About DLO

Danville Light Opera began in 1956, making it the oldest musical theatre group in the area. Each year, DLO presents three regular season musicals, a fall and a spring mainstage production and a winter dinner-theatre production. The organization also presents a youth musical every summer. DLO occasionally produces special programs that can be booked as entertainment for parties and other special occasions by individuals, groups, or businesses.

+ Our History

Danville Light Opera: The First 50 Years
by Ron McDaniel

In the autumn of 1955, a small group of citizens interested in both music and theatre met at First Presbyterian Church. Its intention was to establish an organization that would allow individuals to display talents in drama, music, and dance while broadening the appreciation of these arts in the community. Shortly before Christmas of that year, the framework was established, and on February 27, 1956, DANVILLE LIGHT OPERA COMPANY was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization. The Articles of Incorporation were signed by Myrtle Young, Richard Telling, and Bill Dorn. The founding board of directors consisted of Alan Oster, Euva Bracewell, Rolland E. Craig, Arlene Howard, and O. D. Mann, Jr., along with Mrs. Young, Mr. Telling, and Mr. Dorn.

Plans were immediately underway for the first production, The Merry Widow. Opening night, April 12, 1956, brought a small but appreciative audience to the gymnasium at Schlarman High School to watch a cast of 29 bring Franz Lahar's classic operetta to life. No sooner did the curtain close than arrangements began for the next two shows, No, No, Nanette and A Connecticut Yankee. Early DLO shows truly were "light operas," or operettas.

At first, finances were so limited that board members and other interested citizens lent the group money for scripts and music. Luckily, the company and its appeal to the community grew steadily.

In 1960, at the start of its sixth season, DLO moved from the Schlarman gymnasium to the auditorium at Danville High School for its first staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. There it remained for 10 years, producing 20 shows. The seasons at DHS included a few operettas, but audiences soon showed their preference for popular Broadway musicals. However, the expense of producing such shows was, and still is, staggering. Facility rental fees, royalties based on seating capacity, and costs of building scenery for a huge stage drained financial resources. Consequently, in the fall of 1970, the stage fell dark.

But DLO was not inactive. It sponsored a fund-raising dance. It solicited contributions from local businesses. A special committee searched for a more affordable site and finally recommended Danville's Masonic Temple. The first production at that site was Hello, Dolly!, which played to three nearly sold-out houses in the spring of 1971. Audiences enjoyed the arena-style staging with its stylized settings.

In May 1975, DLO honored a request from the Danville Scottish Rite to join with it in co-producing the musical 1776 as part of the nation’s Bicentennial Celebration. DANVILLE LIGHT OPERA provided technical assistance and publicity personnel, and many of its members took part on stage.

Scheduling conflicts with Masonic groups for use of the Temple resulted in DLO's moving to the Danville Junior College (now Danville Area Community College) Theatre for the spring and fall of 1975. There the organization coped with a facility in disrepair and with major parking problems until it could return to the Masonic Temple in the spring of 1976.

In 1979–80, DANVILLE LIGHT OPERA celebrated its silver anniversary season with what remains one of its most ambitious productions, West Side Story, and with a reprise of The King and I. The auditions, casts, crews, and audiences were the largest and most enthusiastic in years.

For more than 25 years, DLO built and stored scenery in unheated buildings, stored costumes at several locations, and rehearsed wherever space was available. In 1981 the organization was able to bring set construction and storage, costume storage, and rehearsals under one roof when it rented the gymnasium of the former St. Joseph's Catholic School. The new facility was named DLO Backstage.

The summer of 1981 saw DANVILLE LIGHT OPERA produce its first children's musical. Funded in part by the group's first grant from the Illinois Arts Council, The Wizard of Oz was staged at the Danville Civic Center with a cast of 90 children 6 to 14 years old. The following year DLO presented Hans Christian Andersen as a children's musical in the theatre at Danville Area Community College.

In 1982–83, DANVILLE LIGHT OPERA, for the first time, expanded its season from two shows to three. The middle show, Oh Coward!, staged in February at the Danville Civic Center, was presented cabaret-style, with wine and cheese served at intermission.

In 1983, DLO purchased the former St. Joseph’s Catholic Church at 405 Sager Avenue with the intention of turning it into a performance site. However, it proved impossible for the group to meet the myriad of building-code demands imposed upon it. The Holy Family Catholic Church, which held the title to the building, graciously let DLO out of its contract. Were it not for this action, the organization's resources would have been exhausted, and DLO would not exist today.

At almost the same time that DANVILLE LIGHT OPERA's dreams of having its own theatre were dashed, the space in the old St. Joseph's School building became unavailable. In August 1985, the group leased the second floor at 121 North Vermilion Street, which previously housed the Danville Beauty School. Appropriately renamed DLO Upstage, the 6,000-square-foot facility initially contained a 40 X 60 foot rehearsal hall and a smaller rehearsal room, along with an office and space to build and store scenery and to store costumes, props, and lighting equipment.

In December 1984, with the help of a grant from the Danville Area Arts Council, DLO undertook a special project. In cooperation with Laura Lee Fellowship House, it presented D. J. Byrd's musical production Genesis—The Creation Story, which featured an African-American cast.

