Village Playhouse continues its 40th-anniversary season celebration with a production of Lucille Fletcher’s 1972 suspense mystery Night Watch. The well-regarded community theater (formerly known as the Village Playhouse of Wauwatosa) staged this play for the first time during its premiere 1978-’79 season. “It’s a little bit dated,” says director Larry Beckley, “but since we’re doing it as a period piece, we’re kind of playing on the ’70s nostalgia to celebrate the anniversary.”
Fletcher is best known as the playwright of Sorry, Wrong Number. Night Watch began Off-Broadway and had a successful Broadway run but is better remembered as a 1973 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey. Taylor played the protagonist Elaine Wheeler. Unable to sleep one night and gazing out the bedroom window of the Manhattan townhouse she shares with her husband, Elaine is certain she sees the murdered body of a man through the next-door window. The police find only an empty chair. Things worsen when Elaine later sees the body of a murdered woman there. The police ignore her. Arguing that her visions are signs of a nervous breakdown, her husband and the female psychiatrist he enlists push Elaine to commit herself to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. So, what is really going here?
“We’re looking to build this as a character play,” Beckley says. “Elaine is on stage for all but nine or 10 minutes. She’s got most of the lines. You could almost describe it as a one-woman show with other people. The central question is, is Elaine crazy? Did the murders happen or not? Or, did they happen and is she still crazy? But, we want the audience to care about all of the nine characters. There’s no detective that comes in to solve the mystery. We leave that to the audience. We’re throwing in some red herrings here, some dead ends there, trying to emphasize the suspense while we build up the characters, trying to show their emotional states so that, as the mystery deepens, and we reach the conclusion, the audience will say ‘Wow!’ We want to get a wow out of the audience.” Jackie Benka will play Elaine. Mark Wyss will play her husband.
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Performances are at Inspiration Studios in West Allis—a striking, church-like, former funeral home built in 1930 that is now home to the Village Playhouse. March 2019 will mark the fifth anniversary of Inspiration Studios’ opening, so this season is also notable in that respect. The group was homeless and transient after the school in Wauwatosa that had housed them for years was unexpectedly torn down. Artist and board member Erico Ortiz bought the building at 1500 S. 73rd St. especially for them in 2013. The ground floor holds a homemade, 50-seat theater and an art gallery. The second floor has a collection of artist studios and space for Ortiz’ own paintings. The basement provides storage for Village Playhouse sets, props and costumes. The performance space is also rented to other theatre, music and dance artists for performances. Inspiration Studios has become the arts center of West Allis.
Welcome to West Allis
“Just before we opened the space,” Ortiz recalls, “the phone rang, and the voice says, ‘This is Dan Divine, the mayor of West Allis. I just want to welcome you. I heard about what you’re doing, and I’m so thrilled you chose our city to do this in.’ He talked for, like, 40 minutes. He’s been here many, many times with his wife and friends. He so much wants the city to have the arts.”
Ortiz, a native of Puerto Rico, taught Spanish at Riverside University High School in Milwaukee. Because of his strong background in the arts, he was appointed by Milwaukee Public Schools to create Lincoln Middle School of the Arts. He opened the school and was its supervisor in 1990-’91, but the district was reorganized, and he was made assistant principal at Milwaukee High School of the Arts. “From there,” he says, “I got transferred to South Division. During my first year there, 12 of my students died. So, I retired in 2011 after 33 years.” He joined the Village Playhouse in the late-’90s as an actor and later joined its board of directors. Since becoming the company’s landlord, he’s resigned from the board. He continues to act and direct.
The afternoon I visited, the room was alive with warm energy. A Playhouse crew was painting the Night Watch set. Artist Leah Robertson was showing visitors the art exhibit on the nearby walls. It was an impressive, month-long show by members of Momentum—a group led by Milwaukee artist Thea Kovac featuring works by May Klisch, Deb Marett, Robert Zontag, Kovac and Robertson. “One of my commitments,” Ortiz explains, “is that whenever there’s a performance here, you’ll see art.”
Night Watch runs Nov. 2-18. “Cherie Burbach’s Art & Faith Exhibit” fills the gallery Nov. 2-26. Inspiration Studios is located at 1500 S. 73rd St. Visit villageplayhouse.org or call 414-207-4879 for more information.
