Author Archives: Waukesha Civic Theatre
PIX Flix Spotlight On The Board: Coco
The filmmakers at Pixar have a reputation of creating beautiful animated films that tug at the heartstrings. To prove their point, they boast an incredible resume of films known to be tear-jerkers, including the Toy Story franchise, Monsters Inc., Up, and Inside Out. Their 2017 offering, Coco follows in those same footsteps.
Coco captivates its viewers by paying tribute to the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). This colorful film celebrates the beauty of life while reminding us that those we’ve lost continue to live on in our hearts.
Along with the film, the theatre has invited an Aztec Drum and Dance troupe from La Casa de Esperanza to join in on the festivities. Waukesha Civic Theatre is proud to welcome our neighbors to the theatre in a joint celebration of culture and the arts.
Peter Kao
Secretary
Board of Directors
Director’s Note: Bad Seed
‘Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do?’
Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho
When a child is born, we look into their sweet faces and imagine all of the things they could become. We wonder what their future will hold. Will they be a doctor? A lawyer? A teacher? A mother or father? Will they have a family? When a child is born, it’s fun to think of all the things that could be. Opportunity is wide open to them to become whatever they want to be.
As the child grows, we quickly learn about their personality. Their likes and dislikes. Their strengths and weaknesses. But do these things define them and their future? Nature vs Nurture… what do you think?
I’m willing to bet that no one looks into an infant’s eyes and thinks… ‘They’re going to be a serial killer’. In today’s world of social media, we see – nearly daily – stories of kids that commit terrible crimes. If you read the comments, often times the parents are blamed. But should they be? How can a child brought up in a loving home with everything they need become a killer? How do kids in these homes grow up with what seems to be a complete lack of empathy?
I bring up these questions, not to start a debate, but to allow you begin to put yourself in the shoes of Christine in Bad Seed. Is Rhoda, a charming, smart, and sweet little girl, really a bad seed? What would you do if you were put in Christine’s shoes?
I think it’s easy for us to say how we would react to different scenarios life might throw at us. Or for us to say, ‘that would never happen to me’. The reality is that we don’t know what life will throw at us, and we certainly can’t say with certainty how we would respond.
I cannot thank my cast and production staff enough for their hard work, talent, and dedication to this production. We laughed, we cried, we had the hair stand up on our necks, and we discovered these characters and the show together. I hope you enjoy the show!
Kelly Goeller
Director
Spotlight On The Board: Bad Seed
One of Broadway’s outstanding hits. “It is solely and honestly meant to entertain…As purely purposeful diversion it ranks with ‘Dracula’ and sometimes sets your spine to as much tingling…chilling.” NY Telegram.
Get ready for a spine tingling story about a sweet, charming, full of old-fashioned graces, loved by her parents, admired by all of her elders, little Rhoda Penmark. Just in time for the Halloween holiday you will be captivated by this chilling play.
We have many opportunities throughout the year to enjoy, in more than one way, the offerings at the Civic. If after seeing Bad Seed you want to dust off your acting skills, we encourage you to audition for any of our upcoming shows. If acting isn’t up your alley, purchasing tickets to our upcoming shows or donations are always a welcomed support of the theatre. We also have many opportunities for volunteering your time to the theatre to help keep it in the pristine state and experience you are used to after all of these years of entertainment.
So grab your favorite person you bring to thrillers to hang onto for an exceptional telling of this old tale. Please spread the word to your family and friends about the great works Waukesha Civic Theatre has to offer. Remember we cannot provide this great entertainment without the support of our collective Civic family.
Rich Johnson
Treasurer
Board of Directors
The Waukesha State Bank Art Gallery Presents: Tom Smith
Originally from Toledo Ohio, Tom Smith has lived in the Milwaukee area since 1981.
His art training consisted of lessons at the Toledo Museum of Art in 3rd through 5th Grades and then in High School. After one class in college in 1977, he essentially stopped painting.
He went on to earn a Master of Music Degree after moving to Wisconsin and became a professional cellist. He plays in the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra and has been Principal Cellist of the Festival City Symphony since 1985. He also taught 1st Grade for 15 years in Wauwatosa.
In 2012, Tom began oil painting again after he left his teaching career. Three years later he began painting “En Plein Air”, which is painting outdoors, “on site”. He has since participated in many plein air events in Wisconsin, won awards, and was instrumental in planning the League of Milwaukee Artists first “West Bend Plein Air and Paint the Market” competition which was held in August of 2018.
He is a member of many art organizations, including: The League of Milwaukee Artists, The Wauwatosa Artists Workshop, Fine Art Montage, The Rogues Artist Group, WIPAPA (Wisconsin Plein Air Painters Association), and The American Impressionist Society
He has exhibited his oil paintings in many local venues and had several solo shows including at the Wauwatosa, WI Public Library, North Shore Presbyterian Church (Shorewood, WI) Bridgetowne Gallery (Wauwatosa, WI), and Art and Soul Gallery (Milwaukee, WI).
