The Peoria Players

It is a place of fantasy, of drama, of spectacle. Craftsmanship and materials come together with the human spirit to allow us to suspend our disbelief and to be transported into another world outside ourselves.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, conventional theater in the United States was going through an upheaval. Cinema was on the rise, and the sensational melodramas of the theater were now fodder for the big screen. This lead to a dramatic decrease in the level of experimentation and stifled creative theater for many years, as producers and theater owners only produced shows that would realize the highest of profit margins. Young theater practitioners around the world were desperate for a change. They wanted a place where new ideas could grow.

On a brightly moon-lit June night in 1919, twenty-five eager, creative Peorians gathered and decided to form an amateur “players” group... and the story begins...