At the heart of the Illinois State University School of Theatre and Dance is an expansive faculty of talented and passionate individuals who continue to hone their craft through work in theatrical projects outside of the University to provide the best education for their students. We would like to recognize the efforts during the fall semester from several of our faculty members: Janet Wilson, a recipient of the 2023 Richmond Theatre Community Circle Legacy Award, as well as Robert Quinlan, Lori Adams, and emeritus faculty member John Stark, who all participated in the 2023 Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival.
Richmond Theatre Community Circle Legacy Award
The 15th annual Richmond Theatre Community Circle Awards, colloquially referred to as the “Artsies,” were held on October 8 at the November Theatre in Richmond, Virginia. One of the many Artsies presented at the event is the Legacy Award, which, according to the Richmond Theatre Community Circle, is “given to individuals who have played a foundational role in establishing or strengthening the Richmond-area theater community.”
This year, the Legacy Award was bestowed on Wilson, who earned her Master of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University, and four other theatre artists for their collaboration as the founders of the Firehouse Theatre Project in 1993. The small group met in a Meisner technique acting class that Wilson was teaching at the time. The Firehouse Theatre Project that they devised was a “professional company committed to staging contemporary American theatre,” according to Wilson, who served as the company’s co-artistic director and drector of education. In the 19 years since its creation, the Firehouse Theatre Project has produced nearly 100 productions, many considered among Richmond’s most innovative.
When asked how her experience with the Firehouse Theatre Project inspired her work with the School of Theatre and Dance, Wilson said that she incorporates the Sandford Meisner technique in her acting classes. She said that receiving the Legacy Award has inspired her to incorporate her experience as a founder of a theatre company in her auditioning classes to prepare her students to work in the professional theatre world as well as to give them insight into the process of starting a new theatre company.
Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival
During the 2023 Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival that ran from September 21-24, Quinlan and Adams were cast in a featured production of The Men from the Polar Star, and Stark acted as a technical advisor for the production. The director, Tom Mitchell, adapted the piece for the stage by combining several of Tennessee Williams’ unpublished and unfinished science fiction stories into one cohesive play. A professor emeritus from the Department of Theatre at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Mitchell is a nationally recognized scholar and interpreter of Williams’ works.
According to Adams, Stark and she met Mitchell at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where they all earned their respective Master of Fine Art degrees. “I have known and worked in the past with the rest of the cast as well,” she said. Adams played five different roles in the story and said, “The ensemble nature of the script and the organic quality of the rehearsal process was challenging and rewarding.” She believes that the experience of bringing an original script to life enriches her role as a teacher.
Quinlan played the role of Rod, the narrator of the play, who provided the needed context for the multiple interweaving plotlines of the play. His character was an original for the adaptation, and was heavily inspired by Rod Sterling, the narrator of the classic science fiction series, The Twilight Zone. Quinlan said that he has worked with Mitchell on a number of Tennessee Williams projects, but that this role has been the most demanding and rewarding so far. “I think it’s important to remain involved in professional theatre projects, so I can pass on lessons I learn from those experiences to the students,” said Quinlan.
