Do any of these names ring a bell: Joel Drake Johnson ( playwright ) , Ronald Reagan ( actor/president ) , Rondi Reed ( Tony Award winner ) , Jeanie Linders ( writer and producer of the hit show Menopause the Musical ) or David Klaman ( nationally recognized visual artist ) ? All of these big names in the arts world graduated from a high school in a small town of 15,000 in northwest Illinois. These talented individuals were all raised along the scenic Rock River in Dixon. Dixon has had a major transformation since these individuals left the town; they probably wouldn't recognize it today.
Today, Dixon has a thriving downtown, a thriving arts sceneand a thriving gay scene. The downtown has two art galleries, sushi bar, French bistro, Italian cafe, two bookstores catered to the arts, a revitalized 1920s performing arts theater, a Black church, a Muslim mosque and its first openly gay councilman. As a matter of fact, in the town's election a month ago Dixon elected its first female council member, the first openly gay man ( who, by the way, was only seven votes short of being the top vote getter ) and a gay-friendly mayor. This is not the Dixon of Johnson, Reagan, Reed and Klaman.
There is currently a partnership developed to bring to the downtown Dixon's first gay bar. Also, Dixon has a huge Fourth Of July parade that now features gay activist groups and a large presence of PFLAG ( Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays ) .
In Johnson's play The End Of The Tour, a very different, mostly dark, image of Dixon is shown. His play is about a gay man from Dixon who lives in Chicago and decides to go back to Dixon with his partner to visit his mother in a nursing home. This play shows a very small-minded town in relation to homosexuality; it shows an emotionally numb community.Dixon is not that at all. Dixon is my hometown, and I visit every summer as an openly gay man and I'm accepted, without reservation, by everyone. Johnson should write a new play showing how small towns can transform and remake themselves. Dixon sure has.
When one small-town high school gives the world the likes of Johnson, Reagan, Reed and Klaman, there is something very special about that. When a small town opens its arms to gays and lesbians there is something remarkable about that. A small town should not be judged by the cover of its past, but by the strides it is making for the future. If I could miraculously get Johnson, Reed and Klaman back to Dixon now I know their past conceptions and prejudices would be greatly altered.
The nation and world have been enriched with great art that has filtered out of Dixon, Ill., from four individuals who call Dixon home. That a town of 15,000 in the middle of an agricultural zone can produce such extraordinary talent is an amazing story. That a small rural town can be accepting and nurturing to the gay community is someone else of which we can be proud.
Phillip Lefevre, who is currently self-employed, grew up in Dixon and is a 1981 Dixon High grad. He has taught in public schools in Boston and New York City.