Category: The Arts

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Celebrating Our First Anniversary At An Intuitive Perspective.

I am not exactly sure when to celebrate our first anniversary…but I actually published our first post on March 20, 2020, so I am going to use today as our official birthday.

For those of you who have visited here before and read our Welcome to An Intuitive Perspective page know that I am a fan, student, and practitioner of the arts and culture. I have a BFA in art education and at one time or another produced prints, photos, watercolors, and oil paintings. And there was a bit of time in high school and college when I played in a number of rock, blues, and proto-punk bands. I showed work in the art rental and sales gallery of the Art Institute of Chicago, was represented by a north loop gallery in Chicago, and had art in a number of regional shows. But all of those were so last century so to speak. And of course I have attended a gazillion openings and plays and concerts over the years. Great times!

But as often happens in life, I got sidetracked or interrupted. And for nine years I had been scratching another itch…writing…and writing for a political blog…and publishing it for four years. And I started to burn out and knew that I wanted to move on with my writing in retirement after the 2020 elections…so started the groundwork for An Intuitive Perspective!

So on March 20, 2020, I published a half dozen pieces, all reprints of my responses to plays presented by the Milwaukee Repertory Theater…pieces that I had written on Facebook as part of my involvement with the Rep’s Social Media Club. And then I was determined to build from there with all of my future visits to galleries, museums, theaters, dance companies, etc…and just as I was hitting the publish buttons over and over, the live arts and culture scene came to a grinding halt because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But I found some silver linings in the daily hovering gray clouds. I attended art history courses at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee virtually. I found any number of new theater groups who were doing virtual readings or presentations. There is a lot of very exciting stuff out there. And I wrote about many of them as my energy and emotions would allow during a very troubling year. I hope you go back and look at a few of them.

And as a hold over from my political blog where we featured music one day a week, just for a break from the seriousness of the site, I brought that feature here as Monday Music. And I started out with some pop songs that I find spiritually magic and then others that I enjoy a great deal. And in 2021, I have mixed in some more serious music…much of it from smaller groups that are new to me or are playing modern composers who are new to me. If you have had a chance to listen to them, I hope you have been entertained.

This anniversary note will be my 117th article on An Intuitive Perspective…granted about 50 of them are Monday Music entries and the first two handfuls, reprints from other sources…but an accomplishment given the state of the arts over the past year and the effects on my spirit.

And for 2021? Well more of the same…sort of. Plus a few original posts that are slowly percolating in the back of my mind…and fingers crossed…many many new responses to live in person arts experiences!!!!

And as always, if you want to reach out to us, leave a comment after a post that has drawn your interest…or if about just something whatever, reach out to: contactaip@anintuitiveperspective.com

Thank you for visiting and I look forward to hearing from you!

Ed Heinzelman

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APT: Holidames: Tangled In Tinsel

This was absolutely an hour well spent on a dreary December afternoon. While we are all safe at home and missing all of our seasonal favorites, Colleen Madden, Sarah Day, and Tracy Michelle Arnold are determined to make us merry, make us reminisce, and make us appreciate what we do have. And what we do have at hand in ‘Tangled In Tinsel’, is a unique and original and utterly entertaining virtual theater piece. As I have previously written, The American Players Theatre has taken the possibilities in Zoom and made them their own…and one of the pieces here even extols the ‘pleasures’ of Zoom.

But hopefully, I won’t give too much away here, but this is unexpected pleasure. A grab bag of original skits…some traditional…some very modern…and many very timely.

clockwise from top left: Tracy, Sarah, and Colleen!

This screen shot is from the opening segment where our actors lay the groundwork for their presentation…and share some comic and some poignant stories about their past lives in versions of ‘A Christmas Carol’! Oh what fun.

And interspersed we have a number of very effective readings of winter time poetry, ‘The Night Before Christmas’ (my favorite part), and the story of the Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus….and Christmas carols!!

Of course Scrooge makes an appearance engaged in conversation with his nephew, Fred. And you will easily forget that we have two women playing traditional male roles here. You are just mesmerized but the story and the presentation, and that old bias just slips away.

left to right: Scrooge and Fred!

And who woulda thunk, but with all of the time on her hands, Mrs. Cratchit now has a vlog and a very special guest in Mrs. Fezziwig! Hilarity ensues although there is some serious content here…although done in good cheer! And a surprise guest…who I won’t give away…they bring their whole here and the original ‘A Christmas Carol’ back to point.

And oh my goodness, you couldn’t ask for three more talented actors, who obviously enjoy working together…even though far apart…and I was just amazed as they all moved from conversation to drama to comedy to song…and excelled at each phase! Thank you Sarah, Tracy, and Colleen for your talents, spirit, and the willingness to bring this to us all.

As I said above, the APT has truly found Zoom to its liking and I could see this becoming a part and parcel of their future. So although I look forward to traipsing up the hill again next year, I could see spending another future winter day with the APT crew online.

The Holidames: ‘Tangled In Tinsel’ is available on line from now through December 29th. You can order access via the APT website to get a link to the video. Once you activate your ticket you have 24 hours to watch the presentation. Tickets run $24 but there is a discount if you also order the APT’s ‘This Wonderful Life’ at the same time.

In the meantime, here’s the trailer:

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There Is Still Time To Contribute To Your Favorite Arts Organization!!

Yes, Giving Tuesday was some time ago. But I recently read an article that said the Milwaukee Art Museum is losing $10,000 for every day that it is closed. And we know that all of our other favorite arts organizations are suffering as well…particularly the performing arts groups that depend on holiday performances for a quarter to a half of their annual revenue.

And I know that most of you are really missing your annual fix of ‘A Christmas Carol’ or ‘The Nutcracker’ or other long term holiday traditions.

I am not going to suggest any group(s) in particular…just please donate to the arts organization(s) of your choice so that we will all be able to enjoy all of these things again in 2021!

Be healthy. Be happy. Stay Safe. Happy Holidays!!