BLOOMINGTON - "And God said, 'let there be light': and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good." - Genesis 1:3-4.

Even so, darkness continued to gain the edge each and every night - until the modern miracle of electricity, which, in effect, extended the biblical text along the lines of, "Let there be light at the flick of a switch, even at midnight."

But modern miracles will only get you so far, especially if you dwell outside the urban centers that can afford to support and nurture them.

That "so far" part is what caught the creative fancy of Bloomington-Normal theater veteran Don Shandrow, who six years ago took a job with a rural electric cooperative.

Part of his work involved talking to employees, directors and retirees about the history of such cooperatives.

The discussions, he says, triggered "a lot of stories, all of them interesting."

Inspired by the testimonials he heard, Shandrow has fashioned an entire theatrical work around the subject of rural America's electrification during the 1930s, a time when most farms were still ending the day in the black.

Literally.

Chores had to be finished on a rigid timeline. Dangerous machinery couldn't be operated after sundown. Everything that required clear vision ground to a halt.

Even those farmers lucky to own a battery-operated generator ordered from the Sears & Roebuck catalogue could only progress so far out of the darkness.

Then along came Franklin D. Roosevelt's Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to instigate the change that would end up shining a perpetual light on America's heartland.

The result of Shandrow's meditation, christened "Send the Light," is meant to plug into the socially progressive folk-art style of the Federal Theatre Project of the 1930s, not to mention the tradition of the same era's Works Progress Administration (WPA) mural art.

Says Shandrow, "I wanted that same kind of solid, muscular look and feel to this - a reality with a sense of the people and who they were.

"Send the Light" is receiving its world premiere this month in a production at the McLean County Museum of History. It's being staged by the Illinois Theatre Consortium's New Route Theatre, which Shandrow heads up as artistic director (the two-weekend run is at 7:30 p.m. April 20, 21, 27 and 28, and 2 p.m. April 22 and 29).

In Shandrow's words, the play "is about the stories of those folks who decided to take destiny into their own hands and organize rural electric cooperatives."

He tells their saga via a four-actor cast (Rhys Lovell, Devon Lovell, Irene Taylor, Brady James) and a succession of dramatic monologues with a clear narrative arc.

"Send the Light" also boasts a strong musical undercurrent, with original songs and lyrics by another longtime fixture on the local theater front, Phil Shaw, who has been crossing creative paths with Shandrow since their Illinois State University days in the early '70s.

The old friends recently spent part of an afternoon reflecting on a subject that few people probably have ever even considered in this heavily illuminated day - never mind that some Midwestern farms weren't wired for light until as late as the early 1960s.

During his discussions with cooperative employees, a metaphorical light began to go on in Shandrow's head as he came to realize that the subject represented "one of those points in our history so powerful, and that affected so many people in a positive way, with the reverberations being felt to this day."

Beyond the specific subject matter of bringing light to a darkened Middle America, Shandrow was further inspired by a "universal theme about change, about accepting change, and how we react and respond to any change or a transition, and that it can be a positive response, and a negative response."

Sealing the deal was a speech given by the president of the National Rural Electrification Cooperative, Glen English, who encouraged members to remember their roots and where they came from - "that they aren't just consumers who buy electricity from the power company, but that they own the power company."

The cooperative system came about, says Shandrow, after the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 failed in its mission to give low-interest loans to investor-owned utilities who would wire rural areas (as it turned out, only one such utility in the country signed up).

An alternative plan involving cooperatives was drawn up and became the business model for success, one that lives on to this day.

For example, says Shandrow, "Here in Bloomington-Normal, the Farm Bureau invited the REA in to give loans to farmers, and then the farmers formed a board of directors, then they tied into the (electrical) lines for $5."

Despite that seeming pittance, says Shandrow, there were those who thought it was far too steep a price to ask, just to get hooked up.

"One old farmer said, 'for $5, I could buy enough kerosene to last a year!,'" while others cried, "socialism!," recalls Shandrow, which explains why the slow march to full electrification continued well into the '60s.

