A child’s love for performance art blossomed into a career

The Arts Council of South Wood County celebrates its 50th anniversary season in 2026-27. A series of articles will provide some highlights of the past 50 years. This article addresses the power of attending performing arts events in our community at an early age. It was written by a former Wisconsin Rapids resident who experienced this firsthand. Marci Giebels-Birchenough was bitten by the performance bug at these concerts and has continued to entertain others decades later. She has shared her story below.
Happy 50th anniversary to The Arts Council of South Wood County! These past five decades, international, national and local artists have built a legacy of greatness. Each performer who graces the stage leaves a bit of themselves behind, and every audience member who participates in the synergy of the performing arts is transformed.
My family had season tickets to the Community Concert series back in the ’70s, and at that time they took place in what was then the Lincoln High School gym. I was very young when my parents started taking my sister and me to the shows. I remember how exciting it was to get dressed up for an evening of entertainment, and I always insisted we get there early for good seats, or “chairs,” as the audience sat in metal folding chairs back then. I remember watching Singing Francine from Trinidad (my mother still has the program and the album we purchased!), Kids From Wisconsin, The Young Americans and touring companies that gave me a front-row seat to The King and I and South Pacific. I remember getting antsy at a chamber music concert, but I was locked in while listening to Harry James and His Orchestra. I still love a powerful horn section, and my first taste of that energy came from Harry James’s trumpet.
Seeing these performers in Wisconsin Rapids exposed me to different cultures and styles of performance art. I am still grateful for those opportunities to see working actors, dancers and musicians. I didn’t know that the thing I loved most at that time — performing — was a potential career path until I witnessed these shows. Not everyone who enjoys being transported to another time and place via the theater will choose to pursue a career in it, but I did. I’ve been a working singer, voice artist and writer for 35 years. I started dancing at Christine’s School of Dance in Wisconsin Rapids, acted for Act III Productions and did musical theater at McMillan Memorial Library. I dreamed that every performer in the Community Concert series would be me someday. And, with that solid foundation, I went out into the world and made it happen.
Thank you, Arts Council, for bringing artistic inspiration to town. Everyone who is fortunate to attend gains something valuable, but some of us find who we were always meant to be.