And good morning once again everyone and welcome to the WXCO morning report part of mornings with Pat Kratlow on 98.9 WXCO online at wxco.fm mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the Civic Media app.
I am Chad Holmes along with Ian Welsh.
Ian again.
Good morning.
Good morning Chad.
Little things just drive me nuts, I tell ya.
Ian's microphone sounds a little weird.
We're gonna fix it, so don't worry about that, but we'll have more with the incoming up in a little bit.
Christine Daniels, executive director of The Good News Project joins us the first week of every month, and it's always good to see ya.
Thank you.
And I gotta say again, we pre-record what we're doing here because it's so early when I do the thing in the morning.
And I don't know if you know that this is airing on Friday morning, and you won't even be listening to it.
I know because I'm going to be in Green Bay at the State Volleyball Tournament.
Well, people, you can listen to it as a podcast.
We talk about this all the time.
You can listen as a podcast.
But I got to say, I mean, one of the things, you know, you well know that I've run a lot of high school sports.
And one of the really cool aspects is when a team does really well and the Newman Cardinal girls volleyball team is at the State Tournament in Green Bay.
One of the aspects is number one for the kids to have this experience is incredible.
But for the.
the parents as well.
I mean, you, you live and die these games probably as much as anybody on the
court.
It's so true.
And, you know, it's so fun.
I look forward to the game so much.
Like the other night, um, all the moms got together and made posters
for the girls.
And then Wednesday morning, there's a pep rally and, you know, it's just a fun send off and everyone's.
is acknowledged at those pep rallies.
Yes, it's those student athletes.
Yes, it's those coaches.
Yes, it's the parents.
It's the fans.
It's the teachers and the administrators that make this whole academic and sports thing work together.
And they really talked about that a lot at the pep rally.
It was nice.
Well, one thing that kind of jumped out and I had one of the players on my.
my Wednesday night show last week, Camille Sobolewski.
I saw that.
One of the nice things in that conversation is talking about not just the winning and not just her personal incredible numbers, I mean, number three in the state and kills, which is insane.
That's not just division five.
She's so fun to watch.
I mean, that's the whole state of Wisconsin.
But she talks about the caring that the team has for each other.
And it's one of those things that, and it sounds like, you know, within the fan group and the parent group, there is, I guess you'd call it,
and by me, a term that you may use at the Good News Project, alignment.
Yeah, very good.
And that's important for success, isn't it?
For sure.
Or
even family.
I always come back to that word with good news, but also in watching those girls.
They love each other, and it's obvious.
They take care of one another.
It's nice when you're able to say it too.
She said
it.
You know, one of the other things I was thinking this morning, other than not being associated with you paying the rent, was I was thinking about my staff at Good News, and I thought to myself, they are...
part of the group of my favorite people.
And that's pretty cool to be able to say that I work with some of my favorite people.
now that we've done our psychological aspect of the morning, discussing all that.
I guess we always do that.
I tell ya.
But it's always good to find out what's happening at The Good News Project, and I know that you're very excited here.
You brought written material for me.
Yeah, and I actually brought it so that you can keep it, and that you can actually come to our open house on November 18th.
I don't
see any reason.
Tuesday is at the very... Actually, that is...
the first night of
girl's basketball, but it's here in town, so I don't think it should be a major issue with it.
Excellent.
You could come at four o'clock.
You can eat hors d'oeuvres.
You could be around.
Yeah, get a tour.
You're looking at me, and I know, and I know, I know.
It's been over a year.
I haven't been there.
I know it.
You got me.
Oh, man.
Now I want to crawl under this table right now.
No, no,
no.
Just come to the open house.
We'll greet you with open
arms.
open house, and you'll be able to see me.
So that's a good, I'm gonna sell it for the people out there.
Everyone listening
will be able to see
Chad.
But the thing about it is, I know, and we've talked about this before, you're so proud of the Good News Project, of the people there, of what you've been able to accomplish in terms of the building.
