IT
ALL STARTED IN AN ACTING
CLASS AT THE OAK PARK VILLAGE PLAYERS.
Larry Baldacci was teaching an
Advanced Scene Study class; the students were people who had worked
with and known each other for years. Because of that, the class was
an exceptionally rewarding experience.
As the class came to a close,
someone said, "I wish we could do this ALL the time." That
was all Paulette Cary needed to hear. She came up with an idea...an
idea of forming an ensemble of players from our class to read plays
in a readers theatre format. We would invite an audience to come,
but even if they didn't, that was okay. We were going to do this for
ourselves...as a way to stay together, work together - have fun together.
And so "The Free Readers
Ensemble" was born. Our first season started in the summer of
1993. We started slowly; a dozen or so people in the audience; twenty
people on our mailing list. Those numbers grew. People seemed to want
to see us "having our fun".
Our founding members were Paulette
Cary, Mercita DeMonk, Marie Henry, Miriam Petzke, Ann Slivinski, Carol
Mullen, Jim Mullen, Larry Baldacci, Larry Wiley and Paul Noble. Over
the years, some of the founding members left us; Jim, Carol and Marie
- too soon. But new members came on board: Randy Hoole, Andy Scott,
Barbara Eulenberg, David Krajecki, Keith Eric Davis, Ray Cunha, Thad
Anzur, Sarah Hayes and Jerry Bloom.
We've changed locations and we've
changed performance times, but through it all, there was one thing
we could always count on: our loyal audience. Thanks to them and their
incredible support, here we are - "The Free Readers Ensemble".