“Take Care: A Play for Our Times,”

UW Marathon County Wausau, Wisconsin, Thursday, April 26, 2012;

Overture Center, Promenade Hall, Madison, Wisconsin, Thursday – Sunday, May 3 – 6, 2012;

The Last Frontier Theater Conference, Valdez, Alaska, Thursday, June 14, 2012.

Treat yourself to a heaping helping of humor, heart and genuine Italian food when “Mangia, Mangia!” returns for two evening performances at the Elks Club, 711 Jenifer Street, Thursday and Friday, July 12 and 13, 2012, at 7:00 PM.  Tickets are $15.00.  Please call Dianne Redsten at 608.221.3225 for reservations and information.

“Mangia, Mangia,” the hit play from TAPIT/new works Ensemble Theater, brings Madison’s legendary Greenbush neighborhood to life through comedy, drama, old family photos and more.

Based on interviews with former Greenbush residents and a series of cookbooks featuring recipes and memories of the Greenbush by Catherine Tripalin Murray, “Mangia, Mangia!”’ transports audiences to a time when less was more – except when it came to food. To get you in the mood for a trip to the fictional Greenbush, a special menu has been created by our chef.  Please make your dinner reservations early by calling Julie at 608.255.1644.

For more information about the play, “Mangia, Mangia!” contact TAPIT/new works at 608.244.2938 or visit www.tapitnewworks.org.

“Mangia, Mangia!” is written by Danielle Dresden, directed by Jody Reiss, features a cast of four, including Sarah Whelan, Donna Peckett, Emily Morrison Weeks and Danielle Dresden.  Technical support by Gabe Reiss, and the co-producer is Jeff Knupp.  “Mangia, Mangia!” is a production of TAPIT/new works Ensemble Theater a 26 year-old professional theater, based in Madison and touring throughout the US and abroad.  For more information about the Company, please visit our website: www.tapitnewworks.org or on Facebook.

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Featuring an all-youth ensemble cast, Bullying: The Musical, is based on 50 workshops conducted by TAPIT/new works producing artistic directors Donna Peckett and Danielle Dresden with more than 1,300 Dane County elementary and middle school students from October 2010 through February 2011.

The real-world bullying experiences students shared in these sessions form the basis for Bullying: The Musical.

Directed by Lorraine Jaki-Terry, a spoken word artist and UW-Madison Theater Department graduate student in the Theater for Cultural and Social Awareness program, Bullying: The Musical features a script and lyrics by Dresden, score by Dave Adler, choreography by Peckett, set by Christopher R. Dunham, costumes by Rebecca Sites and light design by Patricia Micetic.

The production follows eight teenagers, Taylor Agnew, Alex Chen, Addie Clearwood, Kaylin Langer, Matt Kulju, Savannah Valigura, Isabella Virrueta and Frost White, as they confront multiple forms of bullying, both in school and online.  When tensions threaten to get out of hand, the students are sent on a labyrinth-walking field trip and discover that sometimes the way out is found by looking more deeply within.

It’s bound to sound familiar to the 1,300+ students from Lowell, Emerson, Marquette, Randall, Bird, Eastside, Royal Oaks, Shorewood and Van Hise Elementary Schools; Whitehorse, Velma Hamilton and Georgia O’Keeffe Middle Schools, students who helped inspire the development of Bullying: The Musical.

Along with helming the production, Jaki-Terry will coordinate pre- and post-performance discussions designed to create a safe and supportive context for exploration of this charged issue.

TAPIT/new works Ensemble Theater is a professional performing arts organization based in Madison and touring throughout the United States and abroad.  Founded in 1985 by Donna Peckett and Danielle Dresden, an award-winning choreographer and playwright, artistic innovation and community connection drive the Company.

Bullying: The Musical is supported, in part, by the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts; the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission with additional support from the American Girl’s Fund for Children, the Overture Foundation and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, Inc.; The New Harvest Foundation; Alliant Energy Foundation; The Cremer Foundation; Richard B. and Marilyn Mazess; the Neil Allen Peckett Memorial Fund; and participating schools.

These funds, allocated to support professional theater in the Overture Center, will help support the Madison debut of the Company’s newest production, entitled Care: A Play For Our Times.

