Category: American Players Theatre

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Post #501, Four Years, and I Find Out I Am A Theater Critic!

WOW! Jane Eyre, The Musical, At The Lake Country Playhouse was my 500th Post here on An Intuitive Perspective. WOW! Yeah, I know not all of them are scintillating and insightful commentary on the arts but the Monday Music feature instead…but I hope you are enjoying all of it! And I apparently lost count and missed our 4th Anniversary on March 20, 2024…you do lose track of time when you are having fun. And now, I am a theater critic as well!

So, how did I get here? I retired from my career as a computer programmer in 2018. And back in 2010 I was invited to contribute to someone else’s blog and I enjoyed the writing and comments and such. It was on another topic, not the arts.

And then I had an opportunity to work with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater as part of their Social Media Club. A little social group who were invited by the Rep to attend their performances and then comment on our experiences across social media. And to share and re-share the Rep’s various social media posts. I really took that to heart and wrote some pretty extensive and detailed reports on Facebook that I referred to as a ‘response’. That was a lot of fun and I started doing similar posts around other events.

And then I started to tire of my participation in that other blog but knew that I didn’t necessarily want to stop writing so I started An Intuitive Perspective. And the first thing I did was republish all of my older items from Facebook and then proceed with my new content. And once published, I share the link around a variety of social media including of course Facebook. That’s the bare facts…but how did I become a theater critic?

Well I was writing ‘responses’ to the shows that I was seeing at the Rep and as a long time subscriber at the American Player’s Theatre in Spring Green. And then a dear friend from the Social Media Club, Kimberly Laberge, Artistic Director at Kith & Kin Theatre Collective, invited me out to Hartland to experience the presentation of Cabaret that she was directing at the Lake Country Playhouse. It was an amazing play and an amazing cast and a cozy jewel box theater and I have been invited back again and again and I am in awe of the quality of the plays that they take on and the high level quality of each and every presentations.

And then somehow, I wish I remembered the history here, I also became involved with First Stage, which is a children’s theater in Milwaukee, that presents full blown musicals in the Todd Wehr Theater in the Marcus Performing Arts Center and smaller more serious fare in the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center. The PAC shows blend a cast of adults and young people in shows that will appeal to all ages…and I love them…and I love to watch the reactions of the youngsters in the audience as they experience real theater featuring their peers and their stories. And the other venue generally features the First Stage’s Young Company, high school age actors presenting more complex stories in an in the round black box theater…things like an adaptation of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People or Shakespeare’s Henry IV (part 1). I hope that we see many of these young actors playing at our local adult theaters eventually.

And I have been invited to see any number of other small theater groups put on amazing theater in small theater settings that I didn’t even know existed before now. And I am so grateful for the experience.

Now one thing that I regret. I had started an idea to present posts about smaller art museums around the state and mid-west under the title A Place For A Muse. I have only written two so far. I need to do better.

And what is this bit about being a theater critic? Well, as I said I have always labeled my articles and posts about theater as responses because I hadn’t studied theater or criticism directly. So I didn’t feel confident using the term review. But after attending the Lake Country Player’s presentation of A Rock Sails By, and talking with director James Baker Jr and lead actor in Rock (and Artistic Director of LCP ) Sandra Baker-Renick, I was convinced that what I write is in fact a review…and that is what they will be from now on! So I am a theater critic now, I guess!

So thank you to all who visit here and read my scribblings. And thank you to all of the theater people who have adopted me and allowed me to see your marvelous shows and write about them with abandon. It has been a very rewarding four years…and I hope we can continue!!!

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American Players Theatre Closes 2023 Season With David Auburn’s Proof!

To my regular readers: Back in April when I ordered my APT tickets, I didn’t realize that November 19th was the closing show. Normally I try to see a show early in the run so you can read a response here and still have time to go.

