The theatre season picks up its rhythm this week with three significant openings in Milwaukee.
The first of the shows opens tonight at the Cream City Collectives on 732 East Clarke Street. World's Stage Theatre presents Fly Steffens' staging of Punkplay. . . the story of a couple of kids starting punk bad in a suburban wasteland of the '80's.
The CCC is a cozy little space that's going to be an interesting venue for this type of show. The space also served as a venue for an Insurgent Theatre staging of Ulysses' Crewmen some time ago. Located in a relatively residential area of town, the performance should have a real DIY feel about it. And crowded, too. As of this writing, there's only one seat left for opening night.
It's been interesting following updates on the show on Facebook. World's Stage has been keeping everyone updated on the various aspects of production leading up to tonight's opening. There are videos and the occasional bit of text. This is really fun social marketing . . . you end up kind of feeling like you're a part of the show even if you're not cool enough to be a part of it.
The World's Stage's production of Punkplay opens tonight at 7:30 pm and runs through Saturday at the Cream City Collective. After that, the show moves to Bucketworks.
Also opening tonight is Soulstice Theatre's production of Rocket Man. It's an interesting parallel to World's Stage's Punkplay. Where as the World's Stage's show is about suburban restlessness at the dawn of adulthood, Rocket Man is the story of existential restlessness from a man tragically afflicted by adulthood. It's a comedy that quite seriously chronicles one man's journey to find that place where things were different. What happens to every decision not made? Where its that parallel world where you didn't make those decisions that led you to where you are now? And how does an interest in this effect the family of a grown man with a wife and 16-year-old daughter?
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Soulstice Theatre's Rocket Man runs September 7th through 22nd at Soulstice's space on 3770 South Pennsylvania Avenue. For ticket reservations, call 414-481-2800.
The Milwaukee Rep's production of the Stephen Sondheim's Assassins. Inspired by the work of John Weidman, the musical follows the stories of presidential assassins throughout history. The show has been in previews for the past couple of nights and there have been some beautiful pics of the Todd Edward Ivins set. It's an interesting motif with cleverly moody lighting by Jeff Nellis. Judging from the pics, the whole thing feels quite a lot like an old-timey circus fair. Stylish.
The Milwaukee Rep's Assassins officially opens this Friday and runs through October 7th at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theatre. For ticket reservations, call 414-224-9490.
