Hopalong Cassidy Trail
Streator, Illinois
My exploration of Streator Illinois continues. Instead of going on a pure joy ride, I try to swoop by a landmark while on my way to the office or on my way to home. Last night, driving south to South Streator, I stayed west of the Vermilion River and found the street leading to Engle Lane. The route took me only two miles out of my way. A two mile jog makes hardly a joy ride, right?
I had heard about the Engle Lane Theater as I reviewed a brochure of Streator attractions. The season of musicals for the summer have yet to be cancelled although auditions cannot be held at the shuttered theater this month. Although I knew the doors would be locked, I was sure I would love to see the theater, just to stir my imagination. Maybe I could write a play that could be debuted before its footlights on the other side of this pandemic.
As I drove west on Engle Lane, I wasn’t expecting to see the breathtaking view that opened up to my eyes. The signage set an arts and craft theme, evoking Roycroft and Frank Lloyd Wright. The theater building, painted red, made me think of a Lego brick, a neat mix of Usonian and utilitarian styles. Looked at the history to discover the truth. Constance Engle donated a warehouse and a good architect had transformed it into a theater, even adding a tall building for housing a fly tower. Peter Pan could be made to fly at Engle Lane Theater.
I arrived at sundown, an awesome time to arrive, a good time to start a show if the theater could be open to the public. Standing on the edge of town, perched on the endless fields of the Illinois prairie, the theater appeared a gateway to what Robert Frost called “the land vaguely realizing westward, but still unstoried, artless, unenhanced…” However, two hundreds and forty-four years of American experience has storied that land, enhanced the westward cities with art. Engle Lane Theater awaits to perform the tales.
I was immediately reminded of a favorite playhouse, the Playhouse at White Lake, which shines in the sunsets over White Lake, the duneland lake separating Whitehall and Montague. I suppressed the urge to take pictures and send them to Beth and Christopher Beaman, the couple closest to the heart of that newly renovated space for community theater. Beth has served as the managing director and led the community that made the renovation possible. Christopher has served as an extraordinarily capable first spouse. He has been an asset as a summer stock actor for many seasons. For some reason, the couple never seems to respond directly when I reach out to them through social media.
Maybe Christopher Beaman has too much passion to respond to social media prompts. I enjoyed a beer with him after a night of auditions at the Frauenthal Theater. I had little hope of being cast and I didn’t care. I loved sparing with the actors who had assembled, keeping up my end in the shared readings. Where else but Muskegon could I walk five minutes and stroll into an aud? At auds, I would fall in love with the script and keep reading. When I attended an opening night, I knew the script well enough to savor every nuance, every fine point delivered by the cast and director.
That night, Beaman took a sip of his Pigeon Hill stout and began to review the plays he was reading on the committee planning next year’s season at Muskegon Civic Players. Educated as a pharmacist, he knew how to read for character until the characters began to chemically react in his imagination. I swear his excitement, his gut reaction to the twenty plays he was reading made his hands tremble. Yep, why distract him with anything less than a play fated for the stage? He performed so capably in the role of Dad in my short play, “Driving Daughters”. Could I be that lucky again?
I have no idea when I’ll be able to walk up the steps to the Playhouse at White Lake next, especially if this season must be cancelled. I have always joked that one should “Love the playhouse one's with”, making an allusion to the song by Stephen Stills. The Engle Lane Theater awaits west of the Vermilion River from my home. The theater on the edge of the prairie stretching all the way to Omaha could be my newest love.
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