When animosity and lack of trust were tearing apart an Ohio community, the Americans for the Arts paid for a theater troupe to go in and bring about change.

Soujourn Theater worked with the local arts agency to identify different sectors of the city and county that needed to be engaged in the process of building trust. Represented mong the 20 groups involved were farmers, the city council, the county board, African-Americans and schools.

As just a little boy, Josh Bough became obsessed with the musical "Little Shop of Horrors" after seeing a production at Tuscola High School.

"Basically, I've been trying to be Seymour since then," he said. "When I heard CUTC was doing it, I thought, 'I'm going to drop out of Eastern and go to Parkland.'"

He admits there were other reasons he left Eastern Illinois University for Parkland College. But he was successful with one: landing the lead role of Seymour in the Champaign Urbana Theatre Company production of "Little Shop," opening Thursday evening at the Virginia Theatre.

This is the first time that CUTC has presented the rock musical by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman.

It focuses on Seymour, a nerdy florist shop worker on Skid Row in New York who unwittingly raises a plant that feeds on human blood, and his love for Audrey, another worker at the shop.

The music is styled after 1960s rock 'n' roll, doo-wop and early Motown and will be performed by a 23-member cast and 13-piece orchestra directed by Cody Halberstadt. Music director is Brad Jenks.

Among the musical numbers are "Skid Row (Downtown)," "Somewhere That's Green" and "Suddenly, Seymour."

The role of the human Audrey is being played by Leanne Noland, a promotions staff member at WCIA-TV Channel 3. This is her first foray into local community theater, as she grew up near St. Louis and moved here just a year ago.

"I always liked Audrey a lot," said Noland, an EIU graduate in broadcast jour-nalism. "I like how naive she is.

"Throughout high school I always had Audrey-esque parts – the girls who are kind of clueless but likable."

Todd Salen, who is producing, said more powerful actor-singers auditioned for the roles of Seymour and Audrey, but producers liked the naivete and freshness that the 20-year-old Bough and 23-year-old Noland bring to the parts.

CHAMPAIGN – Country music icon Willie Nelson is "on the road again," returning to the home of his first Farm Aid concert 23 years ago with a concert in December at the University of Illinois Assembly Hall in Champaign.

Appearing with the 75-year-old singer-songwriter-actor-activist will be another musician-songwriter with a long list of movie credits, Billy Bob Thornton, and his band, the Boxmasters.

Temporary housing constructed last weekend will be torn down by Tuesday.

But it was meant to be temporary.

Simple wooden, plastic or cloth-covered structures in the yards of residences are huts for the celebration of Sukkot, the third of three fall Jewish holidays. The first two are Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

The Hebrew word "sukkot" stands for both the name of the holiday – which, translated into English, is the Feast of Tabernacles – and two or more hut structures. A single hut is a sukkah.