'Of Mice and Men' opens Friday at Corn Stock

There is a good chance most of us have read the John Steinbeck classic, “Of Mice and Men,” because it has long been on the required reading lists of schools across the country. Now, Corn Stock Theatre is presenting the stage drama of the classic, opening Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Winter Playhouse in Upper Bradley Park.

Directed by Paul Gordon, the drama is perhaps Steinbeck’s best known work, and its themes of racism, loneliness and other forms of prejudice are as relevant today as when the work, written in the form of a play, was published in 1937.

“These are themes that we still recognize as part of the human condition today, no matter what kind of progress we like to think has been made. Racism still exists, we can’t kick loneliness and there is still prejudice again the mentally ill,” Gordon said. “Steinbeck opposed all forms of prejudice and wrote about them to expose them. I think that’s why his works have remained relevant for so long.”

“Of Mice and Men” tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two traveling farmhands who are trying to work enough to build up a stake so they can buy their own farm. George is able-minded and takes care of the mentally ill but hard-working and strong Lennie. After being forced to flee a farm in northern California because of something Lennie did, they find work on a ranch near Soledad and, because of another workers, their dream begins to take shape.

However, as with most tragedies, outside forces work against them and their dreams, as well as those of others they touch, are shattered.

“Loneliness is what brought George and Lennie together to begin with and it is important to this work that the brotherly love-type bond that exists between them is brought out in the acting. It is the most redeeming part, as well as the most tragic part, of this play,” Gordon said.

George is portrayed by Chris Leasor, a veteran performed in central Illinois community theatre. Lennie is portrayed by Chris Peterlin, making his return to the local stage after more than 15 years away.

“I cannot say enough good things about these two and what they bring to these roles. Chris Peterlin keeps saying I took a chance on him by casting him in that role. But to me, I am lucky he decided this was the show he chose to return to the stage,” he said.

“Chris Leasor and I have worked together several times in the last decade or so and he is a pro. The work ethic and talent he brings to the stage every night is phenomenal,” he added. “His character has many levels and Chris delivers every one.”

Gordon noted that the play’s title comes from a line in a Robert Burns poem that says, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

“There are other characters in this play who have their own plans, their own dreams. And because of the actions of the most innocent person there is, none will be realized. This is not an upbeat play. It’s drama. But it is good drama and I couldn’t be happier with my cast,” Gordon said.

Among the other cast is Clark Abraham as Candy. Abraham is another who was active in area community theatre in the past before work took him out of the area. This is his first show at Corn Stock since his return.

Kerri Rae Hinman, who starred in “Other Desert Cities” last year at the Winter Playhouse, portrays Curly’s wife. “Steinbeck didn’t even give the character a name but she ends up the one who causes everything to unravel. Kerri plays it very well.”

Corn Stock veterans Shane Pankey as Whit and Eric Gore as Crooks deliver strong performances as do newcomers Austin Shaw as Slim, Sam Hipp as Curley and Jeramie Glass as Carlson.

Kevin Mileur, known affectionately at Corn Stock as the popcorn man because he operates the summer concession stand almost every year, makes his stage debut as The Boss. Also making her debut is Belle, the dog owned by stage manager Linda Patton. She appears in two scenes.

“Kevin blew me away at the audition. I asked, ‘where have you been?’ But so did the other actors. I got very lucky with every person who auditioned for this show. I didn’t know Austin, Sam or Jeramie before this but I wouldn’t hesitate to work with them again,” Gordon said.

Gordon chose not to build a large set for the show but to stage it in the round, using only minimal set pieces and lighting design by Wayne Carey to set the moods. “I want the focus to be on Steinbeck’s words and on the performances of the actors conveying those words. This is still an important work in American literature and I hope audiences realize that after they see it,” he said.

“Of Mice and Men” plays at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20 and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 21.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students. They can be purchased online at www.constocktheatre.com or ordered by calling (309) 676-2196.

Passport parking now available downtown

The City of Peoria has announced a new way to pay for the parking meters in the downtown area.

The city has introduced Passport, the leading mobile payments provider for parking and transportation, to offer the convenience of paying for parking via the app on a smartphone.

