This Veterans Day, a troupe of musicians, historians and theater artists will put on a multi-media rock ‘n’ roll history show about Wisconsin in World War I. And they’re hoping to bring the show around the state in the near future.
Musician Ken Fitzsimmons of Madison told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that he created the group Mobilize the Poets to “celebrate everyday people who have lived through extraordinary times.” And they’ll be doing it by creating immersive experiences filled with massive historical visuals, dramatic readings and theatrical lighting, centered around performances of original songs by Fitzsimmons’ band The Kissers.
The group’s first show is called “The Foe and the Fallen: Stories from the Greatest War.” It will play at the Barrymore Theater in Madison on Nov. 11, and Mobilize the Poets plans to tour the show around the state. They’re already working on a sequel.
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Fitzsimmons sees the project as an opportunity to reimagine how we share history.
“I’m just trying to build connection,” Fitzsimmons said. “And that connection can be across time. You can feel connected to somebody who lived 100 years ago. It’s a new way of experiencing history.”
‘Bruce Springsteen meets Ken Burns’
Fitzsimmons and his collaborators first performed a version of the show that would become “The Foe and the Fallen” in 2018. At that point, it was called “The Greatest War: World War I, Wisconsin, and Why It Still Matters.” It was meant to be a one-time event, but when they played to a sold-out theater, Fitzsimmons knew they were onto something special.
The reimagined show will highlight the stories of Wisconsinites who served, worked and resisted during the war. But it will have a bit more punch than a standard history lecture.
“We conceived the piece to be a visual spectacle like a rock show, but with a historical element,” said Jason Fassl, lighting designer with Antishadows Theatrical Design. He’s the creative mind behind the visual elements of the show and Fitzsimmons’ longtime collaborator.
The spectacle will include a towering LED video wall which will display photos, videos and words from the war. Fitzsimmons sourced those elements with the help of the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.
Fitzsimmons described the show as “Bruce Springsteen meets Ken Burns.”
“It hits you in different ways,” Fitzsimmons said. “We have this visual sense — seeing these images of people who lived 100 years ago towering over the band. Then you have the music, which has the ability to bypass your brain and speak directly to your heart and to your soul.”
The Wisconsin Veterans Museum will also be providing replicas of World War I memorabilia that attendees will be able to handle and explore in the theater’s lobby.
Erik Wright is the education specialist at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. He said Mobilize the Poets is a unique opportunity to educate a new audience about Wisconsin history.
“Being able to see those stories told in different mediums is exciting for us,” Wright said. “(We’re) bringing in new audiences and showing them that what’s going on right now is directly connected to what’s happened in the past. (It) still matters today.”
Beyond World War I
Fitzsimmons aims to tour Mobilize the Poets and “The Foe and the Fallen” all around Wisconsin. Right now, they’re shopping around for host venues.
At the same time, the group is already working on a sequel that will play at The Barrymore in February. It’s called “After the War: 1919” and it covers the turbulent year after the war’s end — the strikes, race riots, women’s suffrage, mass deportations, the Red Scare and Prohibition. And it all takes place in the aftermath of the global Spanish Influenza pandemic.
“I let the audience decide whether or not those themes seem familiar,” Fitzsimmons said.
But Fitzsimmons hopes sharing those events will help heal the world today.
“When I see that others have struggled or stepped up and done something extraordinary, I feel less alone in my own world and in my own struggles — really realizing that I share it with people across time,” Fitzsimmons said.
And Wright said that sharing local stories amplifies that effect.
“It helps to make that connection and make it seem more tangible to your everyday life … You’re hearing about somebody from where you are right now,” Wright said. “It just resonates more.”
