- Coming up next on Wisconsin Life ...
- They think it's a recording 'til they look over there
and then they see it's almost entirely kids.
- [translated from Japanese] My paintings also represent
the struggle between man and nature.
- People will just leave a bag of animals at the door.
- That's part of my legacy.
It's that strong, black woman that says,
"I will not be disrespected."
? ?
- Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
- Hi, I'm Ron Pedersen
and this is my Wisconsin Life .
- It's a really unique situation.
[cheering]
- It's got a driving beat.
It is something that is very energetic.
[shouting, clapping]
- The officiating team... [whistle]
They work in teams of three.
[click]
They love us.
One official-- We're playing a game and it was a blow out,
and he ran by both benches and said,
"Somebody call a timeout.
I want to hear the band play."
[guitar chord]
- Kick it!
(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)
[playing Beastie Boys song]
? You wake up late for school
? Man you don't wanna go.
[hard rock instrumental]
? You ask your mom Please But she still says No
[record needle screeches]
- The name of the band is Orange Crush.
[drumming]
- About six years ago, there really wasn't much of a presence
up at the basketball games
as far as pep band is concerned.
So Rod and I were kind of approached
by some of the coaches and administration saying,
"Could you guys come up with something
so at least we have some music there?"
- So my colleague and I kind of brainstormed and we thought,
"We're both into the Tower of Power,"
which is a soul band,
been around for 45-plus years now.
["The Impression That I Get" by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ]
So that's what kind of got the idea
of doing something like that.
A rock and soul horn band.
We added a lead singer.
We added keyboards, bass
to the horn section that we were using.
And lo and behold, Orange Crush was born.
And it's kind of evolved ever since.
When you go to a lot of high school gyms now today,
a lot of people are using prerecorded music.
It's a lot of rap music.
It's a lot of the stuff
that's obviously very popular on the radio today.
And we take a different approach.
["Forget You" by CeeLo Green ]
- ? I guess the change in my pocket wasn't enough
? I'm like forget you and forget him too
- We do everything from James Brown to Bruno Mars.
- ? Doh doh doh Doh doh doh
? This hit that ice cold
? Michelle Pfeiffer that white gold
? This one for them hood girls
? Them good girls straight masterpieces
- I am faced toward the visiting team bleachers
and they-- their jaw drops.
? Cause uptown funk gon' give it to you
? 'Cause uptown funk gon' give it to you
? Saturday night and we in the spot
? Don't believe me just watch uh
[1980s-era electro-funk with fast tempo]
- They don't realize that it's live music.
They think it's a recording 'til they look over there
and then they see it's almost entirely kids.
? Stop Wait a minute
- Right now, everybody here is
a student at Burlington High School.
So, we have freshmen through seniors.
- One, two, a three.
- ? I don't...
? Care about...
- We expect the kids to learn the music,
really, outside of rehearsals.
We send them the charts ahead of time.
We get them recordings.
And then when we come together for our rehearsals,
it's really not about learning the music.
It's more about perfecting the music.
Putting it together for the first time is always
an incredible experience because the kids,
if they've done their work ahead of time,
we walk in the door and we go.
["Separate Ways" by Journey ] ? Love divides!
- Today, we probably could do 75 songs,
if we absolutely had to.
[horn music]
- Orange Crush, I guess you could say,
was kind of the bridge into expressing myself more.
You've got to feel it in here, not just up here.
Definitely made me a more outgoing person.
[saxophone music]
- There's not too many other ways you could get a feeling
of being like in a rock band, especially at this age.
["Forget You" by CeeLo Green ] - ? Oooooo!
- ? Nothing but love with the boy I love
- I've always said when I was teaching,
my job isn't to train professional musicians.
It is to broaden their horizon.
Give them appreciation for the art form.
And learn how to play well with others,
literally and figuratively.
And to have that self-discipline.
["Fire" by Jimi Hendrix ] ? I have only one burning desire
? Let me stand next to your fire
- I know that if it ever ends,
it's going to be something I'm gonna miss tremendously.
?Girls hit your hallelujah(whoo) ?Girls hit your hallelujah(whoo)
- I couldn't be more proud of what these kids are doing.
I played professionally off and on in the area
since the '70s.
This now is the best band I've ever played with.
[saxophone music]
You hit that first note some night and you go,
"Yeah, we're gonna be killing it tonight."
- ? Hallelujah baby
? ?
- My name is Manabu Ikeda.
This is my Wisconsin Life .
? ?
[Manabu Ikeda speaking in Japanese]
[translator speaking] My paintings also represent the struggle between man and nature.
- A struggle seen in Manabu Ikeda's painting
titled "Meltdown."
