Healing Arts and Wellness Programming

MPT has a strong commitment to increasing access to effective healing arts and wellness programming. We create touring shows and workshops for children, youth, families and seniors with a focus on health education. We train artists to work with special needs populations.

FROM THE START, CONSIDER THE FINISH

Milwaukee Public Theatre received a major grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council to produce and tour an original musical play that helps families begin the often challenging conversation about end-of-life planning.

From the Start, Consider the Finish, presented by MPT in partnership with Voices Theater, told real-life stories in a statewide tour of ten venues in fall, 2011. We hope to be able to tour again in 2012.

Two actors played multiple roles in dramatic sketches. Original songs providee a unique approach to this subject. The 70-minute performance was informative, entertaining, and often humorous. It was followed by post-show discussions with professionals in elder care and accompanied by resource guides. In addition, a local actor participated in several scenes at each venue.

RESOURCE GUIDES Each includes references and resource lists:

Pocket guide to end-of-life planning by the Medical College of Wisconsin (large print document version)

Historical guide background and history of Western end-of-life care

Cultural guide to end-of-life issues among Wisconsin ethnic groups

Additional resource list: websites, tools, books, articles

A video recording was made on October 18. Call 414-347-1685 for more information.

The play by Rogers Keene was adapted from an award-winning book, The End of Life Advisor—Personal, Legal, and Medical Considerations for a Peaceful, Dignified Death by Susan Dolan and Audrey Vizzard.

Free performances included:

Medford High School Red and White Theatre, Medford
Sponsored by Medford Memorial Health Center and Hope Hospice and Palliative Care, Inc.

Ogema Town Hall, Ogema. Sponsored by Ogema Area Our Town Association

Fusch Community Center, Reedsburg. Sponsored by Reedsburg Area Medical Center, St. Clare Hospital, Baraboo and Home Health United Hospice, Baraboo

People’s United Methodist Church, Oregon. Sponsored by People’s United Methodist Church. Panel speakers: Peggy Weber, RN, St. Mary’s Hospital, Madison; Dr. Bill Rock, MD, HospiceCare, Fitchburg; and Jon Claude Bartlett, Pastor, People’s United Methodist Church, Oregon.

Oak Park Place, Baraboo. Sponsored by Home Health United

Thompson Community Center, Appleton. Sponsored by the Fox Valley Coalition for End of Life Care and Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, Inc.

UW-Milwaukee, Milwaukee. Sponsored by Center on Age and Community, UW-Milwaukee, Alzheimer's Association, and the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare UW-M.

UWM Talk-back panelists: Dr. Dimitri Mills, President of DCM Management Consulting Corp., Evangelist Minister at AME Church; Dr. Jung Kwak, Assistant Professor of Social Work at the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare UW-M; Toni Kesler, Palliative Care/Quality Assessment & Performance Improvement Manager at Community Care, Inc.; Sue Moser, medical social worker at Froedtert Hospital, co-facilitator of Froedtert/Medical College of WI Alzheimer's Disease Caregiver Support group. Featured Actor: Mark Metcalf.

Rusk County Community Library, Ladysmith, Sponsored by Toad House

Peace Lutheran Church, Dresser. Sponsored by Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society—St. Croix Valley

Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Sponsored by Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, Medical College of Wisconsin.

Medical College Talk-back panelists: Moderator, Julia Uihlein, MA, Assistant Adjunct Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities and Pediatrics, Associate Director of Medical Humanities Program, MCW; Dr. Sean Marks, Assistant Professor, Interim Director of Palliative Care, MCW; Julie Owen, MCW Class of 2013, President, Pysicians for the Arts; Dr. Linda Blust, Assistant Professor, Inpatient Oncology Services, MCW; and the Featured Venue Actor: Susan Dolan, co-author of The End of Life Advisor, the book from which the play is adapted.

Photos: Voices Theater actors Rogers Keene and Nancy Campbell-Kelz, in and out of character.

The 2011 tour was funded in part from a grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the State of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Humanities Council supports public programs that engage the people of Wisconsin in the exploration of human cultures, ideas and values. Additional support comes from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation Donald and Barbara Abert Fund, the United Performing Arts Fund and all venue sponsors.

Voices Theater is a non-profit, grassroots community-based theatre of human relations, which writes and produces original dramas on issues of social concern.

Slideshow (right) is taken from a videotape of the premiere in 2010.

More Links:

Articles about hospice in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Dignity in the final chapter, Changing need for hospice

Trailer for "Consider the Conversation", which recently appeared on PBS television stations, and a list of additional resources.

Please contact us or call 414-347-1685 for other information. Or sign up on the mailing list at the top of this page to receive updates.

Tap the Potential, Disabilities Awareness Month

Artists with disabilities take aim at stereotypes throughout October as part of Tap the Potential—a celebration of the talent and vision of individuals with special needs. The project is coordinatedby Milwaukee Public Theatre and Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin, Inc. Tap the Potential 2011 has its own webpage.

Our healing arts and wellness programming also includes:

• HEALTHY CHOICES: A recent grant helps support three educational and interactive programs encouraging children to make healthy lifestyle choices, taught by professional theatre arts instructors. Read more about APPLIED THEATRE, RAINBOW CIRQUS, FUN&FIT4EVER and FAQS. 

• MINO AYAA or Being Well—An innovative intergenerational project encouraging healthy lifestyles among Native American families in the Milwaukee area, supported by a grant from Forest County Potawatomi Community Foundation. The project resulted in a recipe book with traditional stories, and was initiated by the Ignace Health Center and incorporated storytelling, visual art, and performing art workshops. Read a new illustrated summary of the 2010-11 program and its resultant cookbook.
  
• PIECES-In My Own Voice: Journey into the world of those living with mental illness through crisis, self acceptance and recovery, presented in monologues that cover a range of mental health diagnoses. ASK (Access, Support & Knowledge) Program educational messages are woven throughout the show. Presented through NAMI Greater Milwaukee (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and the Milwaukee High School of the Arts in January/February 2012.

• UNCLOTHED…the naked truth: Survivors’ Stories of Sexual Abuse—A play written by La’Ketta Caldwell based on real interviews with women who have been sexually assaulted, about their experiences and ways they have been able to find healing. Recently revised with a classroom element for high school audiences.
  
• SURVIVAL REVIVAL REVUE—Barbara Leigh’s one-woman musical comedy about the healing process. Dr. Leigh also gives keynotes and workshops for people suffering from serious injury or illness as well as for health care professionals, teachers and the general public.
• HUMOR AND HEALING—Humorous monologue/performance on the value of humor and the arts in the healing process following a serious accident. Performances are 20-60 minutes and are suitable for high school through adult audiences.
• DRUM CIRCLES AND RHYTHM WORKSHOPS—Truly hands-on workshops involve people of all ages and abilities in the listening, leadership, team-building and empowering experience of making music together.

Read a past Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on MPT's healing arts focus.

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I would not hesitate to invite you to Custer again. Thank you for presenting such an important program that discussed some of the issues that our students current;ly face.
- Brown, Social Worker, Custer High School, Milwaukee -

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