The 1986–87 season saw the organization stage its first dinner-theatre production, Pretzels, at the former Danville Ramada Inn. Since then, sites have varied, but the winter show of every season has been presented as dinner theatre.

In 1993, DANVILLE LIGHT OPERA joined with the Danville Symphony Orchestra and Sunshine II Productions, Ltd., to produce a spectacular presentation of Man of La Mancha at Danville High School.

After an interval of 11 years, in the summer of 1993, DLO resumed production of its children's musicals with Jack and the Giant. In keeping with the organization's plans to stage such a show every other year, the next children’s show was presented in 1995, followed by another in 1997. The shows proved so successful, however, that since 1997, a children’s musical has been staged every summer. To reflect the age group involved more accurately, the productions will be renamed "youth musicals" in 2005.

In the spring of 2003, DLO leased a new rehearsal hall, named DLO Center Stage, in the strip mall behind the Village Mall Shopping Center. That fall, the rehearsal facility was moved into the Village Mall itself and is now located in the east wing next to the former JC Penney store. DLO Upstage, in the downtown area, is currently used primarily for construction and storage.

Over the years, being a group without a permanent home, DLO has moved the sites of its shows many times. To accommodate growing audiences, the organization took two of its 2003–04 productions to the auditorium at Danville High School and will stage its fall and spring productions (South Pacific and Annie Get Your Gun) there during its fiftieth season. The winter dinner theatre (The Fantasticks) will be produced at the Danville Area Community College Theatre in Bremer Conference Center.

Throughout the years, DANVILLE LIGHT OPERA has been admired for its inventiveness and versatility. Old-fashioned operettas, modern Broadway musicals, familiar shows, unfamiliar ones—DLO has done them all, staging them in every conceivable way—on a proscenium stage, in the round, cabaret-style, and as dinner theatre. Truly, DANVILLE LIGHT OPERA has brought quality and variety to the cultural environment of our community.

DLO Board of Directors

President: Gary Lickfett Vice President: Rick Welchans Secretary: Karen Grove Treasurer: Tom Fricke	Jason Asaad Chelsea Collier Jeanne Dunn Ron McDaniel	Brian K. Morris Brad T. Smith Jenny Taylor Susie Willard

and all active past presidents (with one collective vote)

+ Show Past Presidents

1956	Russell Suycott (Gen. Mgr.)	1985–86	Daniel J. Miller
1957	Jack Baldwin (Acting Gen. Mgr.)	1986–87	Ruth Bryant
1958	Jack Baldwin (President)	1987–88	Ruth Bryant
1958–59	Roy Haakon Goranson	1988–89	Kathleen Spain
1959–60	Frank Williams	1989–90	Rebecca Majors Quetone
1960–61	Robert Westwater	1990–91	Rebecca Majors Quetone
1961–62	Roy Haakon Goranson	1991–92	Mary Lou Mauck
1962–63	Harold French	1992–93	Nancy Henderson
1963–64	Frank Williams	1993–94	Nancy Henderson
1964–65	Barbara Bowles	1994–95	Nancy Henderson
1965–66	Richard G. Hall	1995–96	Danita Morfey
1966–67	Dale Everts	1996–97	Laurel Soderstrom
1967–68	Tom Goder	1997–98	Nancy Henderson
1968–69	Ron McDaniel	1998–99	Nancy Henderson
1969–70	Beverly Anders	1999–2000	Nancy Henderson
1970–71	Harold French	2000–01	Amy Hegg
1971–72	Harold French	2001–02	Amy Hegg
1972–73	Louise McCollum	2002–03	Ann Soderstrom
1973–74	Louise McCollum	2003–04	Ann Soderstrom
1974–75	Louise McCollum	2004–05	Lon Henderson
1975–76	Jamie Briggs	2005–06	Lon Henderson
1976–77	Bill Lucas	2006–07	Lon Henderson
1977–78	Mary Lou Spain	2007–08	Gary Lickfett
1978–79	Duane H. Prentice	2008–09	Gary Lickfett
1979–80	John R. Orsulak	2009–10	Gary Lickfett
1980–81	Pamela Shaw Heath	2010–11	Gary Lickfett
1981–82	Daniel J. Miller
1982–83	Daniel J. Miller
1983–84	Duane H. Prentice
1984–85	Harold French

Performance Sites
DLO's fall and spring shows are usually staged in the Dick Van Dyke Auditorium at Danville High School (driving directions), and the winter dinner show and summer youth musical are normally presented in the Bremer Auditorium at the Danville Area Community College (driving directions).

Audition & Rehearsal Site
DLO Center Stage, the group’s audition and rehearsal space is located in the east wing of Danville’s Village Mall, 2917 N. Vermilion St. (driving directions).

Box Office
The DLO box office is located at DLO Center Stage in the east wing of Danville’s Village Mall, 2917 N. Vermilion St. (driving directions).

Set Construction / Storage Site
DLO Upstage, a set construction / storage space, is located at 1211/2 N. Vermilion St.

Media coverage of DLO...