Category: Broadway Theatre Center

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CLYDE’S, Sublime, I Know What That Means

“Sublime, I know what that means” may seem like an odd title and opening statement but it is a quote from one of the characters in the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s Clyde’s at an important pivot point in the play. What is Clyde’s? It’s a humble cafe/diner that has a growing reputation for sandwiches. Sandwiches you say? Yes, sandwiches, a key plot thread that ties our story and characters together. Who is Clyde? Well Clyde is the proprietor of Clyde’s.

left to right: Justin Huen, Nate Press, Bryant Bentley, and N’Jameh Camara. Photo courtesy of MCT, Photographer: Michael Brosilow

And what is Clyde’s the play? The setting is the kitchen of Clyde’s the diner. And although mentioned that sandwiches is a thread that creates a tie that binds, Pulitzer Prize Winner, Lynn Nottage didn’t give us a simple play about sandwiches or diners. Clyde’s discusses in detail a number of serious cultural and societal issues, including sexism and sexual harassment, racism, and because all of our characters have been incarcerated, issues around how they try to manage new lives once being released from prison. Nottage gives us great insight and great stories and compelling language here. Keep in mind that some of it is very adult language in various forms. This is also a story about love, acceptance, friendship, disappointment, and redemption as Clyde’s kitchen staff learns to work together and work for Clyde but eventually, how to take care of themselves.

When we are first introduced to Clyde’s we meet the three kitchen staffers that keep the place running: Montrellous (aka Monty), Rafael, and Letitia. Rafael is played by Justin Huen who presents us with a vibrant grill man who aspires to sous chef. Huen brings just the right bit of bravado and rhythm to the character and the kitchen…and he gives us a romantic Rafael with a big heart clearly on his sleeve. N’Jameh Camara’s Letitia is an often a distracted mother who can’t quite leave her troubles at the kitchen door. Montrellous and Rafael try to help her overcome her anxieties and she slowly falls into the flow of the kitchen and her compatriots. Camara makes Letitia’s transitions from anxious to angry to at peace a natural and very real experience. And Montrellous is described in the play as a Buddha at times. And Bryant Bentley seems to be just exactly that…working as mentor and advisor and lead sandwich maker…he keeps an even keel around the kitchen as our story unfolds.

left to right: N’Jameh Camara, Justin Huen, Bryant Brantley, and Nate Press. Photo courtesy of MCT, Photographer: Michael Brosilow

But then, a new character arrives at Clyde’s. Jason has just gotten out of prison and has a definite chip on his shoulder at this point. And Nate Press provides us the the anger and quick trigger that Jason’s backstory tells us got him in trouble in the first place. He can’t quite grasp the point of making sandwiches or working with his teammates or caring much about anything. And the others warn him about Clyde…he doesn’t necessary heed their warnings…but he does come to a realization that self-care with a bit of support is a valid goal.

Who is Clyde? Lachrisa Grandberry rules the roost here as Clyde. Working the front of the house and demanding constant work and efficiency from the kitchen staff…she is harassing and demeaning…and clearly lording it over them thinking that as felons they have no recourse than to accept her attitude. Grandberry is effective as the mean and outrageous Clyde. She comes across as very real as the villain and I don’t think anyone in the audience had any empathy for her. I do wonder if she was engaged in a bit of tough love here or as Jason shouted out, she was just mean. There are hints toward the latter but it is never resolved in my mind.

left to right: Justin Huen, Bryant Brantley, Nate Press, and N’Jameh Camara,. Photo courtesy of MCT, Photographer: Michael Brosilow

And that thread around sandwiches? When there is a moment of peace in the kitchen, our characters suggest their best sandwich recipes of the moment and at times create their best for presentation and critique. These asides are clearly the bonding moments that the characters crave but create organically in the moment.

Yes, this is a serious drama, but there is a good bit of word play and humor here…laugh out loud humor. After experiencing this, it is hard to imagine that there will be a more compelling drama the rest of this season. And Director Dimonte Henning has explored every nook and cranny of the text and extracted every bit of humor and drama to be mined here!

Clyde’s is being presented by the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center. It is extremely popular and as a result has been extended through November 30, 2024. More information and tickets here! Run time: approximately 100 minutes, no intermission​ and there is adult language.

What is your favorite sandwich?

left to right: Bryant Bradley, Lachrisa Grandberry, and Justin Huen. Photo courtesy of MCT, Photographer: Michael Brosilow
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PSA: MILWAUKEE CHAMBER THEATRE SET TO PRESENT THE MILWAUKEE PREMIERE OF CLYDE’S BY TWO-TIME PULITZER PRIZE WINNER LYNN NOTTAGE!

MILWAUKEE, WI – Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) continues its 50th Anniversary 2024/25 season with the Milwaukee premiere of CLYDE’S, the Tony Award-nominated comedy by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage. The production will runfrom November 8 to November 24, 2024, at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre. Tickets can be purchased online at www.milwaukeechambertheatre.org/clydes or by calling the Broadway Theatre Center box office at 414-291-7800 (M-Sa 12-6 pm and two hours prior to
BTC show times).

