And welcome back.
It is the WXCO morning report.
Part of mornings with Pat Crite Law on 98.9 WXCO.
I am Chad Holmes along with Ian Welsh.
Ian, good morning.
Good morning, Chad.
We will hear more from Ian coming up in just a little bit, but first it's time to
talk again about the theater we do that so very often and of course Ian part of a show right now as well we'll talk to him more about that later on but the Central Wisconsin Educational Theater Alliance and we had a couple of different things to talk about here this morning so that means we have two different guests from sweet up very happy to welcome Hilary Hastings Hilary good morning good morning Hilary thank you very much for being here my pleasure and Erin Noel thank you very much for being here as well
thanks
Robin us well let's start
off by talking about the first event that is coming up which is on Saturday evening it is designer handbag bingo it's going to be held at Greenwood Hills Country Club and Aaron could you give us a little piece of what this is and
What is it for?
It is.
It's a designer purse bingo.
You're guaranteed 12 games.
And in each of the different games, you'll win a designer purse, which we have different choices.
We have Prada bags, and we have Kurt Greger, a whole slew of different prizes or purses to win.
And you also will have raffle baskets.
We have about 25 different raffle baskets from local stores and also local just supporting.
theater people, 50-50 raffle, there'll be door prizes and we're gonna be at Greenwood Hills and there'll be a cash bar and a buffet that's available for purchase as well.
We're doing this fundraiser to kick off our theater season as we will be doing Shrek the Musical and all proceeds from this will go to support that.
It sounds like just a wonderful evening out Greenwood Hills.
Obviously it's a very nice place to be at and to put it together with the food and the entertainment and all four
Again, the great cause of raising money to support so many different students.
And before we even continue, let's talk a little bit about what the Central Wisconsin Educational Theater Alliance is, because I'm sure there are folks out there that are not familiar with it.
This is an organization that really does bring in a lot of different schools from the Central Wisconsin area.
Either of you would like to?
It certainly
does, and it's quite a mouthful.
So we affectionately call it SWEETA.
SWEETA has been around for over 30 years.
started in 1992 bringing unforgettable productions to life, elevating the community's experience of theater and giving that opportunity for children to get to perform in shows of this caliber and also for students to come and watch these shows that maybe don't have the opportunity to see quality theater productions.
So that's really exciting for us.
We've had over 2,000 student performers over the years.
and lifelong memories.
I think we even had a marriage out of one
of these.
We've also had sweet of babies.
Sweet of babies.
Oh man.
Yes,
yes.
And we're including children from...
fourth grade to twelfth grade in our productions.
And it's just, it's super exciting to see the camaraderie of the students, the friendships that are made from over nine different schools.
We get to introduce kids to each other that maybe wouldn't have had that opportunity to meet.
That's really impressive that you have so many schools around Central Wisconsin that are involved in that.
Logistically, you know, sometimes it makes me think it's hard enough.
to try to get together for one school to have a rehearsal schedule and auditions and everything else to put it all together.
How do you do it?
There's a lot of
dedication from parents and from students.
We've had 16, 17, 18 year olds driving an hour, two hours to get to rehearsals.
What is the farthest school involved in the suite of?
Well, we haven't had our auditions yet.
Our auditions are coming up.
Coming up, yeah.
November 18th, 19th.
24th,
and they'll be at
Wasa West East and DC Everest.
And so we want anybody, we want people from Stevens Point, Auburn Dale, Merrill, they can be as far as they want.
We don't have a set perimeter, it's just the state of
Wisconsin.
I think we had one student.
It was quite a
distance.
Yeah, it's at least an hour.
And
so
we have we have practiced every day.
So it's quite a commitment.
How did Sweden start?
It really is something that is different because during the course of our year, we always have members of productions from, say, Wausau, West or Wausau, East or DC Everest.
How did this come together?
Do you remember?
Because you said it's been around for more than 30 years.
Laurie Magley is the artistic director.
She's retired now.
English teacher at Wasa West for umpteen years.
And she started this to bring in a sort of educational aspect to the theater.
And it started as a Shakespeare company and it's just evolved from there.
Because we also do during our productions we do student matinees where
Children can come in during the school day and see the production out and that was that's a big push for us at Swedish so that we can get those younger kids in tickets
are
$5 so
it's
very affordable and that was Lori's big thing and this year we're having actor come in and so the actor will actually be able to come to schools that want to participate in our program and Help them learn different aspects of the theater at school to tie it into
their
resident artist this year is Eric Peterson.
