Nearly 2,000 high school students to attend theatre festival

November 6, 2006

Nearly 2,000 high school students and more than 130 high schools from around the state will attend the Wisconsin State Theatre Festival at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater November 16-18. The festival is sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison department of liberal studies, the Alliance for Wisconsin Theatre Education (AWTE) and the Wisconsin High School Forensics Association. Since 1994, UW-Whitewater has hosted the festival every other year.

"This festival brings together as many students as possible to perform and learn from one another," Marshall Anderson, theatre/dance department chair, said. "The teachers love coming here, too, because of the festivities and for the fact that the festival is run so well by UW-Whitewater students and staff."

During the three-day festival, students have the opportunity to attend workshops, performances and one-act plays. Lighting design, juggling, auditioning, improv theater and improv comedy are just a few of the workshops offered. This year "Cats," performed by Dominican High School at 8 p.m. November 16, and "Urinetown," performed by Shorewood High School at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. November 17, will be the showcase performances, which are sponsored by AWTE.

The theatre festival is very beneficial to the university because it gives UW-Whitewater the chance to show off what it has to offer. "It's a great way to show off our facilities and our program to prospective students, it's sort of like a recruiting effort for the university," Anderson said. 

Numerous UW-Whitewater theatre students will volunteer their time to help wherever they are needed. Students work on lighting, sound, stage management and meet and greet visitors.

For more information about this event, contact Anderson at (262) 472-1566 or andersom@uww.edu.