This eliminates the need to carry around change or walk up to the parking meter to swipe a credit card. Drivers can even monitor time left in their parking session and extend parking remotely.

The Passport pilot program is available at the on-street parking meters downtown. Parking locations where the service is available will display signage instructing users how to download and get started with the app.

“We’re thrilled to be offering this convenience to our parkers,” said Nick Stoffer, traffic engineer for the City of Peoria. “Especially with the winter season approaching, it will be helpful for parkers to move from their vehicle to their destination without standing in the cold.”

“We’re looking forward to simplifying the parking experience in Peoria,” said Conor Kelly, vice president of sales at Passport. “This will be a convenient option for parkers who are traveling to and from the downtown area.”

The Passport Parking app is free to download from the iPhone App Store and Android Google Play. Users can also manage their parking online at http://m.ppprk.com.

Passport has successfully launched its mobile payment service in over 17 Chicago suburbs, including Hinsdale, Downers Grove, Clarendon Hills, and Brookfield.

Official: State museum could reopen in weeks

By Mark Fitton

Illinois News Network

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois State Museum could reopen in a matter of weeks if the General Assembly approves changes sought by Gov. Bruce Rauner, a state agency director said Monday.

Essentially, the Republican governor wants the museum system to decrease its reliance on tax funds by allowing it to charge entrance fees and by allowing partnerships with other entities, private and public.

The governor’s proposals came last week in an amendatory veto of Senate Bill 317, which would reopen the museum sites that have been closed since October.

Wayne Rosenthal, director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and a Rauner appointee, told reporters Monday that, given the General Assembly’s approval, the museum is ready to implement fees and ramp up private fundraising.

IDNR is the museum’s parent agency.

Additionally, Rosenthal said, IDNR and the state museum are planning changes to bring an estimated $1 million annual savings. Those changes include:

• Closing the Illinois State Museum Gallery at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.
• Closing the Southern Illinois Art and Artisans Center at Rend Lake.
• Combining or reorganizing some human resources, accounting and management functions within the museum system and IDNR.

The time frame for reopening will depend on the General Assembly’s acting on the governor’s amendatory veto of SB Bill 317, Rosenthal said. “If the General Assembly acts quickly on the governor’s amendatory veto, we believe we could reopen the museum in a matter of weeks,” he said.

“The museum will not be self-supporting, but with these change we’ll be able to contribute more to the operations and reduce its dependence on general revenue funds and become more sustainable,” Rosenthal said.

The outline announced Monday does not mean an end to state funding for the museum and two other related facilities — the Dickson Mounds State Museum and the Lockport Gallery — but a lesser reliance on state money, Rosenthal said.

Sponsorships, including corporate ones, are possible, he said, but he also said the museum would remain under control of the Department of Natural Resources.

Illinois News Network’s efforts to reach bill sponsor Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, on Monday were not successful. He was quoted in the (Springfield) State Journal Register as saying he was still reviewing the governor’s proposed changes to the legislation.

The changes the governor seeks would have to be approved in the General Assembly by a simple majority in each chamber.

The Legislature also could attempt to override the veto and make the bill law as it is written. That would take 36 votes in the Senate and 71 in the House. Should either chamber simply decline to address the amendatory veto, the bill would die.

State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, on Monday said he supported Senate Bill 317 because it made operation of the state museum part of Illinois law, but he also supports the governor’s revisions because they provide a path forward.

“I believe this is a reasonable, actionable step forward in reopening the museum,” Butler said.

Butler suggested a $5 entrance fee for adults might be appropriate. Rauner, in his veto message, suggested entrance fees might be waivable for some groups, such as school children and seniors.

If the General Assembly overrides or fails to take up the governor’s amendatory veto, it won’t mean permanent closure of the museum, Rosenthal said. “No, it will just be in a different form,” he said.

Rauner last year ordered state museum sites closed, saying it could save the state nearly $5 million. However, unionized state employees continue to work in the museum system while a lawsuit on their layoffs is pending.

Democrats have argued closing the museums wasn’t necessary, saying the governor and the agencies he controls could have come forward with the fees and private funding initiatives before locking the museums’ doors.

