John Tartagila's ImaginOcean plays in Capitol Theater on Sunday, October 16, 2011.

The self-proclaimed queen of cheese, Wisconsin native and UW alumna Emily Tucker is bringing big-city lessons about friendship back to Madison in her role in John Tartaglia’s black light puppet show, ImaginOcean.

Tucker hails from Platteville, where she first began acting in middle and high school through the Heartland Festival.

“I knew right away that I wanted to major in theater,” said Tucker. “And I always had my eye on Madison because, you know, it’s Madison.”

Tucker came to UW-Madison to study theater and graduated in December 2007. Two weeks later, she moved to New York City to pursue her dream. In NYC, Tucker has worked on quite a few off-off Broadway productions and ventured into stand-up comedy. Some of her favorite credits include: The Taffetas, Laundry and Bourbon, and Urinetown, The Musical. Tucker has also performed stand-up at the famous Caroline’s on Broadway.

Tucker’s first experience with puppetry began a couple of years ago when her boyfriend bought her a puppet for Christmas. Named Deb, she was a hot-pink muppet-style monster with big green, furry eyebrows. As Tucker mastered the art of puppetry, her boyfriend (also a UW alum and performing artist) suggested she audition for a new puppet show at the New World Stages. She auditioned, was selected, and soon began rehearsals on ImaginOcean.

ImaginOcean performer Emily Tucker

This fall, ImaginOcean hits the road (or, maybe, jumps into the current) on its first national tour. “The people are the best, [and it’s] an incredible company to work with,” says Tucker. “I’m so lucky to have these six months to throw myself into this wonderful project and completely immerse myself and do my best…I’m getting paid to do what I love, and I’m so glad that I’m able to work as a performer and use all the skills I learned [at UW], I really do rely on them every day.”

In the show, Tucker’s main character is Baby Jellyfish, who gets one of its tentacles stuck under a rock. Main character Dorsel and friends help free Baby Jellyfish from the rock (complete with singing and dancing, of course). For their kindness, Baby Jellyfish helps Dorsel and friends on their own journey.

“I love kids and education, I feel really strongly about it,” Tucker says, a certain passion coming through.. “Even the message of the show comes together when we’re performing it. It is tightly choreographed so no one gets hurt [on stage], there are a lot of elements [to the show].”

In addition to ImaginOcean, Tucker also works in education and outreach with On The Square Productions (founded by fellow Badgers) and Left Hip Productions, both NYC-based production companies.

Though she’ll have only a few days in Madison, Tucker is excited to show her cast mates the city of Madison and to introduce them to real Wisconsin cheese curds. “I really have a lot of Wisconsin pride, even more than when I lived there,” said Tucker. “It’s probably my favorite city in the whole US, I love it so much.”

By Erica Pelzek

Local artist Kim Caisse bustles around, pinning a mossy-green scarf that appears to be made out of algae onto a display board, shifting a giant petri dish knitted with cream yarn out of the way.

Caisse points out a cross-section of cilia made from bright pink cotton and felt, stuffed with cotton batting, sewn on the fly by a music educator in town from Finland who stumbled upon a fiber art workshop at Overture in early November.

“And we got two from Hawaii,” Caisse exclaims, gesturing toward rainbow-hued, wooly microbes.

As Caisse and co-curator Laurel Fletcher prep for the FRI, DEC 17 opening reception of “Our Tiny Friends and Foes,” a community fiber art exhibit featuring exclusively crocheted, knit, felt, sewn or cross-stitched microorganisms, their enthusiasm outshines the bright fabrics, even the ones with sheen.

Caisse and Fletcher, co-curators of "Our Tiny Friends and Foes" proudly display the fiber artistic fruits of their labor.

“We’re tapping into existing communities that are thriving,” Caisse explains. “The exhibition opening could be a really nice meet-and-greet for groups like the Knitter’s Guild, Crochet Guild and Embroiderers Guild, as well as a chance for all those groups to find some new members.”

