All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914

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Maureen Janson Heintz

Two groups of soldiers during a cease-fire.

"All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914," Four Seasons Theatre, 2023.

This Four Seasons Theatre production has become a new holiday tradition in Madison. The setting of All is Calm is melancholy and dire: It is World War I, at the Western Front. Yet somehow the message of Christmas comes through as German and English foot soldiers call an impromptu truce. Using a variety of historic media, including patriotic and popular music of the time, classic Christmas carols, and text drawn from real letters, journals, and radio broadcasts, the a cappella musical chronicles the experience of trench warfare in the early 20th century. Shows Dec. 7-17, at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 2 p.m,. Saturdays and Sundays.

12/7-17, Overture Center-Playhouse, at 7:30 pm Thursday-Friday and 2 pm Saturday-Sunday. $38-$25.

media release: The Western Front, Christmas, 1914. Out of the violence- a silence, then a song. A German soldier steps into “No Man’s Land” singing Stille Nacht. This begins an extraordinary night of camaraderie, music, peace.  A remarkable true story told in the words and song of the men who lived them. 

Written and conceived by Peter Rothstein, graduate of the UW-Madison Department of Theatre & Drama and Co-founder and longtime Artistic Director of Theatre Latté Da, ALL IS CALM: The Christmas Truce of 1914 features a cappella choral arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach. The show premiered at Theatre Latté Da in Minneapolis, MN in 2007, toured North America with Cantus Vocal Ensemble for several years, and ran off Broadway November-December 2018.

Four Seasons Theatre showcases local talent onstage and backstage in venues across Madison and produces over 20 outreach performances at libraries, senior centers, and schools each year. It all started with conversations in Fall 2004 and an initial co-production of Ragtime with Middleton Players Theatre in Summer 2005. Since then, Four Seasons Theatre has produced over 57 shows and featured the work of thousands of Madison theater artists – actors, singers, musicians, designers, directors, stage managers, and technicians – on stages across the city. And, under the leadership of  Producing Artistic Director Sarah Marty, the company has thrived, meeting the dual bottom-line of producing mission-driven work while being financial sustainable.

AIC Preshow Lectures: Kevin Hampton, Curator of History for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, Thursday 12/7 and 14 at 6:30 pm; Sunday 12/10 at 1 pm; in the Playhouse Lobby

"A lot of times when you think of military history you get lost in the machines of war.  You get lost in the statistics, the tanks, the planes, the guns, and you often forget forget the humanity behind the history."