In his veto message, Rauner said despite the good it does, the museum’s operations aren’t financially sustainable. He said the state invests more than $6 million annually to serve about 200,000 visitors.

Molly Crusen Bishop: Annie Turnbo Malone, early entrepreneur

One of the most brilliant minds to ever come out of Peoria, Illinois was Annie Turnbo Malone. Separated from slavery by a single generation and a graduate of Peoria High School, she was one of the first African American women to attain the official status as millionaire.

Annie Turnbo was born in 1869 in Metropolis, Illinois. Her parents, Robert Turnbo and Isabella Cook Turnbo, escaped from slavery in Kentucky. Robert went on to fight for the Union in the Civil War, and Isabella traveled dangerously along the Ohio River until they were able to settle in Metropolis, Illinois.

Annie’s courageous parents died young, and she was sent to live with an older sister who was living in Peoria. She attended Peoria Central High School, where there is still a picture of her hanging because she is regarded as a special alumnus. While receiving her education there, she found she had a natural interest in chemistry, which would help lead to her eventual success. 

During the late 1800s many of the products available to African American women for their hair and skin  caused discomfort, some even causing burns and hair loss.  Annie wasn’t satisfied with the products available and began to use her knowledge in chemistry to invent her own hair and skin products.  Her first successful product was called “Wonderful Hair Grower.” 

Times were extremely difficult for African Americans in business in the 1890s and early 1900s, yet Annie figured out ingenious ways to succeed. 

Some stores refused to sell her products, so she developed incredible marketing skills. Annie and her sisters began door-to-door selling and travelled from Peoria to Lovejoy (now Brooklyn, Illinois) and then on to Chicago and St. Louis. They had women sample the products and often gave the product away for free to establish rapport and ensure future paying customers from the good will.

Annie trained new recruits and taught them her strategies. It took off like wildfire. She held informational meetings and paid to advertise in African American newspapers. She gave demonstrations of her products at church groups and clubs for African Americans.

In 1902, Annie began to hire assistants in St. Louis and soon launched her own hair and beauty school there. That school was one of the first colleges for African American women, and it was called Poro College. The college held an auditorium, diners, and employed hundreds of African American women. 

Poro is a West African word meaning “physical and spiritual growth,” and that was the attitude that Annie held over her school. Those standards of education and beauty would help the women’s status rise and help cement its place in the community. Thousands of African American women would benefit from Annie’s college, which in turn helped her business acumen. 

After her success in St. Louis, Annie brought more of her business to Chicago. At one point she owned an entire city block, which came to be called the “Poro Block.” Eventually her business enterprises spread throughout the world and thousands of women graduated from her programs. Around the early 1920s Annie’s net worth was approximately $14 million.

In spite of her multi-millionaire status, and the fact that she was one of the first African American philanthropists, Annie lived modestly and generously supported charities all over the United States, including the Howard University College of Medicine. She started scholarships that benefitted women for many generations. 

One charity Annie was most passionate about was the St. Louis Orphans’ Home. She was the board president for the home from 1919 to 1943 and donated $10,000 for the building fund. In 1946 the name was changed to the Annie Malone Children and Family Service Center. It is still in existence today and the mission for the center remains focused on improving the quality of life for children, families, and the community. It remains a perfect match for Annie’s life as a business woman who educated, invented and gave back to the community by her time, energy, and philanthropy.

Annie was honored by the city with a street named after her, and St. Louis still and holds a parade every year in May to celebrate her giving spirit.

In 1923 Annie donated $25,000 to help build the Saint Louis Colored YWCA as African Americans were regularly denied access to many services and clubs all over the country. Her college and businesses offered economic independence for African American women when other options were slim to none. Annie also financed two full-time scholarships at every black college and university across the United States. She is an honorary graduate of Howard University, which is a historically black college in Washington D.C.

Annie died in Chicago in 1957.  A combination of her generosity with charities and a divorce and lawsuit that resulted in her husband being awarded a large portion of her company’s worth, left Annie’s estate at the time of her death a small fraction of what it had once been.

Annie left instead a legacy of charity and kindness, as well as her business sense. She was able to build an empire focused specifically around African American women and was greatly successful in planting seeds of future success.