"Send the Light" Tonight

As part of New Route Theatre's "One Shot Deal" series, Don Shandrow is bringing his electrifying musical "Send the Light" back to Bloomington-Normal tonight.

Did you know it was a risk for Depression-era farmers to organize electric co-ops? No? Then this is the musical for you, showing various characters who struggle with and celebrate the changes and possibilities that arise when electricity is connected to the countryside. The script includes oldsters and youngsters, husbands and wives, fathers, mothers and sons, dreamers, survivors, pioneers and agents of change.

"Send the Light" premiered here in 2007, with six performances at the McLean County Museum of History. Shandrow also took his story of how rural electrical cooperatives were organized in the 1930s on the road to Springfield and St. Louis, including four actors, two musicians, eleven scenes and more than a dozen characters. You can see a Pantagraph article about that initial run here.

The show was written and conceived by Don Shandrow, with songs by Phil Shaw and incidental music by David Berchtold. Just like back in 2007, actors Rhys Lovell and Irene Taylor are on stage, with Hannah Kerns, back then the production assistant, added to the cast along with newcomer Ryan Tipton. The music of "Send the Light" will be performed by Shaw, Berchtold and Blues Hall of Fame inductee Steve "the Harp" Mehlberg.

Tickets are $5 and may be purchased at the door. For more information, you may visit the event's Facebook page.

SEND THE LIGHT

Wednesday, August 10

The Eaton Gallery
411 North Center Street, Bloomington