This is my fourth and final year with this group and it has consistently been the best part of the school year for me. For my final year I have been given an opportunity to further develop my leadership skills by being named the student leader. It has come with its fair share of challenges, but the rewards have outweighed them. One reward stands out above the rest. I have been able to connect with everyone in the group and just make music with what feels like a family. These people mean the world to me and I make sure to not waste a single moment with them whether it's a performance or just a rehearsal. If I had the chance to be student leader again, I wouldn't hesitate at all. - Mitchell Guynn, Madrigal Singer Student Leader

The Madrigal dinner and the rehearsals leading up to it, are incredibly unique experiences that have shaped me both emotionally and musically. I’m grateful for the challenge that the literature and performance have posed, and for the incredible memories from every year. I’m going to miss it more than anything else from high school, and I couldn’t be more excited and honored to end my last year by singing with this group. - Erin Muenter, Madrigal Singer

One of the most incredible aspects of the Madrigal dinner is the sheer variety of groups that make it possible. The singers, jesters, brass, recorders, culinary crew, pages and wenches, faculty volunteers, and general student volunteers all work together to create the amazing dinner that the guests see performed. I have participated in the Madrigal dinner all four years of high school. My freshman year I was a wench who helped serve food to the patrons, and I have been a singer ever since then. Even though I have only been in two of the many different groups that form the whole, it allowed me to witness glimpses of the phenomenal people who make this dinner possible, and to be a part of the tight knit relationships that every group has both within itself and amongst others. The Madrigal dinner and the people and events involved are absolutely the best and favorite moments of my high school career, and I am incredibly grateful I was given the opportunity to partake in the continuation of the wonderful tradition. - Kristy Fitzgerald, Madrigal Singer

During my freshman year, I was serving a table with a fashionable young lady at the end. When we uncovered the pork and potatoes to be passed around, the young lady accidentally dropped a piece of potato in her water glass. She politely insisted that one of the wenches fetch her a new glass of ice water. Nervously, my shy self approached the kitchen staff and asked for a new glass and panicked when they didn’t have any extras. Luckily they were able to wash it up for me, but I was terrified to enter the dining hall without my fellow pages and wenches. I was initially flustered that the young lady hassled me, but I remembered that she was a patron and my only job was to cater to her and her table’s needs. Though I was initially unsure about serving, I ended up loving it. Being a wench in the WUHS Madrigal dinner taught me discipline and hospitality. My role as Head Wench senior year is to oversee the other pages and wenches, and to keep the potato water to a minimum. - Danielle Hobach, Page & Wench Crewe, Head Wench

Freshman year I became a jestyr and ever since then I have been a part of the Madrigal Dinner at Waterford Union High School. The group of jestyrs at our school has always been a melting pot of different people from different backgrounds who had never talked to each other before this group. Even though this is true, within a week we all become a close knit group of friends for life. This show provides an opportunity for people to break out of their shell and create an amazing memory in high school to look back on later in life. It truly is the best program I have ever been a part of in high school and has certainly provided me with a larger range of friends and a higher level of happiness. I am so sad to be a senior leaving after this year, but being Head Jestyr has been a blast and I can’t wait to come back and watch the show every year and see how it develops! - Natalie Lindell, Head Jestyr

Freshman year was the first time I was honored to become a beefeater, one of royal guard for the singers and the Queen. They stand outside of the castle and, much like the Queen's guard, they are not allowed to smile or talk. This is a difficult task to complete for we have jesters trying to make us laugh and smile. The memories of jesters doing dumb things in a desperate attempt to get beefeaters to laugh, are some of the best ones I can remember. I also enjoyed listening to the wonderful music the singers made. The best moment of all is when I bring the boar's head out while one of my great friends sings the boar's head procession, walking around and seeing the smiling faces as the jesters hide beneath the head, ready to steal the apple! All in all the Madrigal Dinner is one of the most memorable events in my high school career. - EJ Mastrocola, Beefeater, Head Guardsman

I look forward to Madrigals every year. I really enjoy entertaining the guests and seeing the kids amazed by some of the tricks. I joined jugglers my sophomore year. What I like about it is that I have the freedom to pick what I want to juggle and I never get bored because there is always something new to learn. Another one of the big reasons that I like this so much is because we are free to move throughout the entire castle. My favorite part of the dinner is when they bring in the boar's head and watch as the jesters steal the apple. Even though this is my last year, I still look forward to next year so I can experience the dinner from a new perspective. - Antonio Barrios, Juggling Crewe, Head Juggler

To me, Madrigals is an excellent opportunity for the school to get involved with WUHS’s music program, even if students are not musically gifted. From the servers, to jugglers, to the kitchen crew, it truly does take the whole school to put on such a show. Personally, I love wenching because it puts my life into perspective. I don’t often find myself in a different social class so being in the lower class shows me how others feel. I also appreciate the technology we now have. Though on breaks from serving I check my phone and there is plenty of electric light (and even the occasional Packers game), spending a weekend in a time with no technology makes me appreciate the luxuries I often take for granted. If I could redo my high school experience and choose a role to play in Madrigals, I would choose to wench every time. ~ Ivy Phetteplace, Page & Wench Crewe

