With the velvet curtain rising for a new semester, the College of Arts & Communication is looking forward to presenting a wide-array of artistic opportunities and entertainment on campus. The season is jam-packed with stories of war, concerts for the ages, impressive guests and much more.

The season of music kicks off Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Light Recital Hall with EMMY Award winning Dr. José Valentino Ruiz on flute. Following this, the UW-Whitewater

Department of Music’s faculty will be presenting Music Mosaics: Faculty Showcase Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m. also in the Light Recital Hall. The performance showcases the faculty’s talented vocal performances, piano, brass, percussion and more. 

There are also two productions hosted by the UW-W Department of Theatre & Dance to look forward to this semester, as well as auditions for the upcoming Spring Semester. 

“You don’t have to be a major to participate in any of the facets of theatre – be that from creating the costumes and the set,” said academic staff Ruth Conrad-Proulx, a UW-W lecturer in charge of the technical elements in the Whitewater Theatre Department. “The biggest thing is that it’s student-produced, it’s student-created, and it’s student-led. We train the students to do it, and then they do it.”

Perfect Wedding, which will run October 11 – 16, follows a man desperately trying to piece together what happened the night before his wedding. Contrasting the themes of the former, on November 29 – December 4, Grounded will take stage at the Hicklin Studio Theatre. In it, a fighter pilot’s career suddenly gets halted due to an unexpected pregnancy. 

“We’ve got some brand new professionals that are going to be working with us,

which is always just a breath of fresh air. It’s just exciting to work with brand new people and for our students to have opportunities to work beside new professionals,” said Conrad-Proulx. 

Additionally, The Whitewater Dance Department is preparing for their Spring production of DanceScapes.

“Annually, the DanceScapes production roster is both eclectic, contemplative and explorative with past choreographic works that have embraced ballet, contemporary, jazz and queer ballroom aesthetics,” said Department of Theatre and Dance lecturer Piper Hayes.

A UW-Madison Professor of Dance, Jin-Wen Yu, will be acting as a guest choreographer for DanceScapes 2023. Before his time at Madison, Yu performed as a soloist for the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre based in Taiwan. As a past president of World Dance Alliance-Americas (WDA-A), he has directed international dance festivals in Madison, New York City and Vancouver.

“This is your chance to perform on stage for friends, colleagues and family! You used to ice-skate? Audition!  You are a gymnast? Audition! You play a University sport? Audition! You’ve danced for years? Auditon,” says Hayes. “You haven’t ever danced much? Audition!”

Students and community members wanting to try-out must attend one of two audition dates Monday, Sep. 12 from 5 -7 p.m.  and Friday, Sept. 16th from 2 – 4 p.m. in the Dance Studio of the Greenhill Center of the Arts.  

With the amount of talented students and professionals working this season, the arts programs of UW-Whitewater are preparing for a show stopping school year. To learn more information on the upcoming tickets for performances tickets.uww.edu.