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A Place with the Pigs by Athol Fugard

Auditions will take place through video submission and face to face. You can try-out either way. A callback audition is also possible for this production and, if needed, you will be notified. Otherwise, casting will be announced by 9/6.
•       Video audition submissions will be accepted until Friday, September 3
•       Live auditions will take place from 7:30PM-9:30PM on September 3 in the Barnett Theatre on the UW Whitewater campus (Greenhill Center of the Arts)
If you will be submitting a video audition please record and submit video to the production director, Bruce Cohen (CohenBe@UWW.edu).

•       PERFORMANCE DATES October 12 – 15 @ 7:30 pm & October 16 @ 2:00 pm

•       REHEARSALS: Begin September 6. Monday – Friday from 7:00 – 10:00 pm (some Saturday and Sunday meetings will be scheduled as well. Weekend availability is necessary during the week prior to opening).

*This is a live, face-to-face theatrical production. If needed, we will shift to adhere to UW Whitewater public health mandates. This may change with short notice and changes could include masking, distancing and virtual technologies.

This is an open call and the entire campus and community are invited.
You do not have to be a Theatre/Dance major or UW Whitewater student to audition. Prior experience is not necessary. Additionally, this production will be cast exclusive of gender definition. Regardless of identity, you are invited to audition for any of the roles available.

Reminder for UW-Whitewater BFA & Pre-BFA Performance Students:
ALL admitted BFA-Performance students and ALL pre-BFA-Performance students are required to audition for all productions and accept any production assignment as given.
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Please read the play prior to accepting a role.
If you have any questions that have not been answered, please feel free to contact Bruce Cohen (CohenBe@uww.edu).

PLAY AND CAST BREAKDOWN

A Place with the Pigs by Athol Fugard
The plot of A Place with the Pigs is based on an absurd but true story, this poignant and sometimes hilarious tale is about a Russian soldier who deserted during World War II and spent ten years hiding in his pigsty. As the play begins, Pavel Ivanovitch Navrotsky is preparing to rejoin the world and throw himself on the mercy of his countrymen, but his wife has used his old uniform for rags and he refuses to wear the suit she has pressed. Instead, she goes alone to the ceremony to unveil a monument to the war dead and returns reporting that the townspeople wept at the mention of him and his martyr’s death fighting fascism. Also, a local bigwig proposed to her now that she is officially a widow. What should she do? Will Pavel Ivanovitch ever be able to leave the pigsty, or is it his only safe haven?

CAST
•       Pavel: Pavel is a Red Army deserter. At the beginning of the play Pavel is a decade into self-imprisonment in the sty. Age: 28-38. Pavel owned a pig farm before conscription. Pavel may sing and dance.
•       Praskovya: Praskovya is Pavel’s spouse and enables the self-imprisonment. Praskovya has been running the farm and concealing Pavel from the citizens of the town. Age: 25-
35. Praskovya will sing and dance
•       The Pigs: The Pigs are both fantastical and tangible. Because of this, the production intends to include a dance corps of 2 to 6 that will portray these elements.
If you are auditioning for Pavel, Praskovya or the Pigs/Dance Corps, please prepare the following (this applies regardless of video or live):   
•       A two-minute monologue from a contemporary play or a two-minute cutting from A Place with the Pigs.
•       16-32 bars of an a Capella folk song 
•       A detail of your movement/dance training and experience (if you are able, please include a brief segment of dance/movement on your video submission; or a link to an example of your work).

Musicians: Music and sound will be an important part of this production. We would like to include live instrumentation on stage. Musicians will be considered part of the performance ensemble. 
•       If you are auditioning for live instrumentation, please submit your performance resume and sample of your work. We are especially looking for players comfortable with improvisation and familiar with interwar jazz and Eastern European/Slavic folk styles.

Ripon College honors significant alumni achievements

RIPON — Ripon College honored outstanding alumni during its recent Alumni Weekend. Because of the canceled ceremony in the summer of 2020, honorees from both 2020 and 2021 were recognized.

Brian L. Frey, Class of 1991, received the Distinguished Alumni Citation. His hometown is Whitewater, Wisconsin. He is a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an inventor with six U.S. patents. He has 50 publications which have been cited more than 2,000 times. He frequently works with Ripon College chemistry faculty and students and also with fourth- and fifth-graders to “instill in them some excitement and knowledge of science.”

At Ripon College, he graduated summa cum laude with a major in chemistry and a minor in mathematics and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He was an intramural doubles badminton champion. Brian won outstanding chemistry student awards in each of his four years, including the Leone Oyster Chemistry Award in his junior year and the Guy and Maude Russell Chemistry Scholarship Award in his senior year. He also was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. He received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Organizing Your Life with School Age Children and Teaching Them to Organize Theirs

Wednesday, August 18th at 6:00 p.m.
Attend this program in-person at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library.
Or register at whitewaterlibrary.org to attend virtually.

This presentation is a perfect mix of some basic oganizational tips for people to apply at home and important information to share with kids so that they can more easily organize the information received at school. We look at what it means for a child to be responsible. Then we explore specific organizational tools that can be applied at home by the adults and serve as a powerful example to the kids. Next, discussion turns to practical examples of what the kids can do to learn to be responsible and organized. Finally, we look at how to maintain the new habits or organization.

