Spaces and Seasons... in Milwaukee!

The other interesting thing about this show, from my perspective, is the space itself. The Stackner Cabaret is a fully operating bar and restaurant, and patrons of ALL shows at The Rep can have dinner before (or after) their show. It’s intimate (seats about 120) and instead of theatre seats, there are tables and chairs like a restaurant. The shows in the Cabaret are certainly geared toward a drinking and “pure entertainment oriented” audience. Of the 4 shows in that space this season, Abridged is the only play that ISN”T a small intimate musical. The two person show,  ALWAYS, PATSY CLINE will be following ABRIDGED in a couple months-time.

This pic shows the SCOPE of the space pretty well... it ain't an easy space to work in, but it has really strong audience-to-stage energy.

... and with patrons....

Its interesting to see how Mark Clements, the relatively new Artistic Director at the Rep, put together a season that both fits the spaces they have, mindful of the types of shows that audiences will enjoy and come see for entertainment sake, while also finding shows that challenge his audience and excite them about theatre. They did a play called TEN CHIMNEYS earlier this season, which is based on an actual estate not even 30 minutes from the theatre. They also did LOMBARDI, the recent Broadway success based on the life of the quintessential Packers coach. These shows obviously played into the self-referential identity of the community. But then he’s throwing in NEXT TO NORMAL, a difficult and timely modern rock-style musical about the struggles of a family dealing with Bi-Polar disorder. If the audience I saw at that show was any indication, Mr. Clements has caught his audience’s attention, and is engaging them in fun and smart ways. I’ll be curious to see what next season brings at the Rep… its’ not every year there happen to be two new exciting works (of national prominence) that have such local-centric resonance.

And here’s hoping that they hire me back….. ;-)

Bad Tom!... not blogging while in tech... bad bad bad!

I must cry 'mea culpa'...I’ve been home a couple days now from Milwaukee, and am just getting around to posting. There’s no good reason I wasn’t posting while there for the better part of a week. I think there’s just a lot on my mind at the moment. However, that’s not an adequate excuse. But on the fun stuff…

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (Abridged)

Milwaukee Repertory Theatre - Stackner Cabaret

Directed by Sean Graney

Scenic Design by yours truly

Costumes Design by Holly Payne

Lighting Design by Noelle Stollmack

It’s a hard show to adequately describe… but basically it’s about 3 guys who perform quick, funky fun takes on Shakespeare’s work. There’s lots of talking directly to the audience, some audience participation, and lots of silly sophomoric humor (i.e. lots of sex and fart jokes). It was written in the 80s by a group of three California dudes, and it was a smashing success, running at festivals all over the work (and even running in London for over 9 years), and understandably they turned it into a brand. They’ve subsequently written a host of other shows based on the same formula (The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged), The Complete History of Film (Abridged), I bet you see the pattern here).

Some samples… they give a brief take on Titus Andronicus that’s done as a Julia Child cooking show, they do a rap version of Othello, the Macbeth sequence is done with the actors saying “Mac” before each word, and bragging about their “perfect Scottish dialects”. The ghost of Hamlet’s father is played by a stuffed tube sock that’s attached to the end of a broom…. It’s silly, fun, and perhaps more than a little dated.

For our production Sean (whom I’ve worked with quite a bit), wanted to update it and center the production a bit more. It’s typically performed on a nearly bare stage with some curtains so that the actors can make quick exits and change costumes, however he wanted to set it specifically in a apartment kitchen, and give the superstructure of the production the notion that the three actors are three out-of-work roommates who sit around coming up with silly things to entertain themselves, and thus the audience. While I can’t say that this frame gave it gravitas, it DID allow for some concrete ideas to begin research. Sean wanted the kitchen to be a little run down, dated, and perhaps not completely kempt… as if three dudes really are living there. SO we looked at a lot of apartment kitchens, and we wanted to give the world a fun funky color scheme, and thus we landed at looking at lots of 1970’s kitchens… the oranges, the olive-greens, the horrible linoleum tile patterns , the avocado appliances ,the wildly patterned wallpaper was kinda too fun NOT to use, and so while the show is happening in 2012, the kitchen has a feel of a bit of a throwback.

First two pix show BEFORE set dressing and AFTER....

The fun part of this for me was dealing with the set-dressing… all of the stuff that makes it look like a real room that the actors don’t’ actually USE as props during the show. Milwaukee Rep has an AWESOME properties department, led by Jim Guy, It has a staff of about 5 or 6 people who do everything from build and upholster furniture, to create paper handprops that are specific to a time-period and look, to hand-sew cushions and draperies. They make whatever the actors use in their hands, and are in charge of furnishings and set dressing. Because we were looking for things of a “tacky 70s” nature, it was such fun to brainstorm with Jim and his cohorts, and go through their storage rooms looking for things to put on the walls. It really was like a treasure hunt, and MAN we found some fantastic kitch!