Carol Zippel, founder of Windfall Theatre
Carol Zippel is a founder of Windfall Theatre, a non-profit theater group that celebrated their 25th anniversary last year. Their three-show seasons are staged in an intimate environment of the Village Church Arts building (130 E. Juneau Ave.) where she sat down to talk about the company and its 2018-2019 season.
Tell us how you developed an interest in theater and how Windfall came to be.
I majored in theater at the UW-Eau Claire, I always wanted to pursue that and Eau Claire was a really nice place to go for that—close to Minneapolis, the Guthrie Theater, cool regional theaters. When I graduated, I did an acting internship at the Milwaukee Rep, I met an intern director and we founded Windfall a couple years after we were done being interns at the Rep.
We’ve been at Village Church Arts since 1992. This church is very into artistic things, we have quarterly gallery nights as well as concerts, so they were onboard with having a theater here right away. Initially, we were concerned they might limit what we do, but they’re very open to all topics and all things, so that’s been great for us because we’re eclectic with what we do.
What’s your life like outside of Windfall?
Well, the theater takes up a lot of time. But it’s one of the great joys of my life, I’ve enjoyed producing and directing, and I’ve also been an actor. Outside the theater, I’ve had a variety of different jobs in my life. Right now, I’m at a marketing firm and we specialize in fundraising for non-profit organizations and political candidates.
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What’s going on for season 26?
We’re opening with a show called Red Herring (which ran through Oct.13) by playwright Michael Hollinger, we did a play of his three or four seasons ago, An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, and I always wanted to revisit his work because I think his writing is terrific. We’re following that up with a concert version of the musical Grey Gardens (Feb. 8-23), a show that’s interesting in its characters and relations, we choose pieces that are really ensemble driven. We’re closing the season with Enchanted April (May 3-18), about two Englishwomen who are suffering from the effects of post-World War I, with their relationships with their husbands and the oppressiveness of their lives. They decide they want to break away from that, so they organize a trip to a villa in Italy.
What are some future goals for Windfall?
I’m always looking for ways to expand our ensemble, over the years we’ve had several different iterations. It’s primarily been a core of eight people and that has shifted as people have gotten married and kids, so I think it’s nice to create an ensemble setting where you can give people a chance to expand their range of roles.
For more information on upcoming productions and tickets, visit windfalltheatre.com. n
