An artist builds her studio

STEVENS POINT – Actor Winter Williams transformed an empty Cleary outbuilding into a welcoming space for artists, actors, playwrights, musicians, filmmakers and all of those that love the arts. She and her family moved to the Stevens Point area a year and half ago. It was because of a chance trip to visit a friend that they ended up here.
“A friend of mine moved her. I came to visit her. This area was great. It’s less people, more space, there is a school here that I wanted my kids [ages six and eight] to go to. We were done with the city life. In this day and age in this industry we’re in, you don’t have to live in a big filmmaking hub to make movies. We were looking for a space to do our own thing and do our own stuff,” said Williams.
Williams grew up in Massachusetts and later lived in Charlottesville, Virginia where she did community theater starting at age of 10. She lived in New York City for 13 years and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She graduated from acting school with the highest honors and later did some off-Broadway performances. Her first film was “The Human Centipede,” a breakout film in the horror genre.
On the set of her next film, “Julia,” a psychological thriller, she met her husband, filmmaker Matthew A. Brown. They worked together on their next film, “Albanian Gangster,” a movie that used real gangsters from the Bronx. Williams had her two young children at the time and said it was a crazy experience. When that movie came out, they moved to Los Angles. They decided they wanted small-town living and they moved to Fort Collins, Colorado but that city was overrun by so many people moving there so they left for Stevens Point.
They bought a house tucked into a stand a towering pine trees off County Trunk J. Behind the house was a spacious garage outbuilding. The previous owner kept a boat in there and some woodworking stuff. They had nothing to put in it. What to do with the space?

“I decided to make a little artist haven for myself and my husband to work in. That’s how it evolved—a space for us, and it became this thing that I wanted to share with others. Being new here, I’m looking for community, looking to meet other artists. I thought if I’m going to meet other artists, I have to attract them, to manifest them,” said Williams.
She named the place In the Pines Studio.
“I wanted to use it as a little theater to workshop new plays. I imagined it to be this black-box theater space for new work to get workshopped with a small audience before it’s taken off to Broadway or something like that. My initial idea was writing my own stuff and inviting a small audience to come and see it,” said Williams.
This next step required a lot of paint. Williams painted almost half of the building’s interior black: floors, walls and ceiling to create a stage area (which also has black curtains). There rest of the area is for the audience and mingling. There is a small bar for drinks, an old-fashioned popcorn maker, a piano retro-fitted as a desk, art hangs on the walls and the area it lit by lamps and tumbleweed chandeliers. The audience sits on loveseats, armchairs and sofas Williams picked up at secondhand stores. A well-stoked woodstove provides cozy warmth and around the room are shelves loaded with books.
She formed Cinema in the Pines, a film club where they show classic and independent films. She also teamed with the Wisconsin Computer Club where they show films on outdated mediums like LaserDiscs.
Next was to host live music and a number of local bands and have performed in the studio. Williams said it’s a small space for budding musicians to play in front of a live audience to get a feel for that kind of an experience.
She is working on a play, a one-woman show that she will refine before a small audience. This spring she will offer acting classes for youth. One class for teenagers, another for ages four to 12.
The events are free and she registered the studio as a donation-based LLC. She limits the audience to around 30 people, 50 at the maximum because of parking space. People wanting to attend should RSVP and a schedule of upcoming events can be found at www.inthepinesstudio.com.
“I love when people are in here and just how inspired they are, if they are not even artists, they appreciate art. Those are the kinds of people I attract here: they are artists themselves in any form—fine art, music, acting, filmmaker, light installation work. It’s just this multi-faceted community space that is ever-evolving,” said Williams.