I am.
And this, and I'm not surprised you want to have, you didn't just steal this because we had an open house here a few weeks ago, did you?
No, and I came to your open
house.
I do but but this is really I know how proud you are of what you've been able to do there and I think Having people come and see it is something that you can just looking at you can tell there's something you're very much looking for
Yeah, I really am so this is really the culmination of our five years of fundraising and Changing our facility in different phases and getting to a point where you know, we're able to be more efficient.
We're able to
serve more people.
In 2025, we rolled out our mobile help truck and we rolled out a rechargeable battery collection program.
cool new things going on and so much of it is because of our amazing donors.
So our open house really is a way to welcome and honor the people who have put money and time into our facility, but also inviting the general public to understand what are we all about, you know, and the best way to
learn that is to come and get a tour, maybe eat some really delicious food.
And one of the things I'm super excited about, Chad, is we have a donor wall reveal at that time.
And I've been working with an artist.
She moved here from Milwaukee about a year ago.
And her name is Lauren Lightner.
And she does environmental art.
And
so we, we got connected and
She is creating this donor wall out of all recyclable materials that she found in our warehouse.
So it's super cool.
I mean,
you'd
find her for hours poking around and grabbing pieces of metal and interesting things.
And she's using all of our branding colors.
It's gonna be cool.
She actually just sent me some pictures this morning.
And we will have more with Christine Daniels, executive director of The Good News Project.
Tell you more about their open house.
coming up in less than two weeks time and a whole bunch more in just a few minutes.
We'll also be again joined by Ian Welsh coming up a little bit later on here on this Friday morning.
Coming up on the top of the hour, we will have a complete information update, news, weather, and sports.
And then after that, more of Mornings with Pat Crichtlow here on 98.9 WXCO.
It is the WXCO morning report part of mornings with pack right low on 98.9 WXCO
I am Chad Holmes, along with Ian Welsh.
And we are talking to Christine Daniels, the executive director of the Good News Project here in Wasa.
They're getting set for an open house coming up on the 18th of November, celebrating a five year project, five year capital improvement project, something big for the Good News Project.
You know, it was big for good news.
There's other nonprofits out there who do multimillion dollar capital campaigns.
And but for us, this was our very first.
And I remember
Jean Tien from the Community Foundation at the time, very supportive of good news.
And when we came to her with this idea and showed her the numbers and showed her our designs for improving the warehouse, she said, it's time.
Like you guys have been camping out there for a long time.
And so it was just another affirmation for me to know that we, this is the time and we have the community support.
And just yesterday I was actually going through to see how many new donors, like over $5,000 that we acquired.
It was a significant amount.
And so even that piece of the capital campaign was really exciting for me because I made a whole bunch of new relationships and got to tell our story to so many new people who heard it.
and said, that's awesome.
We want to be a part of that.
So that's really, the capital campaign really was about.
Making new relationships and I really appreciated that
I'm gonna tell you something here because we Civic media does a lot of really cool things I think and one of the things that We are right now working on in fact I'm looking at the message because coming up on December 2nd is we're gonna have a page live For Giving Tuesday for the local nonprofits and you're one of the prop nonprofits that we always try to highlight because we want people to support these nonprofits who do
such incredible work.
And as you said, to see the people, sometimes I imagine, because even with me, I sometimes wonder, you know, is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
This is what you
do.
It's like, this shows there are people out there that you're touching in some way.
And sometimes that's important as well, isn't it?
Yeah, for sure.
You know, yesterday I was compiling survey results from a survey that we had sent out to the general, our general mailing list and on Facebook.
And I was super
stoked to have gotten 251 responses.
And that alone, you know, the number of responses was telling to me about how important we are to people in the community.
But there were really some great comments in there as well in terms of community support.
And, you know, people worried not enough people know about us and about what we do, you know.
But it's great that they're concerned about that and they want to help spread the word as well.
We all worry too much.
We do.
You worry too much.
I
know.
