Meet the Characters

The Start-ups

Hadley Reese – age 30

Hadley is a recent transplant to Normal from the Bay Area, where she worked at the Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). She was tapped as Head Curator for the Normal Historical Museum (currently under construction), and works out of temporary offices in the library. Due to a huge donation from an anonymous VC to build the museum, Hadley has plenty of leeway in her quest to unearth Normal’s unique contribution to global innovation.

Donatello Stefani – age 32

Donatello Stefani works alongside Hadley as Director of Displays and Programs at the Normal Historical Museum. His focus is CGI and his specialty is holograms, both of which will be a large part of the museum displays. Before moving to Normal six months ago, he worked at Pixar. He knows Hadley from when they both lived in the Bay Area, and recommended her for her current position.

Colby Stone – age 33

Colby Stone is the MAYOR of NORMAL He is also an avid outdoorsman and CEO of EVO. He went to Stanford, where he and a couple of pals dropped-out and started a software company that took the world by storm. Known worldwide for his outsize public persona and his creative flair, Colby recently got venture capital for EVO, a green company that is developing a charging system for electric vehicles. Colby has an eco-modern estate just outside Normal city limits, and spends his time jetting among residences in Paris, Woddside and Manhattan. He relocated EVO’s corporate offices to Normal to take advantage of snowboarding, biking, and kayaking.

Jimmy Franklin – age 26

Jimmy Franklin works for a start-up that develops third party gaming apps. While he comes across on first meeting as a directionless slacker, he is in fact an award-winning tech wizard, responsible for “Prison Breakout,” voted Most Popular iPhone and Facebook Game App in 2009. Like Colby, when he isn’t working 24/7 he spends time snowboarding and biking. He also plays the drums.

The University

Dr. Leon Coopers – age 67

Dr Coopers is Chair of the Neuroscience Department at UNTN. He has a prominent national role on the speaking circuit, has received many citations for his research on the central nervous system, and has written five books that are seminal in the field. He works closely with Waiklund, supplying interns and devising research parameters. With his students, he alternates between being wholly accessible and totally intimidating.

Daisy Oh – age 28

Daisy Oh is a bubbly outgoing grad student in the Neuroscience Department at UNTN and interns at Waiklund, directly under Dr Tessler. She received her undergraduate degree from Yale and post-graduate degree from Harvard.

Brodin Rushmore – age 29

Brodin Rushmore just arrived at UNTN, having received a national research grant in nanobiotechnology. He is known as a wonderkind, having completed studies at the University of Cambridge in two and a half years, with additional study at Oxford. He lives and breathes research, wrote his first book while still at university, and tends to keep to himself. His social demeanor can be abrupt, sarcastic and off-putting, yet his brooding manner and style make him the subject of much female gossip. An odd duck for sure, but no matter – he doesn’t have time, anyway.

Prpfessor Julie Robertson – age 38

Julie is a professor in the Technology Department at UNTN and is well-liked by all her students. She moved to teaching and research after years with Microsoft, where she amassed a fortune from stock options. Financially self-sufficient, Julie teaches solely as a means of giving back to the community. She is green-conscious and sees a new wave of technology merging with environmental responsibility. She drives a Prius and is very involved with Normal’s sustainability movement.

Dylan Kittredge – age 30

Dylan Kittredge is a friend of Brodin’s who studied architecture before dropping out of school. He’s lived around the world with his family and currently is at loose ends. He has a dramatic streak and cultivates a bad boy persona.

Waiklund Institute

Dr Adam Tessler- age 45

Dr Adam Tessler is a good-looking man in that news anchor way, tall, strong-jawed and dark-haired, with a commanding and charismatic presence. His brilliance is well-known and yet he also has the added gifts of being both approachable and a good listener. He garners huge public respect for keeping Waiklund running like a well-oiled machine. During his eight year tenure as Director, his calm guardianship keeps residents secure, and his mysterious past is catnip to the ladies. Tessler has been married for 19 years to Mary Ellen and they have two teenage sons who go to Normal High. They both serve on local non-profit boards, and are very philanthropic.

Nicky Sanders – age 26

Nicky Sanders is an ambitious, determined redhead, who is executive assistant to Dr Tessler. She started out with little experience (but a really great connection), and worked her way up the corporate ladder. Anyone who wants any dealings with the top brass at Waiklund needs to go through Nicky. She’s manipulative and usually gets what she wants.

The Regulars

Darrell Watts – age 44

Darren Watts is Police Chief of Normal’s six-man force. He has a distinguished career, first as an exemplary cop on the mean streets of South Central in L.A., then as a homicide detective working out of Glendale. Looking for an easier pace, he moved to Normal five years ago and became Police Chief the following year after the previous Chief was killed by a rabid deer. Darrell is well-liked and knows everyone by name. His laid back manner belies a shrewd interior.

Dr Sara Hobbs – age 39

Dr Sara Hobbs is a clinical psychiatrist with her own practice in Normal. She has a wall of commendations, certificates and degrees, as well as a full schedule (many of her patients are from the Waiklund Institute). She has a “take no prisoners” approach, is single and very intense. She likes handing out her card to those in need.

Travis Opal – age 42

Opinionated and with a missionary’s zeal, Travis Opal travels to the beat of his own drummer. A self-proclaimed survivalist, he leads a group of 30-40 malcontents that live in a deserted Army base north of Normal. It is unclear exactly what philosophy they embrace, but clearly they believe dire consequences are at hand. Travis has had more than a few run-ins with Chief Watts, but Normal’s motto of live and let live has kept things on an even keel.

Honey Reins – age 34

Honey Reins is a former contestant on a reality-based cooking show, and relocated to Normal after she was voted off the show in round five. She successfully parlayed her skills as a caterer and now handles almost all events in town, both big and small. When she isn’t riding her horses, Honey can usually be found at the Fountain Park Farmer’s Market, or prepping for a shindig. She won “Normal’s Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2008 and her company Honey Reins Catering was voted #1 by the locals the last three years.

Kira Benson – age 22

Kira is a sweet-natured waitress at the Pick Me Up Coffeehouse. A sun-kissed blonde, Kira moved to Normal from Kansas, looking for meaning in life. She’s the quintessential post-flower child, with a back to nature, we are the world mind-set. At once enterprising and homespun, she is a fledgling entrepreneur – her homemade brownies and rice krispy treats are a staple at the Pick Me Up, and every Wednesday and Saturday, she sells her home-grwon vegetables at the Fountain Park Farmer’s Market.

Calvin Pepper – age 43

Calvin Pepper is a fiction writer who moved to Normal 18 months ago. To make ends meet, he works full-time at The Missing Spoke, a downtown cycle shop. He’s friendly, courteous, extremely intelligent and very knowledgable about cycling. He is somewhat prone to depression over the writer’s block affecting his second novel.