Celestial sightseers around Milwaukee know that a Wisconsin winter can easily put a damper on an outdoor stargazing session. Between suddenly overcast skies and bitter cold, winter can often be a difficult time to explore the night sky.
Inside the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Manfred Olson Planetarium, however, the weather's always temperate and the stars are always shining.
This weekend in particular offers stargazers a great opportunity to view not just a crystal clear night sky, but the stellar views of Greece, too, as the planetarium presents "Odyssey Under the Stars," a special collaborative program with the UWM Theatre Department.
The project is a joint effort put together by Robin Mello of the UWM Theatre Department and Jean Creighton, director of the UWM Planetarium.
"We've collaborated before, and we're friends as well," said Creighton of their partnership.
She and Mello have joined forces in the past, putting together an astronomy-related storytelling course as part of the theater department's curriculum.
"The program that culminated was called 'Winter Constellations,'" said Creighton. "We wrote the script, and then the class developed it, did the research and did a series of performances in the planetarium."
While their previous work was motivated by their teachings in the classroom, this is the first project they've undertaken with an independent focus.
"We wanted an excuse to tell the story of 'The Odyssey,' draw out its astronomical connections and make the planetarium a place where the audience can feel like it's home," said Creighton. "We're both interested in combining theatrical devices like storytelling and singing to make science come alive for people."
"Odyssey Under the Stars" will feature a unique mix of characters, stories, songs and poetry to tell the story of Homer's Greek epic, "The Odyssey." The theatrical elements of the production will be performed in tandem with a viewing of the important visuals of the night sky mentioned in the tale.
"In 'The Odyssey' there are several astronomical references. In particular, the main one is looking for the North Star to navigate," said Creighton. "So when our hero is advised by the gods to keep the North Star on his left and keep going for 17 days, these are the sort of literary components we'll look at."
The program gives Creighton a chance to branch out artistically, too.
"I am a Greek native, so I'll have a unique opportunity to sing a song in Greek, which is not something I normally do -- in public anyway," she said.
In addition to the artistic and literary aspects of the presentation, the scientific portions of the program will incorporate the Greek theme in another distinctive way.
"Normally all our other programs would have a 20-minute portion where we would talk about the current night sky," said Creighton. "This is going to be a little different because we're going to see the sky as it appears in Greece. All of the constellations will be familiar, but they'll look just slightly different than they would in Milwaukee because we are at a different latitude."
"Odyssey Under the Stars" shows at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 14 and Saturday, Jan. 15, as well as Sunday, Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. Audience members will also have a chance to enjoy a special interactive performance before each of the shows begin. Though this specific program is only running for one weekend, it's surely not the last of its kind.
"I always have stuff in the works," said Creighton. "I think I work well together with Robin, so the chances that we will do something again in the near future are very high."
As far as other programs go, Creighton hopes to start a collaboration with the art department that will incorporate an art exhibit and a space theme at the planetarium. Planetarium-goers looking to take a trip into space this winter, though, won't have long to wait.
"We start our new program on Jan. 21, and that program is celebrating Hubble," said Creighton. "We'll talk about what Hubble has done and some of the marvelous pictures it's sent, and what we've learned about the universe from them."
Contrary to her natural state of being, Renee Lorenz is a total optimist when it comes to Milwaukee. Since beginning her career with OnMilwaukee.com, her occasional forays into the awesomeness that is the Brew City have turned into an overwhelming desire to discover anything and everything that's new, fun or just ... "different."
Expect her random musings to cover both the new and "new-to-her" aspects of Miltown goings-on, in addition to periodically straying completely off-topic, which usually manifests itself in the form of an obscure movie reference.
