SIC Stage Named for Theatre Director Allan Kimball
After 21 years at Southeastern Illinois College, Allan Kimball, Theatre Director, Instructor and Humanities Division Co-Chair is retiring. In honor of Kimball, the stage in the George T. Dennis Visual and Performing Arts Center theatre has now been named The Allan G. Kimball Stage.
“I was totally shocked and extremely honored for this amazing recognition,” said Kimball. “I have loved working at SIC these past 21 years and will miss working with the awesomely talent students that have taken the stage over the years. I have loved theatre for as long as I can remember, and to have a stage named for me is a dream I could have never imagined.”
Kimball has directed and/or been officially affiliated with over 100 musicals, plays and related performances in the over two decades he has been with Southeastern Illinois College.
“I cannot imagine what this program would have been without him,” said Paul Cummins, SIC Humanities Division Co-Chair. “He has built this program up to what is a true gem of this institution.”
SIC President, Dr. Jonah Rice added, “When I was hired, I helped direct some plays for about eight years. Allan Kimball came in and created a program, and there is a huge difference there.”
During the last performance of The Boys Next Door, the first play Kimball directed and returned to the SIC stage after those 21 years, Cummins and Rice presented the plaque to Kimball.
“His work ethic is beyond parallel, he has a great spirit of cooperation, an uncanny ability to empathize with people, a desire to work to create student success, and a great respect for everyone he comes across,” said Rice. “We could all learn a thing or two from the way Allan Kimball conducts himself. I say the adjective ‘genuine’ sparingly, but Allan is a genuine soul and he will be missed at Southeastern.”
The resolution to name the stage was taken to and approved at the February 19 SIC Board of Trustees meeting. A plaque bearing the name The Allan G. Kimball Stage will be hung in the George T. Dennis Visual and Performing Arts Center complex permanently and prominently.
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