Madison Unique Lives - Intelligent Entertainment for Women
North America’s Foremost Women’s Lecture Series is thrilled to present its inaugural season at the Capitol Theater.
For 24 years, the goal of Unique Lives has been to bring audiences not only familiar faces, but inspirational stories and unique perspectives – people at the very heart of issues, who encourage us to examine and refresh our views. The benchmark of a good speaker is not measured by their life story alone. They have to captivate the audience, inspire, motivate and leave them with an unforgettable experience. This year’s line-up meets that goal – and exceeds it.
Presented by Meriter Foundation. Sold as a series of 5 speakers only.
Lisa Genova – Inside the Mind of “Still Alice”
MON, FEB 15, 2016, 7:30 PM – Capitol Theater
“Still Alice” spent 56 weeks on the bestseller list and raised incredible awareness for caregivers and Alzheimer’s disease. That awareness exploded when the movie was released by Sony Pictures and garnered Julianne Moore a best-acting Oscar at last year’s Academy Awards. Lisa wrote, “Still Alice” from the perspective of a granddaughter and neuroscientist. Her story is a truthful depiction of her Grandmother’s life with Alzheimer’s. Her 85 year old grandmother had been showing signs of dementia for years – but when her Grandmother walked into a bowling alley at four in the morning, insisting it was the middle of the day and looking for her bowling team, it was the wake-up call that changed everything.
An evening with Lisa Genova will help you gain a greater appreciation and sensitivity for what people with Alzheimer’s and their families struggle through.
Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe – Sewing Hope in Uganda
MON, MAR 14. 2016, 7:30 PM – Capitol Theater
For 25 years, Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army terrorized Northern Uganda. Children were stolen from their families and brainwashed to be soldiers. Girls were degraded to sex slaves for Kony’s officers. The gunfire has ceased, but one battle remains…the battle to restore the future of the children of Uganda. This is the story of one woman’s fight to bring hope back to her nation. Armed with only a sewing machine, Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe openly defied Joseph Kony. Through her vocational school in Gulu, Uganda, she uses practical skills to restore dignity, independence, and hope to over 2,000 formerly abducted women.
Don’t miss hearing one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People for 2014.
Piper Kerman – Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison
MON, APR 4, 2016, 7:30 PM – Capitol Theater
In her memoir “Orange is the New Black”, Piper Kerman recounts the year that she spent in the Danbury Correctional Facility for a crime she had committed ten years prior as a very brief, very careless dalliance in the world of drug trafficking. Piper’s story is compelling, moving, and often hilarious. She’ll share with you the stories of the women she met while in prison; raise issues of friendship and family and mental Illness. You’ll hear about the odd cliques and codes of behavior, the role of religion, the uneasy relationship between prisoner and jailor, and the almost complete lack of guidance for life after prison. Piper’s memoir was adapted into a Netflix series. The show today is a runaway success and legitimized Netflix as a formidable source of original programming.
Sissy Spacek
MON, MAY 23, 2016, 7:30 PM – Capitol Theater
Sissy Spacek has been one of the industry’s most respected actresses for more than four decades. Her many honors include an Academy Award, five additional Oscar nominations, three Golden Globe Awards and numerous critics’ awards.
At the lecture podium, Sissy Spacek takes audiences behind the scenes of her expansive career. Having worked with some of the greatest directors of our time, she has no shortage of stories that will both entertain and enlighten audiences. Spacek also gives an exclusive look into her personal life, with moving and often hilarious anecdotes about her childhood, coming of age, chasing a dream, parenting and leaving Hollywood for rural Virginia at the height of her career.
Judy Collins – Sweet Judy Blue Eyes
MON, JUN 20, 2016, 7:30 PM – Capitol Theater
Judy Collins is an award-winning singer-songwriter, esteemed for her imaginative interpretations of traditional and contemporary folk standards and her own poetically poignant original compositions. Her stunning rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” from her landmark 1967 album, Wildflowers, has been entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
In the 1960s, she evoked both the idealism and steely determination of a generation united against social and environmental injustices. As a speaker and author of her most recent title, the memoir Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music, Judy reaches deeply inside and, with unflinching candor, recalls her turbulent childhood, her epic victories over depression and alcoholism, extraordinary rise to fame, and her redemption through embracing a healthy and stable lifestyle.
Judy continues to create music of hope and healing, that lights up the world and speaks to the heart.
Hosted by Christine Bellport, NBC 15 – The Morning Show. Generously sponsored by the Meriter Foundation, the Edgewater, Wisconsin State Journal and NBC15.
