High School

Forward Theater Company has been performing monologues in the libraries since 2010 and audiences continue to ask for more! Every other year, Forward puts out a call for original monologues based on a common theme. The best twelve are chosen and performed by professional actors in a weekend of shows at Overture Center. Those same actors (and monologues) will be performing a sampling at your library.

OUT OF THE FIRE: THE BANNED BOOKS MONOLOGUES

SYNOPSES:

Live performance, presentation, and heirloom artifact show that will allow attendees to dive into the secret world of female Civil War spies.

Presented by Sun Prairie's own women's history expert & unrivaled enthusiast, Shannon Ferguson-Munns, who will don heirloom attire in honor of the event. She’ll also share items from her extensive collection of 19th century artifacts.

A Q&A will conclude the event.

By the end of the first world war, the world had become used to the pillaging of Poland. Thirty young Polish-American women, called the Polish Gray Samaritans, changed that.  Their relatively unknown story will leave you in awe and inspire you by how much a small band of committed people can accomplish against great odds. The perseverance of these amazing women, essentially America's first peace corps, helped save a generation of Polish children in the midst of chaos, occupation, and war.

Joan & Bette Bette & Joan is an original off-Broadway one-woman musical about the tumultuous relationship between two Academy Award winning icons of Hollywood's Golden Age, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Involved in a real and manufactured feud for most of their screen careers, their story is rendered via 14 original songs as well as live performance.

A Q&A will conclude the event.

Performer: Jillann Gabrielle (Website: http://www.paradiseplayhouse.net/)

Documentary film maker, Craig Dudnick, will introduce his film, “Alice’s Ordinary People,” which is about the work of civil rights activist, Alice Tregay, of the Chicago Freedom Movement, which spanned several decades.

The film will be followed by a question and answer period with Mr. Dudnick.

Join community members and MG21 students in a story extravaganza of personal narratives.  Listen to voices of the Monona community and experience an evening of connection and sharing.

Emcee: acclaimed storyteller and local musician Kevin Willmott II.

Free refreshments from Madison Sourdough.

Madison Ballet will talk about the history of ballet and the Nutcracker, run through a mock rehearsal with several dancers, and perform some scenes from the upcoming Nutcracker performance at the Overture Center for the Arts.

Refreshments will be served and a craft offered for kids.

**Due to high interest, please select one performance to attend, and arrive early since space is limited.**

Jim Rice, will be bringing photos of an extensive memorabilia collection that traces the 100-year history of the Packers from Lambeau to McCarthy at a fairly brisk pace.

Jim has been writing and speaking about Packer history in Wisconsin since 2011. 

As a former history teacher, coach, and school superintendent, sports history has been a lifelong interest of Jim's. He attended Marquette University in the 1970's and has remained in Wisconsin ever since.