Your Story
Forty and Forward!
Here are just a few of your Krannert Center memories. Keep ’em coming!I remember the productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the Studio Theatre and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Miss Firecracker Contest in the Colwell Playhouse when I was a student—and many, many excellent Krannert Center performances with our boys as part of the Youth Series. Tonight my third son is performing in Hansel and Gretel, making yet another great Krannert Center memory. Thanks so much, wishing many more.
The BFA senior thesis dance performances are maybe the best dance performances anywhere in the world. Free admission, no set stage, no set seats, a seniors’ celebratory farewell, and an audience of family and friends created an atmosphere of freedom and community that hasn’t been duplicated since Woodstock.
Fall 1988—I was invited to a showing of Peter and the Wolf by several then-friends. What I didn’t realize was that they were setting me up with a girlfriend of theirs, Freida. This all became clear when we showed up early, and by intermission, Freida and I were hitting it off. By the end of the show, someone had suggested drinks and cake at the nearby cafe, and the rest, as they say, is history. Freida and I were married about a year or so later and I have a boy named Peter and a mischievous Wolf to thank for it.
Thanks, Krannert Center.
Love, Lucien Mingus
Thanks, Krannert Center.
Love, Lucien Mingus
My absolute favorite memory of Krannert Center was my last band concert before I graduated. It was November 2006 and the Wind Symphony performed Circus Maximus by John Corigliano. The final note of the piece is performed by a shotgun. So I literally ended my performance career at the U of I with a bang!
The CUSO playing Carmina Burana was a wonderful, spine-tingling community event. I was with so many friends and was able to share this incredible music with them, and I will remember this forever.
—Best friend lunches
—Nutcracker performances
—Tour of the set for Rappaccini’s Daughter
—Delicious cake slices
—The prop vault
—Set for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
—Performing in the Great Hall
Many years ago my friend and I tried a back door during the summertime. The door to Krannert Center was open but no one was around. We let ourselves in and started exploring. A watchman found us but let us stay, as long as we told him which door was unlocked. We must have looked trustworthy. That was our ticket to explore. We went everywhere we could. We were on the gangplank over the seats of the Great Hall. We got underneath the stage. We played the instruments in the band room. We left everything as we found it but took a special memory.
A few years ago, Krannert Center included a performance of a full choir integrated with the showing of the original silent movie version of the story of Joan of Arc. It was spellbinding! I will never forget that performance. I felt like I was lifted out of my seat, floating into the heavens!
I remember excitedly walking into Krannert Center for the first time for one of my first dates with my then-future husband. I think we were seeing the Mark Morris Dance Group. Twenty-three years later, we are still enjoying art together, married, with two kids, and lots of love.
Just after Krannert Center opened, I was at a (free) concert. I explored the hall, sitting in many areas in the orchestra and balcony, and was amazed by how good the sound was everywhere!
My earliest memories of Krannert Center are the wonderful student opera productions directed by Ludwig Zirner. I went as much for his wonderful, long, and amusing commentary as I did for the productions. In my student years I couldn’t afford to come here often, but when I did (opera, play, dance, or chamber music) I appreciated it even more. I still consider this a treasure in the cornfields. When I married, I could afford to come more often, but raising children made it more difficult to attend evening events. In recent years, the transformation of Krannert Center (the Lobby events, wine tastings and interval events, and other outreach community events and showcasing of student clubs) has made the “treasure” grow immeasurably.
—The red punch that used to be served at performance intermissions.
—The bat flying around the inside of Great Hall at intermission of an orchestra from Eastern Europe.
—Sitting out the tornado warning in the Great Hall that delayed the performance.
We’d love to hear about your fond memories of being an usher, your sadness at your last performance as the lead in Othello, the first show you ever saw, the time you met Shozo Sato, or anything else you’d like to share. Send us your stories, contact us if you have photos, let us know if you have old posters or programs—and tell us about you and Krannert Center. We’re already getting ready to hit the big 5-0 (in 2019), and we’d be honored if a little part of you was a part of our celebration. Write us today!
