For the City Times

WISCONSIN RAPIDS — Dozens of actors from Wisconsin Rapids, Stevens Point and Marshfield will take to the stage to present a six-part play reading series dedicated to the works of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.

The series will be held on six consecutive Sunday afternoons at cultural venues across Central Wisconsin.

The series, which received a grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council and is organized by Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre, will begin on Jan. 7 at 1:00 pm at the Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre main stage, with a reading of Ibsen’s folk-lore tale, “Peer Gynt.” It will conclude with a fully staged production of one of the greatest works in world theatre, “A Doll’s House”, which was revived in London and on Broadway, and was the subject of last year’s Tony-award winning production “A Doll’s House, Part 2”.

“We are excited to bring the works of this master playwright to our audiences, and to use the series as an opportunity to bring together actors and audiences from across Central Wisconsin,” Ellen Roeseler, executive director of Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre, said.

“Ibsen was the father of modern theatre, and his works remain as relevant today – 150 years later – as they were when he wrote them,” project director Cathy Meils said. “It’s probably the reason that Ibsen is the second most produced playwright in the world, after Shakespeare.”

The Wisconsin Humanities Council, which also supported the theatre’s first play reading series in 2015, is the only grant program in the state devoted to the public humanities. Each of the play readings will be followed by a discussion with actors and audience members, accompanied by Norwegian refreshments.

The dates and locations for the series are:

January 7, 1:00 pm at Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre main auditorium, “Peer Gynt”

January 14, 1:00 pm at UW-Stevens Point Studio Theatre (Noel Fine Arts Center), “The Wild Duck”

January 21, 1:00 pm at UW-Marshfield Helen Laird Theatre, “An Enemy of the People”

January 28, 1:00 pm at Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre studio theatre, “Rosmersholm”

February 4, 1:00 pm at the Chestnut Center for the Arts, Marshfield, “Ghosts”

February 11, 1:00 pm at South Wood County Historical Museum, “Hedda Gabler”

For more information about the Ibsen series and the performances of “A Doll’s House” go to www.wrctheatre.org.