From the director of last season’s smash hit THE MOUNTAINTOP comes Lynn Nottage’s new “flavor-bomb of a comedy” (Variety) that’s “a spicy feast for the senses” (Chicago Sun-Times). Set in a diner kitchen that might be hell, limbo, or just a greasy spoon off the Pennsylvania turnpike, CLYDE’S follows four formerly incarcerated cooks striving for redemption by creating the perfect sandwich—all under the devilish gaze of Clyde, their hard-driving boss. Combining uproarious humor, fulsome heart, and generous hospitality, CLYDE’S delivers a delicious theatrical meal that showcases why Nottage is one of America’s greatest living playwrights.

“We’ve had an appetite to produce CLYDE’s since it premiered a few years ago, and I’m thrilled to be able to share it with Milwaukee audiences,” said MCT Artistic Director Brent Hazelton. “We’ve assembled the perfect team to tell this story, led by Milwaukee native and frequent MCT collaborator Dimonte Henning. Anyone who saw last season’s THE MOUNTAINTOP knows that Dimonte is one of Milwaukee’s best theater storytellers, and his warm sense of humor, big-hearted empathy, and commitment to community are the perfect lenses through which to tell this story.” Also a leading local actor, Henning last appeared at MCT as Actor Two in the 2023/24 world premiere of THE NOT-SO-ACCIDENTAL CONVICTION OF ELEVEN MILWAUKEE “ANARCHISTS”. Henning’s onstage work will also be familiar to audiences of Milwaukee Repertory Theater, First Stage, and Next Act Theater, among others.

“CLYDE’S provides us with more than delicious sandwiches, but a deep insight into the lives of formerly incarcerated people who are determined to make their second chance at life a fulfilling experience,” said Henning. “As the characters strive to make the perfect sandwich, we watch their humanity, aspirations, and redemptive qualities on full display as they navigate the tumultuous and sometimes hellish kitchen environment that is Clyde’s sandwich shop. Through
this transformational story, we are reminded of the power of forgiveness, perseverance, and the resiliency of hope even when the options seem limited.”


CLYDE’S will reunite Henning with the two stars of THE MOUNTAINTOP, Bryant Bentley and N’Jameh Camara, whom the Shepherd Express called “two powerhouse performers,” in the roles of Montrellous and Letitia, respectively. Camara also notably starred in MCT’s critically-acclaimed 2024/25 season opener AN ILIAD, where her performance was called “amazing…almost superhuman” (Ryan Jay Reviews), “Herculean” (Milwaukee Magazine), and “an
emotional display of genius” (CopyWrite Magazine). CLYDE’S will also feature the MCT debut of Milwaukee favorites Lachrisa Grandberry (First Stage, Northern Sky) as Clyde, Justin Huen (Milwaukee Rep) as Rafael, and Nate Press (Next Act, Sunset Playhouse) as Jason.

“I’ve been eagerly anticipating being a part of CLYDE’S with Milwaukee Chamber Theatre all year,” said Grandberry. “Returning home to Milwaukee to tell this powerful story is truly special. Telling stories that raise awareness of the challenges faced by marginalized communities is a mission I hold close, and CLYDE’S does just that. It’s a story of second chances, redemption, resilience, and the healing power of creativity. At the same time, it explores the tragic cycle of bitterness and control, and the complexity of being a Black or brown person—especially one impacted by the criminal justice system.”

Playwright Lynn Nottage is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and one of America’s greatest living dramatists. MCT’s production of CLYDE’S will be designed and created by an all-local team including Maaz Ahmed (Lighting Designer), Gina Cornejo (Intimacy Director Follow), KaiLee Evans (Intimacy Director Lead), Stephen Hudson-Mairet (Scenic Designer), Pia Russo (Assistant Stage Manager), Josh Schmidt (Sound Designer), Lauren Marie Stoner (Wardrobe), Simone Tegge (Properties Designer), Emily Marie Wilke (Stage Manager), and Trinae Williams-Henning (Costume Designer).

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s production of CLYDE’S is presented by Dwight and Marleen Morgan, Producers Pat Martin and Julie Anding and Lisa Kornetsky, and Associate Producers Keith and Paula Anderson and Kristy Nielson and William Lorber. CLYDE’S is produced in partnership with Kinship Community Food Center, the Milwaukee Freedom Fund, Food for Health, the Milwaukee Turners, and The Community.

PERFORMANCE AND TICKET INFORMATION:

CLYDE’S by Lynn Nottage will run from November 8 to November 24, 2024 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre, 158 N Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202.

  • Preview: Friday, November 8 at 7:30 pm
  • Opening Night: Saturday, November 9 at 8 pm
  • Pay-What-You-Choose: Monday, November 11 at 7:30 pm (walk-up tickets available starting one hour before the show)
  • Talkbacks: Thursdays, November 14 and 21 following the 7:30 pm performances
  • SipStudio: Saturday, November 16, open to attendees of that day’s matinee and evening performances
  • ASL Interpretation: Friday, November 22 at 7:30 pm

  • Tickets can be purchased by phone at 414-291-7800 (M-Sa 12-6 pm and 2 hours prior to BTC show times) or online at www.milwaukeechambertheatre.org.

See you there!!

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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!!!