A series of craft-ins, workshops and social stitching sessions were held in the Madison area to gather pieces for the community art project. From the start, the exhibit was intended to include as many artists as possible, creating something larger than the sum of its parts and grander than the work of any one artist.  The first seed of the project was the friendships between Caisse, Fletcher and Racette, and access to the beautiful Playhouse Gallery as the setting.

“We realized in the beginning that we didn’t have enough time to do it ourselves and not be insane,” Laurel laughs. “We needed other people to create things for it to be a viable community project.”

Madison art teacher Monique Karlen’s stuffed burgundy and orange “fantasy” microbe looks like it could make a comfy throw pillow—if it didn’t have protruding yarn “spikes” woven from yellow and orange space-dyed fibers.

The microbes looks like they could improve one’s digestion…or possibly wreak havoc on one’s immune system and—besides bringing people together through a craft that naturally encourages socializing—that is the driving theme of the project.
“We live with an illusion that we are autonomous beings, but our bodies have co-evolved symbiotically with microorganisms,” says Overture Education and Outreach Manager Beth Racette. “Benevolent microorganisms living in our bodies is an important frontier in medicine and human health.”

“Support from the University has been great,” Fletcher chimes in, “It’s a way to really bring biology and art together. People would come to the craft-ins and talk about biology and the scientific discoveries they’re learning about, because you have to read the biology books to understand how the cell you’re weaving operates and moves.”

“Our Tiny Friends and Foes” also features work from Madison school children learning about cells and their functions.

String and felt embroidered HeLa cells, made infamous in Rebecca Skloot's book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

From learning about the HeLa cells made infamous by Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and then viewing their fuzzy, triangular felt versions, to eyeing up an epithelial cheek swab sample made of pink organza, “Our Tiny Friends and Foes” will catch your eye from afar in Overture’s Playhouse Gallery—and you might even learn something.

“Our Tiny Friends and Foes” is up in the Playhouse Gallery at Overture Center FRI, DEC 18-SUN, FEB 6. The project is on display in conjunction with “Handmade Meaning,” a Wisconsin Academy community embroidery project inspired by Victorian redwork fundraiser quilts in Overture’s James Watrous Gallery until FEB 6.

The translucency of epithelial cheek swab cells is captured in this piece using pink organza.

If you enjoyed hearing more about fiber art community projects and are interested in fiber arts and live in the Madison area, check out these local and online communities:

Madison Knitters Guild:
MadisonKnittersGuild.org

Madison Area Crochet Guild:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=144988883053

Madison Area Embroiderers’ Guild:
http://www.madisonareaega.org/

Ravelry: a knit and crochet community
Ravelry.com – like Facebook for fiber art

For eight years, Open Art Studios has given Madison area artists the opportunity to  share their work with the public.  Open Art Studios is an annual arts event which includes: open art studio tour weekend, group exhibit at Overture Center, opening reception for the exhibit, artist demonstrations at libraries and other public locations, and a silent auction. The entire event is run by volunteers, and Overture is proud to be the site of the group exhibit.

Last year, Overture staffers interviewed several artists about their experience at the event.  To hear more, check out the video below.

Does this sound like you, or an artist you know? Now is the time to get involved with the 2010 event, to be held on October 2 and 3.  It’s easy to register – just read the information below.  Registration has been extended through June 30, so hurry!

We are happy to post the following information from our friends at OAS. If you have specific questions about the event, please email the OAS team at art@maoas.com.

Who:

Madison-area artists of all abilities and disciplines are invited to participate. OAS is about showcasing the depth and breadth of our community’s artists from emerging to established, hobbyist to professional, and academically trained to self-taught. This is not a juried event.

What:

Now in its eighth year, the goal of OAS is to demystify the process of art-making by engaging the community in the work of its local artists. Artists open their studios and invite the public to come and see how, where and why they create their work. This is a “hands-on” event: artist demonstration is the focus and key to its success. OAS is a unique event much different than an art fair or exhibition – a chance for the public to connect with and understand artists and the artistic process.

