LOUIS JOLLIET: A Solid Path Through Water

The premiere presentation in Joliet! Don’t miss the one-act, one-person play written and performed by Jim Healy, in honor of the 350th anniversary of Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet’s voyage down the Mississippi River in 1673.

INDOOR THEATRE PERFORMANCES

SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2023
Joliet’s Premiere presentation with champagne toast!
7:00 pm – theatre performance (about 1 hour)
6:00 pm – Lobby opens for ticket sales, drinks & refreshments

PREMIERE TICKETS
$20.00
Special thanks to Jim! He’s donating 100% of ticket sales to the Park’s Cultural Arts Programming!  
Click here to purchase online in advance (no extra fees).
Tickets may also be purchased at the door (cash).
General admission seating.

PREMIERE TICKETS INCLUDE:
• 2 complimentary drinks, champagne toast & cash bar
• Hors d’oeuvres & live music
• Meet & greet with Jim after the show!

SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 2023
Free admission!
2:00 pm – theatre performance (about 1 hour)
1:00 pm – Lobby opens with cash bar & light refreshments available for purchase

PARKING
Free within the park.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROISTY!
Bicentennial Park thanks you for supporting our CULTURAL ARTS PROGRAMS and for keeping the Arts alive in Joliet for all communities to enjoy!

A special thank you to Jim for donating 100% of ticket sales to Bicentennial Park’s Cultural Arts Programs. Dr. Healy has graciously donated all of his time and talent to creating this wonderful program, thus allowing 100% of admission sales to go directly to the Park’s 501c3 nonprofit, Will-Joliet Bicentennial Park, Inc., for future CULTURAL ARTS PROGRAMS.

ABOUT JIM
Jim Healy’s involvement in theater goes back to his high school days, college years (which include his time studying acting and directing in London) and family raising (while landing lead roles in community theatre here at Bicentennial Park). Jim is a popular speaker, writer and psychologist by training. In 2019, Jim received an honorary doctorate in the Humanities from Lewis University for his work helping families.

Beatrice Pavia, a writer and editor from Champaign, Illinois, calls Jim’s play “a deft combination of lighthearted and powerful observations, artfully and entertainingly blended. Insightful and inspiring!”

VIDEO – MEET JIM!
www.LouisJollietPlay.com

FROM JIM
I have lived most of my life in Joliet, Illinois (Illinois is the French approximation for the name the Illini Nation used.) For thirty years, we lived in the Marquette Gardens subdivision. Now we live just off Hennepin (another French Canadian explorer) Avenue, close to the Louis Joliet mall. When I was in junior high school, I was a volunteer with the Joliet Explorers, a minor league football team. The mascot was a French fur trader named “Louie.” On every trip to the library, I passed the locally famous statue of Louis Jolliet (misspelled as “Louis Joliet” and with a rifle a little too modern for the 17th century).

And yet, I knew so little about him, and what I thought I knew was often wrong. Rediscovering the man has been a fascinating journey, and I am delighted to bring him to you.

My effort has been to make Louis Jolliet neither an apologist for the European colonization of North and South America, nor a 21st century revisionist who has the benefit of hindsight. Rather, I want to present him as who he was:  a thoughtful man of his times, both daring and planful.