, Tourette’s, Autism. My wish for you is the same as Christopher’s, anything is possible. Now go do it!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted by Simon Stephens from Mark Haddon's novel of the same name, is one of theater’s notably prolific examples of having a main character being presented as neurodiverse, and more specifically as being on the autism spectrum. While the play doesn’t put it into direct words, it's readily apparent from Christopher’s responses to other characters and the efforts of the text to portray his inner world that he doesn’t readily inhabit the same mental position as neurotypical individuals. While author Mark Haddon didn’t label Christopher within his novel, in a 2006 interview on NPR he stated that within his own thinking Christopher would be diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, which is often typified as intellectually successful but greatly lacking social skills.

Autism has come to be recognized as having diverse markers that reflect differently across every individual diagnosed, and as such is called Autism Spectrum Disorder. Asperger’s Syndrome is often treated somewhat differently, due to assumptions of intellectual development and the unfortunate use of the term functioning, but is essentially just a specific subset of characteristics of some individuals on the autism spectrum. Diagnosis at an early age can come from outside recognition that an individual doesn’t function according to typical standards. But standards have been set largely by a white capitalist patriarchal society in the US, meaning that the standards are often viewed through the lens of what is supposed to be typical for white children, and specifically white boys. Girls and Women on the spectrum are less likely to receive a diagnosis without putting in the personal effort to find treatment for themselves. Black, Indiginous, and People of Color (BIPOC) have an even greater hurdle to deal with in getting positive resources and recognition across both the autism spectrum as well as other forms of neurodivergence. Moreover, function and functioning is so termed on the basis of capitalism and the production that can be extracted from the individual, which is by no means a humane way of judging intrinsic worth or value, words that themselves have become too tied up in matters of profit.

Bloomington Normal fortunately has a number of local organisations working for the benefit of those on the spectrum, including Marcfirst, The Autism Society of Mclean County, and The Autism Place at ISU. This area fortunately benefits from ISU’s origination as a “Normal” or teaching college. Together these organizations help provide for the autism community by tapping into national as well as community level resources and interest. The Autism Society of Mclean has notably built up the Autism Friendly Community outreach program that has developed six aspirations for building and enriching the community. These aspirations include having a clear sense of being welcome, a place in education, housing opportunities, healthcare and wellness opportunities, employment opportunities, and opportunities for recreation. Developing these aspirations is a meaningful way forward for centering autistic individuals of all ages and giving them the public space and respect that they deserve. It’s more important than ever before to allow these diverse individuals their time to thrive and to give room to center their stories.