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Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee |
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Written by By NED O'REILLY, photos by STEVE SEAMANDEL
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Monday, 02 May 2005 |
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The largest of the city’s producing theaters, Milwaukee Repertory Theater celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2003. Audience members may not always recognize the difference, but let’s put it this way: when you see a Broadway show (‘The Producers,’ ‘Rent,’ ‘Wicked’) that you only started hearing about in the last year or so playing anywhere other than in New York, you see it at a presenting theater.
When you see a show that you’ve never heard of, without huge stars and at a place with a few hundred seats, rather than a few thousand, you see it at a producing theater. Both kinds of theaters also produce revivals, although producing houses are more likely to do something new with a classic piece.
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| Milwaukee Repertory Theatre |
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108 E. Wells St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
(414) 224-9490
www.milwaukeerep.com
Theaters
Quadracci Powerhouse Theater – 735 seats
Stiemke Theater – 225 seats,
Stackner Cabaret – 118 seats
Tickets
Quadracci Powerhouse - $11 to $48.50 with $6 previews
Stackner - $22 - $35
Stiemke - $28.50 to $38.50
Season: Late August to late May
Nights/Schedule:
Tuesdays to Sundays, two shows Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday
Runs: Usually six weeks
Concessions: Available in the lobby for Powerhouse and Stiemke. Features pre-ordered drinks. Full bar and restaurant in the Stackner Cabaret.
Crowd demographic, dress style: Casual, all ages
What's unique: One of the few repertory companies in the country allows for quick turnarounds from one show to the next, thus more variety in any given season. Captioned theater for every closing matinee at Powerhouse and other programs for other disabilities.
Recommended restaurants near the theater:
Tula's
The best quail salad I've ever had. I can't say I've had many quail salads, but it's the perfect place to go for opening night because they valet park your car, you eat, then you come over to the Rep and then you go have dessert and take your car away.'
The Jewel of India
The African Hut
Karl Ratzsch's
The German mainstay restaurant that everybody loves to go to.
Egan's
A real theater restaurant. It's across from the Marcus and if you park in that building and you bring your ticket down to the hostess, they'll stamp your tickets to an evening show and you can park for free. It's a block and a half away from our theater.
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In its first 50 years, Milwaukee Repertory Theater has staged 87 premieres, including one world premiere in its cabaret this year. The Rep starts its season at the end of August and features productions in three theaters. Presenting theaters hype a big money show and an expansive auditorium, producing houses usually have a mainstage and one to three additional, smaller playing spaces. Intimacy is important in these theaters and you’ll also see fewer musicals in them.
The 2004-05 season opens for Milwaukee Rep in its Stackner Cabaret Theater (which includes a restaurant and full service bar) with Michael J. Miles in ‘The Magic Banjo.’ Shortly thereafter, the 735-seat Powerhouse Theater opens its season with Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible.’ The 225-seat Stiemke Theater opens with ‘Cyrano,’ a three-person version of the classic tale.
I spoke with Public Relations Manager Annie Jurczyk about Milwaukee Repertory, its history, and its upcoming schedule.
Our main theater is the Powerhouse Theater,’ Jurczyk said. ‘We’re in a converted electrical power plant. We were at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts (now strictly a presenting theater) up until 1987 when we moved into this space.”
A good thing to do with a power plant.
Well, it was an eyesore. It was abandoned in the seventies. But it’s a beautiful complex now. It’s really a phenomenal use of the land and the building that was here – renovated for a different use. The Stiemke Theater was named after the family that contributed funds toward its development.”
So there isn’t a Powerhouse family, but there is a Stiemke family?
The Powerhouse family is Wisconsin Electric, which sold us the building for $1. You know, as a non-profit theater, we have to have the corporate community help us. We raise the quality of life in Milwaukee for their employees.”
Tell me about ‘The Magic Banjo.’
