Stagehands' union in the spotlight: IATSE Local 251 turns 100 Jay Rath on Thursday 02/02/2012, (1) Comment They project our films, transform Overture Center's bare stages and even change the Kohl Center from a basketball court to a hockey rink. After 100 years of literally shining the spotlight on Madison's arts, it's time for the spotlight to shine on IATSE Local 251, the stagehands union. >MoreLynda Barry brings her visionary talent to a UW residency Cartoonist extraordinaire Jennifer A. Smith on Thursday 01/19/2012 On a blustery afternoon at November's end -- when it's drearily dark at 4:30 -- a standing-room-only crowd jammed into a subterranean lecture hall at the UW's Chazen Museum of Art. Seating nearly 300, room L160 is typically a place where undergrads soldier through intro art history lectures on the Doryphoros or the Isenheim altarpiece. Yet, on this day, they were there to see cartoonist extraordinaire Lynda Barry, who quickly ensnared the audience with her kooky and sometimes profane wit. >More
Thinking ahead: Madison arts leaders offer ideas for 2012 Jay Rath on Thursday 12/29/2011 At this time of year, many of us reflect on ways to better ourselves. It's the same for area arts leaders, who offer a variety of New Year's resolutions. Rob Chappell, spokesman for the Overture Center for the Arts, resolves to "convince every member of every touring Broadway cast to expunge the word 'thrilled' from their bio." >MoreUW class designs adaptive reuse for historic White School in Spring Green Austin Duerst on Friday 12/23/2011 3:27 pm Sunday's reception at the historic White School in Spring Green concluded a semester long project during which UW-Madison interior design students were assigned the task of creating concepts for the adaptive reuse of the historical building. >More
The River discovers unnatural phenomena in the Amazon Going native Dean Robbins on Thursday 02/02/2012 The River is a new series that crosses Heart of Darkness with The Blair Witch Project, to good effect. Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood) was beloved for his TV nature series, in which he explored the world with his perfect family: son Lincoln (Joe Anderson) and wife Tess (Leslie Hope). As The River begins, Emmet is presumed dead in the Amazon, and Tess drags a reluctant Lincoln and a camera crew out in search of him. >MoreLuck struggles to be a good show about bad people Gambling problem Dean Robbins on Thursday 01/26/2012 HBO specializes in making appealing shows about unappealing men, like Tony in The Sopranos or Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire. Luck is the latest attempt -- a racetrack tale of crooks (Dustin Hoffman), horse owners (Nick Nolte) and assorted gamblers. The talent on board is impressive, from Hoffman and Nolte to filmmakers Michael Mann (The Insider) and David Milch (Hill Street Blues). But in the pilot, they can't get us to care about these awful people. >More
The 12 Signs of the Madison Apocalypse! Alan Talaga & Jon Lyons on Thursday 01/05/2012 As prophesied by Nostradamus, the Mayans, Hollywood and that guy on Willy Street who makes his own shampoo, the world as we know it will end in December 2012. Madison will not be immune to these strange times, as each month shall bring a new harbinger of the impending doom. Strange behaviors, unbelievable events, these are all part of... The 12 Signs of the Madison Apocalypse! >More
Mark 'Stew' Stewart, multi-media artist and musician, brings huge personality to UW Austin Duerst on Friday 11/18/2011 4:37 pm The normally sterile quality of a college professor's den takes on a vibrant energy as we enter his office, an atmosphere not unlike the fast-paced city of New York where Stew spends the rest of his working time. Phones are ringing. An email needs to be sent out. His next class begins in less than an hour. "But I want to give you everything you need for your article, so please forgive all this craziness," Stew says. I turn the tape recorder on. If he writes the email, then it's yet another example of his multi-tasking abilities. >MoreNot all local poems deserve Willy Street immortality Verse beneath your feet Dean Robbins on Thursday 11/17/2011, (1) Comment Contemporary poetry is often printed in journals that few people see. But the Poetry in Sidewalks public art project on Williamson Street gives four local poets a shot at a mass audience, not to mention immortality. >More
A Book A Week: The Frozen Rabbi by Steve Stern Becky Holmes on Friday 02/03/2012 6:00 pm Rabbi Eliezer, a great sage, is accidentally frozen in a block of ice in Russia in 1889. He remains thusly preserved for over a hundred years until he is inadvertently thawed out and reanimated during a power surge in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1999. His unwitting rescuer is Bernie Karp, an overweight, socially awkward Jewish teenager who has found the frozen rabbi in his parents' basement chest freezer. >MoreNew talent shines in UW Dance Department's Latitudes Katie Reiser on Friday 02/03/2012 11:38 am Some of my favorite UW dance majors have graduated or are poised to do so soon. Latitudes, the dance department's faculty concert, proves that the department is attracting talented new students and developing the talents of ones I've seen before. >MoreMadison Central Library sells out Austin Duerst on Wednesday 02/01/2012 2:04 pm Since moving to a temporary location last year in advance of renovations to its home on West