He actually played Shrek on Broadway.
So he'll be here to mentor the kids for a week, do some workshops and show his professional aspect to things.
The artist in residency is something that kind of caught my eye when I was preparing to talk to both of you.
That is something that is rather unique to this organization.
And as you said, somebody has actually played the role at the very highest of heights on Broadway.
How do you go about getting the artist in residency?
Because I mean, that sounds like
to come here to Central Wisconsin and to spend, as you say, a week with the students.
I mean, that is an incredible get.
I imagine that, again, that is something that is exceptionally special to this organization.
Also, it says a lot for this person that is willing to give of his time to be part of this.
I think the website, www.sweeted.org, shows the quality of production that we have, so it's validity to us for an actor outside of Wisconsin who doesn't know.
who we are, but the little groveling and
begging.
We've been able to capture the attention of several professionals who have come in and taken this role for us.
We will have more with Hillary Hastings and Erin Noll of SWEETA talking about Saturday's fundraiser, designer Handbag Bingo, and also about Shrek the Musical coming in early 2026.
That's coming up at 7.22.
After more of Morning's with Pat Crite Low, coming up next on 98.9 WXCO.
And welcome back.
It is the WXCO morning report.
Part of mornings with Pat Crite Low on 98.9 WXCO.
I'm Chad Holmes along with Ian Welsh and we are talking this morning to Hilary Hastings and Aaron Dole.
They are from the Central Wisconsin Educational Theater Alliance.
We're talking both about a fundraiser coming up on Saturday and also about their upcoming production of Shrek the Musical that will be in February.
Let's go back to Saturday's event.
I think we need to kind of hit on it because you're not able to do this without fundraisers like this.
Absolutely.
And to have an event like this be at Greenwood Hills and have a lot of fun and have a real high end event.
But at the same time, this does allow you to do everything that you do with Sweden, correct?
Right.
Yes.
Fundraising is fundraising
and grant
writing is our way to make it happen.
So this weekend at Greenwood Hills, our designer, first bingo is
It's very important to kick off our season of fundraising, and yeah, again, it'll be, it's gonna be pretty awesome.
There's lots of amazing bags, and like
I said,
they're all name brand hire
bags.
You forgot to mention Burberry and Kate Spade.
Yes,
there's so many.
Louis Vuitton, do we have a Louis bag or not this year?
We don't, we have a Prada
bag.
Prada,
Prada.
Yes, that
was
donated to us.
That's pretty amazing.
And again, so many raffle prizes too that raffles are taken by one ticket for five bucks.
Then you can win night out at one of our local restaurants or you can win
hydro facial.
Yeah.
Lots of nice
things.
Lots of very
nice things.
I also wanted to, Lori would be amiss if we did not mention one of the matinees for the students is dedicated to special needs students.
So not so loud.
No, we don't, we
don't use like a lot of our smoke that we use.
We turn on the lights a little bit and it's just especially for those kids that need a little bit of less sensory exposure.
And that is a huge huge thing that we do as well
and that's free for students and for their caretakers
Yep, and we usually try to get a sponsor for that event so that
we can
give them a special treat to like you know kids kids kids and adults love any kind of swag so
It sounds like one of the main focus and when you talk about that is to reach maybe
groups of kids and maybe even generally the public that aren't always reached.
It's always about trying to broaden that tent to bring theater to everybody.
Yep,
definitely.
And that performance is a good experience for the performers as well because they're having to maybe deal with things that a typical audience wouldn't.
do like
certain you know anybody can be walking around some some
individuals can't sit in their seat very long, or they might be talking when they're not supposed to be talking,
which
they, you know, at the theater, you're not supposed to talk on this performance, but it's good for our students to learn that and see and adapt to that.
Again, the designer handbag bingo event at Greenwood Hills Country Club is this Saturday, October 25th, doors open at 5.30, the bingo at 6.30 for folks that want to get tickets.
How do they
do this?
Please, we have a little
a few tickets left.
So you can go to SWEETA, C-W-E-T-A dot org, and it'll be right up front there.
And they'll click on the link, and you can buy them on there.
They're $50 in advance.
And if you want to come that night, they're $60 at the door.
And then we want to, again, let
maybe the families and the kids themselves know that Shrek the musical.
The production is coming up in, is it February of 2026?
But the audition process begins next month.