When:

Open Art Studios 2010 will be October 2-3.  Registration has been extended through June 30, 2010.

Where:

OAS happens in artists’ studio spaces all over the greater Madison area and in locations such as homes, stores, galleries, cafes and more.  For artists who don’t wish to or can’t open their studios to the public, we recommend grouping together at someone else’s studio or creating a group studio at a public location. Over the years, artists have banded together to create working studio sites at locations such as the Children’s Museum, zoo, community centers, country clubs, stores, condos, etc.  Wherever you choose to demonstrate your art-making, we’ll get it on the tour map!

If you would like to organize a group site, please let us know at art@maoas.com.

How:

Go to http://maoas.com to register. The cost for participation is $75. This fee includes opportunities for participating in public demonstrations plus your listing in, and copies of, the following promotional materials: OAS tour map, OAS brochures, Madison area Artists Directory, and listing with image on the OAS website. Your fee also supports OAS event advertising and other costs of running and promoting the event.

Important Dates:

June 23                     First all-artist meeting, 6 PM, Lussier Community Education Center (55 S. Gammon)

June 30                     Registration ends (extended from June 15 deadline)

Sept.27-Oct. 15        Overture Center exhibition

October 1                   Exhibition opening reception

October 2-3               Open Studios weekend

Once upon a time, Capitol Theater was a hot spot for music and movies in Madison. From the early 60s until it became part of the Madison Civic Center in 1980, Herb Frank kept the joint rockin’ with touring acts like the Beach Boys as well as contemporary films. Now the head of Frank Productions, a national concert promoter still based in Madison, Herb and his company are enjoying a homecoming of sorts.

Frank Productions and True Endeavors (aka local promoter Tag Evers) have struck a partnership with Overture Center for the Arts to produce and promote “Bud Light Capitol Concerts.”  Three concerts have already been announced with more announcements planned for the coming weeks.  American Idol winner Kris Allen will appear at the Capitol on Tuesday, June 1; blues prodigy Jonny Lang will appear Sunday, July 11l; and the piano playing singer/songwriter Marc Cohn will appear Saturday, August 7. Tickets for all three are on sale now.

“I moved to Madison in the early ’60s to manage the Capitol Theater when it was a movie house,” says Herb. “I brought some great concerts to its stage through the ’60s and ’70s. It’s great to be working in the building again, bringing music to Madison, and maybe breathing some of that rock’n'roll life back into the Capitol.”  Frank Productions will team up with True Endeavors to program the room, marking the first time that the two companies have directly partnered on concerts together. This new initiative will bring artists and performers from all genres, through series and stand alone concerts, to the venue.

“Capitol Theater is an amazing venue, and it deserves more music,” says Overture Center President and CEO Tom Carto. “These promoters have access to and relationships with a whole spectrum of artists that have eluded us in the past. This will be an important source of revenue for Overture, as well as a real boost to the downtown music scene. We are thrilled to welcome such top-notch local promoters to the Overture family.”

“Our goal is to introduce this amazing venue and its incredible acoustics to music fans who may not even know it exists, and reintroduce it to the generations of Madisonians who have fond memories of attending events there,” says Herb. “We won’t get in the way of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, CTM and their great tradition of A Christmas Carol, or the other resident arts groups who perform at the Capitol. But we know it’s a very versatile space, and we hope this new and additional programming will enhance and build a reputation for the venue as the place to see and hear live music.”

About Capitol Theater

The Capitol Theater was built in 1928 and served as a movie theater for many years before becoming the centerpiece of the Madison Civic Center and being renamed the Oscar Mayer Theatre. When Overture Center was built, the venue went through major renovations that improved the seats, sightlines and acoustics, and built a more intimate feel with a smaller capacity.  The venue holds 1,089 patrons when in a reserved configuration, and 1,200 patrons in a general admission format with the orchestra pit becoming standing room in front of the stage.  The theater continues to house the original Grand Barton Theatre Organ built in 1927.

