(bright music) - Will you consider this?

You come from out west to Peoria, Illinois area and you're shaking things up.

This is Jolene and Craig Howard, meet them, and you're with upstagetheatrepeoriacompany.com.

Upstage Peoria Theatre?

- Yeah.

(Christine laughing) Kind of, yeah.

(laughs) - Okay, all right, tell me.

- [Jolene] Upstage Theatre Company, but the website is upstagetheatrepeoria.com.

- Okay, All right, well, I knew I'd have it in there somehow, okay.

(Jolene laughing) So first of all, tell me about Jolene Howard and Craig Howard, and how you got here.

- Well, long story short, 'cause we only have so much time, we just popped in from Colorado last summer, so we haven't been here a year yet.

- [Christine] All right.

- We moved here for a couple of different reasons.

One, our son is a firefighter here.

- [Christine] All right, thank you for his service.

- Yes, thank you, and he is ecstatic.

He loves it.

- [Christine] Good.

- So we wanted to be closer to at least one of our older kids, but also, when we were visiting him last year, we happened upon a property that was... We're theater people, and a theater for sale, which is still on the agenda.

- [Christine] Okay.

- But yeah, high hopes for a theater here in Peoria.

- All right, and then Craig, how about you?

That story, you go along with her on that?

- Yeah, I concur.

- Anything to add?

- I concur.

(Christine laughing) I back her up 100%.

I've been doing this a little while, being her husband, so I know that the right answer is yes.

- Okay, yes, dear.

- Yes, dear.

- Those are the last two words you get in at any argument, yes.

- That's right.

- Yes, dear.

- Okay, got that down.

- All right, so tell me (Craig laughing) about Upstage Theatre Company in Peoria.

- Yes, so it is a... We're a brand new professional theater company here, and we have a certain genre or niche that is something that Peoria does not have, and we focus on kind of going back to the vaudevillian roots of Peoria, which is so much fun.

It's always comedy, always musical, always family-friendly.

So we do fun murder mysteries, usually dinner and a show, well, always dinner and a show.

Gotta have food, you gotta feed people.

- [Christine] Right.

- But also melodramas and parodies where you boo for the villain when they come out and cheer for the hero, and then we also put on olios.

An olio is a musical review, so dancing, singing, blackout jokes, always a fun time.

- [Craig] Very vaudevillian.

- Yes.

- And you've been in theater all your life, too, Craig?

- Yes, well, yeah, absolutely.

- All right.

- I'm a singer, primarily.

- Okay.

- I got my degree in vocal performance with an emphasis in jazz from the University of Missouri Kansas City - All right.

- Conservatory of Music.

I studied under Kirby Shaw.

Gonna get that little pitch in there, do some name dropping, (laughs) which was fantastic, I loved working with him.

He's a great jazz guy.

But after college, the gigs kind of dried up for jazz.

Jazz is really kind of a hard nut to crack.

- [Christine] Right.

- And especially since I moved back to Colorado after Kansas City, and it was kind of tough.

So I had always been involved in theater, you know, coming through high school, and I loved musical theater.

Played Charlie Brown when I was a freshman - "Good Man, Charlie Brown."

- In high school.

- Yeah, that's a fun one, yeah.

(Christine imitating Charlie kicking and falling) (Christine chuckling) - Yeah, the bug bit, and so I've been doing everything musical on stage that I possibly can for my whole life, so.

- Awesome.

And then Jolene, so you are a writer, performer, producer.

You do a little bit of everything, right?

- All the hats, yeah.

(laughs) - Yeah, okay, okay.

- Yeah, it keeps me hopping.

I get bored very easily, so yes, directing, producing.

I love to write.

I discovered writing in high school, and I have a novel, but, you know, it's not theater at all, but then I've written, I think, I just finished my eighth show, eighth play, so.

- So you're writing these productions, as well?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Okay, great.

- [Jolene] And he's helping with all the jokes.

- Yeah.

- All right.

(Jolene laughing) - We kind of co-write.

I edit and offer suggestions, and yeah, and I write a lot of the jokes.

- Yeah.

- So then you came last summer and you've had a couple of productions already?

- Yes.

- And you have your own company?

- We do.

We're working on building our core company.

- All right.

- And so we've done two productions so far.

We did a Christmas show, "A Very Dickens Murder."

- [Christine] Uh-huh, did you write that one?

- Yes, yes.

- Okay.

- That one, we performed before at our old dinner theater in Colorado.

And then we did for Valentine's Day, "Big Louie's Wedding: A Mobster Murder Mystery."

- Okay.

