Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine for this Wednesday, October 16, 2024.
Have your host, James here with you, and right now we're welcoming in some of our favorite people.
We have Wisconsin Rapids Community Theater Silver Foxes members.
We're going to talk about let the spirit move you.
Their fantastic show coming up Thursday, October 24th at 2 o'clock.
Got a Friday show at 6, Saturday show at 2.
We'll tell you more about those details and how you can get tickets before we wrap up the show today.
But first, I want to introduce some of the cast that we have with us.
And I'm just going to go right down the line here.
I will let you introduce yourself so the audience can recognize your voices.
I ask questions.
Go right ahead.
Hi, Marilyn Helgestead.
Marilyn, thank you so much for being here.
What character are you playing?
Well, at first I wasn't playing a character.
I was the MC.
And I had a lot of intros and in between things and exits and tying all things up.
And unfortunately, we had a few people that life interfered.
They had to step back late.
So now I am a character.
On top of everything else.
Well, thank you for stepping up and doing that.
MC work is not easy.
Then take it out of character.
That's good on you for doing that.
I appreciate it.
Hi, I'm trying to bear us.
And I am playing in half time, which I love because I get to be a little frisky here with Chris.
And we just, yes.
And we enjoy it.
That's great.
Thank you, Charlie.
Thank you for being here.
Chris?
Yeah.
My name is Chris Williams.
And looking forward to this show too.
Well, we have four skits all together.
And I play in two of the skits.
I get to play the basketball coach for an over 60 women's league.
And...
Exasperated coach.
It's so much fun.
It's so much fun because I get to yell a lot.
Right, right.
A fantastic.
Yeah.
And then we have a skit where it's a conversation or set up between a mother and her son.
So I get to play the son in that.
Very cool.
Very cool.
I was wondering if you guys wouldn't mind going through a little bit of a synopsis of what the audience can take in from the show.
Does anybody want to take the lead on that as far as a synopsis for that goes?
Of what...
As you mentioned, Chris, that there's four different bits and four different shows here.
Correct.
Yeah.
Our first bit is going to be this over 60 women's basketball league.
And basically, they're losing 59 to 6.
And they're playing a bunch of nuns.
Okay.
So you already got me.
Oh, you already got me.
Yeah.
So the coach is trying to motivate them and kind of yelling at them for being not playing very well.
Right.
So, yeah, it's a fun skit.
And then the next skit is going to be a mother and her son.
And she's trying to watch a movie.
And he comes in trying to get her to look.
Because he's a columnist for a news paper.
So, say, mom, I want you to listen to this latest thing I have.
So, and there's some antics that go along with it.
So, I'm going to let you guys talk about the other ones.
Okay.
We're also doing a Route 66, which I come in as a Ghost Buster type thing.
And we're trying to find the spirits.
Cool.
So that's...
That'll be interesting too.
Yeah.
And seasonal.
Very tight.
Yes.
Very tight.
Right.
So there's going to be spirit type things and of course comedy.
Great.
Great.
And the last one is we have a psychic.
My offentezmo.
And kind of have to see what ensues with her.
How accurate is she?
Yeah.
So the first half would be more comedic and even some slapstick.
Yeah.
A little.
And then in the holiday vein after the intermission are the other two.
Yeah.
Well said.
And it's a fun way to break this up too for the audience and for people taking this in,
as well as for you guys, I imagine.
Getting to be a part of some pieces like this before.
It could be so much fun to kind of just throw one costume onto the next and going from one to the next.
And it really keeps it the energy going and everything.
That's a fun part of this.
You touched on this a little bit already, Marilyn.
You know, I'm telling us about your characters, you guys.
And Marilyn, MC work and character work.
I've done that before too.
That is not an easy game.
Well, plus I've done some writing.
I actually had to tweak one of the things and put an ending to it.
Are you the caterer too?
Are you doing all the things?
How many jobs you got, Marilyn?
I don't think anybody would come in.
What's the caterer?
Tell us a little bit about the works that you're doing.
I had to step into the halftime show.
So I'm one of the over 60 women that's been pummeled by the nuns.
And our coach is having a tough time motivating us.
We lose our attention kind of thinking into other things.
That's fantastic.
So it is really funny.
