The many faces of the Wisconsin Union Theater

Posted By terraceviews-admin on Jun 12, 2012 |

By Erin Bannen, Union Theater marketing intern

The Wisconsin Union Theater will soon be going dark for renovations. But don’t worry! We still have a fabulous season for next year. We’ll simply be using some of the other lovely performance spaces on campus.

It doesn’t take interning here to know that over its 73-year history, some fantastic things have happened between the walls of this beloved Union Theater. To celebrate our storied past, I asked my co-workers to share some of their favorite Theater memories:

“There have been many funny, interesting and great moments but, as an Israeli, the most moving moment for me was the meeting between the members of the Palestinian Trio Joubran and those of the mostly-Israeli Balkan Beat Box during the 2005 Madison World Music Festival. It so happened both bands came to eat at the same time. BBB members were eating and chatting in Hebrew and the Joubran brothers stood backwards and watched them with somewhat suspicious looks on their faces. Suddenly, the youngest Joubran jolted and approached Tomer Yosef, BBB’s frontman, saying “I remember you, you used to be [the main character in some Israeli children’s TV show].” Tomer, surprised, looked at him and a long, friendly conversation ensued between the two of them, then all of the rest. It was a beautiful moment, and I still get a little teary-eyed thinking about the festival’s little contribution to peaceful—and friendly—interactions between supposed enemies.”
-Esty Dinur, Marketing & Communications Director

“One of the many aspects of the renovations we (and I believe all longtime patrons of our theater) are looking forward to is a massive improvement in our theater’s climate control. With that in mind, one of my fond memories here is as an Usher Supervisor in the mid-90s working during a Travel Adventure Film. Michael Goldberg, our Theater Director at the time, regularly attended our season events to welcome and visit with our patrons. During intermission that night, a few patrons approached him with negative feedback about the temperature in the house. In response, before the start of the second half of the program, he went onstage to make an announcement. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “I’ve received reports from some of you that it is too hot and too cold in the theater tonight. Rest assured, we are doing everything we can to resolve the problem. Thank you.”
–Ted Harks
, Box Office Manager

“When Jane Monheit performed here, she traveled with her husband and son, Jack, who was about 18 months old at the time, and a nanny to take care of Jack. I brought Lucy (who was about 1 year old at the time) backstage and she & Jack played in the wings with some of his toys while they did set-up and sound check. They were so cute!

One of my favorite stories is about the Dhoad Gypsies, who performed at the Madison World Music Festival in 2007. Their show turned out to be way more than just a musical performance … one of the performers walked on a bed of nails and breathed fire. It was quite the spectacle! And it drew a huge crowd to the terrace. Anyway, after the performance, I was the one who was driving them back to their hotel. And as we were piling into the van, the fire breather realizes that he left his kerosene somewhere on the Terrace. So I got out and had to push my way through the enormous crowd on the Terrace to hunt for the kerosene, which I eventually did find. It turns out that the way he breathes fire is by filling his mouth with kerosene, then spitting it into the air and lighting it on fire. So we get back into the van, and he asks if he can smoke. I told him “NO!” I was totally picturing his mouth catching on fire. Plus we only had to get to Lowell Center, which was not very far away.”
-Heather Good, Assistant Director for Development & Outreach

“My favorite memory would definitely have to be the time I spent all day with Gabriel Iglesias and all of his crew. Apparently, they left one of their tour managers at a truck stop as a prank but then forgot about him entirely, so I made a run to pick him up out in DeForest, which was interesting—I didn’t know what the guy looked like. After picking him up, he said we had to make a run to the airport to pick someone up and, for the sake of this, we’ll say the person we picked up is Gabe’s girlfriend. Her flight was delayed, so we went into the airport and enjoyed a couple of beers and some food (he paid for it all!). Once back at the theater, Gabe and his whole crew wanted to go get some dinner at Porta Bella and told me they’d pay for me as well—how could I refuse?! After the show at the theater, Gabe and his crew invited me to hang out on their tour bus where we played some video games shortly before going out with them. My night didn’t end until 5:30 in the morning. One of the most memorable times of my life! They’re a crazy bunch of kids!”
-Shawn Werner, Director of the Performing Arts Committee

 

 

“Watching the UW Jazz band play a salsa song back stage, and getting asked to dance by a member of the Village Vanguard who was also back stage watching.”
–Alexis Brown, Marketing and Communications Intern

 

 

 

“I have so many wonderful memories here, I could probably write an encyclopedia. From my day to day rituals of managing the office, to working with the student interns on a large scale archive project, to welcoming the world class artists and performers who perform at the theater – there’s really never a dull moment here!

One of my favorite memories at the Union Theater was seeing jazz drumming legend Roy Haynes perform at the Isthmus Jazz Fest, in June 2008. He was 83 years old in 2008. I repeat – 83 years old. This man seemed to have more energy than a teenager. He just glowed when he was playing and was completely unstoppable. I have the utmost respect and admiration for people who continue to do what they love well into their later years. His performance was a complete reaffirmation of life. And, after all, isn’t that what great art is all about?”
-Claire Weissenfluh, Program Assistant

“Despite all of the amazing performances I get to see, the community connections I get to make, and the backstage, behind-the-scenes experiences I get to have, my favorite memories at Wisconsin Union Theater all center around the people that work here. I remember commiserating with Claire, our program assistant, about how sore our bodies were – hers from roller derby and mine from dance. I remember talking with Heather, Assistant Director for Development and Outreach, about her experiences running a dance company on nothing and Esty, Director of Marketing and Communications, about her experiences dancing in an Israeli modern dance company. I remember Arts Director Ralph Russo helping me edit photos for a photo contest, and Box Office Manager Ted coming up with really creative solutions. I remember hanging with the other interns in the back office, chatting about this, that, and the other. Most of all, I just remember lots of laughter, hard work, and beautiful people.”
-Elana Siegel, Marketing and Communications Intern

Theater staff at the Curtain Down Open House

Interested in the performers mentioned in the memories above? Click on any of their names for a sample performance, or follow the other link for more information:

Le Trio Joubran (Official website)
Balkan Beat Box (Official website)
Jane Monheit (Official website)
Dhoad Gypsies from Rajasthan (Official website)
Gabriel Iglesias (Official website)
Roy Haynes (Drummerworld Profile)