You can probably name the prominent players on Madison's arts scene. But they'd be the first to say that the local culture doesn't begin and end with them. Madison is a thriving and growing center for the arts, thanks to our many galleries, music venues and performance outlets, to say nothing of the cultural riches shared with us by our colleges and schools.
So we asked our esteemed writers: What artists deserve more attention? They responded with seven people, and one group, who ought to be on your mind.
Two plays, two cops
Actress Tara Affolter teaches English and theater arts at Madison East High School. She's also been involved in the Madison Young Playwrights Festival and has directed productions at East. Her performances have been some of my favorites during my years reviewing theater, and I've been struck by how realistically she inhabits her roles.
Interestingly, Affolter played police officers in two very different productions. In Broom Street Theater's goofy The Maple Bluff Mystery she was a stereotypical by-the-books cop and scene-stealer who got the biggest laughs of the night with her deadpan delivery. In Madison Theatre Guild's excellent production of The Laramie Project, she sensitively portrayed the first officer to arrive at the scene of Matthew Shepard's brutal attack. Her vulnerable and honest take on this character sincerely touched me. I still well up a bit when I think back on that performance.
I feel confident that Affolter defies the old adage that those who can't do, teach. I imagine her students at East are fortunate to be in the hands of such a versatile performer and proponent of her art.
- Katie Reiser
Art for every budget
Rebecca Peragine had just moved into a new home in Lodi, and one of her young sons was afraid to sleep in his new bedroom. She rifled through unpacked boxes and gathered whatever materials she could find. The result: a "protector dinosaur" of found paper to guard her son's bed. With that dinosaur, her company print*pattern*paper was born.