And you have auditions at three different schools.
I was looking at that.
So a chance to, if you're at Wausau East, Wausau West or D.C.
Everest on November the 18th, which is a Tuesday, a three hour block.
So a nice big block from six till nine at the Wausau West High School.
than the very next day on Wednesday the 19th, same time at Wausau East.
And then the following Monday, November 24th at DC Everest.
So again, you're really reaching out to all these schools in the general Wausau area.
But as you said, you want kids from other schools to come to these auditions as well.
Absolutely.
And so that's why we try to.
do it on a couple of different days as well because we know kids are in sports and in other activities so we want to give them a chance to audition if they if
they want to.
And if one can't be at our fabulous handbag bingo on Saturday there are so many ways to donate
to
our organization.
We have sponsorships we can
do ads in our program, in our beautiful program I might add.
And also you can sponsor a performance.
So several ways to donate and you can also go to sweta.org to find out more about donations.
Yep, I went there and I was able to find out all this great information about both the event and about the shows coming up and everything else, and just generally about SWEETA as well.
So again, cweta.org and get all that great information.
And if you're able to also donate or become a sponsor or anything else, that would be just wonderful as well.
But again, I think the number one thing to think about is if you got your Saturday evening free, nowhere better to be than the Greenwood Hills country.
club for bingo bingo who doesn't love bingo right be able to yell out bingo and not only
win the bingo, but win some wonderful, wonderful prizes as well.
Absolutely.
And guys are welcome too.
I've had a couple of people ask me that.
Can you guys
come?
Of
course.
Of course.
Can you imagine winning bingo, winning one of these wonderful handbags and then, you know, being able to give a gift.
Christmas is right around the corner.
Yes.
You talk about earning some points.
I think that's you can earn some big points right there.
Bringing mama home a product.
I mean, I know
my kids are going to be playing
this weekend.
Right.
Oh, again, I just think.
what, but SWEETA does is so fantastic.
And again, to give the opportunity for kids to be able to experience theater.
I mean, I never thought of it when I was in high school, but then in college, I got involved in it with some friends and I've been able to be lucky in my life to do a lot of things that I think have been really thrilling, but nothing has ever thrilled me more than being on stage for a show.
It's true.
It's pretty exhilarating.
It is.
It is fantastic.
So again, lots to come.
And I'm sure before we get to February of next.
We'll have folks from Sweden come by again and tell us about the show before it comes to the stage as well.
We'd sure love to do that.
So check it out.
Get those tickets for Handbag Bingo.
Be a big winner on Saturday and also help keep Sweden very, very strong for the students and the performers here in Central Wisconsin.
So Erin Noll, Hillary Hastings, thank you both for joining us.
Thanks
for having us.
Best of luck Saturday night for the big event.
Thank you.
Go right to CWETA.
get those tickets again to Saturday night's Handbag Bingo at Greenwood Hills.
More to come.
Mornings with Pat Krightlo.
And then we'll be back at 7.52 for the WXCO morning report on 98.9 WXCO.
Good morning once again everyone.
The time is 7.53.
Kind of a dreary start here in North Central Wisconsin.
Some light rain, some mist, some fog out there.
Temperature of 41 degrees at our downtown studios located at the corner of Washington Street and North Third Street in downtown Wasaw.
I am Chad Holmes, it is the WXCO morning report, part of mornings with Pat Critello, here on 98.9 WXCO, online at wxco.fm mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the Civic Media app.
Our first two segments this morning, we had the conversation with Hillary Hastings and Aaron Knoll from the Central Wisconsin Educational Theater Alliance, SWEETA, and again,
If you missed the interview, we will have it up on our podcast page as part of our show page at wxco.fm under news.
Let's go to WXCO morning report with Chad Holmes, be able to get the full podcast interview or full podcast for our local segments here this morning.
We'll also have a link to our YouTube interview.
And also we will have links to sweet up and how to get the tickets for Saturday evenings event again It's an opportunity for you to help sweet up
with their artist and registered in in Residency and also just for all the costs that go involved in such a big undertaking that helps so many students here in north central, Wisconsin Saturday evening their fundraiser designer handbag bingo 530 doors open 630 the event begins at Greenwood Hills Country Club So again go to sweden cweta.org for more information and again coming up and
probably less than about an hour or so.
We will have the show notes up and the podcast and everything at wxco.fm under news and then just click on morning report with Chad Holmes for October at the 22nd.
