Demand for tickets to a performance of a musical piece that was banned from a Watertown School District concert and a desire for increased security has prompted changes to a performance in Madison.
“A Mother of a Revolution” had been slated to be played May 23 at Minocqua Brewing Co.’s Madison taproom, but owner Kirk Bangstad has rescheduled that performance for 8 p.m. May 28 at the Barrymore Theatre, also in Madison, he said in a May 22 post to the brewery’s blog.
The music has been in the public eye since the Watertown School Board voted May 12 to prohibit the high school’s wind symphony from performing the piece at a May 18 concert.
The song was performed May 20 at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Watertown, conducted by its composer, Omar Thomas, who flew in from Texas for the event. Watertown High School wind symphony students, alumni, students from other school districts and community members came together to perform the piece.
The song, which has no lyrics, was inspired by a trans woman, Marsha P. Johnson, who participated in the Stonewall uprising, a pivotal event of the LGBTQ liberation movement, according to Thomas’ website.
Bangstad, who is running for governor, wrote in his blog post that while most of the people who showed up for the May 20 performance supported the students, there were “also a few anti-lgbtq+ protesters.”
He said the community group Social Justice Watertown was concerned about the May 23 show being played in the parking lot of the brewery’s taproom due to the size of potential crowds, “a lack of security and potential anti-gay protests that would drown out the performance.”
The Barrymore Theatre has a capacity of 971, according to the theater’s website. Bangstad said in his May 22 blog post that 80 tickets had been sold for the show originally scheduled for the brewery’s Madison location.
The move allows for safety concerns to be alleviated, to sell more tickets for the show – which had sold out at the taproom – and to make more money for the performers, consisting of members of the Watertown wind symphony and guest artists. The website for ticket sales for the Barrymore performance says, “We hope to raise a boatload of money for the band’s booster club.”
Bangstad’s blog post also said the brewery would offer full refunds to people who can no longer attend; it did not specify how people can get them.
Tickets for the rescheduled show are $25 and are available at bit.ly/Motherconcert.
Social Justice Watertown disputed Bangstad’s statement in a May 22 Facebook post of its own. The group said no one from its leadership team had expressed any concerns about crowd size, security or protesters.
In addition, the group said there was no organized protest at the May 20 event. The group’s volunteers “witnessed one disturbed individual who was de-escalated by church volunteers” and the event “was peaceful and absolutely overflowing with joy.”
Contact Alec Johnson at 262-875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on X at @AlecJohnson12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New date, venue for second performance of ‘A Mother of a Revolution’
Reporting by Alec Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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