Two legendary teachers are paired in the bill “Richard Davis + Lynda Barry = The Wisconsin Idea,” screening on April 7 in UW Music Hall.
Tommasina Capelli graduated from UW-Madison last spring with a degree in communication arts; she also took Lynda Barry’s comic drawing classes. A Room Alive!, a 28-minute documentary about Barry’s “comics room,” was a senior class project for Capelli, who did all the work herself. “It was supposed to be about 10 minutes long,” she says, but she realized she had more worthy footage and continued adding to the film over the summer.
The film’s central character is not so much Barry but the comics room she created, open to all, “an unknown corner of the campus,” says Capelli. In addition to giving viewers up-close glimpses of the packed-with-creativity room, the film includes interviews with Barry, colleague Jeffrey Butler, and students.