It's like, you know, it's like, it's like, you think you can do everything and then you'll still worry that there's something else I could have done.
I know, I
know.
It's this vicious circle.
And I think we got to stop that.
And that's one of the things for 2026.
We're going to stop that.
OK, we're going to bring that up every month, Chad.
But
do as much as you can.
But don't constantly worry you're not doing enough because then
you're
just going to.
Well, and you can only do what you can do you know you do the work you do it well and you know put you put your all into it and then you have to hope and
Pray if you do that, that your efforts will reap some benefits.
All right, well, let's talk about this open house, because it's coming up pretty quickly.
I mean, Tuesday the 18th.
It's
in a couple weeks.
Yeah,
so less than two weeks away.
It will be at, of course, the Good News Project, which is at 1106 North Fifth Street, here in Wausau.
If RSVPs.
are appreciated, you're saying.
Yeah, it's more about food than anything else.
Believe me, I learned that lesson.
I just paid for our open house yesterday.
Okay.
And we had way
too much food.
Okay, see, yeah, so you want to try to sort of hit the
mark.
We did an RSVP anything, so it's like, you know, I think this is a wonderful idea.
And for folks out there, hey, even if you're not 100% sure, if you think you're going to build, and then once you do it, then you'll say, I got to be there.
Right, but you know for us we were talking about this if we have leftovers some of them might be freezable But otherwise, you know, it's on a Tuesday night and we have volunteers coming in on Wednesday Thursday And then of course we have a recycling on Friday, so we have a lot of volunteers So I mean the food will get eaten.
I know you know if we have leftovers.
It's more a worry So I have to stop using that word that we wouldn't have enough, but you know what come early or or miss out maybe well in
as well I will put because he
RSVP to you, Chris at goodnewswi.com.
I will put that link on our show notes page
along with
the podcast.
So if you are interested in RSVP and for this open house, let's go to our show notes and we will make sure that you get right to Christine.
It will be again, as you said, basically between four and six o'clock.
So really nice timing, right?
You know, maybe we're just finishing up work and be able to stop on by take a look around.
And as I meant, you're almost like
you were thinking about me here at this four to six o'clock.
There you go.
You can come get a little snack before you go follow up a basketball
game.
It'll get me going.
It'll make me in a good mood.
It'll help my broadcast as
well.
Oh, good.
Yes, it does work that way.
But again, it's really, and again, we started off, and I guess we'll finish up by saying, just how proud you are of what so many people have helped you accomplish there.
And just want to share it with the folks here in the community.
Yes.
And one of the things just I like to highlight about Good News Project is that we're small enough that we can pivot to meet needs.
I think that's what we do very, very well.
And that, you know, I've been there for 25 years and I've seen in quite a few pivots.
But, you know, our mission statement gives us a little flexibility with that.
And I believe our size of our nonprofit gives us that flexibility too.
You know, it's not mired down in too much red tape or...
policy.
We can actually follow our hearts when we need to.
And I think that's a beautiful thing.
Yes, it is.
Anything else you want to add before we finish up?
Other than I promise you, I will be
RSVP and you right away.
Okay, I'm gonna make a little speech there Chad so you don't want to miss that I
will not miss it.
I promise you I will be there I'm looking forward to it and everybody else come on by I mean it is the open house at the Good News Project coming up on Tuesday the 18th of November Again RSVP again the link will be on our show notes page for till six o'clock
our board members will be there our staff members will be there a cool quite a few volunteers get to meet a lot of cool people
very well Christine enjoy green
Thank
you, I will.
Good luck on bringing a gold trophy back
to the New
Macathic,
but
that'll be a lot of fun.
So Christine Daniels joins us all the time on the first week of the month here on 98.9 WXCO.
We're gonna take a quick break and then come back with more mornings with Pat Critello coming up and Ian and I will be back in just a little bit as well.
It's the WXCO morning report, part of mornings with Pat Critello on 98.9 WXCO.