Nate Burger, David Daniel & Kelsey Brennan, Proof, 2023. Photo by Liz Lauren and courtesy of American Players Theatre

So there I was in the American Players Theatre Touchstone watching Proof just spooling out in front of me and I fell in love. No, no, not some celebrity crush, but with Catherine, the protagonist of Proof. And who wouldn’t love this feisty, genius, determined, passionate, long suffering sister, and loving caretaker? Oh, yes, I saw the red flags but…but at some point we’ve all talked to someone who wasn’t there. Right?

Nate Burger & Kelsey Brennan, Proof, 2023. Photo by Liz Lauren and courtesy of American Players Theatre

So how did this happen? Well through the very careful and very artful acting of Kelsey Brennan who distilled Catherine’s personality quite thoroughly. Moving from the loving daughter to the ambitious scholar and mathematician to the doubtful grieving daughter to one suffering from a moment of imposter syndrome to one fearful of her own mental health to lover to protector of her own self worth and value. And of course because director Brenda DeVita who kept Catherine front and center as is meant to be and I am sure guided Kelsey through the changes in mood and attention while keeping the character true to life. An incredible accomplishment…

Laura Rook & Kelsey Brennan, Proof, 2023. Photo by Liz Lauren and courtesy of American Players Theatre

Catherine has two antagonists here. First her domineering sister, Claire. Claire lives in New York City and is estranged from Catherine in a way. BTW, Catherine lives in the family home in Hyde Park in Chicago where she cared for their dying father. Claire is clearly defined by Laura Rook as a very cool and calm and reasoned individual who is used to getting her way. And although intelligent and successful, maybe just a bit jealous of her sister’s math genius. But without consulting Catherine, she decides to sell the homestead and force Catherine to move to New York. Of course there is some serious tension there as a result.

David Daniel, Proof, 2023. Photo by Liz Lauren and courtesy of American Players Theatre

And then there is Hal, a protege of Robert, the father of Claire and Catherine. He’s a math nerd and professor at the University of Chicago where Robert also taught. He’s spending long hours at the house going through Robert’s study and papers to determine if there is any meaningful work to be discovered. Nate Burger presents us with the perfect Hal, crushing on Catherine, interested in Robert’s research, and looking to make a name for himself if he can find something of Robert’s to edit and publish. He can be direct at times and self deprecating at others and Nate understands his true form.

And David Daniel is Robert. Yes, David gives us a very calm and reasoned father and professorial sort. And we feel a great empathy for him as he glides from lucidity to madness without much notice.

Kelsey Brennan & David Daniel, Proof, 2023. Photo by Liz Lauren and courtesy of American Players Theatre

So, David Auburn titled this Proof and given the math topic threaded throughout, you’d take that as the key reason. But, no. At one point after being suspicious of Hal’s motives, Catherine comes to trust him and provides access to a locked drawer which contains a proof of remarkable importance. But here is a sea change as she reveals that she wrote it and not her father. And now Proof becomes her task to prove that she did in fact write it, in the face of disbelief from both Claire and Hal. And this lack of trust destroys a growing faith she had in others.

Laura Rook, Proof, 2023. Photo by Liz Lauren and courtesy of American Players Theatre

Yes, this certainly is a drama about family, relationships, culture and society…it’s not actually about math. But there is a great deal of humor too and that brings a great deal of joy to the audience. Auburn’s language is precise and playful all at the same time and one of the best plays that I have ever seen (I saw this some years ago at the Milwaukee Rep which made me know I had to see it again at APT). But I bet one gag has changed in its humor since this was written in 1999-2000. Hal goes on to admit to being a nerd and defines his peer group as nerds and then goes on to describe that class and provide a list of synonyms, some silly and some rather mean. I bet in 2001 they got a laugh for spearing stereotypes of the time, but in a post Big Bang Theory world they are probably just as funny but in a far more familiar way!

I have seen a lot of great theater this year. I think this is my favorite one coming from a major theater group. Thank you Brenda DeVita, Kelsey Brennan, David Daniel, Nate Berger, and Laura Rook. I hope to see you all next season!

Kelsey Brennan and David Daniel, Proof, 2023. Photo by Liz Lauren and courtesy of American Players Theatre