Musical Chairs auction set to benefit Beaver Dam Area Community Theatre | Entertainment | wiscnews.com

In the live shop of the Community Theater in the Beaver Dam area, Roni Harper sprayed a transparent finish on the chairs painted for the upcoming musical chair fundraiser. The chair represents the theater group's first musical work "South Pacific" in 1965.

What do Ringo Starr, Vince Lombardi, Julie Andrews and "Cat in a Hat" have in common? Their portraits appeared in a public bidding project at the musical chair art auction of the Community Theater in the Beaver Dam area.

Volunteer Roni Harper coordinated a two-week online auction, who had participated in similar fundraising events in another city in the past. Harper looks forward to this event that has accumulated chairs for several years.

She said: "When the theater is dark, there is no better time to hold it than now." "This will make the community understand that we are still here."

BDACT has been closed since March last year. In order to protect guests, artists, actors and volunteers, performances were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and a "rest" was taken. All funds raised in the auction will be used to continue to close the non-profit organization to ensure a bright future for local art.

13 artists (most of whom have BDACT connections) are making 15 chairs representing various famous musicals. Chuck and Jeanne Stangl voluntarily spent time at the BDACT live store to base the chairs.

"Almost all artists work in their own chairs and houses, which is one of the reasons we carried out this project; this is something they can do while keeping their distance from society." Harper said.

Each volunteer artist created his own design for his own chair. These paintings mainly depict scenes from musicals, but Laura Congdon has crafted a stool to represent BDACT's play "Lombardi" in 2017.

The chairs are practical and most have traditional wooden seats. Among them are a child-sized chair, a bentwood swing, a bench with storage space, and a wicker chair.

The auction date is from January 22 to February 6. All bids and payments will be processed through the online portal located at:

Or go to

Or the Facebook page of the theater. Each item has a lowest bid opening price. Bidding can be conducted confidentially, and participants can enter the highest proxy bidding price.

Harper said that these chairs exceeded her expectations in creativity and technique. The winner of the auction will receive not only a unique piece of art, but also souvenirs and talk works.

"How lucky can you be?" she asked.

The Beaver Dam Community Theater holds its annual meeting on the day the auction ends. There will be a discussion about when the doors of its art center will open again.

She said: "Unfortunately, we have this brand new building, which has all the potential. It's just waiting, but we need to stay healthy to realize this potential again."

Lindsay Mangan's "Horror Shop"

Roni Harper's "Sound of Music" bench

Devon Cournoyer's "Yellow Submarine"

Mary Colstad-Miller's "Interesting Things Happened on the Way to the Forum"

Laura Congdon's "Rationalist"

"Lombardi" bar chair by Laura Congdon

"Beauty and the Beast" by Becky Kikkert

"Joseph and the Magical Colorful Dream Coat" by Annette Kamps

"The Lion King" by Kris Schumacher

Laura and Rhiannyn McCauley's "Rocky Horror Photo Exhibition"

"Frozen" by Donna Rochwite

"South Pacific" by Roni Harper

"The Little Mermaid" by Kristin Fountaine

"Annie" chair hosted by Jennifer Buxton.

Laural Connolly's "Into the Woods" curved wooden rocker

Follow Kelly Simon on Twitter @KSchmidSimon, or call her at 920-356-6757.

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