It hangs in the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison.
- As a child, I really liked penciling.
Just drawing lots of really detailed drawings of pencils.
The first thing I sold was
actually the first work of art I did at the age of 24.
I didn't really have the sense that I was an artist.
- Now Manabu's Asian-influenced landscapes
are displayed around the world.
Since 2013, he has been an artist-in-residence
at the Chazen.
- I kind of know how much I can draw.
And I figured out, I had three years in Madison.
So I kind of calculated how long it would take
and what size I could do.
- [Manabu Ikeda speaking in Japanese]
- Translator: So, it's 13 feet horizontally,
and 10 feet high.
I just kind of got washed away in the painting.
- It is his largest pen and ink illustration ever.
A massive undertaking.
- The theme of this work
is the 2011 triple disaster
of the tsunami in Japan,
the Fukushima nuclear disaster,
and, specifically, the destroyed environment.
- Over the many days, months,
and millions of tiny strokes that followed,
this is the image that came into focus
at the tip of Manabu's pen.
- You can see this big tree has fallen down
amidst all this disaster.
And as it's almost falling over, it's gathering up water
and trying to recover at the same time.
- Manabu's meticulous details stretch the imagination,
a "Where's Waldo?" on steroids.
So many hidden images
revealing a picture within a picture.
- In the bottom part,
you can see a town that's been destroyed.
People have lost their lives.
In the middle,
there's also people using the tree
to remake their homes
and you can see they're actually planting vegetables
in the airplane windows.
- In his world, anything can happen.
- In the top, you can see some flowers in full bloom.
These are actually camping tents that are blooming.
Tents, if you think about it,
they're kind of these temporary shelters in a time of disaster.
The white ones are meant to represent hope.
The black ones, they're kind of representing death.
And the little yellow things in the center,
all those are babies.
And around the yellow centers
are mothers and fathers trying to raise up the babies.
And right in the center, too,
you can see that in the figure of hands praying.
So if you see these white wispy parts,
it's either people's souls dying going up,
or else they're new souls coming down.
So it's this interchange of life and death.
- Seeing these wispy images firsthand,
the magnitude of storytelling Manabu painstakingly portrays
becomes clear,
unlocking ideas from every corner of his mind.
- I'm actually asked this quite often,
whether I can have the patience
to deal with this very minute detail.
I just focus on one part of my painting.
And with my pen, I use almost a building-block type technique
to create little stories or little messages.
I don't think my work is that difficult.
- Not difficult perhaps
until he dislocated his shoulder in a downhill skiing accident.
- I was really concerned
whether I could actually finish this work or not.
- Despite his injury, Manabu forged ahead
using his other hand.
- There was really no point in getting depressed about this.
So I just decided to finish the work,
and to finish it with my left hand.
I had never actually drawn anything with my left hand
before so this was a big challenge
learning how to control my hand
because it was actually shaking and not keeping steady.
- He completes about 4 square inches a day.
- It actually took two months longer than I had expected.
- The injury would slow Manabu's progress,
but not his determination.
- This is actually a very tragic painting,
but I also wanted to put little spots of humor in, as well.
Since I'm living in Madison,
I wanted to put in some things like Bucky Badger.
Here you can see the Octopus Car Wash, the Home Depot,
also Wisconsin Dells.
There's lots of little things like that hidden here and there.
I wanted to make people imagine,
if a disaster came to Madison, how would we react?
There is the message of disaster and recovery
that I think you can see in all my work.
- This untitled masterpiece could fetch millions.
- I don't know at all how much this is going to be worth
or how much my work usually sells for.
I leave all that up to the gallery
and I like to keep it at an arm's distance.
I don't really think I'm that famous.
I don't think anyone thinks I'm famous
and I certainly don't feel famous.
- Manabu says he's not famous.
And yet, art galleries and collectors worldwide
want this one man's work.
He has reached the pinnacle of Japanese contemporary art.
- A lot of artists
don't like to talk about their own work or describe it,
but I think I'm a little different in that regard.
When I use my work as a way to communicate with people,
that's really the source of my passion for my work.
- Still to come on Wisconsin Life ...
- Encore Studio for the Performing Arts
is the only professional theater company in the state
for people with disabilities.
And the actors take pride in creating performances
that talk frankly about the unique issues they face.
[thump] - This is a rough business.
- People are coming to expect something very--
pardon my expression-- special and sweet,
they may not be coming to the right place.
- Find out why Encore Studio
turned out to be exactly the right place
for Executive Director Kelsy Schoenhaar.
Later on Wisconsin Life ...
? ?
- I'm Pat Hilpert
and this is my Wisconsin Life .
