What to do in Madison this week: Black Arts Matter Festival, "Spring Training" and more

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Note: Public Health Madison and Dane County allowed the most recent face covering public order to expire on Feb. 28. Many venues and businesses may continue to maintain individual requirements for masking, as well as proof of COVID-19 vaccination and/or a negative test for entry. Before heading out for any in-person event, confirm it is still taking place and check for any attendance guidelines on the relevant business websites or social media accounts.

Maha Hilal, Monday, March 21, Crowdcast, 6 p.m.: In the 2021 book Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, The War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience, Maha Hilal synthesizes years of her research on the U.S. government response to 9/11 and how its narrative continues to drive an ever-growing surveillance state. The policies may have changed names over the past two decades, but the effects on Muslim Americans have remained damaging. Hilal will discuss the book on Crowdcast with Madison journalist Kavin Senapathy, who reviewed the book for Tone Madison (and was a middle school classmate of Hilal in Madison).  

Spring Training, Tuesday, March 22, Lodgic Everyday Community Event Hall, 7 p.m.: Falconbridge Players formed in 2019 to produce classic theater with "a rebel mindset" and its inaugural production of 2022 features two stories from baseball's heyday: “Origins of Sport: Baseball” and “Bases Full.” Food specials from the Everyday Kitchen are available during the performance — just like being at the ballpark. But, unlike a Brewers game, admission is free.

The Prom, March 22-27, Overture Hall: How can two somewhat selfish actors counter a bad review? Find a cause and become celebrity activists. They take on a small town high school that canceled the prom rather than let a student bring her girlfriend as a date. The Prom was the 2019 Drama Desk Award winner for best musical comedy, and it's now on a national tour. Performances at Overture are at 7:30 p.m., March 22-24; 8 p.m., March 25; 2 and 8 p.m., March 26; and 1 and 6:30 p.m., March 27. Find tickets at overture.org.

Omnium Gatherum, Tuesday, March 22, Crucible, 8 p.m.: Finnish melodic death metal bands might have found a new haven at Crucible. Swallow the Sun played the venue in December, and now Omnium Gatherum — which emphasizes the “melodic” in its music — will descend on Madison in support of 2021’s Origin. That album has been hailed as a “melodic death metal version of Def Leppard’s classic Hysteria” and it serves as a prime example of how the genre has matured in recent years. Also on the bill: Extreme metal from Colorado’s Allegaeon and Pennsylvania’s Black Crown Initiate, as well as “raw-school street metal for the people” from Madison’s own Tubal Cain.

Amanda McCavour, through Sept. 11, Chazen Museum of Art: First off, don't think traditional embroidery. McCavour's large-scale “thread drawings” in the exhibit Suspended Landscapes will fill the Paige Court in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Chazen Museum and its inaugural Elvehjem building. McCavour stitches with a sewing machine on a fabric base that dissolves in water, leaving a strong but delicate-seeming web of images. The Toronto based artist visited Madison several times to create a site-specific work incorporating images of Wisconsin flora on a big scale. McCavour also curated a show of artwork on campus that inspired her installation, alongside her own preparatory drawings and materials. The installation is on display through Sept. 11.

CANCELED: Greta Van Fleet, Tuesday, March 22, Kohl Center, 7 p.m.: Madison has always been like a second home to Greta Van Fleet, the young Michigan-based band of old rock ‘n’ roll souls that’s taken a lot of flak for sounding too much like Led Zeppelin. They played Freakfest at the start of their career, were one of the first bands to rattle The Sylvee and then electrified Breese Stevens Field their last time here in 2019. Now — on the strength of 2021’s The Battle at Garden’s Gate, which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 — Greta Van Fleet is headlining arenas. Madison falls right in the middle of the “Dreams In Gold” U.S. tour, which also features Grammy-nominated rockers Rival Sons and the raucous trio The Velveteers. (March 21 update: This stop on the band's tour is canceled, rather than postponed as is the rest of the tour, due to renovations at the Kohl Center planned for later this year.)

Black Arts Matter Festival, March 23-26, UW Memorial Union: Black Arts Matter Festival aims to provide a platform for Black art and voices and create a community around interdisciplinary Black art and artistry. The third annual festival will feature more than 40 poets from around the country competing in a three-day poetry slam. Preliminary rounds are at 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. on March 23, semi-finals at 7:30 p.m. on March 24, and finals at 6:30 p.m. on March 25; find the full list of slam poets and featured performers at blackartsmatterfestival.org. The BAM Festival culminates at 2 p.m. March 26 with “Body Politics,” featuring the debut performance of the one-person show “Full of Herself” by Shasparay (a performing artist, slam poet, UW-Madison alumna, and the festival's founder) followed by a panel discussion led by UW assistant professor Sami Schalk. Find ticket info at artsticketing.wisc.edu.

Greg Abate with the Johannes Wallmann Trio, Wednesday, March 23, Cafe Coda, 7 p.m.: Saxophonist and flutist Greg Abate's extensive musical C.V. stretches back to a mid-1970s run with the Ray Charles Orchestra and even a 1980s tenure with the Artie Shaw Orchestra. Since then Abate has created a prolific discography as a bandleader and collaborator; his most recent album, Magic Dance, focuses on the compositions of pianist Kenny Barron. For his Madison concert, Abate will be playing some of his own new compositions written during recent months, accompanied by pianist Johannes Wallmann, bassist Nick Moran, and drummer Dave Bayles.

Democracy by Petition, Thursday, March 24, UW Discovery Building, 5 p.m.: The UW-Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs kicks off a spring lecture series, “American Democracy, American Dream,” with a talk by Harvard University professor Daniel Carpenter. His book Democracy by Petition: Popular Politics in Transformation, 1790–1870 examines the history of democracy's slow expansion in the 19th century, as those denied official participation in the political process employed petitions to bring grievances into public discussion. Register on Eventbrite for the talk, and find information on the full series at lafollette.wisc.edu.  

International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, March 24-27, UW Union South-Marquee: The Wisconsin Union Directorate Film and Society and Politics groups collaborated for this series of free screenings of films from Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Georgia, Japan and South Africa. First up at 7 p.m. on March 24 is Flee, an animated film about the life of a refugee from Afghanistan which earned three nominations for the 2022 Academy Awards. The lineup also includes the 2018 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, A Fantastic Woman (8:30 p.m., March 26) and four more acclaimed movies; find the full schedule at union.wisc.edu/get-involved/wud/film.

Joseph, Thursday, March 24, High Noon Saloon, 8 p.m.: The Portland, Oregon, trio Joseph graces every song with captivating chemistry. Natalie Closner Schepman and her twin sisters Allison Closner and Meegan Closner caught the attention of music critics, fans and festival bookers alike with awe-inspiring harmonies and self-affirming ballads on the 2016 album I'm Alone, No You're Not. The trio's Good Luck, Kid (2019) continued to showcase their vocal talent with songs about transitioning to adulthood, and a bigger rock focus. For their "Requests Only" tour, Schepman will even be opening a few shows solo — including in Madison.

We hope it’s handy for you to find Picks grouped together in a single post. The individual Picks can still be found in the usual places online: collected here, and sprinkled throughout all the events.

Editor's note: This post has been updated due to the cancellation of the Greta Van Fleet show.