I think the audience is going to eat that one up.
And then Christ is a really good job as the son, Louis,
in the second one, maybe not the most observant son in the world.
But it's really well done as with Penny.
Yeah, I would say we have Penny Wease and Hand.
She's playing the mom.
And this is a skit she's wanted to do for a long time.
And so we're finally doing it in this show.
And I think she's really excited about it.
That's cool.
That's good to hear.
That's really good to hear.
And Marilyn, anything else on your characters that you wanted to mention her?
Well, that's the only one I play a character in.
Otherwise, like I said, I come out.
I have a little silver fox poem.
I do.
I introduce, you know, who we are.
I've been with silver foxes.
I'm not a charter member, but I came in pretty soon after they started in 2009.
And so I've been coordinator multiple times.
I just gave that up.
We'll be coming back to that, though.
So hang on to that.
This is the second question now.
You've seen my list ahead of time.
You're good at this.
You're good.
I thank you, Marilyn.
I appreciate you.
I'm so old.
I'm out of town.
Try to, can you tell us a little bit about your character?
Yes.
Well, as I said, I play the halftime in the basketball.
And I'm picked on by the coach here.
But yes.
But on the other hand, we have a good time once we get up there together.
And we think the audience will definitely laugh and enjoy what we're doing.
Marilyn also brings the audience in at it when she's doing her talks to begin with and jokes and poems.
So using the audience enjoys that.
They feel like they're participating.
It's a great way to keep things moving too.
Keep the audience's attention while also letting the actors backstage and everybody do their thing and get set up.
It's a nice note on that, too.
Thank you for that, John.
We're a little different that way because the audience kind of sees us moving props in the furniture and things like that.
And so we work a little differently than the regular theater.
And so, you know, we have to fill in some of those things.
Yeah.
It's no different than what they got to do on center live or a lot of other sketch comedy that I've worked on or anything.
It's a smart way of doing it, but it's also a really fun way of doing it for the audience.
That's pretty cool.
Thank you for that, John.
Chris, I feel like I've asked you this question so many times.
Tell me about your character.
In the halftime skit, I get to play the coach.
And so I'm just totally frustrated at these women who are losing 59 to 6 to a bunch of, as we call it, ancient nuns.
And so, and I think, you know, in my character, I'm trying to get them to get motivated, you know.
We want to win.
We want to do this.
And they're in a kind of another world.
And it's just, it's a great skit.
And I'm really glad we're doing it.
And then, of course, the skit with the mother and the son.
So, yeah, like Marilyn said, it's a little bit slapstick maybe.
So it's just a lot of fun.
It's a big fan of slapstick.
So anytime you throw that into it, it's fun.
It's a great way of doing this.
And I want to get into a little bit of the, you know, rehearsal process too.
How often have you guys been able to get together?
How often have you rehearsed?
We've been going, because we had a shorter time period, because we're performing before Halloween.
So we added a Tuesday in, because usually Thursday was our main day.
But we knew we had to step it up a little bit, because the calendar was...
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you guys made a twice a week, it sounds like, about an hour or two around there.
Yeah, couple hours.
Yeah.
Sometimes we go through it twice if we have extra time, you know, because we didn't get to go right on the main stage,
because we work around what's happening with the regular theater on main stage.
And so we, that's a change for us.
Once we actually get on the stage and start moving the props and the furniture and the set,
you know, that changes where we are positional-wise.
Yeah.
So you have to learn how to do that.
Well, and with the foxes, we typically rehearse in the afternoons.
So the early afternoon, which is much different from our main stage,
shows that are rehearsed in the evening.
You're describing that.
It reminds me of my first years at WRCT when we were at the library.
And we had to rehearse in one place and come over here.
And so our blocking completely changed and all that.
And I really admire that.
It's not always easy to be able to pull that off.
And you guys do a great job of it.
I bring up the rehearsal process in part for one, for the audience to have some understanding
of the work and time that you take out of your personal lives to do this.
But also is kind of an idea to the audience.
Hey, it isn't a big time commitment if you ever want to do this.
Because we are always looking for new members.
Yes.
Not just at Wisconsin Revit's Community Theatre, but a part of Silver Foxes.
The work that you guys are doing is important to the community, helps the community,
and also entertains the community, along with entertaining you guys.