Six performances of Care are scheduled for May 3 – 6, 2012, in Promenade Hall in Madison’s Overture Center.

Employing drama, comedy, rhythm dance and an original score, Care will explore the underground entrepreneurial world of those who look after older adults who can’t quite live on their own.   The way this care-giving underground is structured – who participates and how, as well as who benefits and how – has worlds to say about how our society deals with aging, death, intimacy, race and class.

Based on outreach workshops and interviews with older adults, caregivers and family members in Dane County and Marathon County, Wisconsin, as well as in Georgia and Florida, Care will follow the evolving relationships between elderly individuals, their children and their caregivers, revealing key issues of our day and highlighting timeless questions of how people confront intimacy and death.  As opportunities for the most profound human connection are grasped, acknowledged or ignored, the play’s characters must confront their capacity for connection and redemption.

Workshop participants will be invited to attend special reduced-fee matinees.

The creative team for Care includes TAPIT/new works’ producing artistic directors, playwright Danielle Dresden and choreographer Donna Peckett, director Tammy Moschea, actors Sheri Williams Pannell and Kay Dixon, composer Jane Reynolds, scenic designer Christopher R. Dunham, lighting designer Patricia Micetic, costumer Sharon White.

In addition to the Pleasant Rowland Great Performance Fund for Theater, Care is also supported, in part, by the Wisconsin Arts Board, with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts; the Neil Allen Peckett Memorial Fund of TAPIT/new works, Inc.; and the UW-Marathon County, Center for Civic Engagement, Wausau, Wisconsin.

Visit the Company’s website at www.tapitnewworks.org, or like us on Facebook for updates on Care.

It is, after all, a musical.

Featuring an all-youth ensemble cast, Bullying: The Musical, is based on 50 workshops conducted by TAPIT/new works producing artistic directors Donna Peckett and Danielle Dresden with more than 1,300 Dane County elementary and middle school students from October 2010 through February 2011.

The real-world bullying experiences students shared in these sessions form the basis for Bullying: The Musical.

Directed by Lorraine Jaki-Terry, a spoken word artist and UW-Madison Theater Department graduate student in the Theater for Cultural and Social Awareness program, Bullying: The Musical features a script and lyrics by Dresden, score by Dave Adler, choreography by Peckett, set by Christopher R. Dunham, costumes by Rebecca Sites and light design by Patricia Micetic.

The production follows eight teenagers, Taylor Agnew, Alex Chen, Addie Clearwood, Kaylin Langer, Matt Kulju, Savannah Valigura, Isabella Virrueta and Frost White, as they confront multiple forms of bullying, both in school and online.  When tensions threaten to get out of hand, the students are sent on a labyrinth-walking field trip and discover that sometimes the way out is found by looking more deeply within.

It’s bound to sound familiar to the 1,300+ students from Lowell, Emerson, Marquette, Randall, Bird, Eastside, Royal Oaks, Shorewood and Van Hise Elementary Schools; Whitehorse, Velma Hamilton and Georgia O’Keeffe Middle Schools. Students who helped inspire the development of Bullying: The Musical will attend two school matinees at 10:00 AM Thursday and Friday, March 10^th and 11^th.

A Friday evening performance of Bullying: The Musical, for general audiences, is set for 7:30 PM, March 11^th.  Tickets for the general public performance are $15 for adults and $12 for students (12 years old and under) are available at the Barrymore Theatre box office and outlets.  Please call TAPIT/new works, 608.244.2938 or email, info@tapitnewworks.org for more information.

Along with helming the production, Jaki-Terry will coordinate pre- and post-performance discussions designed to create a safe and supportive context for exploration of this charged issue.

TAPIT/new works Ensemble Theater is a professional performing arts organization based in Madison and touring throughout the United States and abroad.  Founded in 1985 by Donna Peckett and Danielle Dresden, an award-winning choreographer and playwright, artistic innovation and community connection drive the Company.

Bullying: The Musical is supported, in part, by the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts; the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission with additional support from the American Girl’s Fund for Children, the Overture Foundation and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, Inc.; The New Harvest Foundation; Alliant Energy Foundation; The Cremer Foundation; Richard B. and Marilyn Mazess; the Neil Allen Peckett Memorial Fund; and participating schools.