[playful melody with whistling]
- Pat Hilpert collects critters.
Critters she has no plans to keep.
- Everybody seems to like frogs.
I've got lots of frogs.
- In her eighties, this retired nurse became a matchmaker.
- They're beautiful animals,
and I just hate to have them thrown away
when we can get more mileage out of them.
- Before she knew it, the idea caught on.
Bringing together unwanted stuffed animals
with kids in need.
- I've got piles of toys categorized,
like frogs and elephants in one pile.
And monkeys and whales and spiders in another one.
- They arrived two by two.
And then, by the hundreds.
- Most of them are donated by individuals.
And they will bring me bags of 'em.
Maybe 50, 60 in a bag.
I received a number of toys the other day.
There were 40 in 3 big boxes.
They've already have found their home.
The Methodist Church up the block needed about 37.
Many of them will go down to Plainfield
to a Baptist Church down there.
I think there's an order for 73 for that.
And then, a special education teacher
likes to have Teddy Bears just for her 32 children.
If she needs more toys, I've got plenty down here.
- Down here is Pat's basement.
Overrun by animals, her sons built shelves
for her recent birthday.
- People will just leave a bag of animals at the door.
I decided, "Well, I had better
put something out on the doorstep."
I made the "Giving Chest."
Oh, it is so fun!
You never know what it is.
He's got a rip on the seam here so I'll mend that.
This sewing machine is a 1950.
All it does is sew backwards and forwards
and that's all I need.
Now he's ready for the washing machine.
These are all washable.
And it's surprising that they turn out so well.
My washing machine just moans and groans
whenever it sees another bag of toys coming down.
And then, I'll push the button and it's ready to go.
I'm seeing a lot of the Pound Puppies coming through now.
The other day, I think I received 15 of them.
But they went through the washing machine
and they came out 15 clean puppies.
- Each animal comes with Pat's original poem.
- I have been a pre-loved toy by a child.
We had fun being together just being wild.
So let's play and start the fun.
My new life with you has just begun.
- She hopes the poem and pets are an inspiration to read.
- I try to have books with every one of them.
I love reading so much.
If a child has something than just the toy,
mom and dad will probably sit down
and spend more time with them.
- The need seems never-ending.
- I do count them as they go out the door.
The ones that I took today,
I think that will be about 10,400.
- That's 10,400 donated animals and counting.
- I've got a rule that:
"Something that comes in one week,
something has to go out the next week."
- Many go here.
- Operation Bootstrap is a phenomenal organization.
- Operation Bootstrap provides food and toys
to those less fortunate in Portage County.
- This is fantastic
when you think it's all volunteer work.
Can you reach down in there and get them?
I put out about 400 in the last three weeks.
The children are very appreciative of it.
Really made you feel good
that they were able to get something new and it was theirs.
- Pat provides her time, her talents, her supplies,
and the animals for free.
- My only criteria is that the toy will never be sold.
They have to be given away.
They cannot be sold for a profit.
God put us on the earth to care for each other.
And that's my way for the moment.
- It keeps me busy.
? ?
- Hi, I'm KelsyAnn Schoenhaar
and this is my Wisconsin Life .
- He really digs Abigail Adams, right?
We've talked about Abigail before.
- Okay, so actors on stage.
I know we're missing a couple,
but please focus and think about what you're doing.
- It's only eight days until opening night,
and it's crunch time at Encore Studio for the Performing Arts.
- Shall we? Places.
- I'm ready to do this. - We're ready.
- Encore is the only professional theatre company
for people with disabilities in Wisconsin,
and one of just a handful nationwide.
- Our actors are people with physical, cognitive
disabilities, mental health issues.
- The actors are paid, and Encore
is both an arts organization
and a vocational agency.
- The vocation is drama, the vocation is theatre.
This isn't theatre therapy.
This isn't art therapy of any sort.
- At the center of the action
is Executive Director KelsyAnn Schoenhaar,
who is also the writer, musician, set-builder,
and does just about any other job
that needs to be done.
- Give it all you got. Okay? Yes?
- Bonk.
- Kelsy can relate to her actors,
as she has Asperger's Syndrome,
a high-functioning form of autism.
- I'll read Wendy's lines until she gets here.
She finds it a relief that her coping techniques
are accepted at Encore.
- It's been pretty cool for me, too,
because if I'm stressed out and I'm directing,
then I can rock and no one cares
because other people do have other things, too.
- ? Tried and true.
- Kelsy writes plays that talk frankly about the issues
people with disabilities face in life.
- ? Oooo, Dapman.
? Dapman
? Oooo - ? Dap!
[applause]
- If people are coming to expect something very,
pardon my expression,
special and sweet,
they might not be coming to the right place.