(laughs) - And that was also one that was performed a few years ago as well, and I wrote that one.

So yeah, we're working on building a core of actors, performers, singers, dancers, that we can basically have our repertory company.

And then- - Ultimately, we'd like, I don't mean to interrupt.

- No, go ahead.

- But ultimately, we'd really like to have a house band, because right now, we're performing all of our music with tracks, really good tracks.

- Right.

- Yeah.

- But we'd really like to have that live music element as well.

So call out to all musicians out there, if you want a steady gig, that's what we're working on building.

(laughs) - [Christine] Another shameless plug.- - I know.

(everyone laughing) Can't help it.

- No, it's good, no.

(Craig chuckling) It's an honest plug is what it is, all right.

Well, that would be fun, and then you have several shows coming up in the 2026 season?

- Yes, yes, we do.

So our next show is "Somebody's Getting Greased: Murder at the Reunion."

- Aha.

- It is a parody of, obviously, "Grease" that we all know and love.

The characters, all of the gang, they are back, except it's 30 years later at their reunion.

- [Christine] Aha.

- And we don't know where their lives have taken them, and somebody will have to.

(squelches) (Christine and Jolene laughing) - [Christine] But that's kind of fun.

- [Jolene] Oh, it's gonna be a lot of fun.

- So that's in May?

- [Jolene] That's in May.

- All right.

- We open May 8th.

We'll run two weekends.

And then we have, well, for our shows, we have an August show.

It's a cruise ship, "Bon Voyage: Murder on the High Seas."

- Ooh, okay.

- Murder on a cruise ship.

Think "Love Boat."

- [Craig] Loosely, yeah, loosely based on- - Loosely based.

(chuckles) - On "Love Boat," but you might see some characters from, oh, other nautical adventures, say, hmm, maybe "Titanic"?

- Or "Gilligan's Island."

- Oh, "Gilligan's Island."

- Yeah, some fun - Yeah, right.

- Mishmosh there.

(Craig laughing) We have a Halloween show, it's called "A Spectre Calls: A Murder Mystery," and you get to be in the videotaping of a ghost hunting reality show.

- Oh wow, yeah.

- Yeah, so it's a lot of fun.

And then we'll have a big Christmas show.

It'll be our first melodrama that we're bringing to Peoria for Christmas, "Miracle," yeah, "Miracle in Mistletoe Town," or "Who's Cooking the Books for Christmas Dinner?"

- [Christine] Aha.

- With our "Andy Williams Christmas Special Oleo."

(Christine and Jolene laughing) - So your performances, where is your home theater then?

It's the GAR Hall, right?

- Currently, yes, yeah.

- All right, tell me a little about that.

- It's actually, so our friend Kert Huber, more shameless name dropping.

(Christine laughing) - You're fine, I like it.

(chuckles) - Well, he's great, yes.

Super, super cool.

- I like him very much.

- Yeah, we kind of bonded instantly when we all met.

We met him in the process of trying to get the ball rolling on acquiring the Apollo Theater.

His building is adjacent, and it actually connects underneath- - Right - Through Richard, or what's it called?

- Richard's.

- It used to be Richard's.

- Used to be Richard's.

- Yeah, down underneath, yeah.

- Yep, down below.

- Part of that restaurant was actually under his building, so we met that way.

- [Christine] Oh?

- And we just connected.

He really likes our vision, and he had acquired the GAR Hall and was very interested in preserving, you know, the building itself- - Right, which was built in 1909, I think?

- Correct.

- Okay, yes.

- Okay, yeah, and they built it with a stage, and it has dining facilities downstairs.

I mean, I know a lot of folks around here have attended various events there over the years.

- Right, and it's a wonderful, wonderful... It's a solid building, too.

- It is very solid.

- It really is solid.

- You just feel the history of Peoria there.

- Right, which is what, it just occurred to me when we were just talking about it, that "A Spectre Calls," it's a ghost hunting show.

- Ooh.

- We're gonna need to look into some of the- - Oh.

- Of course.

- Some ghost stories around the GAR Hall, or the GAR Hall.

- [Jolene] Yeah, oh, absolutely.

- Because that- - [Christine] Could be some.

- Yeah, there probably are.

There's ghost stories everywhere you go.

- There are.

(chuckles) - There really are.

- And if there aren't, that's where you take liberties.

- Yeah.

(everyone laughing) - That's right.

- We can find some ghosts somewhere.

- We'll find some ghosts in Peoria.

(Craig laughing) That's not a problem.

- I can put a sheet over my head.

- There you go.

(laughs) - Sing and dance.