Welcome to the WXO Morning Report on Boll Falls Radio 98.9 FM and at 1230 a.m.
online at BollFallsRadio.com and on the Civic Media app as well.
Today is Friday, November 7th.
Congratulations.
We made it to the end of the week.
It's always something to be proud of.
of I am your faithful engineer and producer Ian Welsh Welsh and uh taking a peek at the weather right now it's actually not like super cold well I mean for the for the fall I think it's actually pretty natural we're looking at a high of 42 right now now but it's looking like like the temperatures this weekend will definitely be dropping
up into the uh mid to low 30s so it would definitely be a little bit uh it chilly but actually pretty natural for this uh on november time weather as well
good morning ian
i
apologize for being a couple moments late here for this that's friday it's okay it's the end of the week well i tell you but uh
Good to be back with you and good morning everyone again.
Time is 754 Friday morning.
It is the 7th day of November of 2025.
Normally during this timeframe we have an opportunity to talk to Paul McLean about Wisconsin sports for the upcoming weekend, but unfortunately he can't make it in this week.
So we'll have him back again very soon, but still plenty to.
Look forward to during
the
weekend, both in terms of sports and also in terms of entertainment.
And I know that you're very excited because tonight it is opening night.
Yes, it is.
Wausau
Community
Theater and over at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at Wausau campus.
And Sweeney Todd will be opening.
And again, it's always a very exciting night when you're opening up for the crowds to come in.
It certainly is, and the pre-sale tickets for tonight's show are looking very good.
The last time we checked, most of the middle section of the theater was pretty full.
And the thing about that- There was quite a few people showed by the door for tickets as well.
I think tonight should be a really good audience for us.
It's
a great place to watch a show.
It's really a beautiful theater over
at
USP at Wausau.
It is incredibly roomy and incredibly, you know, there's not a bad seat in the house.
It's actually a very prominent theater for most of the theater groups around here because Wausau Community Theater uses this.
River and Woods Theater has shows there.
The Central Wisconsin Children's
Theater just shows there, but it's not just a theater.
I was looking at the events schedule for the rest of this year into next year and they have a Incredible a lineup of different events happening throughout the entire Year they have concerts and they have special guests speakers and performances as well
If you go on their website and take a look at their scheduled events, you will find a whole list of different events to go to.
It's just an incredible source of talent and we are truly blessed to be using this as
our...
Theater space as well.
So again, your opportunities to see the show tonight at 7 30 tomorrow at 2 p.m.
And 7 30 and then Sunday at 2 p.m.
As well So again, you can see Ian on stage along with a lot of other talented folks was a community theater and Sweeney Todd this weekend at UWSP at was on the Venega theater and then next week Don't forget plenty of opportunities to a see some theatrical production.
You've
got the was a East End players and a little shop of horse
on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
You have the Wausau West Theater Department and Once Upon a Mattress and that will be on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and even Sunday with performances as well.
And I believe even DC Everest has a production coming up as they will be doing the SpongeBob musical.
And they will have
two weekends they will have shows next Friday and Saturday and then they will also have shows the following Friday Saturday and Sunday November 21st 22nd and 23rd so all three of the public high schools in Warsaw have
productions next weekend.
And you're going to have to kind of, you know, plan ahead folks and be able to go out there and see all these talented young people performing.
But again, it just shows the opportunities that folks have to both see great theater and also be participating in great theater as well.
So very, very exciting times and lots of wonderful shows.
And really, you can't say
Well, there's nothing to do this weekend for the next few weeks.
In fact, I think for the rest of 2026, there is always going to be something to do if you really, really look, because the only way you're going to say there's nothing to do is if you're not going to
look.
It's exactly right.
There's always something happening in the Warsaw area, especially around the holidays.
It gets very busy.
I lost to do and a lot of fun.
Absolutely right.
Coming up in our final segment at 822.
Gonna talk a little bit about some big high school football games going on tonight.
They are in level three.