“We have fun working here at the Rep because we get an insider’s view on the first rehearsal. The director and designers all present to us what we are going to be seeing in three weeks and it’s one of my favorite days. We had ‘Magic Banjo’ yesterday. Michael J. Miles, who is a Chicago artist, has decided to concentrate his efforts on the banjo, which was brought over on the African slave ships (he played one made from a gourd). He plays the banjo to the words of Pete Seeger, Carl Sandburg, Woody Guthrie, Bach – I mean, people think banjo, they think ‘Deliverance,’ but that’s not all of it. One of the things that’s so great about the Stackner Cabaret is its 118 seats. Intimate beyond intimate. Everywhere in the theater, you’re able to see every finger move.”
So Michael’s show is a one-man show. Is that typical for your cabaret space?
“We do smaller shows there. Usually three, four actors. And it’s usually light musical fare. We’re opening this season in the Powerhouse, which seats 735, with Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible,’ September 10th. Miller wrote this in the fifties when the communism scare was on and so now in light of the Patriot Act, it’s a very timely, very interesting show that will still talk to people today.
We also have a black box theater. We’re very excited about the first show – ‘Cyrano,’ based on the French classic ‘Cyrano de Bergerac,’ and done with three actors. All of the sounds in the show are done by the actors in front of the audience, so you get to see sound machines and wind machines and thunder clapping – how that all happens. So it’s a perfect show for the entire family. It opens on September 12th and will run in the Stiemke until October 17th and then it goes on tour to nine cities across Wisconsin and to Wenonah, Minnesota.”
Can you place the Rep in the national picture for me?
“There are only a handful of theaters that actually have resident acting companies and we are one of them. Resident acting companies are made up of actors who choose to work with you and live here in Milwaukee and make this their first artistic home. When you go into rehearsal with people who don’t know each other, it takes them awhile to find out where their zone is, how they work. We have a group of ten actors who are with us throughout the whole season, so they know each other. They know what they can do. It’s expensive, but the quality of our productions is so much higher because of that. Not many theaters across the country have that.”
Sounds a little like Steppenwolf’s approach.
I think it’s more like Steppenwolf than like the Goodman.”
So how many productions does that resident company do per year?
“We have six productions in our Powerhouse Theater, three subscription and one add-on show in our Stiemke Theater, four in our Stackner Cabaret, and of course, ‘The Christmas Carol,’ that we do in the Pabst Theater, right next door.”
Jurczyk explained how the Pabst and the Milwaukee Rep are part of a block-long theater complex.
The Pabst Theater has been here forever. It was built in 1890. The power plant was here in 1910. [Theaters] now comprise the whole block. There’s a rotunda in the center of the building and so we are attached, because it’s a whole complex. It’s the Milwaukee Center.”
I asked Jurczyk about the rest of the schedule for 2004-05. She explained that the usual runs are four weeks and extensions are rare. The Stiemke will, however, be presenting this fall for the fifth time ‘Guys on Ice’ from a Door County Company called American Folklore Theater that has partnered with the Rep many times in cabaret. It’s a locally very popular musical about two fishing buddies. Also running at the Stiemke will be Steve Martin’s ‘The Underpants’ and Edward Albee’s ‘The Goat.’ The second Powerhouse show is ‘The Story’ directed by Chuck Smith of Chicago’s Goodman Theatre and featuring a number of Chicago actors, while later mainstage shows include Oscar Wilde’s ‘Lady Windemere’s Fan’ and Kaufmann & Hart’s endearing ‘You Can’t Take It With You.’
She then told me about restaurants in the neighborhood and the easy parking.
There are lots of options. One of my best friends from college lives in Arlington Heights, Ill., and she actually enjoys coming here more [rather than to Chicago] because she can get to Milwaukee quicker since there’s not any traffic and she can park cheaper. It’s $3 to park. The food is great. The parking is great. So it’s really fun to come to Milwaukee to see theater.”
I asked when the season ends.
Our season runs until May 29th. In the summer, we breathe. And get ready for the next season. We have a lot of artists who work in the different shops. They go to summer stock companies.”
Kinda like teachers.
It is and it’s not. Theater professionals make less than teachers. The hours that you put in! When I do photo shoots, I sometimes finish at two or three in the morning and I’m never the only one in the building. Somebody’s always working late on something to make sure it’s the absolute best it can possibly be. To do it for the year is one thing, but to do it for the summer to come back to do it for the year again – I marvel at them.Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
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