Yeah, exactly, all right.

- Come on.

(laughs) - So until you get your solid company, so do you have auditions for these productions, and then, you know, - Yes.

- Where do people find out about that?

And how do they go about that?

And do they need to sing, dance, you know, do everything?

They have to have all of those talents?

- Triple threats are preferred.

- Okay.

(Craig chuckling) - But you don't have to be perfect in all of them.

It's not Broadway, but we're also looking for actors who have comedy improv chops.

That's really the most important, because with our kind of theater, there really is not much of a fourth wall.

Characters talk to the audience.

- Right.

- Audience can talk right to them.

- Exactly.

- So.

- [Christine] You gotta be quick to smile.

- You gotta be quick and stay in character.

- Right.

- And if you break, make it funny.

(Jolene chuckling) - There you go, there you go.

So you have been doing this a while, so you know all that.

- A long time, a long time.

- Yeah, yeah.

- We have auditions, actually, Sunday and Monday coming up.

- Okay.

- Oh, which by the time this airs will- - By this, you'll already be in the show.

- It'll be, yeah.

- Already happened.

- Already passed.

- Sorry, back up.

(trills) Okay, reversed.

- Sorry, guys.

Hopefully you're in the show already.

- Yeah, there you go.

(everyone chuckling) Did you tell me about your schooling?

I know Craig told me, but- - No.

- Okay.

- So yes, I went to University of Arizona and I got my Bachelor of Fine Arts there.

So I did theater there at the U of A, and then I also, with Emphasis on musical theater, and then I- - [Christine] And you liked that in high school, so that just followed you?

- Oh, yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

Actually, (chuckles) my grandmother was a tap dancer.

- Oh.

- And my mother was a ballet dancer.

I tried both when I was young, and you know, it didn't stick, really, but I loved theater, and so my grandma got me started in acting classes when I was just a little kid.

And fun story, that I don't remember much of this, but apparently- (Christine chuckling) - [Christine] What you do remember.

- Yeah, I was five years old and auditioned for a commercial, it was a cereal commercial, and I do remember singing a song and dancing in a circle, and I got the job.

- [Christine] You got the part, all right.

- Don't remember much about it, but that was my first, you know, taste of it.

- So you don't even know if you ate the cereal or not then?

- I don't remember that part.

(Christine and Craig laughing) - Oh goodness.

- I remember dancing and singing in a circle.

- Okay, that's fun.

- (laughs) That's it.

- That's fun.

- But yeah, and then it went on from there, and went back and I got my master's degree in education so that I could teach theater as well.

- Okay.

So back to the Apollo, - Yes.

- Now, so that was big in the vaudeville days, and did you have a relative who played vaudeville here?

Did I read that somewhere?

- Yeah, actually, yes.

My great-grandfather on my mother's side, Grant Hopkins, he was a vaudevillian actor amongst many other things.

He was actually, he joined the circus, classic story.

- Yeah, really?

- Ran away with the circus when he was 14.

- Oh my gosh.

- Yes.

A man of many talents.

(Christine chuckling) (Jolene laughing) And then he joined a vaudevillian troop and toured throughout Canada, and popped through Peoria, and kind of went all over the United States for a while before settling down and marrying my great-grandma.

- [Christine] Isn't that something?

- Crazy.

- So that is kind of like your draw to Peoria as well, too.

Not only your son being a firefighter, but you have that little bit of a connection that, you know, maybe on that very stage, your great-grandfather performed?

- Maybe.

- How about it?

How about it?

- Very possible.

- So what do you do when you're not writing these things or not performing?

Do you have other jobs that you do to keep you busy during the day?

- Jobs?

- J-O-B, sorry, job.

(Jolene laughing) - I know, I promised I would never work for anybody ever again a few years ago.

- [Christine] Okay.

(laughs) - So we do own a couple of other businesses, so you gotta pay the bills somehow.

- Right, well, yeah.

(Jolene laughing) - So tell me what the one is.

- Yeah.

- I mean, your delivery service, right, okay?

- Yes, correct.

So when we came to Peoria, we purchased a medical delivery service.

So we work with OSF Pharmacy, and we deliver specialty pharmaceuticals for patients in need throughout the whole Central Illinois region.

- Really?

- So in-home meds and- - And tanks and things, too?

- Oh, yep.

- Okay, the whole thing.

- [Jolene] The whole thing.

- So you can go to Indiana and Iowa?

Covering that area?

- Oh, we've up to Wisconsin, we even delivered to Chicago, believe it or not.

They don't have specialty medications, a pharmacy that, you know, builds them and creates them even in Chicago, so we handle all of that.

