By Kim McDarison

“There is nothing more transforming in the world than the power of the pen,” Whitewater resident Jim Olm notes on his Emerald Green Productions website.

A graduate of Whitewater High School and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1975 and 1979, respectively, Olm set out to explore various destinations as part of his teaching and writing career, returning to Whitewater in 2019.

He has throughout his lifetime created a body of work writing musicals and operas, complete with music, lyrics and book, and upon his return to his childhood community, and after finding involvement with the Whitewater Landmarks Commission, he has begun sharing the messages of his hometown through video.

The city’s Landmark Commission is a recommending body, with each of seven members appointed by the city’s common council to a three-year term. Olm’s term on the board expires in 2026.

After he joined the board, Olm said, there was discussion about developing ways to bring more attention and interest in the city’s landmarks.

To aid in that goal, he said, he began creating a series of short clips, which he dubbed “Landmark Trek.” Each within the series runs between seven and eight minutes long and features one of the city’s landmarks.

He came up with the name of the series as a tribute to Star Trek, he said, noting that, while he would not consider himself a “Trekkie,” he has an appreciation, as expressed by the TV show and movies, for the spirit of exploration and adventure.

“I like the way Star Trek expanded people’s minds, and made them think,” he said.

Inspiration also came from watching episodes of Rick Steves tours, Olm said, which can be found online on Youtube and they air on PBS.

To date, Olm has released three Landmark Trek episodes, with a fourth ready for release near the end of this month, and, he said, several others are under creative consideration. 

With some 24 historical landmarks in the city, Olm said there’s plenty of fodder for future editions within the series.

Most recently, Olm has collaborated with the City of Whitewater Media Coordinator Zac Popke, who has undertaken some of the editing work associated with the project, and has added the editions to the city’s online Vimeo video platform channel and has made them available through the community’s public access TV station Channel 990.

Thus far, the series has featured the Hamilton House Bed and Breakfast and the Birge Fountain, both of which are found on Main Street, and Olm has released the first of two installments focusing on the history of the railroad in Whitewater and the depot, which, today, is operated by the historical society as a museum. The building is located adjacent to Cravath Lakefront Park. The episode’s second installment has an anticipated release date of Sept 24.

Looking ahead, he said, future releases will likely include episodes featuring the city’s effigy mounds and a bur oak tree which comes with some history dating back to 1865, according to Olm. The tree is found at the corner of Franklin and Main streets.

Olm said he finds drawing attention to landmarks important.

“Landmarks always have an uphill battle,” he said, adding that people, he finds, are often weighing the benefits of investing community resources in their upkeep.

From his perspective, he said, “There are a ton of reasons why we should do this. They connect us to our history, to our families’ generations, and to our stories; they are incredible extensions of art and culture, with that art being architecture.”

Additionally, he said, many cities use their landmarks as the symbol of the community for purposes of promotion.

“We identify as a society with the landmarks in each city … they do have the stories and memories of our society,” he said, adding that those memories are often shared among members of the community.

A teacher and a creative

Olm’s skills in sharing messages through creativity have long been honed.

Armed with a K-12 music education degree, he set out in life as a teacher, but his dream, he said, was to write a musical and have it performed on Broadway.

In 1988, Olm graduated from Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, with a master’s of fine arts degree in musical theater, composition and playwriting.

He next moved to Duluth, Minn., where he found work as a drama and vocal music teacher within the public school system.

In 2003, he said, he set his sights on New York City, and, following a job opportunity, made plans for a move. When the job didn’t work out, he moved to the city anyway, he said, and he began networking in pursuit of a career in musical theater and writing.

Six month later, he said, he returned to Waukesha, Wis., and sought work as a contractor, providing private acting lessons, and taking on choral commissions and other music- and writing-related work.

He also worked on contract for two years as a music director at a church, he said, adding that freelancing brought him opportunities from Waukesha to the Chicagoland area.

“I always wanted to be a writer of music, and lyrics and libretto, that was what my degree was in. As an artist, it is difficult to make it on that, so artists do a lot of other work to make it,” Olm said.