Mifflin, frequent visitors to the Madison Central Library have no doubt felt a piece of their lives missing, be it in the form of a favorite door handle or metal shelf. But for a limited time, those who wish to reclaim a portion of the library for themselves can do so through a public sale of the building’s various accessories and materials. >MoreInside at Night looks back at the 2011 Wisconsin Capitol occupation Jennifer A. Smith on Monday 01/30/2012 4:17 pm Looking at the photographs in "Inside at Night: Origins of an Uprising," I felt like the events captured happened ages ago, or just last week. Such is the funny sensation of revisiting recent history. The show, which opened Friday night at Tamarack Studio & Gallery, documents Wisconsin's 2011 Capitol protests, with a special focus on the building's occupation, through the eyes of nine photographers. >MoreA Book A Week: Faith by Jennifer Haigh Becky Holmes on Friday 01/27/2012 6:00 pm Faith is the book I've been waiting for Mary Gordon or Alice McDermott to write. These women are leading writers of Irish-American fiction, but neither has taken on the subject of the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic church. Jennifer Haigh has done it instead, and done it well. >MoreA Book A Week: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan Becky Holmes on Thursday 01/26/2012 6:00 pm Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad is just the kind of book I like, so my year is off to a good start. It's clever and original, complicated but not difficult to read. It's funny and a bit sad at the same time. >MoreA Book A Week: The Oriental Wife by Evelyn Toynton Becky Holmes on Wednesday 01/25/2012 6:00 pm I swore I wasn't going to do this: pick up random books at the library. This was what got me into trouble last year; most of the books I found this way proved dull or annoying, and I wasted several days on each one. However, I can't seem to resist the habit, and this time it paid off. >MoreForward Theater Company premieres thought-provoking A Thousand Words Jennifer A. Smith on Saturday 01/21/2012 10:31 am A Thousand Words, premiered by Forward Theater Company Friday night in Overture Center's Promenade Hall, deftly bounces between past and present and themes of art, friendship and art-world conflict. >More
Madison Ballet's The Nutcracker charms and inspires Katie Reiser on Sunday 12/18/2011 8:10 pm Last year, The New York Times dance critic Alastair Macauley traveled the country to take in many versions of The Nutcracker, a sure prescription for Nutcracker burnout. But I would like to think if he’d seen a 30th anniversary performance by the Madison Ballet at the Overture Center, he would have been as charmed as I was. >MoreChildren's Theater of Madison's A Christmas Carol returns in a new adaptation Amelia Cook on Saturday 12/10/2011 10:29 am A Christmas Carol is back at Children's Theater of Madison. After a brief hiatus (last year, CTM opted for the musical A Wonderful Life as its holiday show), the classic Christmas tale has returned to delight audiences of all ages this holiday season. >More
Broom Street Theater observes the season with uneven-but-rewarding Ghosts of Christmas Past André Darlington on Saturday 11/12/2011 8:47 am, (1) Comment The Ghosts of Christmas Past by Broom Street Theater is a mostly madcap romp through the holiday season's cultural and emotional landscape. With an intimacy that only a small community theater can achieve, the play by Christina Beller and Scott Rawson manages to cover the turbulent ground of parental sexuality, loss of loved ones, social awkwardness, family dysfunction, painful in-law experiences and the just plain bad memories that seem to resurface for all of us this time of year. >MoreForward Theater examines TV's dueling creators in The Farnsworth Invention Visionary vs. visionary Rosemary Zurlo-Cuva on Thursday 11/03/2011 There is a decidedly festive atmosphere at Forward Theater Company's newly acquired rehearsal space in downtown Madison. Cast, crew and a number of guests have gathered this October late afternoon for the first rehearsal of the first production of the new season. After all the reunion hugs, the swells of laughter and the friendly clamor for chairs, the room quiets. Anticipation is palpable as Jennifer Uphoff Gray, Forward's artistic director and director of this new play, rises to set the stage, so to speak, for the first read-through of Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention. >More
After a first look, abstract Sean Scully paintings at Chazen don't resonate Sudden impact Jennifer A. Smith on Thursday 12/01/2011 Abstract art is a funny thing: Sometimes it can be transcendent, and sometimes it leaves me cold. In the transcendent camp, I'd include the Chazen Museum of Art's Helen Frankenthaler painting Pistachio (1971). There's something about the delicate washes of green, golden yellow, blue and pinky-red that I find both comforting and engaging. >MoreChazen Museum's 'Hanga Traditions' explores divergent approaches in Japanese printmaking Jennifer A. Smith on Tuesday 11/22/2011 3:38 pm Among its many cultural contributions, Japan is known for its highly refined printmaking traditions. Luckily for Madisonians, the UW's Chazen Museum of Art has a strong collection of Japanese prints, some of which are on display in "The Hanga Traditions: Twentieth-Century Japanese Woodcuts" through Jan. 15. >More
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