Because I have never seen a Silver Fox come in and not smiling or happy or enjoying themselves.
You guys are always laughing, always having a good time.
Let's talk a little bit about your experience with this Maryland.
Again, you touched on this earlier.
Kind of got ahead of the game on this one.
You have been with Silver Foxes for quite some time.
Yes.
Yeah.
Your early experience with them.
You started on early on with them.
Well, one of the Foxes Lucy roles got me into it.
And so yeah, and at that point, we were a little different.
We used to go to some of the nursing homes and things like that.
And then while COVID obviously changed the world, put a damper on a lot of things.
And world or two now.
I mean, we were a lot younger.
I mean, they're younger, but I've been there long enough now.
And our lives have all changed too.
And it's gotten a little harder to maintain all this.
But we have a wonderful group.
We have two sisters that come over from Marshfield that have joined us.
And it's a phenomenal group of people.
Yes.
But I like it.
You touched on the time a little bit because I did some stage work.
I didn't act on main stage, but I did behind the scenes.
And to be there at night.
And I don't care to do that personally in my life now.
And so I enjoy the afternoon.
And we do have a night time skit now, which we didn't.
We used to only perform in the afternoon.
But we've included like a Friday night now.
And so we're pulling a little different audience.
Like some of our family who works couldn't come to see us and now they can.
That's nice.
Yeah.
I think our two actors from Marshfield, I think they bring half their family with them.
Oh yeah.
We are blessed.
Yeah.
That's always nice.
Trying to how long have you been part of Silver Foxes and how has your experience been with them?
I've been with Silver Foxes three years.
My experiences, I definitely have improved since I started.
As far as rehearsals, yes.
So everyone knows definitely rehearsals, practice, practice, practice makes perfect.
And it's always rewarding because it all comes together.
And then you finally between changing your costumes to being ready for the next skit.
It's like, wow, we did it and it turned out great.
There's a great satisfaction to building things.
Whether it's a meal for somebody or it's a player working on or a building you're working on.
Whatever it is, there is nothing like that feeling of putting in the time, the grind.
And the blood sweat tears all the things.
And it's just taking a step back and be like, yeah, that feeling.
I'm so happy for you guys having that feeling and stuff.
That's cool to hear.
But I think it's, excuse me, I mean to cut you off.
Because we sometimes do for skits, that's different.
And so we're four different characters.
And we have to physically make that change too.
So the audience isn't reading, oh, that character, she's, you know, or you want to change it.
And so that, I think, is something that's a little different with Silver Foxes versus most plays.
Oh, yeah.
You have to jump into each character. You have to make that change.
Yeah, be able to, and really on a dime, be able to make that flip and everything,
which is not easy to do. Again, the tip of the hat on that.
That's really credit to you guys and being able to do that.
Thank you, trying to appreciate it. Chris, I've only got about 15 minutes left.
So your experience with Silver Foxes, we're going to have to be quick-knob joking.
You've been there a while. You've been doing this for a while.
I have been here a while now.
I got involved with the group when we just talked about and decided we were going to do an old-time radio show.
And so that's kind of what pulled me into the group.
And I've, we've had so much fun with that.
And we normally do that in the late winter or early spring, that show.
And it's, yeah, a lot of people really have enjoyed that.
So I think we're going to try to continue that on this year, too.
Well, if you ever know anybody in the radio industry and you want to do something on an even bigger level
and do something at another radio station or something, I've got some connections.
I might know a couple of people in the radio industry that would love to have more theater on the radio.
Wink Wink Nudge Nudge.
Well, I think that's, I don't think that's a bad idea.
I think we got to talk. I think we got to talk about that.
We, my, formally, I lived in Minnesota for a few years and we were doing old-time radio shows over there, too.
And we did get a chance to prepare a show that they played over on air at the local radio station.
Was Paul Harvey for Minnesota? Was he? I can't remember if he was or not.
I know. I thought he was a Midwesterner. I'm not sure.
I think you're right.
But I know that, you know, there's a, radio in Minnesota is huge.
And certainly some of the, what we're talking about here and everything.
So all kidding aside, yeah, we are going to talk about that.
Because I'd love to get some more of that back on the radio stations,
and especially on the weekends and everything.