- Wow.

- So we're all over the place.

- So what do you foresee is the future of Upstage Theatre Company/Peoria, or however I screwed it up before?

(Jolene chuckling) I'll get it right now.

- Well, I foresee that we, you know, and I've used it in both of our shows so far, when I'm talking to the audience, I've played a couple of characters.

In the first one, I played Bob Wallace from "White Christmas" just not a pivotal character, but an extra character so that I could, you know, sing and talk to the audience, and expedite?

Expose?

- Exposition?

- Exposition, do stuff like that.

(Jolene laughing) Narrate, essentially.

(Christine laughing) - Narrate, yeah.

- That sounds good.

- And in the last one, I was Benny the Cat, who was a- - Just a made-up character.

- Made-up character touring vaudeville, singer, a crooner in the '20s.

- Okay, yeah.

- I've told both audiences, all the audiences that we've had so far, that we're, you know, "Hey, we're new to Peoria here, but you know what, we've been welcomed so warmly by everyone in this town that we think we're gonna stay in."

Every time I say that, I get a big round of applause.

Good.

- People just love that.

- We're hoping.

- So honestly, we just see ourselves staying here and just building this, because, really, it's both of our dreams.

We've always, both of us have wanted to own and operate our own theater, and we've had many, many incarnations, I guess, of that idea over the years that we've been together.

And this feels like the one that's really gonna stick.

- Awesome.

- And yeah, we love the town, and we love the talent that we've met, that we've, you know, we've made some great friends with other theaters in town.

- And there really is a lot of talent in this community.

- There really is.

- In this whole area, there really is.

- There is a lot of talent.

We have noticed that, you know, it takes a little while, 'cause we're newbies, nobody knows who we are.

So it takes a little while to kind of- - [Christine] To break into their consciousness, I guess.

- Yes.

Yes.

- How's that?

- [Christine] Did you like that?

- Yeah, I like that.

- Yeah, I like that.

I like breaking in.

- Well said.

- Breaking and entering.

(Christine and Jolene laughing) - Totally.

- Badum-bum, there we go.

(Craig laughing) - Yeah, but that's what we're really, you know, looking at, you know, is starting kind of grassroots like we have.

We can't go big and bold, because, you know, we have to build.

- You're not there yet.

Right, exactly.

- We have to build.

This is building, and we've done it before, but this is just us without other partners, without other people involved.

This is, you know, our brainchild from the ground up.

- [Christine] Grassroots.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So far, the feedback has been wonderful, and we really do foresee that it can grow and grow and grow into something that hopefully can become almost like a destination, that the word gets out, where people come to Peoria and to come- - And they want to come to see it, yes.

- To see our shows and then enjoy this beautiful city.

- Awesome.

Okay, so now, the GAR Hall only holds about 100 people on the main floor, right?

- Max.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Max, okay.

- If we're- - And that's- - That's tight.

- I guess I would call it butts to bellies, you know, - Yeah, yeah.

- With the tables and everything, yeah.

- Very.

- So comfortably, we can fit about 80.

- All right.

- And feed 'em all.

- Max.

- Downstairs, yeah.

- And then, so the kitchen facilities, now, you have to have food brought in, because the kitchen facilities aren't quite there yet.

- Correct.

- But I think Kert has some plans for that, doesn't he?

- Yeah, we do, yeah.

- Hopefully.

(Christine chuckling) - Yeah, we've been- - Kert, did you get that memo?

- Yeah, did you?

(Christine and Craig laughing) - You can help.

(laughs) - We've been batting it around a little bit.

- Yeah.

- I'm not gonna jinx anything, but yeah.

But ultimately, we would like to be preparing our own dinners there.

- [Jolene] That's the plan.

Yeah, we need to save on costs.

- [Christine] That way, yeah.

- Yeah, absolutely.

You know, we need to save as much money as possible, 'cause we're not making any money yet.

- Okay, well, (Jolene laughing) but you're having fun.

- We are having fun.

- Yeah.

You have to think about that.

- It takes time to build.

- It does, to build.

- And we know that.

We're not going to be able to, you know, pay, you know, pay anything to ourselves for quite some time.

- Right, right.

- So we understand.

- But you do pay your actors?

- We do.

- Yes, we do pay our actors.

We think it's important to pay everyone who's involved, because they put in a lot of work.

- Right.

- It does.

It takes a lot of work to, you know, and while I appreciate the spirit and the willingness to, you know, to volunteer, I just wouldn't ask it of anybody unless it's a show that you just really wanna do, you know, and I've done it.