Also want to
Let you know that tonight.
It's another edition of the big high school sports show here on 98.9 WXEL Myself and former was a west warrior head football coach Jason Foster will review week nine of the high school season and look ahead here to the playoffs level one playoffs this Friday for the 11 player teams and
second round playoffs for the eight player and So we'll talk all about those matchups and more plus we'll be joined by a pair of special guests Athens head football coach Todd Diethelm will be joining us at 6 30 They are still involved in level 2 play this weekend in the eight player football playoffs and then at 7 0 6 It's our student athlete guest for this week.
We'll be talking to Merrill high school senior hunter-opper He had himself a big game for the Merrill Blue Jays last Friday as Merrill
earned their sixth win of the season in their victory that clinched outright a playoff birth as they'll be involved in the playoffs.
But Hunter Opper in their win over Rhinelander had three quarterback sacks in that game and he was really a force on the defensive side.
So we'll talk about the season and about Merrill's first round playoff game against Lakeland on Friday with Hunter Opper.
So that's all coming up on the Big High School Sports Show.
6 to 8 p.m.
Right here on 98.9 WXO online at WXO FM mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXO and on the civic media app All right, I have laid the groundwork for the segment now It's time to really get things going introduce our in-studio engineer our in-studio producer the one the only Mr. Ian Welsh Ian.
Good morning.
Good morning, Chad.
I know there's a
Had jury yeah day out there.
Yeah, it it has the feel right now of real Fall.
I mean it's where it's cold.
It's wet Yeah, I've got the big thick jacket out today.
It really does a spooky season
In back when I was younger this was exactly the kind of night It was almost every year for Halloween almost every year is always cold and wet sometimes you get the actual snow showers so
I'm not surprised to see weather like this.
And then, by the way, I mean, we are only nine days away from Halloween.
Yeah, I'll be here before we know it.
Do
you do anything special for Halloween even as an
adult?
I try to dress up every year.
Even if I can't go a trick or treating, I still like to dress up in cool costume moves.
And, you know, if there's any leftover candy that my mom has after all the trick or treat has come through, I'm...
I'm more than happy to help myself to some of that.
Are
you going to dress up for us in a week from Friday?
Yes, I will.
Oh, will you, huh?
Yes, I will.
I'm not gonna tell you, though.
But that's right, Halloween's on a Friday.
Yeah,
you know, maybe, maybe, maybe I will, too.
I'm not gonna promise anything.
I know what I could.
I have, for many years ago, I still have.
This costume that's just sitting there that has not been worn in a couple of decades But maybe I will pull it out see if it still fits number one and then maybe bring it in for the show and then people will have then we'll turn on the camera that day
for
the YouTube videos and and Go from there, but yeah, so we will see
we will see maybe
but
We'll talk more about this as we get into next week.
And I know that you're, you know, we talked a lot about Sweda this morning.
And again, we hope that people can go to their bingo event at Greenwood Hills on Saturday evening.
But I know that you are still in the midst of your rehearsals.
In fact, I know you have a rehearsal tonight.
We're getting about just over two weeks until opening night for Sweeney Todd.
Pretty close.
I think actually, yeah, two weeks from this coming.
Friday is our opening night.
I'd listen to you.
So I know exactly how long it is So is it's going well.
Are you you feel pretty good about at this point?
You know what the rehearsals have been coming along really well and I believe it's going to be a very incredible show the I said it the said itself is almost Finished and
Everybody is working hard, the music is coming along great, and we're all having a lot of fun with this show.
Very
good.
Except without your usual theater show.
That's going to be a spectacular show.
Nonetheless
terrific.
So again, we'll be talking more about that with members of the company in a couple of weeks the week of the opening in two weeks time
That's
right coming up.
It's eight o'clock top of the hour news here on WXCO
And welcome back.
It is the WXCO morning report part of mornings with pack right low on ninety eight point nine WXCO WXCO dot FM mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the civic media app It is 41 degrees here at our studios in downtown Wausau corner of Washington Street in North Third Street Overcast guys jewelry start, but hey
Humpty Wednesday heading downhill towards the weekend.
I am Chad Holmes with Ian Welsh and Ian one of the stories that we heard on the top of the hour newscast was Donald Trump is asking for a lot of money from the American taxpayer for himself Donald Trump is going to want two hundred thirty million dollars from the taxpayers because why
because he says that he had to spend that kind of money to defend himself on investigations in his first term.