They're down to the state quarter finals and some of our area teams are on the field and you may want to bundle up and go out there and watch.
I'll let you know what area teams are in action and where the games will be played.
And then we will wrap things up as Ian will have an opportunity to get a winning week for the first time in quite
a while.
You haven't had a winning week, I think in
well over a month.
You get
it.
Yep.
So he's two for four this week in the number of the day quiz.
And we will wrap things up with another number of the day right at the end of our 822 segment coming up top of the hour news weather sports.
We keep you up to speed on what is going on around the area around the states around the country and around the world with information updates and then more of mornings with pack right low right here on 98.9 W X co.
you
Good morning again everyone and welcome back.
It is the WXCO morning reports hard of morning to the pack right low on 98.9 WXCO online at WXCO dot FM mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the Civic media app with Ian Welsh.
I am Chad Holmes.
It is Friday morning Yep We have made it to the end of another work week Friday morning the seventh day of November as we are just flying through the final
quarter of 2026 we are right just what a couple of weeks away you add about just under three weeks away from Thanksgiving
pretty
close and then of course we'll be going into Christmas I am taking some time off next week but you will be here deserve it
Well, I appreciate that.
But we have been able to record some interviews that we will be bringing to you during our WXCO morning report while I'm away.
Ian will have some segments where he will grab a hold of the reins and see what he takes advantage of that time with.
But next week, we do have interviews.
Monday, we will have a discussion that myself and Jason Foster had with Trief Stoffel, the Moseley High School football quarterback.
That will be coming up on Monday during our morning report on Tuesday.
We will have a very interesting conversation with Brad Hansen, who is the former WAOW TV news and sports director.
He now works as a communication specialist with Greenhack and had a chance yesterday in fact to talk to Brad Hansen.
We'll hear that conversation on Tuesday of next week.
Very interesting talk a little bit about his new work and also about the TV business.
And a lot of people noticed a lot of the changes with Channel 9 in the past year.
We'll get some perspective for Brad Hansen on that.
Tuesday.
On Wednesday, we'll talk to Rob Hughes.
He is the founder of Wasa Area Food for Hope.
He does a terrific charity where he is able to raise and then give turkeys to area families for Thanksgiving coming up.
We had him on a number of months ago, but we will have a chance to speak to him on Wednesday about Wasa Area Food for Hope and the Thanksgiving turkey giveaway.
On Thursday, we will have
cast members from Wausau West High School and their theater department as they are getting set for once upon a mattress and we will be joined by let me see here Kaylee Gosney and Drake Hoffman the repair of
Actors will be part of that show.
In fact, we'll be talking to them in just a little bit here.
We're recording them later this morning.
We're recording as well with Rob Hughes a little bit later, but we'll hear the conversation with Kaylee Gosty and Drake Hoffman from Wausau West coming up on Thursday of next week.
So again a lot of very good interviews.
Yep, and you'll be here to add some perspective in different segments as well Yeah, we will still have our number of the day quiz.
Yes to wrap it up each and every day So won't be it will be pretty much the same except I will not be sitting here while we do it all And I again, I'm actually gonna be going down to the Chicago area next week and
playing a little poker, gonna try to get to a Chicago Blackhawks game on Wednesday night against the New Jersey Devils.
I've never been to the United Center.
I like to do that.
See a little bit of hockey as well.
And then come on back after that and be ready for the start of our winter high school sports season and go from there.
We do have some area high school football teams in action tonight.
It is level three playoffs.
They're getting closer and closer to a trip to the state finals.
at Camp Randall Stadium.
Division four, Mohseny in action.
They will be at Columbus.
That's about a two hour trip for Mohseny, but they will have a match up tonight.
Mohseny at Columbus.
Division five, a big one in Tomahawk is Tomahawk hosting Stratford.
Boy, that's Stratford.
Multiple state championships in a row.
Tomahawk having a great year.
That one is in Division five.
Am Hurston D5 is taking on Mayville.
Division six, undefeated Edgar.
is home against Bondiwell and a couple of eight player games.
