
Transcript
Jesse March on Festival Theatre & Community Arts give his Popcorn Pick of the Week (Hour 2)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Thu Mar 19, 2026
anywhere.
Here's Pete's and Greg.
I thought we were playing like a game of chicken or something like who's gonna.
I just was music jackass.
Okay.
No, no.
Well, come back tonight.
Light everybody.
I'm peach wabba sitting across the country from me tonight is Mr. Greg Bach.
He is in Arizona.
taking in some spring training and some $30 Bloody Marys because he's got that kind of scratch.
And Dom Lee is holding down the fort in Madison.
So we've got you covered.
Great to have you with us tonight on this Thursday night in just a few minutes.
Jesse March will be here from St.
Croix Festival Theater, a really cool operation.
He's going to tell us about their upcoming season and then he's going to stick around and make the popcorn pick of the week.
What do you think about that, Greg?
No, I know, I know.
No, we always come away with a movie pick and that's the goal the whole dealio is we have something going into the weekend to watch We also have a question of the night which lends itself to that as that very same thing as well tonight So Tom, why don't we refresh people's memories?
of the
This is
OK, seriously, it's going to be it's going to be a warm night here.
So but again, I'm not complaining.
I'm being I'm I am funny whining right now.
I'm very happy to be here.
It's going to be a very good time.
I'm looking forward to this weekend.
So and it's going to be fun.
And I'll have probably sunburn.
when I come back, so you have something to laugh
I put on the social I answered the question on social media tonight, and I put LA confidential And I think I put the sting.
I'm really into crime dramas
Lately an LA confidential to me is It's a great popcorn movie because it's almost a perfect movie It's a little bit like sinners or one battle great score great actors great sets.
It's a period piece I totally lose myself in that movie in it
It made me, you know, I lived in Los Angeles for several years.
I wish after I saw that movie, I could have gone out there in the 40s before all the crazy freeways, but it was
You know, honestly, for me, I would pick like two of my most favorite movies of the modern day in the past like 10 years.
our guy Richie is the gentleman and the nice guys with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling.
And those movies are just so fun and good, well written, very exciting.
I mean, I felt like nice guys should have done better in the theater because it should have had a sequel.
Like it should
Those guys again, and maybe they'll make another movie in a couple years like 10 years later in the 80s But it was it's like when I watch those movies.
I'm excited.
It's I'm not like I've watched it so many times I know everything that's gonna happen, but I still love the imagery I still love the the script the music is fantastic in both movies and it's a it's a kind of thing where like if someone came over to the house and they said oh the gentleman I'd be like let's watch it right now
watch it right now, turn it on right now, and I'll make some popcorn.
That is, to me, those are two very big popcorn films.
For me it is just when I get scared.
So I would say Sinister.
Sinister is the scariest movie I've ever watched.
So if I were to... I would need popcorn for that movie.
I would need it.
Sinister is by far.
Any all the movies.
Two and three.
Same difference.
Three Sinister movies?
I think there are.
I want to say there are,
Is that the one that's like, it's like part of the wider universe of like the nun and all those movies?
See, his thing is, I want to love horror movies.
My wife loves horror movies.
My sister-in-law watches like Italian, Japanese, Korean horror movies.
Those movies are next level, by the way.
You think that American horror movies are scary?
Those films scare your soul.
They're such money makers Oh, yeah, I'll just say you guys have great taste in movies because the gentleman gets 76% on the tomato meter 278 reviews.
That's a very good score 84% audience outstanding sinister Dom it depends which one you're talking about, but the original gets a 64 Okay, the follow-up gets a 14% so assume you're talking
Yeah
That's the problem with horror movies, too, is that first of all, saying horror movies is hard.
You got to really pronounce that word.
Horror movies is that you get these movies that come out and like, you know, whether we're talking a Saw or Halloween or, you know, one of the classics.
And then they immediately want to make a sequel and they want to make it bloodier and they want to make it simpler because they want to spend less money.