Awards have included:
2015 WAW Fall Show Honorable Mention
2017 LMA Winter Show Honorable Mention
2017 WAW Winter Show Award of Merit
2017 Cedarburg Plein Air Competition 2nd Place Award
2017 LMA Fall Show Honorable Mention
2017 Plymouth, WI “Paint the Towns Plein Air” Honorable Mention
2018 Arbor Place (Menomonie, WI) Plein Air Competition 2nd Place Award
2018 Jerry Goldstein Foundation Artist Merit and Achievement Award
2018 New Berlin (WI) Plein Air Honorable Mention
Fusion.art 2nd Season Quarterly Art Exhibition 4th Place Award
Juried Exhibitions and Plein Air Competitions have included:
“GALEX 52 National Exhibition and Competition”, Galesburg. Ill 2018
“The Modern Landscape” at Redline Gallery, Milwaukee, 2018
Taliesin Plein Air 2018 (Invitational)
“Water Works” 24th Annual Juried Exhibition, Plymouth (WI) Arts Center
Artist’s Statement
In my childhood, there were dreams. I would paint. I would make beauty. Always present though: a shadow. Even my name was hateful to me.
Then, childhood passed. There would be no beauty. There would be other things, though. Wonderful things: love, children, a career. Yet hiding in that shadow would be the art, the beauty.
There was a crash. I was unmoving. I was lost in the darkness. Until slowly, emergent, it finally came: the art.
You see, I have suffered from severe anxiety and depression for much of my adult life. The shadow blocking out the beauty. Then the finding: Asperger’s. Mild but present-and that knowing brought light.
One of my favorite quotes is by writer James Agee: “…and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the sounds of the night.”
Life was for a time, for me, full of sorrow. A sorrow I wanted to end; tried to end. Painting brought me out of this darkness. When I was in the hospital, the one book I brought along was about oil painting. When I returned home, I began to paint. Therapy, one could say, but also a renewal of my childhood dreams.
I began to realize that I love “being on this earth” and knowing that I am a part of its wonder. Yet I also know, like James Agee, that time is fleeting, and so I try to capture the beauty of this world in paint.
I hadn’t painted much since I was young, but now I began to see it as a way to a new life. I wanted to be an artist, and so I painted, painted landscapes, painted our Earth.
I found other artists, I joined art groups. I painted.
Being a painter has brought me into the light in so many ways. Sometimes being in it can be hard for me. I still struggle, I don’t know how or what to say. But painting has saved my life. I can look and say here, that’s me. My name is Tom Smith, and I am an artist.
Spotlight On The Board: The Little Prince
Now that summer is almost over, along with vacations and all of the summer activities, maybe it’s time to think about our entertainment schedules for the fall and on into next year. One great idea is to enjoy a change of pace, to be able to sit back and just enjoy a live stage performance put on by local actors. I am talking about the Waukesha Civic Theatre, located in the old PIX theatre building in downtown Waukesha. This non-profit organization puts on a variety of plays every year, and this is in addition to theatrical education programs, video showings, and much more.
When was the last time you went to live theatre? It’s much different than going to a movie or a sports event. Sometimes the plays just entertain you, sometimes they challenge your basic concepts. Whether you like a play or not, you have to be impressed with the time and effort our local entertainers put into the productions. So why not try something different this year and visit the Waukesha Civic Theatre? My wife and I are season ticket holders, and before that my parents were season ticket holders. I have to say that these plays are done as well as any I have seen from Purdue University to Milwaukee to Fort Atkinson.
This fall’s Mainstage lineup begins with The Little Prince, a play based on a book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The Little Prince brings to life the story of an Aviator lost in the desert who learns what it is to be tamed. This show deals with the themes of love, loss, and friendship. This play runs from September 13-29, 2019. Tickets can be purchased at the Box Office on Main Street in Waukesha or online via the Theatre’s website www.waukeshacivictheatre.org. If you go to the website, take time to look at all the things the Theatre does in our community, and if I were you, I would buy season tickets for the seven Mainstage shows.
Dean Danner
Board of Directors
The Waukesha State Bank Art Gallery Presents: Susi Schuele
Biography
Susi Schuele is a self-taught abstract artist. Raised in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, she now lives in the Town of Lisbon, Wisconsin with her husband, Chuck and their two very spoiled dogs and studio mates, Stardust and Hanna.
Susi has been creating in some way since she was a child. She is self-taught, beginning with acrylic paint and drawing. She has been creating abstract art with colorful stains on wood since approximately 2015.
Susi has attained her technical abilities from studying the works of artists she admires, such as O’Keeffe, Van Gogh and Monet. She is always experimenting with tools and mediums to achieve her desired effect.
“Creating colorful art on wood has refocused my perspective toward the lighter, happier, positive side of each new day. And…I have seen the same effect on people when they view my art work! Their wide smiles reach their eyes. Their expressions as they realize that each of my signature pieces are stain on wood and not paint is always a powerful, joyful reaction, both to them and to me.”
Schuele was nominated for the “People’s Choice” award in the ArtisTTable 2017 Women’s Exhibition online. She a member of many art communities and associations, including the League of Milwaukee Artists among others. She has been represented by the Gallery of Wisconsin Art (GOWA) in West Bend, Wisconsin since 2017 and Woodland Studios in Stoughton, Wisconsin since 2018. She has exhibited at prestigious exhibitions for abstract and contemporary art at GOWA and was featured in the One of a Kind Spring Art Show Fine Art Gallery in Chicago, IL in 2018 and 2019.
Statement
Words cannot describe my art. Emotions tell a bigger story. I tell my stories through vivid color inspired by all forms of nature, my imagination and music. My “Second Touch” from God has arrived and my lifetime desire to create and “be myself” is fulfilled.
I like to create art with a magnetic appeal. Art that draws you in. It says “Come closer. Tell me what you see. Tell me how you feel. I want to be what you need me to be.” Visual inspiration is a beautiful garden bursting in Spring, breathtaking sunsets glowing with orange, the subtle but sublime metallic golds and coppers in Raku pottery, the magnificent Rainbow Eucalyptus tree or the beaming contrast and glitter of colorful elements of nature such as geodes. When creating on various wood panels, the grain of the wood is oftentimes perfect inspiration alone.
Abstract brings my world and your world together by allowing each individual to see and feel their own story. From a primary emotion of a color-infused visual to secondary emotions evoked by “hearing” the music or remembering the lyrics from the piece’s carefully researched song title, this art will connect you to the experience of a memory in another time in your head and heart each time you view it. I achieve incredible depth in my work and bring a little more of my soul into each painting by titling them with song. My love of music is only surpassed by my love of art. As a result, my paintings evoke a powerful emotional effect on viewers from every sense. Joy, curiosity, maybe even dark.
My art is unique because I am currently the only artist in the country creating fine art on wood with colored stains. Most always, I use only my hands, but on occasion I work with a brush for detail and include other mediums such as alcohol ink in my work.
PIX Flix Spotlight on the Board: The Sound of Music
September is a great time to gather the family together and come to PIX Flix, in Historic Downtown Waukesha! We are thrilled to bring The Sound of Music back to the PIX Theatre, now the home of the Waukesha Civic Theatre, on Monday, September 16, at 6:30 p.m.! I say “back,” because, while I wasn’t able to find historical proof, I feel certain this film must have been shown at what is now our amazing community theatre, back in 1965, when it was first released by 20th Century Fox. The film, which debuted in sold out theatres around the country for over a month, was produced and directed by Robert Wise and stars Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film was adapted from the musical, and two new songs were written just for the movie, “I Have Confidence,” and “Something Good.” Becoming an instant hit, it is no wonder this stunning film won five Oscars at the 38th Academy Awards!
Influenced by other successful movies of the day, such as Camelot, Mary Poppins, and Cinderella (all of which also starred Julie Andrews) the screenwriter, Ernest Lehman, used artistic license to convey the meaning and essence of the times in Salzburg, just as the Nazis were gaining power. A small amount of historic exploration will uncover many ways that opulence and pageantry, which were not historically accurate, were employed to draw the audience deeper into the unfolding story and to create a visual masterpiece. In reality, the von Trapps did not live in a mansion or play in the hills of Salzburg and the home they lived in was not actually their ancestral home, as is depicted in the movie. However, the visual backdrop of the movie we have come to know and love is enchanting and it is almost impossible to imagine the story without it.
Then there is the music! Who of us has not grown up with “Do-Re-Mi,” “Edelweiss,” “So Long Farewell,” and “Climb Every Mountain,” as part of our own personal soundtracks? My family had such a thrill sharing these songs and the film with the next generation that our daughter was cast as Brigitta von Trapp in Waukesha Civic Theatre’s 2014 production of the musical! These songs will forever be in our hearts.
We hope you will take this opportunity to bring your families, young and old, to see the cinematic treasure The Sound of Music at the Waukesha Civic Theatre on the big screen on Monday, September 16, at 6:30 p.m. Always a value, our PIX Flix films are still only $5 per ticket and of course, we have popcorn and refreshments available too! While you’re there, pick up an A.C.T. (Academy at Civic Theatre) brochure and discover all the amazing educational opportunities that await at our own community theatre, WCT. You will also be able to find a calendar for our 63rd season Mainstage productions – the first of which, The Little Prince, opens September 13, 2019. Mainstage Season Ticket Packages are available now and the lineup is outstanding! We will also present Bad Seed, Elf the Musical, Come Back, Big Fish, Silent Sky, and The Secret Case of Sherlock Holmes this season, in addition to many Random Acts of Entertainment! We look forward to seeing you at the Theatre.
Jenny Erato
Board Director