By Tom Ganser
Correspondent
Jim McCulloch, lifetime Whitewater resident, was the featured speaker at the Whitewater Rotary Club lunch on Apr. 15
While a Whitewater High School student himself, McCulloch took to the stage under the direction of Anne and Lane Kuske who headed up the high school theater program for a quarter century.
Having earned a BFA in Art Direction from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1994, McCulloch’s experiences include heading up a murder mystery theater company in Delavan along with his wife, Karen, and involvement in children’s theater and UW-W Continuing Education theatrical offerings.
Seven years ago, after the Kuskes retired from leading the WHS theater program, McCulloch stepped in. He began by assisting WHS music teacher Lori Heidenreich in guiding the Whitewater Unified School District Summer School Playhouse productions and then gradually assuming responsibilities for the WHS fall musical (along with Heidenreich) and the spring play.
McCulloch stressed the importance of the Whitewater Middle School musicals (where he currently assists WMS band teacher Liz Elliott) and the gradual development of drama offerings at Studio 84, in creating a pipeline to give kids a way to get involved in theater early on.
“For a community this size, and considering all the other activities that students can get involved with in high school,” McCulloch said, “I am amazed with how many kids we do have involved with the theater program. On average for our musicals we usually get between 40 and 60 kids who will try out, and that includes our strong backstage crew.”
“For a community this size, it’s pretty remarkable that we’ve got that much talent to sustain these grand musicals. Without the talent, we couldn’t do some of the productions we’ve done in the past few years.”
Describing himself as a firm believer in a “hands-on” philosophy, McCulloch said, “You can’t teach them how to act, you can’t teach them how to be on stage, you can’t teach them certain life skills that they’re going to need later in life. You have to have them just jump in and do it.”
