Robbers, Rascals & Ruffians: Stories of Watertown's Dark Side
Watertown Players
Watertown Players Theater 210 S. Water St., Watertown, Wisconsin 53094
press release:
Watertown, August 29—Tickets go on sale this week for the Watertown Players’ original reader’s theater production, “Robbers, Rascals & Ruffians: Stories of Watertown’s Dark Side.” The show will be performed at the Watertown Players Theater, located at 210 S. Water Street, Watertown, Friday, Sept. 25 and Saturday, Sept. 25 at 7:00 PM each night.
Tickets are $10.00 per person and can be purchased at the following outlets: The Market Cocktail Lounge-210 S. Water St., Watertown; Piggly Wiggly, 1330 Memorial Dr. Watertown; and the Edgewater Supper Club, N3522 Co. Road N, Jefferson. Tickets can also be purchased online at Brownpapertickets.com.
The show was specially written for the Watertown Players by local historian and playwright William F. Jannke. It is loosely based on his popular book, “Wicked Watertown.” It tells the stories of some of the more notorious law-breakers of the 1800s, including the story of the Kodesch matricide case, and the tale of Watertown’s biggest brothel-keeper, Mary Gruetzmacher. The show is presented as a series of vignettes, all told by a group of Watertown citizens and acted out in pantomime. Interspersed between the scenes will be music of the period.
“In the days before television and radio, when all was much quieter than it is today,” said Jannke, “families would gather after the day’s chores were done around the hearth and tell stories, gossip, and share their reminiscences of days gone by. This is what we are trying to achieve with this show, just a group of people sitting around and sharing stories with the audience. It’s like sharing folklore, if you know what I mean.”
The choice of presenting the show as reader’s theater was purely an artistic one. “In this form of theater,” said the director, Bill Jannke, “the actors will be reading, in a dramatic way, from scripts before them. Those not speaking will enact the scene being described in pantomime.”
A large cast made up of local talent has been engaged to perform in the show, and those appearing include, Dale Van Holten, Diana Bessel, Gina Symkowski, Meghan Ledwitch, Paul Casler, Rita Nolte, Linda Ewert, Jim Powell, Mark Wolf, Levi Jones, Lee Logging, Mary Jo Kasperzak, Jennie Ortega, Lisa Steffl and Rita Anderson. The show is under the direction of Bill Jannke, with musical accompaniment by Carol Erickson. The technical staff includes Annette Weirick, producer, Jim Steffl, lights and sound, Juanita Edington, vocal director, and Heidi Flanigan, house manager.
“The stories we will be presenting all actually happened and run the gamut from the 1850s through the 1880s,” said Jannke. “They are part of the fabric of our city’s history, and what better way to learn history than by presenting it in an entertaining fashion. Anyone who loves local history, especially Watertown history, as well as dark tales of murder, revenge and corruption, with a little comedy thrown in for relief, will not wish to miss this show.”
Other up-coming shows from the Watertown Players include “A Family Reunion to Die For,” which will be presented at the Watertown Players Theater October 10-11, and October 15-17, as well as the annual holiday production in conjunction with the Watertown Historical Society. This year the Players will present that perennial Christmas classic, “A Christmas Carol,” Nov. 28-29 at the Octagon House Museum in Watertown.