The Future
38
thePeorian.com
W
hat started as a bunch
of ‘kids’ playing the-
atre on whatever stage
they could find has grown into
much more in barely a year.
The Great Work Begins Theatre
Troupe is gaining momentum in
the Peoria area and is dedicated
to giving back to the community
and bringing different, new and
unique theater to the public.
The troupe was formed to give
20-
something year-old co-found-
ers and former Bradley students
Natalie Patrnchak, Andrew Rho-
denbaugh, and Sarah Jean Tilford
a chance to work with each other
again after having such a good
time together during Corn Stock
Theatre’s production of “Angels
in America” in November 2011.
The name Great Work Begins
comes from a line in that show.
In June 2012, they performed
their first show, Shakespeare’s
“
A Midsummer Night’s Dream,”
outside at Camp Wokanda in
Chillicothe. They went on to do
“
Taming of the Shrew” in July
2012,
a series of one act plays
called “Love and Politics” this
past April, and “Romeo and
Juliet” in June.
“
At first, it felt like we were just
kids putting on a play, and then
the second show happened and
then the third show happened
and it’s like, ‘wow, this is really
becoming a thing,’” Rhoden-
baugh said.
Even though the group has
grown since last year, shows can
still be a bit hectic as members
usually have their hands in more
than one thing at a time, such as
acting, directing, being on tech
crew, etc.
Since they are so new and do
not have the prestige to draw
audiences on name alone, Great
Work Begins does not charge
for tickets, instead relying on
donations and money from the
members’ own pockets. Having
free tickets factors into one of
their goals as a troupe, as well.
“
Part of our mission is that we
wanted to find a way to give back
to the community while we’re do-
ing what we just wanted to do,”
Rhodenbaugh said. “We wanted
to provide a service, which was
doing great theater for people
and just ask them to pay what-
ever they wanted.”
Due to their sparse funds,
buying rights to a show can be
a problem. With Shakespeare’s
plays being in the public domain,
it was one of the reasons why the
group has gone back to his work
so often.
There were, however, other
factors that entered into choosing
the famous playwright.
“
We want to offer something
different to the community and
Shakespeare isn’t done a whole
lot,” Patrnchak said. “It’s some-
thing that is totally accessible and
totally understandable, and if
you just tell the story and if you
serve the story and serve your
character, then the audience will
follow along just fine.”
Rhodenbaugh and Jess Hem-
mis, who mostly does tech and
research for the shows, said that
because of the lack of subtext and
everything being in the script,
Shakespeare is great for begin-
ning actors, which Great Work
casts regularly.
GREAT WORK
New, unique theatre group finding an audience
By Tim Rosenberger
Rebecca Clifton, who portrayed the nurse, and Andrew Rhodenbaugh, who was Romeo, perform a scene from “Romeo
and Juliet,” the Shakespeare classic staged outdoors at Camp Wokanda this summer. Rhodenbaugh was one of the
founders of a new theatre group called Great Work Begins that is staging plays in various locations in the region.
