Page 56 - The Peorian, Vol 3 Issue 2

56 thePeorian.com
H e’s one of those guys
who makes you laugh
simply by walking onto
a stage. That’s because his face is
usually wearing the look of some
oddball character in a comedy at
any one of the stages in the Peoria
area.
He has done countless roles
in the region and the loudest
applause is often directed
toward him during curtain call.
It is always deserved in the eyes
of the audience and greatly
appreciated by this local man of a
thousand faces.
Dan Challacombe is as nice and
humble a guy you are likely to
meet anywhere.
“I still get nervous before
every show. Not just the opening
night of every show, but every
performance. I’m always worried
that I won’t be good enough, that
the audience won’t like me,” the
52-year-old Dunlap native said.
“Then, when they laugh at me
that first time, I know everything
is going to be fine.”
These days Challacombe
mostly performs at Conklin’s
Barn II Dinner Theatre in
Goodfield, finding roles in almost
as many plays as theatre owner
Mary Simon. And because all
of the plays there are comedies
and many of them farces,
Challacombe is right at home.
“Yeah, it’s true. If there is a
strange character in one of the
shows, odds are I’m going to play
it,” he said, feigning displeasure.
Then, with that sparkle that’s
almost always in his eyes, he
adds, “I love to make people
laugh.”
He tried a dramatic role
once, playing the rapist who
gets the tables turned on him in
“Extremities.” It was, he said, the
most challenging role he’s ever
played and it was the most eye-
opening, as well, at least his eyes.
“It convinced me I much prefer to
make people laugh.
Challacombe is the youngest
of six children, and the only one
who became a performer. His
mother, a homemaker while he
was growing up, sang in church
choir but that was all. His father,
a farmer and later an insurance
salesman, never took the stage.
Challacombe enjoyed the arts,
but started out doing visual arts.
He liked to draw and paint in
high school, never appearing on
stage but often accompanying
musicals at Dunlap High School
on the piano, an instrument he
still plays. His first time on stage
was as a freshman at Eureka
PREPARE TO LAUGH
Dan Challacombe is in the house
By Paul Gordon
These photos are of Dan Challacombe during a rehearsal for the comedy
“Another Round of Beer for Breakfast,” now playing at Conklin’s Barn II
Dinner Theatre in Goodfield.