And the sequels.
a lot of the times just super sock.
But because they're so cheap, if they make a 2% profit, they're like, make a third one, make a fourth one, reboot it, make a seventh one,
Yes, exactly.
Exactly, yeah.
I mean, I think the same thing goes for, but I think the same thing kind of goes for comedy and like comic book movies or as you call them genre movies because, you know,
I'm sure Marvel wants people to love the new Spider-Man movie, but there are going to be people who hate it and people of consequence who hate it.
But it doesn't matter if they make a billion and a half dollars.
That's what really matters in the long run.
You know, they keep making Avatar movies because they make money.
Not because people are like, this movie inspires me to be a better person.
my
I'm on Tomatoes 94% 5% less of the audience liked it.
So there you go.
We've got some stream comments.
We should probably get to here too.
Tracy Anderson texted earlier in the show and said, I'm hopeless.
I don't know what that meant.
Yeah.
But I feel bad.
No, you're not Tracy.
No, you're not Tracy.
You know, I was only four or five.
It's a, you know, it's like the one thing that doesn't make me cry is E.T.
weird, very, very weird.
Brett and Brown deer listening on W.A.U.K.
The best movies for popcorn are chick flicks because I don't eat pop.
I don't eat popcorn and I don't watch chick flicks.
Okay.
Thanks.
we got to have him back on the show now that you're on the show too, because I had a really good talk with him.
He was so much fun.
OK, we are coming back with St.
Croix's Festival Theatres Jesse March.
He'll be here to tell us about their upcoming.
Season, and then he's going to make the popcorn pick, folks.
Do not go anywhere.
Let us know what your favorite movie is with Popcorn
Well done, Dom.
Thank you.
Welcome back to Nightlight, folks.
I'm Pete Chihuahua sitting across the country from me as Greg Bach.
He is in sunny, sweltering Arizona for some spring training baseball and a visit with his mom.
And Dom Lee is in Madison working the board.
It's good to spend a Thursday with you guys.
I have to say that.
I
While you were gone, we spoke so highly of you and just sung your praises and your talents and your abilities both like inner talents and your outer talents as well Anyone who says differently that we were making fun of your hair or well, you know No, I wasn't
just because of, you know, whatever.
But then every once in a while, they get into each other's little corners.
I'm like, this is still delicious.
This is still delicious.
Jalapeno on popcorn.
That is something I'm going to be thinking about all weekend now.
I could eat jalapenos on
I love it.
Oh, really?
And I love the suggestion.
Yeah, for sure.
We've got, oh, I always have to read a Godfather of Green Bay text.
Cam said, we had Reno 911, Lieutenant Dangle.
That is correct, Cam.
And he says you were supposed to have Patrick warburton cam is obviously reading or watching some kind of behind-the-scenes thing about the movie, but yes Do we have a Jesse
And it is,
I can't eat those anymore.
My doctor doesn't think I should eat those because they're like very tall.
They're very big buckets and and and You buy them and they sit there and you're like whatever and then you open them and with and you could you could have it sitting there for like a Week or two weeks not thinking about then you open it and it's gone within a day and a half
Here here here if I had responded it we wouldn't have had time to get to them because I have I have feelings about cheese popcorn and caramel corn caramel corn I can really two buckets of yeah cheese popcorn like the first five to ten bites are lovely and then I feel like I can never get the orange stuff off my hands and I'm already kind of sick of the taste
I just, I really want to watch a scary movie.
I told myself, I watch centers.
I know people are like, that's not scary.
I know for a lot of folks that movie isn't scary because they watch scary movies.
So it's like saying to someone who never eats spicy food, here have this like, you know, hot pepper, it's going to
You're a good citizen.
I'm not the horror police.
Hey, we are coming right back, folks, with Festival Theater.
Festival Theater in St.
Croix Falls, Wisconsin.
Beautiful St.
Croix Falls.
Jesse March will be here after the break.