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by UW – La Crosse.

The following area students completed degree requirements at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in May.        UW-La Crosse, founded in 1909, is one of the 13 institutions in the University of Wisconsin System. UWL has more than 10,500 full and part-time students enrolled in 101 undergraduate, 28 graduate and two doctoral academic programs.       UW-La Crosse – www.uwlax.edu – is the state’s top-ranked public or private higher education institution by U.S. News & World Reports for master’s degree institutions and has been ranked among the top Midwestern public institutions for more than a decade. UW-La Crosse remains one of only two Wisconsin colleges to consistently make Kiplinger’s Personal Finance’s list of the top 100 best values nationwide in public colleges.      

Students earning degrees in May included: HOMETOWN, STATE; NAME, DEGREE, MAJOR(S), HONORS (if listed)

Whitewater, WI

 Thomas McManaway, Bachelor of Science, Recreation Management Major: Generalist Emphasis, Highest Honors
 Jacob Riemer, Bachelor of Science, Public Health and Community Health Education Major

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by the WI Dept. of Financial Institutions.

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) cautions Wisconsin investors about the risks associated with interest-bearing cryptoasset and cryptocurrency accounts.

A growing number of companies offer so-called “deposit” account products that promise to pay high rates of interest on deposits of cryptocurrencies. When an investor makes a deposit, they typically exchange their cryptocurrency for a promise by the issuing company or the borrower for a return of the same amount of cryptocurrency plus interest whenever the investor requests a withdrawal of the invested funds or at the end of a fixed term.

“Investors should be cautious and skeptical of investment offers that sound “too good to be true” or that offer guaranteed high returns with little risk. All investments carry the risk that some or all of the invested funds could be lost. High interest rates could often indicate high risks,” said DFI Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld. 

Cryptocurrency accounts may appear to be similar to savings accounts offered by banks and credit unions, except these interest-bearing accounts are generally much riskier. Deposits made by investors are only denominated in cryptocurrency. Neither the FDIC nor any other governmental agency insure deposits in cryptocurrency interest-bearing accounts.

The companies that offer these products do not have access to the liquidity facilities that exist in the regulated banking system to protect depositors. The high rates offered by these companies have caused retail investors to consider investing in these accounts.

As with all investments, before making any financial decisions, DFI encourages investors to do their homework, ask questions, and contact DFI’s Division of Securities at (608) 266-2139 or email DFISecurities@dfi.wisconsin.gov for more information.

The image on the homepage, “Crypto Currency Rollercoaster” by mikemacmarketing is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

On Tuesday, August 17th from 10:30-11:30 a.m. at Health & Human Services in Elkhorn, Julie Juranek, Elder Benefit Specialist, will be putting on a presentation called Boost Your Budget. It is geared to those living on a fixed income.  Join Julie as she discusses the many, many programs are available to consumers on rent, food, utilities, medications, Broadband, etc. Please RSVP by emailing jjuranek@co.walworth.wi.us or calling 262-741-3366. (Banner note: RSVPs were requested by August 9; however, the Banner was told that reservations may still be accepted. It is suggested that you respond soon if interested.) See attached flyer for more details.

By Al Stanek
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

Masks will continue to be optional in Whitewater Unified School District (WWUSD) facilities for the foreseeable future but the most recent summer session policy restrictions on the use of lunchrooms and parent visitations will be softened. Mask requirements for students, staff and drivers on system buses and vans will remain intact in order to comply with federal requirements. WWUSD District Superintendent Dr. Caroline Pate-Hefty recommended continuation of the “Mask Optional Policy,” and the board concurred, given the absence of a motion to the contrary at its August 9 meeting.

As one board member put it, “If things change, we will have to revisit the policy and the School Board is prepared to do so.”

School Board members recognized the written comments on the policy by nearly two dozen parents, staff and citizens. Dr. Pate-Hefty told school board members that of the direct contacts that she has had on the issue slightly more than half support the optional mask option with the remainder in opposition.

Dr. Pate-Hefty advised School Board members that as of August 9 a survey of area school districts indicated that 17 of 18 districts (including Jefferson, Fort Atkinson, Milton, Edgerton and Janesville) were using the “Face Coverings Optional” approach for the 2021-2022 school year.

The official WWUSD policy that will be in effect for the time being is: “Mask Wearing will be a personal decision. We support family and personal choice to wear or not wear masks. We will not tolerate bullying/harassment surrounding this choice. We will be teaching this consideration in our school community and appreciate your support at home. This is how we will build a community of acceptance.”

Individual mask requirement options are available to address “Medically Fragile Situations” according to Dr. Pate-Hefty. “Individual teams will work directly with parents and medical teams to (develop a) plan” according to provided materials.

The “Mask Optional Policy” or “No Mask Mandate – Local Flexibility” approach has been the choice selected by 48% of states issuing mask mandate policies according to Pate-Hefty with “Mask Required” the policy in 26.3% of states and “Mask Mandate Banned” in 25.1% of states with established policies.

In other business, the board voted to reopen its meetings to in-person attendance by the public beginning with the August 23 meeting, while still offering participation via Zoom. Meetings will continue to be held at the high school library for the near term, and a capacity limit will be established.

A video of the meeting, including Dr. Pate-Hefty’s presentation to the school board, is available at https://vimeo.com/585571803.