UW-Stout's Destination Weekend hosts annual sensation Fashion Without Fabric, award-winning musical, and more

Menomonie, Wis. – Destination Weekend invites students, families, supporters and the community to celebrate University of Wisconsin-Stout’s Polytechnic Advantage and its students on Friday, April 5, and Saturday, April 6, through creative displays, academic showcases and lab tours across an array of programs, visual arts exhibits and recreational events.

Anchoring the weekend’s events are University Theater’s production of the award-winning musical “Dogfight,” which runs April 5-13, and the annual sensation Fashion Without Fabric on April 6, which sells out each year. Tickets are required for both.

Destination Weekend is the kick-off of Stout Spring Showcase, five weeks of academic celebrations open to the public.

Unexpected couture returns to the runway

More than 250 students will present unconventional fashion designs themed around “Philias and Phobias” for the crowd-favorite runway show Fashion Without Fabric at 7 p.m. on April 6, in the Memorial Student Center Great Hall.

Student teams in the 3D Design course devote several weeks to bringing their unexpected couture to life as they prepare to walk the runway, portraying a strong attraction or excessive fear to their selected word.

Tickets for a Low Stimuli Room are also available for individuals wanting to watch a live broadcast of the show in an environment with reduced lighting and lower volume, held in the Memorial Student Center Cedar/Maple rooms.

Students compete for $3,000 in scholarships and awards given to the winners of the show, thanks to donations by industry partners, alumni and community members.

Hands-on demonstrations and displays

An Academic Open House will be held in multiple buildings and labs across campus on April 5-6, as part of Destination Weekend. The community is invited to experience applied learning and research, view laboratories and equipment, and more.

Academic events on Friday, April 5:

• Printmaking Demonstration, Create a Blue Devil print: 2 to 4 p.m., Micheels Hall Atrium
• Metals Jewelry Sale: 2 to 4 p.m., Micheels Hall Atrium

Academic events on Saturday, April 6:

• Splash Photography Demonstrations: 10 a.m. to noon, Communication Technologies Building
• Fashion Design Coat Exhibition: 10 a.m. to noon, Fryklund Hall
• Social Sciences Activity: 1 to 2 p.m., Harvey Hall fourth floor
• Psychology in Action: 1 to 2 p.m., Harvey Hall rooms 456, 479 and 480

Additional events are being planned.

‘Dogfight’ teaches power of love and compassion

Tickets are available online at University Ticketing for “Dogfight.” Set in San Fransisco on Nov. 21, 1963, Corporal Eddie Birdlace and other young Marines plan to celebrate their last night of freedom with a bit of debauchery and play a game they call a “dogfight.”

But when Birdlace meets Rose Fenny, an awkward and idealistic waitress whom he enlists to win a cruel bet with his fellow recruits, she rewrites the rules of the game and teaches him the power of love and compassion.

Performances will be held in the historic Harvey Hall Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on April 5-6, 11-13, with a matinee at 2 p.m. on April 7.

Recreation Events & Campus Activities

Friday, April 5 events; no registration is required:

• Library Fun Map: Noon to 9 p.m. Explore every nook and cranny of the University Library and enjoy its unique special collections, exhibits, hands-on play areas such as the Board Game Collection and the Lego Collection. Maps are available in the lobby.
• Open Video Game Lab: 3 to 5 p.m., University Library room 103. Try more than 650 vintage and new video game titles on one of 17 gaming consoles.
• Free Climb: 3 to 9:30 p.m., Sports and Fitness Center room 56
• GLOW Climb: 8 to 9:30 p.m., Sports and Fitness Center room 56
• “Wonka,” Blue Devil Productions’ movie night: 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., Applied Arts Building room 210. Seating is first-come, first-served.
• Pickleball/Yard Games: 7 to 9 p.m., Sports and Fitness Center room 41. Outdoors, weather permitting.

Saturday, April 6 events; no registration is required:

• StoutProud Bingo: 10 a.m., MSC Terrace
• Pickleball/Yard Games: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sports and Fitness Center room 41. Outdoors, weather permitting.
• Free Climb: Noon to 4 p.m., Sports and Fitness Center room 56
• Stout Amazing Race: 2 to 4 p.m., starting at the Memorial Student Center, Involvement Porch. Be the fastest team to race around campus, solving puzzles and completing tasks. The race will be moved indoors in the case of inclement weather.

Visual & Literary Arts Receptions

A number of exhibitions, receptions and art sales open to the public are scheduled in Furlong Gallery and student Gallery 209, in the Applied Arts Building, as well as in Micheel’s Hall atrium, the Library Art Lab, Harvey Hall, and the historic Louis Smith Tainter House and Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts.

Furlong Gallery will host an exhibition by Toronto-based cartoonist and visual artist Jessica Campbell and alum Adam Umbach, of New York. Umbach, of Brooklyn, N.Y., is a biographical painter. He earned his B.F.A. in studio art in 2009.

Graphic design students, led by Professor Nagesh Shinde, are designing large-scale posters in collaboration with The BrandLab, a nonprofit that's creating more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces in marketing. The posters will be on display in the Micheels Hall Atrium April 5-6, before beginning a traveling exhibition.

Gallery 209 will feature Metals and Fashion, an Exhibition in Motion, with an opening reception from 2 to 4 p.m. on April 5.

The Library Art Lab will showcase The Entireverse, drawings and storytelling by Honors College student Dillan Olson. An opening reception will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. on April 5, on the first floor of the University Library.

Student researchers will collaborate with comics students to illustrate their research at the Sidewalk Symposium from noon to 4 p.m. on April 5, between Bowman and Harvey Halls.

A juried student art exhibit at the Louis Smith Tainter House, home of the Stout Foundation, will feature students’ works from Monday, April 1, to Tuesday, April 30. A reception will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. on April 5, at LST House, 320 S. Broadway St., Menomonie.

A drawing exhibition, Inspired by Mabel, will feature works by Bachelor of Fine Arts first-year students, with a reception at the Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts from 5 to 6 p.m. on April 5, at 205 Main St. E., Menomonie. All are welcome to the exhibit and art class and to see the historic buildings.

A Made@Stout student pop-up shop will be open from 4 to 7 p.m. on April 6, in the MSC lower level. Students from multiple programs and clubs, including Ceramics Guild, metals and contemporary jewelry, Student Interior Design Organization, Industrial Designer’s Society of America, Retail Association and the Comix Club will have designs available to purchase.

Celebrate the relaunch of UW-Stout's student-published literary journal “Prometheus,” which features students’ prose, poetry and visual art. A reading of prize-winning pieces on this year's theme of Revival will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. on April 6, in the Harvey Hall coffee shop, first floor.

Other student showcases coming up are Research Day on Monday, April 29, in the Memorial Student Center Great Hall; Stout Game Expo on Thursday, May 2, in the Great Hall; and SOAD Senior Show on Friday, May 3, in the Applied Arts Building and Micheels Hall.

UW-Stout is Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, with a focus on applied learning, collaboration with business and industry, and career outcomes. Learn more via the FOCUS2030 strategic plan.

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