Our question of the night, what movie goes best with popcorn?
Be part of the fun and text us on the stream, the app, the old fashioned text line.
Just be part of the show.
We're coming right back.
This is Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach on the Civic Media Network.
Yes, we are Peach Wabba and Greg Bach, your hosts of Nightlight here on the Civic Media Network.
It was great to have you with us on this Thursday night.
Folks, Michigan is locked in a battle right now.
It is tied.
They are the one seed, and I mean, it's 2-2.
It's only 30 seconds in the game, but watch them.
Wow, you really marve Albert that drama right there.
Hey, folks, it's Thursday.
That means it's time for the Popcorn Pick of the Week.
And here to help us make that pick and talk about the upcoming schedule at the St.
Croix Falls Fantastic Festival Theater is Marketing Associate Actor and Fight Choreographer, Mr. Jesse March.
Hey, Jesse, how are you?
Hey, Pete.
Hi, Greg.
Thanks so much for having me on.
Yeah.
Okay.
I love
Um, you're thinking that I have to come out.
I have to let you know, my, my, the popcorn movie, the one that I think is the best to chew on.
Yeah.
So enjoy this weekend.
You know what?
I'm going to throw out.
Hold on.
Hold
I'm often a home lounger, but I kind of, I kind of, I go halfway.
I have a projector.
So I am in the home.
So it's as if I met the theater, but without anyone else that I don't know or like.
Well, I mean, my friends can be obnoxious sometimes, but yes, generally, generally, you're right.
When you go see, oh, sorry, when you go to the, if you go to the theater, let's say like you're gonna, because I know for myself, I tend to only see certain movies in the theater because I want a certain pizzazz.
Yes.
What are you seeing in the movie theater when you choose to go to a traditional theater experience?
You know, it's often something that I feel like the sense of being in the place is necessary.
I'm thinking about like when cats came out.
I went and saw cats in theater because I needed to yell at the screen with other people.
It was one of the best times I've ever had in a movie theater.
Me and my friends, we sat down and we rock you forward the whole thing.
Shout out the whole time.
And the two other groups of people at the end of the movie turned around and were like, you made that movie for us.
That was the experience we needed.
It was glorious.
So that's typically when I'm gonna go to the theaters.
I need to be in the thing.
Or if it's like, you know, a really like.
like, very, like, very cinematic kind of a thing, you know?
Or something like iconic, you know, a Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, something
Oh, well, I think I, I'm going to pull this one that I was currently eating.
This is my new favorite snack.
These are, these are spicy sticks.
Oh.
They are like I
It truly does.
They're like these like I don't if you can see here, but like they're like these kind of like gluten
sticks and they're like this like chewy kind of snappy little that I'm deeply addicted I
I also use these these mango steams.
These are my favorite fruit.
I'll get a bag of these and I'll chew through these all the time.
So yes, the prop is
I was a frequent theater hopper, particularly as I did my mom and I, I would plan the whole day.
We would go from morning to night and I would pick the movies based off of time and we would, I think our record was five.
Dang!
We spent a whole day in the theater at one point, yeah.
You know what I mean?
Who's going like, oh, I've seen you.
And how are you going to know it?
Sometimes you buy a second ticket, like, somewhere, you know, sometimes, but.
Love
You know, it wasn't it wasn't all right.
It was in my poor youth, you know
mean, you're
I don't think I have.
I think maybe someone else I've been with has, but I'm not often someone who, I sneak the food in.
And to that end, I have snuck a lot of food in.
I'm gonna give you a Miyazaki film.
I think you should go watch Princess Mononoke this weekend.
it called again?
You can do Princess Mononoke, or you can do Howl's Moving Castle, but I'm going to say do Princess Mononoke right now.
It feels very apt to our time.
It's a lot about environmental preservation and technology versus nature.
It's got a very beautiful story of self-sacrifice and love.
Uh, it's a it's baller.
It's very, very.
uh,
My pleasure.
I can't wait to hear what you think about it.