One game being played at DC Everest.
It's a state semifinal of McDonald and Lena St.
Thomas Aquinas.
In fact, I think I'm going over there tonight myself to watch that one with Paul McLeague and maybe a few others.
So if you want to see some football here in the Wausau area, go to DCE for that one.
So a lot of football action going on tonight as the playoffs continue, but it's coming up.
A week from this coming Tuesday will be our first high school girls basketball game with Wausau West against Pacelli.
And then we will have Newman Catholic girls basketball the following Thursday against North of Lutheran as we get our winter high school sports season underway.
And we look forward to that coming up in just a couple of weeks.
Well, let's wrap up the work week with our number of the day quiz.
Ian is two for four so far this week doing very well.
Passing week.
Yeah, but now you want a winning week.
Yes And I said that I'm gonna be playing a little poker next week.
So I've got a number that involves cards Okay, so you know playing cards Okay, your number for the day is excluding jokers.
How many playing cards are there in a standard deck?
Okay,
your choices are 52 cards
62 cards.
72 cards.
Okay.
Excluding jokers.
Excluding jokers.
How many cards are in a standard deck?
How many cards are in a standard deck of playing
cards?
52, 62, or 72.
Yeah.
Okay.
Final answer, I'm going to say 52.
I'm going to say 52 is my final answer.
Excluding jokers.
Excluding cards.
Excluding jokers.
There are 52 cards in a deck.
A winning week.
A winning week.
Very good.
That's very good.
Especially going to this busy weekend.
That feels great.
Well, have a great time.
Everybody go out and see the show.
I'm going to be there tomorrow night so you can maybe see me there tomorrow night.
I think it's
available.
But you have four different chances.
Tonight at 7 30.
Tomorrow at 2 p.m.
and 7 30.
Sunday at 2 p.m.
so break a leg.
Thank you, Jen.
Happy Friday, everybody.
Have a great
vacation, Jen.
Thank you very much, and everybody have a great weekend, and keep it right here.
More of Pat Crichtle next on WXCO.
It's either too loud or not loud enough.
Whoa, I can hear.
Whoa, I can hear myself.
Oh my gosh, this is so cool.
Wow,
this is awesome.
It is, isn't it?
Sorry, I'm very excited.
No, no, that's that's wonderful.
Certainly beats.
Oh, this is nothing.
Ian, are we almost ready?
We're all set over here as soon as you're ready.
All right, let me just one second here.
Let's go straight up at 37, okay?
You got it.
All right.
Stand by.
All right.
Very good.
Good morning and welcome to the WXCO morning report part of mornings with Pat Crichtlow on 98.9 WXCO online at wxco.fm mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the Civic Media app.
I am Chad Holmes along with Ian Welsh.
Ian, good morning.
Good morning, Chad.
We will of course hear more from you coming up in just a little bit.
But first we have some guests to start things off this morning as coming up that starting tonight.
Actually, yeah, starting tonight, Thursday the 13th, Friday the 14th, Saturday the 15th, and Sunday the 16th at the Wausau West High School Auditorium.
The Wausau West Theater presents Once Upon a Mattress.
And we're very happy to welcome into studio a pair of the cast members.
Kaylee Gosney, welcome.
Hi.
Drake Hoffman, welcome to you as well.
Howdy.
Well, first of all, let's talk about each of you and your theater journeys because
Have each of you been involved in theater previously?
And how many shows have you been in?
Kaley, we'll start with you.
Oh, how many shows have I been in?
Well,
you're a veteran already.
I'd like to say,
I don't know about that,
but I've been doing theater pretty consistently, I'd say throughout my high school career.
I think I'm pretty unique in the sense of that I never actually started at Wausau West.
So I did a lot of community theater.
because the school I had gone to previously didn't really have a theater program or like music in general.
And so my junior year, last year, because I'm a senior, I made the transfer to Wausau West for the theater department and the music department.
So I've done a lot.