About Overture Center for the Arts

Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, Wisconsin features seven state-of-the-art performance spaces and five galleries where national and international touring artists, ten resident companies, and hundreds of local artists engage nearly half a million people in educational and artistic experiences each year.

About Frank Productions

Frank Productions is one of the top independent concert promoters in the country consistently ranking in the top 50 promoters in the world in Pollstar (the concert industry’s trade publication).  In addition to presenting quality concerts in a variety of Madison venues, the company also produces national concert tours and events in major markets as well as being responsible for two of Madison’s larger festivals – Freakfest and 94 1 JJO Band Camp.

About True Endeavors

True Endeavors is one of the premier independent promoters in the United States, presenting live music in clubs and theaters around Madison as well as managing private events and conferences locally and nationally.  Additionally, the company does several benefits per year for non-profits and is continuously looking to expand its outreach efforts. Their philosophy is that music can and does matter.

Bud Light (brewed by Anheuser-Busch and distributed in Madison by Wisconsin Distributors) has agreed to sponsor the venture as the official beer of Capitol Concerts.

Three members of the cast of The Lion King were good enough to get up early on Tuesday, May 4 for a live broadcast of The Eight O’Clock Buzz from Overture Center’s Rotunda Studio. Host Stan Woodard brought 15 or so young people and adults from the Lussier Community Education Center to meet with Tyler Murree, who plays Timon, and ensemble members Rhea Roderick and Selena Moshell. The kids had some great questions about the show and how it works, as well as the profession of the theater and life in general.

Click here to listen … the top-of-the-hour news comes first, and the real show starts about five minutes in:

WORT 8 O’clock Buzz, Tues, May 4

And here are a few photos …

Rhea Roderick, Selena Mochell and Tyler Murree chat with Madison youth.

8'Oclock Buzz host Stan Woodard with one of Madison's great young people

The whole gang!

NBC15’s Dana Brueck went to Philadelphia to get a backstage look at how The Lion King makes it to the stage every night. Here are all three of her reports.

Part 1, Monday, April 26:

Part 2, Tuesday, April 27:

Part 3, Wednesday, April 28:

We want your visit to Overture for The Lion King to be a perfect, magical, unforgettable experience. Here are a few tips and ideas that’ll help …

The excitement for Disney’s The Lion King is getting almost palpable. Here are a few samples from what the local press has to say …

From The Badger Herald …

“When we went to Ohio, the opening number ended to a sound almost like an explosion as the lights blacked out and the audience went crazy. Then it got quiet and a little girl turns to her father and she said, ‘Is there more?’” Klaisner laughed. “I thought that was pretty cool because apparently that was enough for her. It’s pretty amazing.”

From 77 Square …

“It’s an amazing show for families,” said Amyia Burrell, an ensemble member who has been with the show for three years. “It is a great story … about life, and a father teaching his son a lesson about life and death and how the ones who have passed on never leave us.”

Burrell has played several roles in the show since she started, including a hyena, a lioness and a wildebeest.

“The puppet becomes a part of you,” she said, more so when the actor plays only one main role.

On Channel 3:

From Isthmus …

Crofton first saw The Lion King onstage in Toronto circa 1999. “It was transporting,” she says, “a visual extravaganza.” She remembers feeling swooped up by the emotional power of the experience.

Bringing the tour to Madison for a month means “about 70,000 people will come through the doors and into Overture Hall,” Crofton notes. That’s about 87.5% of capacity at Camp Randall Stadium — for a theatrical event. It also works out to the rough equivalent of almost one out of every three people in Madison, or 15% of all Dane County residents, carrying the shared experience of Lion King at Overture Hall.

Watch overturecenter.com for more updates!