Three New Theater Productions Draw Audiences from Area Schools

Attending a play can prompt us to learn more about subjects dramatized.

Accordingly, a veritable parade of visitors from area schools will join other audiences in seeing the University of Wisconsin–Madison theatrical presentations. What unites these projects is the hope that they will inspires audiences to remain on — and perhaps even broaden — their educational paths.

Upcoming performances include:

“Publikumsbeschimpfung,” Department of German: Audiences seeking insult (in German!) will find a fertile ground at this play, whose title, loosely translated, means “offending the audience.”

The promised affronts will come via new and different ways of approaching language, says director Gross, a member of the department’s faculty.

“It gives us all a chance to interact on a different level — theater engages both the body and the intellect,” she says. Because the play experiments with new ways of communicating, Gross says it will be accessible to people with no knowledge of German as well as those fluent in it.

Area high school classes have been invited to attend with members of the general public. Gross says in past years, audiences have come from as far away as Oshkosh and Illinois.

All performances will be free, open to the public and take place April 21-23 at 8 p.m. in the Memorial Union’s Frederick March Play Circle. Tickets can be reserved by calling (608) 262-2192.

“The Odyssey,” University Theatre for Young Audiences: Using music, poetry and dance, “The Odyssey” follows the homeward-bound hero Odysseus as he encounters the testy Cyclops, the six-headed Scylla, the Enchanted Island and much more.

This presentation will use multicultural storytelling techniques from Celtic, South Asian and Puerto Rican traditions, according to guest director Deborah Proctor, a noted youth theater director from Cardiff, Wales.

Proctor says “The Odyssey,” like all great literature, engages audiences through powerful themes. “It’s about journeys, growing up, leaving home, being faced with powers beyond your control,” she says.

Two public performances will be presented, April 25 at 7:30 p.m. and May 3 at 3 p.m in Vilas Hall’s Mitchell Theatre. Tickets, $9/general and $5/ students may be purchased at the Vilas Hall box office, (608) 262-1500. In addition, five school performances will be presented for approximately 1,500 students from the Madison area.

“La Tortue qui chante,” Department of French and Italian: It is a situation direct from your worst nightmare: losing the exalted position of First Counselor to the King to your evil sneaky father-in-law.

However, he clearly has not reckoned with the Singing Tortoise (“La Tortue qui chante” by Togolese playwright Senouvo Agbota Zinsou).

Incorporating both ancient and modern theatrical conventions, “La Tortue” uses everything from traditional African purification rites to contemporary improvisational street theater to tell its story.

Judith Miller, UW–Madison professor of French and the play’s producer, says the past several productions have focused on French-language plays from Africa. “I hope we can encourage students on all levels to explore African culture as well as improve their French,” she says.

Miller and graduate student director Henrik Borgstrom invited 150 schools from a 100-mile radius to the production. Previous years have seen audiences over 1,000, coming from the schools, the university and larger community.

“La Tortue” will be performed May 5-7 at 8 p.m. in Memorial Union’s Fredric March Circle. Free tickets are available from Sue Grass-Richard, (608) 262-3941.