You're absolutely right.
We packed it this season.
Our goal this year was accessibility and expanding our audience.
And so to that end, we have some really great pieces for the whole family, for anyone of any age range.
So we are starting off with, we have two separate...
categories of performance.
We have our Playmakers series, which is kind of like our community and like youth performance.
And so this is more of like, I think a learning opportunity and a community opportunity.
So to that end, we're doing Frozen Junior right now.
So that's
gonna
be Frozen, you know, it's frozen, but with with kids, it is gonna be excellent.
And that's Lindsay Fry, who you've had on before she's directing that piece right now.
And then we're moving into Shrek the musical, which is also going to be our playmakers.
But we're kind of, we're adding a few professional artists to that one to kind of up a little bit of the production value in Shrek.
So that's going to be coming up in the summer.
So that's kind of our playmaker series.
And then we have our main stage.
And so to that end, we have a few really great pieces.
We have The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson, which is a really great piece about four really interesting ladies, Marie Antoinette being one of them, these revolutionary
women.
It is really worth checking out.
We also have the three musketeers, which I am personally very excited about because I'm directing that piece and fight warrior has like 24 fights in it.
And I am very excited to be casting a few women as my musketeers.
I have two out of three musketeers will be women.
No, I'm gonna keep them.
I'm gonna keep them
will still be a man, so Jartanian is one of the, he's like the new, he'll be the fourth, the fourth musketeer.
But the three are Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.
And I feel like those can be, they can be relatively gender neutral.
So
I'm
pretty excited for that, for that opportunity.
And then in the fall and winter, we have an original work by Mark Rosenwinkel.
He's an artist that works with us pretty often.
He's directed for us a lot.
And this is a show called Never Enough.
And it's a love story that is about a young couple and an older couple.
They're the same people.
And you kind of go back and forth in their lives in the love story of how they met and where they are now.
And it is exquisitely beautiful.
After that, we have Pride and Prejudice, which is Kate Hamill's Pride and Prejudice.
So it's very funny.
It's very funny, sort of like almost slapstick kind of a vibe to it.
And we finish out our year with the classic, It's a Wonderful Life.
So, you know, from talking about film stuff, this is a straight adaptation to the stage of It's a Wonderful Life.
And that's going to be our holiday show.
You know, I actually don't know the order, but it's most famously a movie.
Like it's very famous.
That sounds
very excited about it.
I think people are going to be pretty stoked on what we're working with.
We have some excellent artists coming in this year.
We're just sort of our finishing our casting process right now.
And I'll tell you, I am very excited for who we're getting on board.
He is a marketing associate at the Festival Theater in St.
Croix Falls, Wisconsin.
For more information on anything they're doing, go to festival, festivaltheater.org and that's theater, T-H-A-T-H-E-A-T-R-E, the old fashioned way, Festival Theater.
I would just
Yes, we do.
And we also stagger our teams.
So oftentimes it will be different people working on different shows or one show will be up and then we'll be working on the next show in a different space.
So that we are often trying to have something coming down the pipe once one one bit after the other.
I'm so glad you asked.
Yeah, we actually have a whole workshop series happening this summer.
One of the ones that I am teaching is called Heroes and Villains.
It's about Shakespeare's Heroes and Villains and it's a stage combat course also dealing with Shakespeare as well.
So that's happening and we have a couple other workshops as well for youth and for community members as well.
So looking up workshops and things like that is a really good idea.
We also have some concert series and small events throughout the year.
So those are always just going to be on our website and like worth
checking out.
So we often have something happening kind of all the time.
you know, you got you got, you know, and if you two ever want to come out and see a show, you've got season passes anytime.
Wow.
You just let all we will
will
you so much, buddy.
With us.
We've got lots of stuff to do in town.
It's a beautiful town.
Thanks so much.
Thanks, Jesse.
All right.
You
My name is Greg Bach and across the country right now in Marinette, Wisconsin is Pete Schwabba in Madison is Dom Lee on the boards.
