A show that’s part concert, part photo exhibit celebrates the people and places of rural Illinois.
“Forgottonia” is coming to Rushville this month. It will be performed at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 12 at the Rushville-Industry Performing Arts Center.
Tickets are $25. They can be bought at Moreland and Devitt Pharmacy in Rushville, online, or at the door.
The show features original songs that Chris Vallillo wrote about west central Illinois over the past 35 years – a region that half a century ago acquired the nickname Forgottonia.
“I essentially have just come to understand that is the artistic muse that’s driven me,” Vallillo said.
The show also features black and white images of the region that will be projected throughout the performance. Those are by award winning photographer Tim Schroll.
“It’s our history, and we’re both old enough that we’ve collected enough of it,” Schroll said.
The two went through thousands of Schroll’s photo negatives to decide what might work in the show. Vallillo said Schroll’s images are visual representations of what he’s trying to convey through music.
Schroll said one of the photos dates back to 1976, which was long before he met Vallillo and long before the idea of the Forgottonia show was conceived.
Others were taken while they were putting together the show.
“Just because I could hear the music and I’d play the music in the car, and I’d go look, and then things would come up,” Schroll said.
“Forgottonia” debuted last summer in Macomb. It’s also been performed in Galesburg and Mount Carmel.
It’s a scripted show, and they’ve pretty much stuck to the script.
“As I have performed it I have not changed much at all. There have been occasional shifts in the way I tell a story to tighten up the presentation,” Vallillo said. “But we spent a lot of time building this combination of music and stories and images and creating a flow to the entire thing. So, it’s a set piece.”
Vallillo and Schroll will hold a meet and greet in the lobby after the Rushville performance, where Schroll will display his photographs.
Their goal is to take the show to other small theaters in rural America. They’re booked in Morris, Minn. this fall.
But for now, there are no more shows currently scheduled in Forgottonia, the region the show celebrates.
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