In 2005, Olm found himself moving again, this time to Casper Wyoming, where he became a musical theater instructor at Casper College. He retired in 2020, having achieved the distinction of department chair of the theater and dance department during his last three years. 

Still, he said, his dream was alive.

“I had to write after my day job,” he said. 

Off-Broadway in 2011

Throughout his career, Olm was writing musicals, he said.

To date, four of his musicals have been produced.

In 1995, he wrote a musical called “Obits,” which, he said, is a story about the manager of a hardware store who dies when a piano falls on him, but after his death, he is given a second chance in life. He is sent back to Earth where he realizes his dream of becoming the owner of a hardware store.

In 1998, Olm wrote “Emerald Green,” which, he said, is about a group of people living in a nursing home who are forced to remain together in a room for a night during a Minnesota blizzard. While there, they grow as a group and learn to find community.

Both Obits and Emerald Green were produced in Duluth, Minn., he said.

In 2011, Olm was involved with a production of “The Magdalene,” which, he said, was based on the Gnostic gospels that portray Mary Magdalene as an Apostle and confidant of Christ.

In May of 2011, as noted on the “Playbill” website, the musical opened Off-Broadway, with a score written by Olm, and book written by Olm and J.C. Hanley. According to Playbill, the production was directed by Richard Burk, and Richard Maltby, Jr., who won a Tony Award for Best Musical as the director of “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” The musical opened on Broadway in 1978 and closed in 1982 after 1,604 performances and 14 previews.

The Magdalene, Playbill announced, would begin previews Off-Broadway on June 14, with its official opening on June 27, and running through Sept. 4.

The full story in Playbill is here: https://www.playbill.com/article/musical-based-on-gnostic-gospels-the-magdalene-to-bow-off-broadway-com-179394.

Looking back, Olm said, “It was a cool experience.”

A fourth musical written by Olm is titled: “Mulberry.” It was produced at Casper College in 2016.

The musical is set in Whitewater, Olm said, and is about “a family of generations who are fighting the social and moral implications of traditions versus progressing.”

An opportunity to learn more about Olm’s musicals and listen to renditions of their songs is here: www.EmeraldGreenProductions.com.

COVID, a return home, and an opportunity to write

According to “Footprints,” the Casper College Alumni Magazine, Olm retired on May 20, 2019. The magazine announced: “Jim Olm began working at Casper College on August 23, 2005 as the music theatre/voice instructor. His love and excitement of the fine arts was evident to his students and has had a significant impact on the fine arts department at Casper College.”

Following his retirement, Olm said, he decided to return to Whitewater. As he checked the boxes as to where he might next like to live, he said, he wanted to live in a college town, with culture and theater, that was not too far from an airport so he could travel, and, most importantly, was a drivable distance to Minneapolis where his three adult children live.

Olm also is a grandfather of three.

As he considered Whitewater, he said, he was able to check all the boxes. 

Still, he said, the timing of his move was a factor in events as they next transpired.

While he still had some family in the area, a brother Mark, and his wife, Germaine, he wanted to volunteer and find opportunities to make new friends, and then, he said, came COVID.

“That put a wrench in volunteering and getting to know people in Whitewater. It blew away 2-1/2 years,” Olm said.

He filled his time with writing.

The result, he said, is a new Christmas musical and an opera.

Olm remained somewhat tight-lipped about his new works, citing plans and discussions underway to bring the opera to the public with the help of a symphony orchestra based in the Midwest. 

“We are still under discussion because they are grant writing,” he said. Olm said he is hopeful that the operatic production will be performed regionally in approximately two years, and then, he said, he would like to see it performed in New York.

Post-COVID, he continues to make new friends through volunteerism, both through the Landmarks Commission and the Whitewater Arts Alliance, where he serves as a volunteer member.

Back at home, he has come full circle, with new projects and lifelong dreams boldly on the horizon.

The “Whitewater Landmarks” YouTube channel, hosted by Olm, is here: https://www.youtube.com/@WhitewaterLandmarks.