What to do in Madison this week: Madison Night Market, Trousdale and more Isthmus Picks

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Trousdale, Monday, May 5, High Noon Saloon, 8 p.m.: On their sophomore album, Trousdale offers a modern-day take on the 1970s California sound; sunny pop with a country flair, impeccable harmonies, and moody lyrics. Growing Pains showcases the musical growth of the trio of Quinn D'Andrea, Georgia Greene and Lauren Jones since meeting at the University of Southern California only a few short years ago. With Beane, Nia Ashleigh and buffchick. Tickets at ticketmaster.com.

Steven Espada Dawson, Tuesday, May 6, Central Library, 7 p.m.: Steven Espada Dawson, who became Madison’s poet laureate in 2024, is celebrating the publication of his first book, Late to the Search Party (Scribner). It’s a personal reckoning that reaches deep into his past. “Dawson’s poetry often deals with his efforts to understand himself, his history, and his family,” wrote Samuel Annis in a 2024 piece about Dawson for Isthmus. “Frequently, one dissolves into the other.” Joining Dawson in this Wisconsin Book Festival-sponsored reading are fellow poets Nate Marshall, assistant professor in the creative writing program, and Paul Tran, assistant professor of English and Asian American studies, both at UW-Madison.

E. Faye Butler, Tuesday, May 6, Bur Oak , 7:30 p.m.: Off-Broadway and on, the list of theaters and companies with which E. Faye Butler has performed is a long one. On this night she’ll draw on songs from her more than 40-year career, including hits from musicals such as Mamma Mia!, Nunsense and Ain’t Misbehavin’. Don’t let those examples lure you into believing the actor, director and singer only toils in standards. Last year the Chicagoan directed A Diamond from the Rough, a play based on the memoir of Denise Jones, a Chicago minister who overcame addiction and abuse. Tickets for this Capital City Theatre Cabaret Soirée concert at theburoakmadison.com.

Wisconsin Triennial, through Sept. 14, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art: After trying out a guest-curated show in 2022, the museum returns to its usual juried process “to reflect current directions in Wisconsin’s visual arts scene.” The 2025 Triennial features 24 artists from around the state, although predominantly from Madison (15 artists!), with Milwaukee a distant runner-up (with four). One of the Madison artists is Christina Ruhaak, whose studio space Isthmus spotlighted in our July 2024 issue. Find a full list of artists at mmoca.org/events/2025triennial.

Teralyn Brown, through May 9, Tandem Press: Teralyn Brown’s intricate, extremely detail-oriented, limited-palette etchings of grasses, foliage, other plants and furniture are mesmerizing. “I find myself lingering on memories and tiny details while I construct my plates,” Brown writes in her artist statement. Her UW-Madison master of fine arts thesis show represents hours of work and should amaze. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Friday.

Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin, Wednesday, May 7, Goodman Community Center, 7 p.m.: Newspapers used to be a primary vector for the sharing of recipes; Extra! Extra! Eat All About It! Recipes and Culinary Curiosities from Historic Wisconsin Newspapers (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) delves into many regional and historic cooking quirks as culled from newspapers from across the state. A chapter on the fad of paper bag cooking, for instance, from the early 20th century, includes a recipe for stuffed onions (cooked, naturally, in a paper bag) from the Manitowoc Pilot. Authors Jane Conway and Randi Julia Ramsden have been researching and cooking and will share stories of the process they went through in writing the book.

Randy, Wednesday, May 7, Gamma Ray, 8 p.m.: The mononymous Randy in this case is the sometime assistant park supervisor of Sunnyvale Trailer Park — the setting for Trailer Park Boys, the long-running mockumentary series turned SwearNet media empire. If any of that makes sense, you probably already have tickets to see Randy (aka Pat Roach) in person on the Madison stop of the “Cheeseburger Picnic” tour. If not, frig off already. Tickets at gammaray.bar.

Madison Night Market, Thursday, May 8, State Street area, 5-9 p.m.: Downtown Madison turns into an open-air celebration during the Madison Night Market, a seasonal showcase of local culture and creativity. Stretching along State and Gilman streets and parts of the Capitol Square, the market features more than 100 vendors offering everything from handmade art and artisan foods to vintage finds and fresh produce. Add in food carts, live music and rotating themes — like a UW-Madison celebration on May 8 — and you’ve got a bustling street fest with a hyperlocal heartbeat. Future dates this summer are June 12, Aug. 21, Sept. 18 and Oct. 16; find vendor lists and info on entertainment at madisonnightmarket.com.

Doug Moe, Thursday, May 8, Mystery to Me, 6 p.m.: The man who regularly interviews writers at Mystery to Me events will take a spot in the other chair when Madison journalist and author Doug Moe sits down with fellow local journalist and author Stuart Levitan to discuss Moe’s latest book, Saving Hearts and Killing Rats: Karl Paul Link and the Discovery of Warfarin. Moe tells the fascinating story of the UW-Madison biochemist who developed a powerful rodenticide and life-saving human anticoagulant called warfarin, which was famously administered to President Dwight D. Eisenhower after a heart attack in 1955. Saving Hearts and Killing Rats also recently was named “Wisconsin Book of the Month” by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. This event is free, but seating is limited and registration is recommended; it also will be livestreamed via Crowdcast.

Guilty Pleasures, May 8-10, Overture Center-Playhouse: This year’s theme for Forward Theater’s biennial monologue festival is “guilty pleasures,” and that’s a fertile field — who doesn’t indulge in a few of these? This evening of performances features a dozen original works, mostly from monologuists in and around Madison, but also with performers as far flung as Glendale, California, and New York City. We have high hopes for “Filet O Fish” by Lucy Wang (a particular guilty pleasure of our own) and “F Words” by J.M. Louis — the “f” in question presumably neither fish nor filet. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. on May 8-9 and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. on May 10. Tickets at overture.org.

Henry the Fifth, through May 11, Bartell Theatre: Madison Shakespeare Company follows up on earlier productions of Richard the Second and the two parts of Henry the Fourth with Henry the Fifth, directed by Madison theater veteran Sam D. White. Rather than leaning on spectacle, this production will focus on the man beneath the crown, with the role of Henry played by Joshua Woolfolk (who played Thomas Mowbray in Richard the Second in 2017). Like that 2017 production, MSC also returns the action to a modern day setting, underscoring how little has changed in the murky space between diplomacy and aggression. Performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets at bartelltheatre.org.

A House Not Meant to Stand, May 8-24, Bartell Theatre: This lesser-known Tennessee Williams play is still very, very Tennessee Williamsy. This was the last play he wrote before his death in 1983. It’s been referred to as a Gothic comedy; Williams himself called it a "Southern Gothic spook sonata,” and it is full of mental illness, family disintegration, and sexual shenanigans. Madison Public Theatre takes it all on with aplomb in this production of A House Not Meant To Stand, directed by Julia Houck. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday (except 2 p.m. on May 24) and 2 p.m. Sunday; tickets at bartelltheatre.org.  

Taylor Hollingsworth, Thursday, May 8, Mickey’s, 9 p.m.: You may know singer-guitarist Taylor Hollingsworth from recent projects including rock consortium The Blips or the folky-country-bluesy Dead Fingers (with his wife, Kate Taylor), or perhaps from his time touring as lead guitarist for Conor Oberst. Hollingsworth's most recent project, the 2024 solo album Yahola, is in folk blues territory, with fuzzed-out fingerpicking and stripped-down arrangements aided by bassist Bobby Matt Patton of Drive-By Truckers. The sound should be a perfect fit barside at Mickey’s. With The Spine Stealers.

Find the individual Picks collected here, and as part of the full calendar of events.