An Illinois State University Foundation account has been created in Cal's honor to support the artistic advancement of the Festival.
Those interested in supporting the Festival in honor of Cal MacLean can make donations online or by check, please make checks payable to "Illinois State University Foundation," noting on the memo line that it is for the "Cal MacLean Endowment/Illinois Shakespeare Festival." Please send donations to:
Attn: Adrianne Glidewell
Illinois State University Foundation
Campus Box 8000
Normal, IL 61790
"I remember my first stop was at the Laesch Dairy store on the corner of Linden and College. It's something else now – some convenience store. I called my contact (I think it was Jean Sessions…..God bless her) to ask directions to housing. I had just driven from my parents' home in Detroit down I-55 trying to imagine how on earth they had managed to start a Shakespeare Festival in a place called Normal – among all this corn! (This, I would later come to discover, was not an original thought.) It was 1980. I was almost 27 and had just finished grad school. The Festival was very young then -- in only its third season. Most of the company actors were pretty young as well, graduate and undergraduate students; a few, like me were fresh out of school. I had a great time as a Festival actor and that August a lot of my plans changed. I had no idea at the time that much of my future could be traced back to that summer.
I returned for another two summers, mostly because of my romance with Rebecca O'Bleness – who was the main reason that my plans were changing. One evening at his home during one of those summers, I mentioned rather boldly to then Artistic Director Cal Pritner that I had ambitions of directing at the Festival. To this, Pritner replied in that distinct drawl of his, "Well, Cal, I suspect that might happen someday." Or something like that. We both chuckled, I think, at my cheek and his nimble response. But once I was in Chicago actually working, Cal showed up at a few of the plays I directed. I was surprised and flattered. He seemed to take an interest. And he seemed to like what he saw. Or maybe he was just being supportive. Maybe he just liked my name.
Late in the eighties, Cal called me up and asked me to direct …. "maybe The Rivals in 1990." I remember feeling, after that conversation, like some important life-goal had just been accomplished. I was pretty excited. That spring I made another trip down I-55, this time from Rebecca's (now MacLean!) and my apartment near Wrigley Field. The first call I made for housing directions was now to Barb Funk who, like Jean, greeted me warmly. Notwithstanding the same warmth, things had changed in ten years. The theatre still looked the same, but it now had more equipment, more seating, more staff, and a lot more wear and tear. Jets now flew overhead during the famous soliloquies – faster than the propeller planes of 1980 but louder, too. I met a number of lifelong friends that summer: Phil Johnson, David Kortemeier, Dan Wilhelm, John Sipes, Pete Guither, Patrick O'Gara, Sandi Zielinski, David Lee-Painter, Rob Caisley. People I still work with – who will always be my friends. The Rivals was a defining experience for me. I think it ultimately was the reason I joined the faculty at Illinois State, and started me on my time here.
Sixteen years is a long time. My family has planted deep roots since 1990. My family was born here ... figuratively, and for the kids, literally. I have been happy here. My family has been happy here. I am proud of my accomplishments and proud of the Festival's growth. ISF is as different now from the 90s as it was different in 1990 from the first summer I showed up. Maybe more so. I will surely miss it. And miss everyone here. I have grown up here at the Festival in many of the same ways that the Festival itself has grown up. And while it may be time to move on, it will not be far, and the bonds of affection will never be cut. I have felt useful, and I have grown while making myself of use. What more can one ask for? I will always be grateful for that gift."—Cal
**Cal is currently Head of the Theatre Department at the University of Tennessee and Artistic Director of the Clarence Brown Theatre.
