Category: The Arts

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Lumberjacks In Love: Shakespeare Meets Vaudeville At The REP!

After the rollicking fun of last season’s presentation of Men On Ice, expectations for the Rep’s next import from Wisconsin’s ‘Great White North’ was highly anticipated. And this presentation of another work from James Kaplan and Fred Alley proves it’s mettle.

Doc Heide, Ryan Cappleman, Joe Picchetti, Eva Nimmer (foreground), Molly Rhode (with string bass), and Chase Stoeger. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep, photographer is Mark Fronha.

So most of you who are familiar with Shakespeare know that one of his favorite shticks is having characters masquerade as others…and often as members of the opposite sex…often with a fair amount of Elizabethan humor ensuing…and Kaplan and Alley present a bit of that here all in good fun!

Vaudeville? Well, we have four guys at lumber camp in the deep woods. So certainly we are exposed to a slew of slap stick and physical humor with silly jokes and puns. Oh, and there might actually be a Shakespearean reference that draws it’s own share of outright laughter!

Doc Heide, Joe Picchetti, Ryan Cappleman, and Chase Stoeger. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep, photographer Mark Fronha.

Our four guys in the woods are Dirty Bob, Muskrat, Moonlight, and Minnesota Slim. With nicknames like that we already have a fun way to start out…but they open with a ensemble paean to life as a lumberjack…and the fun starts here immediately.

The lumberjack to watch is Dirty Bob played by Ryan Cappleman. Cappleman’s Dirty Bob is active, agile, and the over the top performer in nearly every scene and the butt of much of the humor…and from what I saw on Sunday night…the audience’s favorite character and actor! Camp leader is Minnesota Slim, who comes off as a very attractive and charismatic soul as played by Joe Picchetti. Doc Heide is Muskrat who celebrates his 60th birthday and is struggling a bit with the aging process…a bit concerning at first…but with a humorous result! And Moonlight is another character who is questioning what he is feeling and not sure where to go with it or how to address it…and Chase Stoeger is the sensitive Moonlight here.

Joe Picchetti, Eva Nimmer, Ryan Cappleman, Doc Heide, and Chase Stoeger. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep, photographer Mark Fronha.

And then there is a The Kid, Eva Nimmer. The Kid is an orphan who was originally brought to camp by her late father. At first a seemingly support character, The Kid later becomes the pivot point as our story shifts from the ‘joys’ as life as a lumberjack to Lumberjacks In Love. And her nemesis so to speak is Rosemary Rogers, the mail order bride who arrives to marry Minnesota Slim. And Rosemary Rogers is incredibly inhabited by Molly Rhode, who proves to be a very flexible opportunist, but not the exactly one you expect!

And then back to Shakespeare, the final scene is a reunion and personal discovery scene where all’s well that ends well.

Ryan Cappleman, Joe Picchetti, Doc Heide, Eva Nimmer, and Chase Stoeger. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep, photographer Mark Fronha.

Lumberjacks In Love is driven by exciting toe tapping music that vibrantly ties the back story together. And the cast that director Jeff Herbst has assembled here is obviously having a lot of fun and just as obviously is enjoying working together. That feeling is infectious and the audience clearly feels it too!

Extra Credit Reading: The Program is here.

Lumberjacks In Love runs for about two hours with an intermission and is playing at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Stackner Cabaret. The show just opened and runs through January 12, 2025. Additional information and tickets can be found here.

Chase Stoeger, Joe Picchetti, Doc Heide and Ryan Cappleman. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep, photographer Mark Fronha.
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Pericles @UWM: Shakespeare Is Still Alive In Milwaukee.

William Shakespeare’s Pericles is a saga of adventure, love, loss, travails, despair, and reunion. It is more Homeric epic than Romeo and Juliet. And Director Bill Watson allows his large ensemble cast of enthusiastic and skilled student actors to tell the story through Shakespeare’s actual poetry. The time and place hasn’t been altered to make the play

And yes, Shakespeare’s elegant but antique English can seem a bit thick to our modern ears, particularly in a play like Pericles that has a large cast of principals and a number of exotic locations, to our mind at least. So instead of using affected British accents, Watson brings us into the text with the comfortable and familiar mid-western accent.

Photos courtesy of UWM PSOA, photographer by Mark Frohna.

This presentation is a delight. As I said, the cast is very into telling the story and bringing the characters to life. Pericles of course is the focus and the role is filled by two actors…Gabe Rodriguez in the first three acts and then Duleon Schneider in acts four and five. And they do justice to our hero…bringing him from the swaggering and bold adventurer of the early acts, through the harried but resilient wanderer of the middle action to the tragic vanquished soul of the final acts before the finale of resurrection and restoration.

Photos courtesy of UWM PSOA, photographer by Mark Frohna.

And Marina’s determination and self-awareness is forcefully demonstrated by Natalie Gustafson. ‘Knowing’ that she’s lost her mother and being saved from an assassination by being kidnapped by pirates and sold into the sex trade, Gustafson provides a demonstration of all of the mettle needed to survive and way beyond our expectations of a 14 year old. And she is amazing in the final scenes when awaking the bereft Pericles…and she and Schneider very effectively draw out the first round of reunions agonizingly to this viewer, but just as Shakespeare intended.

Photos courtesy of UWM PSOA, photographer by Mark Frohna.

And Watson’s careful and clearly planned movement of the stage furnishings is almost a ballet in itself and lets the audience digest what they have just seen and prepare for a new scene, place, and time. So kudos as well to the set team and lighting team!