And Drake, what's your experience at theater?
I think it's a little less than Kaley.
I started my freshman year also from a different school.
I went to Merrill and...
That was pretty sweet.
I never really did any community shows until last year, so I just never really got involved.
And then this year, actually, my senior year, I transferred to West, so I'm now a proud warrior.
And now we're doing this and it's, I gotta say, it's really like a awesome experience.
Very cool indeed.
Let's talk a little bit about the show.
Once upon a mattress, for folks who have no notion of what it is, maybe a little thumbnail sketch.
What is the show?
Oh, well, it is the true story of The Princess and the Pea.
So you have your idea.
This isn't your grandma's Princess and the Pea kind of thing.
It follows the princess Winifred.
Um, as she has to go through the journey of, you know, the 20 mattresses and it's, it's funnier.
It's very funny.
It's funnier than your original story.
And Drake, anything to add to the
description of the show?
No, that guy kind of sums it down.
It's like people think of the Princess and the Pia, like the sweet little innocent story and the show, it really just amps up that level of.
Comedicness and it's just it's really funny
and Jake.
What's what role are you playing?
I am Prince Dauntless.
Well, how would you describe your role
your character?
So Prince Dauntless is kind of a mom's boy.
He's like 36 and he just sticks by his mom's side and Then he meets Winifred and throughout the show he kind of evolves and do his own person He learns what it is to be a true man and he really just grows up and it's a really good story
that.
And Kaley, I'm gonna guess.
Would you be Winifred by any chance?
I am.
I am Winifred.
Who is
Winifred?
Oh, wow.
Who isn't Winifred is the real question.
Well, originally played by Carol Burnett, if that gives you anything,
any
kind of for the listeners,
if you know
Carol.
Winifred is unapologetically herself.
She's loud.
She's passionate.
She thinks she's shy.
I don't think she's very shy.
But she's just unapologetically herself and when she shows up to this kingdom, she's kind of like, okay, what's happening here?
And then when she meets Dauntless, you know, she kind of gets a little smitten with them and decides that it's okay and she'll stick around.
How many members of the cast and how many people are totally involved in this production?
I think there's around 45 people totally involved.
I think it's in the 40-45 range.
But that's just the cast.
There's also a lot of tech members that really just help run the show.
There's so, so many
people.
45 folks are in the show?
Wow.
It's around that number.
Yeah, roughly.
I don't know the
exact number.
You know, people kind of come and go as they're figuring out whether or not theater is their thing.
Oh, sure.
in terms of the process.
And that's, I think that's a term that's used so often when it comes to the theater.
I'm gonna ask each of you, what is your process?
How long was the, first of all, how long was the rehearsal process?
When did you start rehearsal for the show?
How many weeks?
Well, we started, what, second week of September?
Yeah.
Well, we auditioned right after school started.
And then I think we started consistently rehearsing the third week of school, so third week of September.
And then we've been going every night.
Uh, except weekends, we get our weekends
off,
but right after school, we've been going to probably six, six o'clock.
For each of you, how would you describe starting, you know, basically from scratch when you, when you were auditioned, you become a member of the cast and then that process over the, uh, what six weeks or whatever it may be to try to get to the point where tonight, uh, the curtain opens and it's opening night that you're ready to go.
Is there anything that you've learned in your experiences that to try to.
Make sure you're where you need to be for the start of the production.
I think the most important thing is to smile I think especially with high school We learn so much about each other and everybody says that you become this family when you do a show But you really do
you
know you you start off and some I mean in high school You know a lot of the kids that are already doing it but with some of the underclassmen or us transfers You know you really build this community and you all have to work together because of
I mean, the idea is that you're only as strong as your weakest link,
right?
And you
really only are as strong as your weakest link, especially in a musical.
And with the scale of one's upon a mattress, you know, I think you really got to work together and become this family, but make sure to smile.
Anything else, Drake?
I think, like, starting the process, like, you have your idea, the notion of this character that you might be playing, and it just slowly turns into this, like...
