Bradford Chapin
Hometown: Grayslake, IL
University: University of Illinois
Major: Sound Design and Technology
BIOGRAPHY
Hi! My name is Bradford Chapin. I'm from Grayslake, IL and I'm a graduate student studying Sound Design and Technology. You may find me tooling along the Champaign County roads wearing a bright orange helmet. If not there, you might catch a glance of me at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts lurking behind a sound board. Growing up in a small town turning into a suburb of Chicago, I spent the younger part of my playing trombone in school bands, going to ska shows, and generally staying out of trouble. I thought doing sound for the high-school plays was fun, but I didn't discover a passion for collaborating in live performances until studying theatre and music at University of Wisconsin-Parkside. My love for bicycling came nearly around the same time. I spent a lot of hours on my bike in Utah when I was working for Utah Shakespearean Festival. I then continued west to work as a sound engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area where I continued bicycling whenever I had time. I was there for two years working for various theatre companies before heading back to Illinois to pursue this Master's degree.
PERSONAL STATEMENT
My mother was really lucky. She was diagnosed with cancer, got a hysterectomy, and is now 100% cancer-free! I've never experienced anything close to what she went through, but many people have it much worse. I once worked on a play about playwright Oni Faida Lampley's battle with cancer. Unfortunately, having lost her battle with breast cancer, Oni was unable to collaborate with us on the production of her play. Seeing the actor playing Lampley struggle with chemotherapy, doctors' appointments, and the decay of her relationship with loved ones gave a much worse picture in my mind about cancer. Although treatment is developing, I'm convinced that there must be better solutions to the current ways of treating cancer. With the help of funds raised by Illini 4000, we can find solutions sooner.