I am in actually I am in Chandler, Arizona right now.
I thought it was going to be in Phoenix, but I'm in Chandler, Arizona just outside here visiting my mom and we're going to have a really good time.
My mom and her partner and we're going to go see some baseball tonight.
It's going to be really, really fun.
They're listening to the show right now.
because
Folks, remember that in the next hour is the final chance today to win $200 in the break into spring multi-stage text to win contest.
So make sure you stick around in the seven o'clock hour.
You are going to have that civic media app at the ready.
You want to give you that keyword, you're going to text it in for your chance to $200 plus every entry goes into drawing for a free mattress set from Verlo.
So
seven o'clock is the last chance for today then we start all again tomorrow on Friday seven more chances throughout the day you can enter once each hour there's a keyword good luck if you don't have the app download it right now because it's absolutely free there's lots of great stuff that goes with that as well but get that app participate in the contest good luck everybody and
If you get the mattress, um, there's not a really a cool way to say, take a picture of it.
That just sounds creepy, no matter what.
That is a, that is, that is an underrated John Candy film.
The, the, if you ever want to see something really cool with regard to that film, Google John Candy.
Maureen O'Hara, Johnny Carson because those two go on Johnny Carson to talk about the movie because that film brought Maureen O'Hara out of retirement and the respect that he has for her, he's so polite and like he just wants her to have all the flowers in that interview and he's just beaming next to this absolute icon of acting Maureen O'Hara.
But yeah, Google Maureen O'Hara, John Candy, Johnny Carson and just watch a wonderful interview then watch the movie.
That's awesome.
I love Jackie.
Christine, thank you.
You've raised a wonderful son.
And thank you for listening.
We adore Dominic.
Yeah, nice words.
It's fantastic.
Mark from Prairie to Sec.
We read that one.
the lonely of some of these are doubles.
What do we got here?
We got raw.
That one's not good.
I never eat pop.
Oh, we already answered that one, too.
God, Greg, do we get through all these almost?
I think we really did.
We've got Tom and wasa who says killer clowns from outer space popcorn is literally a character in the movie.
Yes, it is.
That's
Exactly.
And John Murray, John, I'm sorry, I said your last name, sir.
I apologize for that.
John in Madison, I'm listening, WMDX says, and a daily $30 Bloody Mary is essential, JK.
No, it's not.
Not at those prices, especially with the gas prices and everything too.
So like, yeah, that is the first and last $30 Bloody Mary I'll ever have unless someone says, buy that guy down there at the bar, a $30 Bloody Mary, and that guy down at the bar is me.
So.
Let's see, we've got John Murray just saying what a fan he is of the show and our pairing.
Thank you, John.
I agree, John.
Thank you very much for listening and sticking.
I know the show's changed a little bit, but it's still great to have you.
And I love working with Greg and I know he feels the same way.
I think Dom told me that.
Is that true?
Yeah.
Is it true?
We talked about you, Greg, after... Oh, my God.
I knew I couldn't trust any of you.
It's
But we've got a great show coming up Monday too.
I know that actor, writer, director Milwaukee based, not based Milwaukee native Steve Burroughs will be here talking about his film showing at the Beloit Film Festival.
It's called Bleed Out.
You can see it on HBO.
It's award-winning.
It's excellent.
He also did a movie called Chump Change years ago, a comedy and he's a commercial director, very successful guy and a heck of a great guy.
He'll be here on Monday night too.
I kind of jumped the
On behalf of Pete, I want to thank Dominic, Tucker, Traffic, and Engineering for all the work you do.
Without you, these microphones do not work.
Everyone who called, texted, everyone who was on the show today, Maria as well as Jesse, everyone who's a part of it without you, there is absolutely no us.
Stick around for the keyword for the Break into Spring Text-A-Wing Contest coming up in a little bit, then we'll talk to you tomorrow, same time, same place here on Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.
Take them out, Pete!
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