Sangamon Auditorium and Springfield Public Schools collaborate for Partners in Education Institute

The University of Illinois Springfield’s Sangamon Auditorium and Springfield Public Schools have joined together to form a team that was recently selected to participate in the national Partners in Education Institute, which will take place May 5 through May 8 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

The institute provides training and information to design an effective arts and arts integration professional development program for teachers in their communities. Participants will have the opportunity to observe established professional development workshops in action at the Kennedy Center with teachers in attendance. They will also participate in content sessions that prepare them in how to plan, implement and evaluate professional development in the arts and arts integration for teachers.

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Review: Faith, ideals, humanity themes of 'The Runner Stumbles'

Although the UIS Theatre's production of "The Runner Stumbles" is set a full century ago, when Catholic Church rituals and practices were much more structured and Catholics were struggling to gain acceptance in America's predominantly Protestant culture, its themes and plot elements remain timely.

On one level, "Runner", which plays today, Sunday, and April 29-May 1 at the University of Illinois Springfield Studio Theatre, appears to present familiar, almost stereotyped, images of a tradition-bound, repressive Catholic Church and backward, suspicious small-town residents, blended with a traditional murder mystery. But on a deeper level it is about the eternal struggle to reconcile faith, reason, and emotion and aspire to high ideals without losing touch with one's humanity...

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Review by Elaine Spencer

The State-Journal Register

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UIS play looks at questions of duty, faith

On its surface, “The Runner Stumbles” is a murder mystery about whether a priest killed a nun.

Milan Stitt’s play, which opens Friday in a production by UIS Theatre, digs much deeper than that, looking at questions of faith and duty, to oneself and God.

Director Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson, an assistant professor of theater at the University of Illinois Springfield, said the story has a timeless quality.

Based on a true story from rural Michigan in 1911, the story unfolds in flashbacks. It opens with Father Rivard (Dug Hall) in jail, accused of murdering Sister Rita (Ellyn Thorson).

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Article by Brian Mackey
The State-Journal Register
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Tickets Still Available for B.B. King!

Tickets are still available for the B.B. King performance, scheduled for Friday, April 23, at 8 p.m. 

B.B. King, the long standing "King of the Blues" will perform here at Sangamon Auditorium for a house that gets more packed as the show approaches. In this last week before the show on the 23rd, make sure to call the ticket office, at 217.206.6160 or toll free at 800.207.6960. As more and more tickets are sold, more seats become available for ticket buyers, because we open new areas based upon ticket sales. 

So be sure to call the ticket office at 217.206.6160 or 800.207.6960 to find out if tickets are still available. They may sell out soon! 

Broadway is returning to Sangamon Auditorium, UIS

You might have already heard about a *new* Broadway series in Springfield at the Prairie Capital Convention Center. Though true, THIS IS NOT presented by Sangamon Auditorium, UIS.

We wanted to let you know that Sangamon Auditorium is getting ready to announce another terrific new season of Broadway events direct from New York - at UIS. We are making final arrangements before our formal series announcement. Subscriber information will be mailed shortly, but we just wanted to let you know that you can expect another exciting Broadway series at Sangamon Auditorium, UIS this coming season. Please contact us if we can answer any questions at 217.206.6160 or 800.207.6960.

We look forward to announcing the season soon!

For more information visit www.SangamonAuditorium.org or call the Sangamon Auditorium Ticket Office at 217.206.6160 or 800.207.6960, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Soloist to lead world-class orchestra in local performance

When the orchestra of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields performs one week from today at Sangamon Auditorium, the first thing you might notice is that no one appears to be in charge.

That’s not really true — it’s just that there’s no conductor.

Instead, soloist Julian Rachlin will lead the ensemble, standing alone for some numbers and sitting among the other musicians for the rest.

It’s part of an unusual arrangement that has Rachlin both leading the show in the way a musical director would — selecting the repertoire, for example — and performing throughout the concert.

“We don’t only need to follow with our eyes somebody beating a beat, but we are using our ears,” Harvey de Souza, the co-leader of the ensemble, said in a telephone interview. “We are following inflections of what’s heard and the signals that are given from the leader.”

That’s the same system the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields used when it began giving concerts shortly after Sir Neville Marriner founded the group in 1958.

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State Journal-Register