I mean, it's just...
He is demanding the Justice Department pay about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him.
Those are Department of Justice probes into connections between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russian intelligence activities intended to help him win that election.
Trump's alleged violations of the Espionage Act and other laws by evading Justice Department efforts to recover highly classified documents that Trump lifted from the White House when he left office in 2021, some of which
apparently stored in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom and others as well.
And the thing about it is, Trump is trying to claim, well, this was all fraudulent.
It should not have been, it was all political, should not have been investigated.
Hey, Donald, Donald.
There's no
evidence of that.
Donald, you were convicted on more than 30 felonies.
The espionage case on the documents down at Mar-a-Lago, that case was not over.
when he got reelected back a year ago.
So that basically ended that investigation.
It wasn't that he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
It was just that it was stopped because he got reelected.
So the idea of the American people, if he gets $230 million from the Department of Justice and the United States government, that would be coming out of money that we give as taxpayers.
And the idea of giving Donald Trump money like that is...
Disgusting and also it's very ironic that Donald Trump would like to get 230 million dollars from the American Treasury Just months after passing the so-called big beautiful bill that A bill that's expected to cut more than one trillion dollars from Medicaid and boot some 12 million Americans off their health insurance Even as it explodes the federal deficit and also expand tax cuts to favor the rich so based
on that, he is already using his power to get the American government to give him massive amounts of money through that tax cut.
And now he wants another $230 million on top of that as well.
It is disgusting, disgusting.
And I don't understand how his mega supporters can nod their head.
My suggestion is mega supporters, just empty your bank account and send it all to Donald Trump.
Because if that's the way you think, cut out the middleman, which is the American government, just give Donald Trump all your money.
Because that's the way it's going right now.
Donald Trump just enriches himself and his family over and over and over again, instead of thinking about what's best for the American people.
It's disgusting.
The cycle of insanity just doesn't stop.
Every day he finds more and more ways to hit a new...
low, or a good one, new extreme.
He's not doing this for the people.
He's doing this for himself.
He's using the people to get what he wants.
He doesn't care about any of us, and people need to realize that, because, oh, okay, when people say, oh, this man's a great president, he's my hero.
I want me just like him.
If that's how you think, and
there's something wrong
with...
You he is a reverse Robin Hood right now exactly from the poor to give to the rich and that's just wrong on every level
from those who work hard for their money to provide for their families and giving it to people who people who couldn't care Less about the money they
get between his crypto schemes his coins his all this corruption.
It's just disgusting and
It's wrong.
It's sick.
And the whole idea is, and the thing about it is, the people that supposedly would be making the decision on this request are people that worked for Donald Trump as lawyers in the past, which is, it's just pathetic on every level.
I certainly hope they
wake up and realize that
they're being used.
I wouldn't count on it.
Not holding a very high bar there.
Nope, I would not count on that.
Small chance.
It's a very small.
Coming up tonight, the Milwaukee Bucks open up their 2025-2026 season.
They play host to the Washington Wizards at Pfizer Forum.
Former Bucks superstar Chris Middleton comes back to the Pfizer Forum for the first time since he was traded last spring from the Bucks to Washington.
Chris Middleton is the third highest scorer in Milwaukee Bucks history.
Middleton scored 12,586 points as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.
He is behind only Yanis and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 14,211 points during his seasons with the Bucks before he went on to play for the LA Lakers.
Kareem played six years in Milwaukee and then 14 more years in Los Angeles.
And Yanis, of course, has been with 13 years with the Milwaukee Bucks.
He has the all-time leading scorer for Milwaukee.
And that brings us to our number-for-the-day quiz with Ian Welsh.
Okay.
Ian is one for two.
so far this week.
Still some work to do, but with the Bucks opening up their season tonight, the number for the day is how many points has Yanis scored in his Milwaukee Bucks career?
And I said it, Chris Middleton scored 12,586 points as a member of the Bucks, Kareem 14,211 as a member of the Bucks.
So your choices are.
18,538.
20,538.
22,538.
How many points has Yanis scored?
18,538.
20,538.
22,538.
You know, I'm gonna say 22,000.
Five hundred and a thirty-eight final answer
Yannis in his career at the Milwaukee Pucks.
It scored twenty thousand five hundred thirty-eight
points
So one for three which is where you should be have a good day.
We'll catch you tomorrow.
Thanks, Jen.
Happy Wednesday, everybody