Two Heartland Notes for Sunday the 26th

You already know that Heartland Theatre is currently running Theresa Rebeck's "Mauritius," with performances through March 4, right? (And I did interviews with Sarah Stone Innerst and Kevin Paul Wickart, who play Jackie and Phillip in the play, to catch you up if you need it.)

If you've seen the play and want to discuss the issues it raised, or if you haven't seen it and think the best performance for you is the one with value-added discussion, then you need to put tomorrow's matinee on your calendar. After the 2 pm performance of "Mauritius," director Sandra Zielinski, Professor of Theatre at Illinois State University; Alaina Winters, Associate Professor of Communication at Heartland Community College; and V. Loree Adams, MSW, LCSW, Instructor in the Sociology Department at Illinois Wesleyan University, will speak to the sibling rivalry, betrayal, family dysfunction and societal implications in the play. The panel discussion will begin at approximately 4:15 on Sunday, February 26th, at Heartland Theatre.

"Superior Donuts" on Broadway

And later that day, director Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, who is in charge of Tracy Letts' "Superior Donuts," the next show on Heartland's schedule, will conduct auditions. "Superior Donuts" began at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, with a cast that included Michael McKean and Jon Michael Hill. When "Donuts" moved to Broadway, Hill was nominated for a Tony for his performance as Franco, would-be author of the Great American Novel. Thibodeaux-Thompson will be looking for seven men and two women, with a need for two African-American males, two males (one extremely tall) who can handle Russian accents and two males who don't mind engaging in a protracted, painful fight on Heartland's stage.

If you are interested in acting in "Superior Donuts" -- and frankly, everybody ought to, because it's a terrific play -- you'll want to come to Heartland Theatre Sunday the 26th and/or Monday the 27th from 7 to 10 pm. Thibodeaux-Thompson will do callbacks on Tuesday the 28th if necessary.