Extra credit reading: The PDF program for Pericles is here.

Milwaukee has a robust and active theater culture and we are obviously seeing some of our future here at UWM. But the Peck School of the Arts Theater Dept is often overlooked and doesn’t get its due…so attend this weekend if you can, particularly if you are a Shakespeare fan. These student actors will assure you that Shakespeare is still alive in Milwaukee!

There are two performances left as of this writing, tonight and on Sunday November 10th. Tickets and additional information can be found here and tickets can be purchased at time of performance. The play is being performed on the Mainstage Theatre in the fine arts complex at UWM, 2400 E Kenwood Blvd, north of Mellencamp Hall, west of Mitchell Hall, on the northwest corner of Downer and Kenwood.

Photos courtesy of UWM PSOA, photographer by Mark Frohna.
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Bull In A China Shop Draws Parallels Between The Early 20th Century And Our Current Era.

Bryna Turner’s Bull In A China shop is another little gem of a play perfectly suited for Milwaukee’s Kith & Kin Theatre Collective. How Artistic Director Kimberly Laberge finds these plays and then matches them with just the right director makes for another exciting theater experience from this independent group.

Sophie Keppler and Kristina Hinako. Photo courtesy of Kith & Kin, photographer Adam Laberge.

Despite Turner basing the story on personal letters from the early 20th Century between Mount Holyoke President Mary Woolley and her life companion Jeannette Marks, the play is blazingly contemporary. Woolley is a feminist and a suffragette and declares that she is starting a revolution as she takes the reins at Mount Holyoke College. Almost immediately in the text she labels herself as the Bull In The China Shop. She is determined to move it from a ‘seminary’ turning out perfect wife material into a dynamic women’s college that graduates accomplished and fully rounded women scholars. In some ways the play illustrates how far we have come but the contemporary parallels show us how much we have to lose and that we might actually suffer that loss. Director Marie Helser addressed that in her notes in the program. But that’s only part of the story.

Kristina Hinako and Sophie Keppler. Photo courtesy of Kith & Kin, photographer Adam Laberge.

Woolley also wants to maintain her relationship with her lover, Marks. And there are a number of issues surrounding that. Obviously it’s the early 20th Century, so the relationship is somewhat taboo to start with. And although not ‘out’, Woolley and Marks aren’t exactly hiding their feelings either. And that causes some tongue wagging. And Marks isn’t always in line with Woolley, including the move to Holyoke…but she ends up playing the dutiful partner here. So there is a bit of romance and some romantic conflict to examine. And on top of the gender roles of women in American society, we also confront very solid anti-gay biases in the China shop.

There are just five characters in Bull In The China Shop. Just a perfect number for the small black box theater at Inspiration Studios. And Director Marie Helser has assembled a cast to suit each character.

Katie Aldred and Sophie Keppler. Photo courtesy of Kith & Kin, photographer Adam Laberge.

Sophie Keppler is Woolley. To a T! A very determined and self-assured educator and activist who lets nothing stand in her way, even in the face of faculty rumblings, board displeasure, and the loss of funding…she manages to find a way to push the Holyoke community forward. And she also displays the loving and affectionate partner in her private moments with Marks.

And Jeannette Marks is played by Kristina Hinako…giving us a nuanced performance of another very self assured woman who is also passionate with her partner. But someone who is willing to surrender a bit of her own desires to support those of Woolley. But she only bends so far…and Hinako clearly gives us the loving but conflicted Marks as the story progresses.

Kristina Hinaka, Patti Meadors, and Grace Ritcher. Photo courtesy of Kith & Kin, photographer Adam Laberge.

And Katie Aldred is outstanding as Dean Welsh. A very pragmatic and direct dean, Aldred never seems to waiver in her attention to detail and duty as she reports to Woolley. Aldred is perfect in this role.

Grace Ritcher is Pearl. A student of Marks and an admirer of both Marks and Woolley…and someone who knows too much having seen some of their letters. But here Ritcher is asked to be the coy to shy student shifting to the potential partner as she comes on to Marks…and then later dramatically providing us with an angry spurned lover. Ritcher clearly feels all of the various roles she has to play as Pearl.

Grace Ritcher. Photo courtesy of Kith & Kin, photographer Adam Laberge.

And, oh my goodness, Patti Meadors as Felicity is a lot of fun. As a roommate of Marks, she is often caught in the middle of issues between Marks and Woolley. And Meadors plays the role to the hilt with all of the outrageous hysteria to the sudden turn on a dime for a serious ‘translation’ of the situation. Although there is a great deal of humor throughout the play, Meadors actions bring a great deal of it into action!

Bryna Turner has provided a play of great depth and great language with clearly defined characters that tell a well shaped story from America’s past. But her use of contemporary language makes it easily accessible to our ears and clearly draws out the parallels to our era. Bull In A China Shop was first presented in 2017.

Other than the great text, Turner didn’t do any favors for Helser, Stage Manager Beck Menk, or Set Designer Corey Helser. Instead of a traditional Act/Scene format, Turner has written a long and quick series of vignettes to tell this story. Director Helser should consider it an accomplishment to have kept the flow and story moving as freely as in this presentation.

Kristina Hinako and Grace Ritcher. Photo courtesy of Kith & Kin, photographer Adam Laberge.

Bull In A China Shop runs through November 10th, 2024 at Inspiration Studios in West Allis WI. Additional Info and Tickets Can Be Found Here!!