I've done, you know, shows- - We've done it.

- For community theaters before, because I just really wanted - Sure.

- To do that show.

- Be part of it, yes.

- Be a part of that particular show.

But I've also been that starving actor that's just like, you know, I do construction.

I mean, I say I'm an actor and a musician, and so I'm a really good carpenter.

(Jolene laughing) - [Christine] You build some sets, too?

- Oh, yes.

- Yeah, I built a lot.

Oh, absolutely, yeah.

- Got that on your resume.

(Craig laughing) Well, then how long, the people who are participating, your actors, how long of the practice, how many weeks do you practice in advance?

Or how many hours do they have to put in?

I mean, 'cause if you're putting, you know, the message out here, it's like, okay, - Sure.

- Here's your time commitment.

- Yeah, and for the murder mysteries, it's a lot less.

- Relatively short rehearsal process.

- Relatively short, six weeks, but three evenings a week.

It's about 15 to 17 rehearsals.

- All right.

- And then you're ready to go, but you have to do your homework.

You know, this is a paid contract.

- You have to know who interacts with whom and all that stuff.

- Yeah.

- There's a lot of that.

- There's a script, and it's, you know, all the lines are scripted, and things need to go, you know, I mean, things need to follow that certain, we call it a skeleton in improv.

- Right.

- But it's a skeleton with some flesh on it, but the nice thing about the way that we do things is that new lines can pop up out of nowhere, and they- - Exactly, with the audience feedback and all that, exactly.

- You bet, yeah.

- All the time.

- And as long as the cue line, you know, you improv, if you're gonna improv, you improv on your own line, and make sure you end up - Rules.

- With the cue line for the next guy.

- Okay.

- Here in the next actor.

So, you know, it takes a little bit of adjusting for traditional actors, actors who are used - It does.

- To having every line and memorizing them in exactly that order, and exactly that, you know, rhythm.

- [Christine] And you don't have any prompter backstage saying- - Yeah, we don't.

- No, no.

(everyone laughing) - "Hey!"

- If you go up, then- - You're on your own.

(Craig laughing) - Well, now, you're not on your own, you have a team.

- Well, you got a team, yeah.

- It's an ensemble.

- Right.

- Somebody can pick up for you.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- And that's the good core of, you know, real, you know, meaty actors who can notice what's happening here.

Okay, they went up on their line, (fist thudding) I'm gonna jump over here, and hopefully by that time, I'll keep everybody busy, that actor will come back, or I will jump to whatever they were going to say and keep the momentum going, because pacing is huge.

- Yeah, and I'll bring 'em back in, yeah.

- Yeah, so you have to work together.

It is a team effort, an ensemble, and all of these shows, there's no lead, there's no extras, there's no, you know, woman number two.

- Right, yeah.

(laughs) - No.

- [Christine] In the credits.

(laughs) - Right, exactly, no.

- Right.

- Everybody is an integral- - Guy with pencil.

(everyone chuckling) - Guy with pencil.

Everybody's an integral part of this team, and you all have to depend on each other, and that's what makes it so fun.

- [Christine] Well, there you go, it's a challenge every performance.

- It is.

- Because you never know how that audience, each audience is different.

- Absolutely.

- And you never know how they're gonna respond, or what they're gonna throw at you, so that does make it a lot of fun.

- It does, and you have to think on your feet.

And one of the fun things that we do is we do a Q&A session for all the suspects.

So they all have to, you know, stand up there.

- Line up, right?

- They line up and the audience can ask them whatever they want, so.

- [Christine] They get to figure it out.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Well, you two are great.

Thank you for coming to the Peoria area - Thank you.

- And sharing all of your talents, my heavens.

You got a lot going.

- Oh, thank you.

- We'll look forward to a live band, that would be good.

- Yeah, us, too.

- Yeah, look forward to- - Boy, oh boy.

(Christine laughing) - That'll be wonderful.

- So looking forward to it.

- Look forward to a company that you have and can rely on all the time.

- Yep.

- And then we'll rely on coming to see you guys.

- We would love the support.

- We can't wait.

- Okay, all right.

- We can't wait to see you there.

- Well- - Thanks so much for having us.

- And all of you.

- Thank you, yeah, yeah.

Come on out.

(Craig chuckling) So I hope you enjoyed this, I hope you pay attention to when they've got some shows going on and, and hit 'em up, and come up with some funny lines for them.

Feed it to 'em.

- Oh yeah.

Give it to us.

(Christine laughing) - We're ready.

- Until next time, be well.

(Craig chuckling) (bright music) (Christine speaking faintly) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues)