UW Theatre Opens Season With ‘Waiting for the Parade’

Opening the University Theatre’s 1997-98 season is Waiting for the Parade, a touching modern drama by Canadian playwright John Murrell. Five of UW’s best actresses explore how women during World War II deal with the changes war forces on those left at home.

Although they have vastly different personalities, the characters are brought together by their involvement in volunteer activities and come to share in each other’s lives as well as in the war effort.

Guest director Norma Saldivar sees Waiting for the Parade as a surprisingly active play. Although everyone is waiting for peace to come, as the wait grows and lengthens, the characters keep busy with volunteering, jobs, families, and all of the experiences of daily life that must go on. There are two levels to this play, says Saldivar: first, we see the personal journeys of these five women and how the war changes them, and secondly, the play stands as a metaphor for the evolutio nthat the world underwent during this time period. The world community, like the community of these women, became a totally different place after World War II.

Saldivar believes that this show will have special appeal not only for those who lived through this period (for whom the music in the show will undoubtedly bring back memories), but also for today’s college students, who are going through rapid changes in their own lives. Saldivar, a former resident director at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, will also serve as guest director for another UW production later in the season.

The designers of Waiting for the Parade have focused on creating a community-based environment which integrates the audience into the characters’ world while allowing for the fragmented structure of the play, which is divided into episodic scenes spanning the war years. Christopher Steege’s set evokes a YMCA to give both public and private spaces, which are reinforced by Adam Kuhn’s lighting.The production uses many authentic period pieces in the props and costumes, designed by Jamie Hotz, and includes numerous songs popular at that time, prepared under the musical direction of Jim Larson.

Waiting for the Parade will be performed on Oct. 24-25, 30, and Nov. 1-2, 6-9, and 13-15 in the Hemsley Theatre, located in Vilas Hall on the UW–Madison campus. All performances start at 7:30 p.m. There will be a Talk Back following the performance on Thursday, Nov. 13. Tickets are $11 for the general public, $8 for students, and may be purchased in person or by phone, (608) 262-1500, from the Vilas Hall Box Office, open Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and from 5:30 p.m. until curtain time on performance days.