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Heartland Productions, now known as Heartland Theatre Company, was founded in 1986 by Philip Shaw, Carol Reitan and Rita Kohn to present staged readings of unpublished plays.
After a couple of years of vagabonding around different spaces with original scripts, Phil Shaw, the founding Artistic Director, wanted to move to classic contemporary plays and offer full productions. Guest performances continued anywhere Heartland could find suitable, from the McLean County Arts Center to Illinois Wesleyan University in coffee houses and churches.
In 1990 the theatre moved into an empty building at 1110 Douglas Street in the abandoned Illinois Solders and Sailors Children's Campus School. The space was converted from a garage into a 68-seat black box theatre with no storage and little space for dressing and no box office. Over the years, they have slowly upgraded the theatre space, adding improved lighting, dressing rooms, an expanded box office and reception area, and storage for costumes, props, etc.
In 1999, the building was purchased and remodelled by the Town of Normal for the Community Activities Center at One Normal Plaza, as well as remaining the home of Heartland Theatre Company, where full productions of both contemporary published plays and original scripts take place today. The current artistic director is Mike Dobbins.
Heartland Theatre Company continues their tradition of staged readings of unpublished plays and has partnered with groups such as the Tale Spinners (a local storytelling group) and cooperates with Heartland Community College (not affiliated with Heartland Theatre Company) by providing space for acting classes and showcases.
Heartland's Annual National Ten-Minute Play Festival, in its sixth year, continues to be very successful, attracting entries from nearly every state and around the globe and including eight new directors and twenty-some actors selected from open auditions.
Heartland's Young-at-Heart-land senior theatre troupe for those 55+ remains a training ground for senior actors and offers opportunities to stage their craft to other seniors in the region.
Heartland Theatre Company
P. O. Box 1833
Bloomington, IL 61702-1833
boxoffice@heartlandtheatre.org