Adds Shaw: "I can remember going to my grandmother's house (in the country) when I was a kid at the tail end of all of this. They didn't have indoor plumbing, and they were still using an outhouse and a wood-burning stove."

Because of that personal experience with the era, Shaw says he possessed a real feeling for the subject matter when it came time to add the crucial musical undercurrent. "Also, I was really taken by the quality of Don's writing. When he asked me to do it, I said, well, yeah, that seems like a natural next step," he says.

Both men agree that a key creative decision regarding the play is that, says Shaw, "it not be about the REA, but about the people the REA affected. So we're dealing with as few statistics as possible."

Plenty of people were affected.

"At a certain point in time," says Shaw, "only 10 percent of the population of the country had electricity. So we're dealing with the concept that almost within this short span of years after the REA, literally hundreds of thousands of people in the 20th century had virtually been living in the 19th century."

Because of that, say both men, the wealth of personal accounts of electricity's profound impact are legion. For the purposes of the play, which Shandrow calls "Midwest-centric in setting but universal in theme," he has created an unnamed cooperative as the play's focus, with the fact-based monologues "developed in a theatrical way so that it has a sense of conflict."

Shaw, in addition to composing the song score and performing them, is also directing the play. "The music went through several stages because what I was writing at first didn't sound right … it sounded like musical-comedy theater. So I began adapting the musical style to the period, but not in a slavish way, but as an interpretation of it."

Sample: "The Calvinator Rag," a ragtime ode to the brand-name appliance and what it was that made people love it.

Adding yet another layer to "Send the Light's" soundtrack: an instrumental underscore, which will be performed live by a pair of well-known local musicians, Steve "The Harp" and Dave Berchtold.

Following the world premiere at the McLean County Museum of History, Shandrow sees "Send the Light" generating currents elsewhere in the years ahead, and will be offering the piece to electrical cooperatives around the country for their annual meetings, as well as to museums, historical societies and other kindred venues.

Like the electrification of rural America in the '30s, "I really think it has a vast potential," says Shandrow.

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At a glance

What: "Send the Light," an original play by Don Shandrow, with music and lyrics by Phil Shaw

When: 7:30 p.m. April 20-21 and 27-28, 2 p.m. April 22 and 29

Where: McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main St., Bloomington

Tickets: General, $12; museum members and members of any electrical co-op, $10; students, $6

Information: (309) 827-0428

Special event: A special discussion forum on the play's subject will follow the April 22 matinee, with Jeff Reeves, CEO of Corn Belt Energy

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Power source

Following is the creative cooperative behind "Send the Light":

• Theatre company: New Route Theatre of the Illinois Theatre Consortium

• Writer-producer: Don Shandrow

• Composer-director: Phil Shaw

• Cast: Rhys Lovell, Devon Lovell, Irene Taylor, Brady James

• Live musical underscoring: Steve "The Harp" and Dave Berchtold

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Plugging us in

Following is a timeline of key dates in the electrification of rural America:

• 1901-1932: Electric utilities in America go through their boom years, increasing their capacity and generation by 12 percent per year.

• Late 1920s: The 16 largest electric power holding companies control 75 percent of all power generation nationwide.

• 1930: Nearly 80 percent of America's urban dwellings are electrified; only 10 percent of all farms are connected.

• 1931: While governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the New York Power Authority to develop hydroelectric generating capacity, an act that cements his commitment to wiring America.

• 1935: Now president, FDR creates the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) with $140 million in appropriated funds; it will provide the infrastructure for everything to come.

• 1938: By the end of the year, 350 rural electric cooperatives are delivering electricity to 1.5 million farms and 250,000 rural households.

• 1941: Three years later, 25 percent of rural dwellings are plugged in compared with the 10 percent of a decade earlier

• Mid-1950s: The majority of American farms have electric service.

SOURCE: www.memagazine.org