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Once-roaming thespians now at home in renovated theater

By Dan Craft
dcraft@pantagraph.com

NORMAL -- Once upon a time there was a gypsy theater troupe that called itself Heartland Productions.

The roving members of this thespian caravan didn't own much beyond the scripts in their hands and the love in their hearts for theater that challenged, provoked and said something about the human condition.

Verily, the Heartland nomads loved their calling so much that it didn't bother them much that they had no home to call their own.

They roamed the borders of the Twin Cities, putting down their temporary stakes wherever they could, from museums to arts centers to coffeehouses to universities to churches.

And it was pretty good, actually.

But, lo, after a half-decade of wanderlust, the gypsies decided it was time to put down some roots in the heartland of their namesake.

Flash forward 17 years later, and the former nomads are still there, and their roots deeper than ever -- thanks be to a faithful following, a committed membership and a spanking-new refurbished theater space ready to be unveiled for the fall season starting Oct. 4.

The physical space itself remains the same as it has since 1990: As part of a building of the formerly derelict Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home

complex that was eventually purchased by the town of Normal and rechristened/

redeveloped as One Normal Plaza.

Heartland Productions had done some rechristening/redeveloping too: renaming itself Heartland Theatre Company, and expanding its mission to produce more than just the unpublished plays that had been its original calling.

"We never thought it was going to be our permanent space. So in that respect, it has served us well," says Gail Dobbins, Heartland's marketing director.

There was a close call in 1999, when the town of Normal considered not renewing Heartland's lease for the sake of using the theater space for golf cart storage. But in a narrow vote in March 2000, the city council decided to extend the lease by three years, with an additional two-year option.

In 2005, a new 10-year lease was signed. And Gail Dobbins says the town has been fully behind Heartland ever since.

Through those 16 years in residency, the space's intimacy was one of its calling cards, with the audience just inches away from the stage.

Peg Kirk, who has performed in many a Heartland play, says, "I've liked the idea of having the audience close, but they were a little too close."

How close?

"One time my granddaughter was sitting in the front row, and one of her shoes fell off ... onto the stage," laughs Peg. "That's a little too intimate!"

Her husband, John Kirk, another cornerstone of the local theater scene, also has his vivid memories of toiling in the sometimes challenging space, both as director and actor.

He recalls the time that he was working on a play as the building itself was being renovated by the Town of Normal.

"It was touch-and-go sometimes," he says. "We didn't have air conditioning, and they were putting in a new sewer system. But no one told us, so we had this great, big gaping hole in the back stage area."

Despite these occasional shortcomings, and more, the Heartland troupe cultivated and grew its audience over the years at One Normal Plaza.

"It's been a gradual and steady improvement in the space and the conditions since the time that Mike and Gail Dobbins took over," says John Kirk. "They've been really remarkable in their devotion and commitment to the theater."

Mike Dobbins, who was named Heartland's managing artistic director in 2001, admits to being something of "a curmudgeon" in the beginning of the remodeling process.

"Change is hard," he confesses, adding that when the remodeling plans were first shown to him, his knee-jerk response was "No, I don't like that."

He says that, as a director, he had some issues with the altering of the stage to a more horizontal configuration and a little less depth than the old one.

But that was then, and this is now: "The more I thought about it, I knew it (the new plan) was damn right. This was a chance to accommodate more people and make them more comfortable, and I was a damn fool not to see that."

Amazingly, the $65,000 project has been bought and paid for entirely through Heartland Theatre Company patrons, a sizable number (45) of whom wrote $1,000 checks in rapid order. To date, more than $67,000 has been raised, says Gail Dobbins.

And all of it over about a quick three-month period.

The research period, however, lasted around three years, she says. The prevailing response from patrons was: "If you are going to do something new, please don't let us notice it."

It looks like people are going to notice the new look after all. And, judging from the early responses, they're going to love it.

In a nutshell, says Gail of the reconfiguration, "We've kind of turned the space sideways."

The stage is now elevated (it used to sit on the concrete floor) and moved to a different wall. The former 68-seat total, which often led to sellouts and turn-aways for weekend shows, has been upped to around 90. At the same time, there is more space between the seats, despite the increase in number.

Also new is virtually everything inside: stage, lighting system, carpeting, wall/ceiling colors, safety features, and on and on.

The project began in earnest immediately after the final performance of this year's edition of "The 10-Minute Play Festival" on June 24.

"The show was over at 4 p.m., and by 6 p.m. we had the stage torn out, the cyclorama ripped down, the lighting equipment carried out," Gail says. Despite the rush to eviscerate, "There were some tears and a little nostalgia along the way. People had grown to love the theater in its crude shapes."

That was over quickly, though: All of the longtime Heartland patrons and donors polled for this story were unanimous in their enthusiasm for the new look.

"I'm not sorry to see the old one go," confesses longtime Heartland supporter Deanna Frautschi. "It needed some updating, and the chairs needed to be better -- it was hard to sit in them for any length of time."

