MONMOUTH, Ill. — From having it “play in Peoria” to other venues across the Midwest, Monmouth College theater alumni had an active week on stage and behind the scenes.

In Peoria, 2008 graduate Bryan Blanks directed a community theater cast of 25 local teenagers – many of them newcomers to the stage – in a production of “The Wiz,” a funky retelling of the classic, “The Wizard of Oz.”

The production is traditionally made up of African-American actors (including Peoria’s own Richard Pryor in the 1978 movie), and Blanks told the Peoria Journal-Star, “Everyone said I wouldn’t be able to have a black cast (but) I can’t imagine having a better cast than what I have.”

Blanks, who designed the set to have a “hip-hop” feel, found the majority of his actors while substitute teaching in Peoria. An article on the production can be viewed at the Peoria Journal Star site.

Traveling west on Interstate 74, theater-goers could have made a pit stop in Galesburg at the famous Orpheum Theatre. Doug Rankin, Monmouth College’s director of theater and a 1979 graduate, was the scene and lighting designer for last weekend’s world premiere of the new Carl Sandburg musical, “Dust and Dreams.”

Moving north on the interstate, a visit to the Quad Cities would have uncovered an “unbelievable” performance by 1996 graduate Melissa Anderson Clark.

Clark had a starring role in Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins,” and at least one member of the audience, reviewer Thom White, came away thoroughly impressed.

“But the most real of any performance in this production is (Clark’s) Squeaky Fromme,” wrote White of the production, which runs through Aug. 17 at the Green Room in Rock Island. “She was so good, I couldn’t believe it. I actually watched her closely to spot the moment she dropped character, the moment she’d drop Fromme’s conviction and motivation. To my delight, she didn’t. Her portrayal of Fromme is breathtaking and perhaps the best performance I’ve yet to see on a Quad Cities stage. Ever.”

The full review appears at Entertainment on Review with Thom White.

“(My wife) Jan and I saw the show Sunday afternoon and it is worthy of all the accolades from the reviewers,” said MC’s emeritus professor of theater, Jim De Young. “Another tidbit is that Lou Hare, who played John Wilkes Booth in the show, is the son of our local congressman, Phil Hare.”

Staying in Illinois, another Monmouth alumnus, Scott Vehill ’77, was mentioned in an article in the Aug. 10 edition of the Chicago Tribune. The piece, written by drama critic Chris Jones, discussed the rehabilitation of the old Studebaker Theatre on Michigan Avenue. Set to occupy the smaller theatre in the complex is the off-loop Prop Theatre, whose artistic director is Vehill.

Quoted in the story, Vehill says, “If you are an off-Loop theater and you strike lightning, this would become the place where you take your show.”

The entire story is available at this site.

Finally, Mike Fotis ’99 has been nominated for a “Fringie” in this year’s Minneapolis Fringe Festival for his show called “An Intimate Evening with Mike Fotis – Part II.” Some of his reviews are available at mikefotis.com.