I think it's certainly a beneficial thing to talk with Gretchen about this a lot of us
mutually helping each other and crossovers and working together with them.
And Wisconsin has community media more. So yeah, I think that's a talk.
Yeah, I think that's a great idea.
When it comes to why you guys did this, I'm curious to know what got you involved,
why you got involved with silver foxes in Maryland.
What made you want to do something like this?
Well, partly because it was daytime.
I mean, it just sounded like I don't go out at night, I do.
But it was fun because we do use scripts.
And we try to make them inconspicuous.
We do try to practice enough that we're not reading our part.
But it is there, and it's a security, I think, for some of us to have it.
Because we're not members, I'm memorizing.
And that appealed to me, to be honest.
And the theme, because we didn't do heavy drama, we did humorous.
I love that part of it.
You know, nothing like live theater and their laugh in their heads off.
You know, and I can picture these two skits before intermission.
I'm really going to go over big with the laughter.
And I think part of it was something totally different
that I was in a group doing it.
But I used to do it for school district.
We had a great group of teachers at Grove where I taught.
And we put together Christmas shows, retirement parties, marriages.
And we re-did everything.
And we were rather like Saturday Night Live.
We did skip work.
And I re-wrote words to songs.
And that fits the theme.
And sometimes made fun of administration.
Thanks.
You know, education, I said a few things.
I said to you to degree with it.
Of course.
It came down from on A.
From a rural thing.
Yes.
So I did all that for years at the school district.
And so it kind of...
It was a natural transition.
Yes.
But I hadn't been out in public doing it.
So...
Well, we appreciate you doing that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good on you.
And thank you for sharing that part of it too.
I tried to how about for you?
Well, I was shy actually in high school.
And I always wanted to do it.
But it was too shy to try out.
So now that I retired and I have this time,
and I don't want to be bored, so here I go.
You are glad we have it.
And a great answer, great answer, Trotter.
Great answer.
Chris, how about for you?
And again, I feel like I've asked you this before.
Oh, yeah.
No, I said it's a great way to act like a fool
and get away with it.
Yeah.
That's such a good point.
I just love acting.
And I got involved with acting over in Minnesota.
I thought I would like to do it.
And I finally started doing it and fell in love with it.
And when we moved, I'm originally from the area here.
But when we moved back to the area, I said,
I'm going to be in the community theater.
And within two weeks, I went over to the theater
and contacted him and asked if I could help them
or be part of the group.
So I, yeah.
I'm pretty sure you didn't even get mail before you were already
over there and everything.
I know.
You were there quick.
And in all of you, not only do I appreciate you guys
taking the time out of your day-to-day lives
and entertaining this community and doing so much of this
and putting up with my questions and hanging out with us
for this next, this past half an hour.
But also touching on all the things and cheering
all the things you did.
Because while we went and encouraged people to take in these shows,
we also want to encourage the audience out there
to be a part of these shows, whether it's behind the scenes
or in front of the stage or wherever you want to be,
wherever you're comfortable.
Silver Foxes have room.
They have room for you.
And to our younger audience out there,
Wisconsin Rebs Community Theater always has room for you.
We want all covers, what the whole community
to be a part of these events.
So thank you so much for sharing all of that.
You guys, I really appreciate that.
And really nice, the nice recruiting work by everybody.
Keep in mind the Silver Foxes are young at heart.
They've been doing this since 2009
and doing a darn good job at it too.
And you want to take in this most recent show.
Let the spirit move you.
The production dates come up Thursday October 24th
at two o'clock matinee Friday.
On the 25th, there'll be a six o'clock show.
And things wrap up on Saturday with a two o'clock matinee.
Tickets are $10.
And you can get them at wrctheter.org,
wrctheter.org.
While you're at it, keep in mind to follow
Wisconsin's Rebs Community Theater
and social media share their work on your page.
You just don't know who might see it.
Otherwise, get your tickets for this
and find out about all the other great events
going on at Wisconsin Rebs Community Theater
at wrctheter.org.
Thank you so much for the time, you guys.
Break a leg.
Have a great time.
Have a great one.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We'll be back with more Midday magazine right here
at 97.5 FM 13.20 AM WFHR.
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