But the core concept of Heartland Theatre Company itself is forever, she says. "It's one of the gems we have in this community that has found its own little niche."

"I know a lot about the off-Loop theater spaces in Chicago," says John Kirk, who operated his own neighborhood space there, the Greenview Arts Center, for 10 years. "This theater compares favorably with a number of them."

Former Normal mayor Paul Harmon, who was in office when Heartland was founded 21 years ago and has been involved "one way or another ever since," agrees with Kirk.

"Certainly, it's been doing the same kinds of things that are done off-Broadway or in the smaller theaters in Chicago. And it's another one of those gems of the community that a lot of people don't know exist. Hopefully it will get a lot of publicity from this (the renovation)."

Pat Groves, the fundraising campaign's chairwoman, says a conscious decision was made to "not seek corporate or state grants or anything like that."

Instead, "We decided to take a look at our subscribers, who are people who love theater and would love the fact that a whole lot of us could make kind of a gift and spread the philanthropy around."

Her hunch was right: "Everyone I asked said 'yes'; I've never had that happen before."

Brian Simpson, Heartland's board president, agrees: "That's what really surprised me the most -- that so many people stepped up with a donation, and that so many are still doing it."

He's also "the only person on the board who remembers that space when there was nothing in it. I was there when the first theater was built, and I drove in a few nails myself. So I knew that old space a long time."

For that reason, he's in a position to especially enjoy the new one.

"What I anticipate now," Simpson says, "is the same picture with the same good theater it's always been ... but now there's a better frame for it."

Heartland '07-'08

Heartland Theatre Company's freshly rebuilt theater space will be unveiled in its final form for the first time Sunday with a "soft opening" event for those who donated $1,000 or more to the $65,000 project. The rest of us will get our first taste of the new space when the company's 21st season gets under way Oct. 4.

The plays

• The Wrong Turn at Lungfish, Oct. 4-7, 12-14, 18-21: The Garry Marshall-Lowell Ganz comedy-drama about a blind and bitter college professor and his encounter with a saucy, streetwise young woman who volunteers to read to him in the hospital.

• The Dining Room, Nov. 29-30, and Dec. 1-2, 6-9 and 13-16: A.R. Gurney's Off-Broadway hit in which six (or more) performers portray a wide array of diverse characters as they delineate the dying lifestyle of wealthy WASPdom, and the now-neglected room that was once a vital center of family life.

• Doubt, Feb. 21-24, 28-29, and March 1, 6-9: John Patrick Shanley's drama, set in a Bronx Catholic school, circa 1964, where a nun suspects a priest of inappropriate behavior with a student.

• Bus Stop, April 17-19 and 24-27, and May 1-4: William Inge's classic serio-comedy about the raucous young cowboy who crosses paths with an off-key saloon singer at snowbound bus stop.

The particulars

• Tickets: Seats for Heartland shows are $12 for everyone on Friday and Saturday nights; all other performances are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $6 for students. Each opens with a "pay-what-you-can" preview on the first Thursday of each run. The box office number is (309) 452-8709.

• Curtain times: Thursday through Saturday performances are at 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinees are at 2:30 p.m.

• Location: The theater is located at One Normal Plaza (the old Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home campus). The theater space itself is housed inside the Normal Community Activity Center on the northeast corner of the complex (the building to the north of the circular drive).

• Web site: www.heartlandtheatre.org

Red-letter dates

• 1986: Heartland Theatre Company is born under the original name Heartland Productions. Founding the not-for-profit troupe for the purpose of presenting readings of unpublished plays are Philip Shaw, Carol Reitan and Rita Kohn. Without a permanent space, the company embarked on a gypsy life, performing at various locales around Bloomington-Normal, including the McLean County Arts Center and Illinois Wesleyan University.

• 1990: After four years of vagabonding, Heartland finds a permanent home in a space at the then-abandoned Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home on Normal's north side. The space formerly housed a garage and is converted into a spartan, 68-seat "black box" theater, with upgrades added over the years.

• 1999: The town of Normal, which purchased the property and remodeled it as the Community Activities Center, considers not renewing Heartland's lease; in a narrow council vote, Heartland is allowed to stay put.

• 2001: Mike Dobbins is named managing artistic director.

• 2007: In the wake of its 2006 20th anniversary celebration, Heartland embarks on a patron-driven campaign to raise money for a complete overhaul of the existing space. The project begins two hours after the end of the annual "10-Minute Play Festival" in June and culminates with the installation of new seats over the Labor Day weekend.

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Take a look

Gail Dobbins and her husband Mike Dobbins pose inside the renovated Heartland Theatre at the Community Activity Center in Normal. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)

The final June performance in the old theater space. (Pantagraph/JESSE FOLKS)

Joe White, left, of Normal, stands on a ladder and connects a wire to a light fixture while Jesse Folks, right, of Bloomington, looks on at the renovated Heartland Theatre in Normal. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)

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