- Kelsy writes parts specifically for her actors.
- I may be blind as a bat, but I've got echo location.
[audience laughs]
- So, if I'm writing to them
and to who I know they are,
then their voices come out.
- Kelsy knows all about finding her voice
and speaking with confidence.
- I'm a...
transgendered lesbian with, you know,
within the autism spectrum, and so, whatever that means.
And scene change.
[playing piano]
- In 1999, Kelsy was named Gary,
and living with a wife and two children
in Illinois.
- I first came out and just said,
"This is who I am, and..."
you know, to my former spouse,
and...
it was like breathing for the first time.
- Her family was supportive, but her community was not.
They received death threats, and decided to move
to a place where they knew they would be accepted.
- I had surgery in the very beginning of the year,
and by August, we were in Madison.
- Encore was just starting up, and she applied as Kelsy,
her first job as herself.
- I think maybe burying myself in work
was a good thing at the time.
- Kelsy found an instant connection with the actors.
- She could identify with their need
to be accepted for who they are.
- We need you to pick up at the line a lot quicker.
There's too much of a big gap.
- There was just a different comfort level I had,
that I didn't have with... everyone else.
- Good show. See you tomorrow.
- There has never been an Encore without Kelsy,
and really there hasn't been much Kelsy without Encore.
- It feels like I've created this around--
almost for my purposes,
but it's... [chuckles]
I think I'm just lucky.
I landed in the right place at the right time.
[applause]
It's pretty amazing, pretty magical.
[audience cheers and applause]
? ?
- Hi, I'm Cynthia Woodland
and this is my Wisconsin Life .
- Oh, my goodness, where do I begin Big Mama?
My Big Mama was Octavia Miller, my mother's mother.
I used to think she was mean.
I used to think that she was real sharp with her tongue.
Like, let's say I was talking too much or something.
And she'd say, "You too little for that big mouth."
[laughter]
You know, I didn't come up like that.
You know I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin.
Big Mama lived in East St. Louis, Illinois.
And it's a rough area.
Over the years, I remember when we were coming up,
we would go and get these big pickles at the corner store,
or snow cones, or something like that.
Over the years, you could tell
that the neighborhood was growing progressively worse.
Used to be that it was just a store that you'd go to.
You know, the next time you'd go back,
there'd be bars on the windows.
And the next time you'd go back,
the entire store would be behind bars.
Things kind of declined.
But Big Mama still lived on Market Street,
still lived in the same place.
On her porch there were these shell-like chairs,
aluminum-looking shell chairs.
She was walking back from the store one day,
and noticed her chairs on somebody else's porch.
She went back at her house, got her pistol,
walked over to the house that had her chairs,
and told the little thugs
that were at the house on the porch,
"Those are my chairs
and I want you to take them back right now."
And they did. They listened to her.
She watched them take those chairs back to her porch.
And it never was a problem again.
And I feel like that's part of my legacy.
It's that strong, black woman that says,
"I will not be disrespected.
"You'll not walk over me.
Get my chairs and bring them back."
I was kind of a wayward child.
So a lot of lessons, I feel like I came to later in life.
Then I felt like
I was more open to hear what she had to say.
[Cynthia imitating Big Mama's voice] "Stay close to the Lord.
"Life will be easier for 'ya.
"You don't play with God.
You mean what you say."
Oof! That would just give me goose bumps,
even now when I think about it.
I remember after my father's mother passed away,
I took a tape recorder with me
because I've always loved recording people's stories.
And I wanted to get her voice on tape.
I remember, I apologized to her.
I said, "You know,
I wish I would have been a better granddaughter."
And she was like, "Oh, now please."
She just talked about how
she said she'd always loved me and she always would.
And so that meant a lot to me
to be able to hear her say it.
But also to have it,
to be able to listen to forever.
- [recording of Octavia Miller] I had a good life.
And by the grace of God, I raised my six girls.
And I'm proud of every one of them.
I don't have too much longer to live and I know it.
But I keep you in my prayers.
You know right from wrong.
I love you.
I always have and I always will.
God bless you and I love you.
Thank you.
- Curious to know more about
Orange Crush, Manabu Ikeda,
Pat Hilpert, Kelsy Schoenhaar
and our Wisconsin Life animation work?
Go to WisconsinLife .org
to learn more about all of this week's stories.
And remember, we want to know:
What's your Wisconsin Life ?
So, send your ideas to us at
WisconsinLife @wpt.org.
Finally, we leave you this week with some special scenes
from our State Capitol.
The view as seen from the top of the dome.
Part of our Wisconsin Life .
? ?
- Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.