Heartland Theater

Every theater has had to find its way to reach audiences during the pandemic. For Heartland Theatre Company, that includes reaching into its own past.

A gold watch chain and a woman’s crowning glory are at the center of a classic tale being told anew by Heartland Theatre Company.

There’s an old joke in public broadcasting: When is the best time to air a radio drama?

1938.

For 67 years, Vladimir and Estragon have been waiting. And waiting. And waiting ... for Godot. 

Heartland Theatre dabbles in magical realism for its latest production, “The Electric Baby,” opening this weekend and running through Sept. 28.

It was a dark and stormy night. The rain dripped into my glass of gin, dampening my spirits. Then suddenly, out of the shadows, he was there – Bruce Boeck. Well, of course he was there. After all, I had asked him to do an interview about his play, “Library Noir.”

Heartland Theatre explores the mysteries of human memory and identity while confronting the complexities of family relationships in their its production, “Marjorie Prime.” 

It was the door slam heard around the world.

When Nora, the protagonist of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” walked out on her husband, her children, and the sham of a life she’d been leading, the closing of the door ended the play, but opened greater opportunities for women in theater to play a rich, dynamic character.

Kindred spirits gather in a neighborhood bar in Philly and get something stronger than a shot of whiskey. It's a place where everybody knows your name. But do they know your heart?

Heartland Theater in Normal presents the 10-Minute Play Festival, debuting not only new, short works of theater, but a new listening system for the hearing-impaired.

The tragic tale of a young man with a soul for searching takes center stage at Heartland Theatre starting Thursday, April 5.

Heartland Theater takes a provocative and unconventional look at loyalty within a no-win situation in the new production of "For the Loyal."

"The suspense is terrible. I hope it will last." Well, the suspense is over! Because Oscar Wilde's classic comedy "The Importance if Being Earnest" has arrived at Heartland Theater in Normal.

This is the first time in several years arts advocate Tina Salamone won’t be involved in the Miller Park Summer Musical. But the former director of the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, who passed away earlier this year, won’t be forgotten. This year’s production of “Once Upon a Mattress” is being staged in her honor.

"I somehow chose the only profession in the world that has fewer chances of employment than professional wrestler."

The struggles against sexism in the world of science is at the core of the latest production on stage at Heartland Theater in Normal.

A family legend holds that a pair of brothers are distantly related to Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet, and it's this relationship that may pull their family out of their current misery. Sons of the Prophet is the next play to be staged by Heartland Theater.  And despite the grim mood, it has comedic elements.

Before there was Broadway hit "The Book of Mormon" and the popular Disney film "Frozen," composer-lyricist Robert Lopez collaborated on an odd hybrid of a show  in a theater workshop that used both puppets and actors.

The tragic tale of a young boxer and his impact on the women in his life takes center stage at Heartland Theater. Welsh boxer Johnny Owen died shortly after his attempt win the WBC World Bantamweight title in 1980.  The story inspired playwright Sunil Kuruvilla to tell the tale through the prism of three women from a mining town in Wales.

Email mail may reign in real life, but on stage, old-fashioned letter writing makes a bigger impact.

Heartland Theatre Company is staging a unique and imaginative work that , while simple in its presentation, delves deep into the complexities of a long term relationship. A lifetime of letters between Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner reveal a touching, funny and evocative relationship between two very different people.  The characters are at the heart of A.R. Gurney's Love Letters, and are played by Dean and Cyndee Brown, who have been married for 42 years.

Heartland Theater is staging a play by award-winning playwright Lynn Nottage.  "Intimate Apparel" is a work that truly lives up to its name.  Laura Kennedy has more on this edition of the GLT Datebook.