Each and every year, madrigals is the best time of the year. To help put the show on, being part of the kitchen crew is a major part. All four years of my high school career, I have helped out with the madrigals dinner by helping to prepare all nine courses. We make the food, put the food together, and display the plates for each and every table. Even when working in the kitchen, you get to see the whole show be put on. You get to see the jesters, singers, the guards and everything else. Being a part of the dinner process makes me love being part of such an amazing opportunity and I wouldn’t change it for the world. - Raeann Tabor, Kitchen Crewe

I grew up in a musically passionate household; both my parents are band directors and all three of my older brothers majored in instrumental music in college. I play clarinet in band, trombone in jazz band, and take piano lessons, but even from a young age, I have loved to sing. I auditioned and was accepted into the madrigal ensemble my freshman year and, to me, Madrigals is the most stimulating ensemble I have performed in; it combines the atmosphere, intimacy, and interactions of a chamber ensemble with my love of literature and history. From Bach to Eminem, music provides to us an accurate interpretation of the social, religious, and historical patterns of the time. WUHS Madrigals depicts one of the most fascinating times in European history; the Elizabethan Era. To be entire immersed in one culture and time is a truly unique event that Madrigals has provided to me. - Katiann Nelson, Madrigal Singer

I am glad to have been a part of the dinner serving as a wench. I have been involved with the madrigal dinners for all of my years of high school thus far and thrilled to participate each year. Not just because it is really fun, but also it is a two night event combining the school’s entire student body. As a wench a skill we have to learn rather quickly is how set our assigned table for the dinner. Last year, my sophomore year, I was given the role of the screaming wench at the dress rehearsal because I was in the right place at the right time. Having this role was so much fun even though it was small. People who attended come up me and say how my little skit with the jester was hilarious and my screaming scared them out of their seats. The madrigal dinner is not common to every school. I love that we can show off our extraordinarily talented singers, musicians, and comedians to our community and beyond. - Sarah Tibbetts, Page & Wench Crewe, “Screamer”

As a player in the Brass Choir, I think this event is very unique. This event really captures the mood of this time period and we are lucky that it is so popular. The entire gym is transformed into an old Renaissance hall and guests are fed while they listen to music of the various musical groups. There are jugglers, jestyrs, brass players, recorders, a harpsichord, bagpipes, a magician, a choir, and, of course, the Queen. Aside from the entertainment and food I personally have learned many things from this experience as well. It has helped improve me as a player. Since the brass group is so small, it has made me personally really focus on tone quality and blend with others. I have gained many leading skills with this as a result of being the lead trumpet player. I believe I have become much better at running sectionals with this experience. I am becoming better at “conducting” while I play as well and I look forward to doing this every year. - Nathaniel Schmidt, Brass Consort

Last year, I transferred from another school at the beginning of 4^th quarter. It was one of the hardest decisions and experiences of my life. I felt like a fish out of water almost everywhere I went. The only place I ever really felt like I belonged was when I walked into choir. That room quickly became somewhere I felt at home, and I was so excited for the years to come. Seeing my name on the Madrigal Singers list was a dream come true. Madrigals has been such an amazing experience so far; I am beyond thankful and honored to have the chance to be a part of a group that makes me so happy and allows me to learn so much. We laugh, cry, work, and grow together, and the end result is something I wouldn’t trade for the world-- a group who has the passion and initiative to be the best they can be while doing what they love with the people they love. Over all this time, becoming a family with 23 other people who love making music just as much as I do means more to me than anyone could know. I will always cherish the moments I spend in not only Madrigals but also the choir program; it has truly changed my life. - Willow Causey, Madrigal Singer

This is only my second year with Madrigals here at WUHS, but every single second of it I have enjoyed. Madrigals is not only an amazing opportunity for people who share a similar interest to join together and create something beautiful as a whole, but it also serves as a foundation for new relationships and strong bonds to form. To me, my small experience with Madrigals has shaped a huge part in my choir experience as it has brought me closer together with equally strong singers from the Madrigals singers group as well as stronger musicianship and skills. As a wench last year, I did not witness all this production has to offer, but it was a fantastic experience that I will never forget. The best part of Madrigals is how every single person involved puts forth a part to make this production happen, whether it be someone in the kitchen cooking the food all the way to the guests who come to support the hard work put into making Madrigals what it is today. The Madrigal dinner is an unforgettable experience like none other. I have been blessed to be a part of here at WUHS and I hope the legacy left behind from this year’s group will be kept for many others to enjoy in following years. - Cassie Shaw, Madrigal Singer

This whole experience has been amazing for me! Being the only freshman in the Jesters, I was nervous going into this whole thing, but everyone took me in and was so kind. Being a jester is definitely not what I was expecting, but it’s even better. In the past few weeks I have grown a relationship with the nine other jesters. We all have so much fun together and have made many inside jokes. It’s fun doing the twelve days when we’re in character. The costumes we get to wear are so intricate and detailed, which makes us look even better. Overall I’d say that the experience is amazing and I’m honored to be a part of it. - Macy Fiehweg, Freshman, Jestyr Crewe (Later to join the Madrigal Singers)