It's never the same like the first day you start it and you're like, oh, well this character is this and this and this and then tonight and then we open it's just like You evolve and you really by connecting with your peers and really understanding who you are with the people around you really helps build that character
Was a west theater and I've had experience doing sports and sometimes there'll be some great players
who then graduate.
I know with the Los O.S.
Theater there were some very talented folks that have been such a significant part of what West has done for a number of years who moved on, graduated.
What kind of opportunities?
Is there an excitement for everybody now?
They've seen some really incredible performers and now like...
the baton has been passed.
Is there a sense here as you start this year, this school year, this first, this is the first year, correct?
So is there a different kind of excitement with maybe a few new faces in terms of some of the lead performers?
I definitely think so.
I mean, I know you haven't done a wet show beforehand.
No, we've had some phenomenal performers in the last few years.
And I think at the end of last year, when they were graduating, it was really bittersweet because, I mean,
you create such this family and when you have such core performers, it's like, well, what are you supposed to do without them?
You know,
everything, you always look to them.
And I think it's been really exciting to kind of have the baton passed, to be able to, I don't know, show that we'll be okay.
I think a lot of kids were really, really
nervous that we
wouldn't be okay.
And it's like, guys, we're doing great.
You know, it's life.
You know, people move on and new people come.
And I think it's a kind of full rounding moment.
And Drake, what is it like to come into a new school and become part of the team within Wausau West Theater?
I imagine that there had to have been some nervousness for that.
Yeah, I actually decided to transfer.
late summer, actually, thanks to Kaylee.
You can thank her for that.
And there was always just this sense of like, what if I don't belong?
And that's obviously gonna happen.
But again, that tight work of the theater, it really just drew me in.
Like everyone brought me in so fast.
And it was just this automatic bond that I didn't really have at the other school.
And it really just like, it means a lot.
It is something that you know, and I back years ago I had an opportunity to be involved in it And I don't think people realize the the connections that are made when you get involved in something like this.
That's truly you talk about teamwork.
I don't know if you again I I've seen a lot of sports, but I think there's so many connections there that you know You said it I think earlier about the the weakest link, you know if you have that weakest link it could just break everything up it is very similar and that
Sense of teamwork.
I
think it's sometimes underestimated when people go and see a show I mean really truly you guys have to work together You play off each other.
It's not just about hitting your marks or reading your lines Is it
and going and going back from a place that was kind of like that that I didn't really have that feeling of of connectivity and then just going to this and the and I mean the West West theater program itself is amazing and that paired with the amazing talented
wonderful people that they have here at the program.
It's just like, it's awesome.
And I gotta point out, and I know, you know, I knew Brad Schmicker back in the day, because when he and his wife, Sarah Rudolph, moved to Blossoff and took over at UWMC, I was there at the time.
I was in Sarah's first show at UWMC all those
years ago,
1991.
So that's a long time ago.
And I know the talented
People that they are what does it mean to have that kind of a leadership with with somebody like Brad leading the your theater department?
Well, they're wonderful.
They are absolutely wonderful With the idea of like both of us have transferred right
I
remember the first time I ever talked to Brad
I was like, hey, Brad, I think I'm gonna come to West.
And fun fact, I live really far away.
So I commute like every day, like an hour one away from
West.
Yeah.
And so he kind of looked at me like you're crazy.
Like what, okay, what?
And I think that they are so passionate and they have such this dedication to not just like putting on a good show, but making sure that you're learning and you're having a good experience with it.
because there's so much to be learned from theater with like the people that you work with or on like a more technicality level of like what goes on behind the stage how you are as an actor the things that you do vocally like there's so much to learn and they have so much knowledge and if you just if you just take a deep breath and listen
they've got
so much to say.
Anything to add Drake?
Um I think Brad just has this vision, he answered, they just have this
Vision that it just it blows you away at first because like they see all these things and it's like oh my god, you're crazy
