Next Act Theatre’s How to Write a New Book for the Bible
Bronzeville Arts Ensemble asks you to join Just a Conversation Over Chicken and Dumplings this week in Milwaukee’s performing arts’ scene.
Theater
Lambarena
Milwaukee Ballet will dance San Francisco choreographer Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena, a global embrace of a ballet. “Val creates from the inspiration of the music,” said Maiqui Mañosa, who is in Milwaukee to stage Caniparoli’s work as she does internationally. Lambarena uses music by Gabonese composer Pierre Akendengué and French arranger Hughes de Courson created to honor Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer for his medical missionary work in the city of Lambaréné in Gabon, Africa. Their score merges music by the German baroque-era composer Johann Sebastian Bach, beloved by Schweitzer, with the drum-driven music of West Africa.
The dance “recognizes both cultures, so far apart in terms of style,” Mañosa said. “Ballet takes a more ethereal approach and has a constricted vocabulary; African movement is earthy and organic. To find a common ground is where Lambarena comes in. Both styles are respected; they’re fused but they’re both authentic. Val is trying to show that there is a unifying thread, that dance is for all of us. You can be African, American, from the East, from the South, it doesn’t keep you from enjoying and understanding and living the movement.” World premieres by the 2017 Genesis winners George Williamson and Enrico Morelli will complete the program. (John Schneider)
April 4-7 at the Marcus Performing Arts Center, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-902-2103 or visit milwaukeeballet.org.
Just a Conversation Over Chicken and Dumplings
Bronzeville Arts Ensemble presents the world-premiere production of Milwaukee author Michelle Dobbs’ play, Just A Conversation Over Chicken And Dumplings. The play will be directed by Sheri Williams Pannell. Dobbs herein details a secret about her family’s history found hidden in oil paintings by her deceased uncle, artist James Moore Jr.
When Lilly Moore—a descendant of 19th-century settlers of Rock Island County, Ill., sorts through her deployed brother’s home, she discovers that he has left the secrets of their family in plain sight—captured in paintings he left behind. Nothing is as it seems as she learns important lessons of love, loss, changing times and a new frontier—all during something as casual and simple as some conversations over chicken and dumplings. (John Jahn)
April 5-7 in Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-273-7206 or visit marcuscenter.org.
How to Write a New Book for the Bible
“People keep trying to turn the Bible into a rule book; it’s not. It’s the story of a family.” That’s how Next Act Theatre’s season-ending play, How to Write a New Book for the Bible, begins. Following the time-honored writers’ advice to write what you know, playwright Bill Cain has fashioned his new play into a love letter to the family he knows and loves best of all. He draws upon his time caring for his ailing but still feisty mother.
Next Act producing artistic director David Cecsarini serves as director for this production. “Cain brings a fascinating perspective to this simple, powerful illustration of why the details of our lives and loves matter,” says Cecsarini. “The play is also Cain’s autobiographical exploration of spirituality and what [he believes] brings meaning to our existence.” The cast includes Carrie Hitchcock, Jonathan Wainwright, Norman Moses and Jack Dwyer. (John Jahn)
April 4-28 at Next Act Theatre, 255 S. Water St. For tickets, call 414-278-0765 or visit nextact.org.
Dance
“Between Constructions of Desire”
The giant window and view of the city it offers from the lovely Jan Serr Studio on the sixth floor of UW-Milwaukee’s Kenilworth building is the backdrop for a multi-disciplinary performance installation by choreographer-director Maria Gillespie. Her collaborators are dancers Katelyn Altmann, Amanda Laabs and Annie Peterson, musician-composer C. Olivia Valenza and sculptor Glenn Williams—the latter known for expansive architectural constructions that invite habitation.
“It’s been a slow process to inquire differently about what dancing bodies convey and communicate,” Gillespie says. “We’ve been testing the edge of what dancing is, what kinetic versus spatial limitations are and how bodies inform space rather than the usual notion that space and architecture design bodies.” (John Schneider)
April 5-6 at UWM’s Kenilworth Square East, 2155 N. Prospect Ave. For tickets, visit hyperlocalmke.com.
More to Do
Rep Lab Short Play Festival
The Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents its ninth-annual production of Rep Lab—a short-play festival featuring The Rep’s highly lauded Emerging Professional Residents (EPRs) this month. Rep Lab showcases the work of the theatre company’s EPRs across theatrical disciplines, from direction to design to acting. Rep Lab is conceived and produced solely by its EPRs and has become one of the hottest tickets in town. At the Stiemke Studio, 108 E. Wells St., April 4-8. For tickets, call 414-224-9490 or visit milwaukeerep.com.
God of Carnage
God of Carnage is a play regarding the breakdown of systemic formalities, leading people to wonder to what extent humans are willing to accept violence in all forms: physical, emotional, mental, social and otherwise. Yasmina Reza’s play begins when Benjamin knocks out two of Henry’s teeth with a stick after the latter refused to let him join his “gang.” Their parents meet to discuss the event. Benjamin’s parents, Alan and Annette, are a lawyer with an attachment to his phone and a woman whose “wealth management” involves spending money on shoes. Henry’s parents, Michael and Veronica, are a wholesaler with a sick mother and a novelist writing about Darfur. Though Carnage begins with customary niceties, desserts and small-talk, it eventually evolves into something darker and deeper, as all involved reveal secrets, switch sides and inflict emotional pain. Just how far will they go? April 4-6 in the Studio Theatre of the David A. Straz Jr. Center, 2001 Alford Park Drive, Kenosha. For tickets, call 262-551-6661 or visit carthage.edu/theatre.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
When an ordinary wardrobe transports Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy into the enchanted world of Narnia, they begin an adventure towards their destinies as rulers of the land. Trapped in an eternal winter, they must battle the evil White Witch with the help of whimsical forest creatures and the great lion, Aslan, to reclaim Narnia. Based on the first book in C.S. Lewis’ series, The Chronicles of Narnia, the production has been dramatized for the stage by Joseph Robinette. April 5-14 at Racine Theatre Guild, 2519 Northwestern Ave., Racine. For tickets, call 262-633-4218 or visit racinetheatre.org.
The King and I
Two worlds collide in this “breathtaking and exquisite” (New York Times) musical based on the 2015 Tony Award-winning Lincoln Center Theater production. One of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s finest works, The King and I boasts a score that features such beloved classics as “Getting to Know You,” “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” “Hello Young Lovers,” “Shall We Dance” and “Something Wonderful.” Set in 1860’s Bangkok, Thailand (then known as Siam), it tells the story of an unconventional, tempestuous relationship between the country’s king and a visiting British teacher the king brings to Siam to teach his many wives and children. April 9-14 at the Marcus Center’s Uihlein Hall, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-273-7206 or visit marcuscenter.org.
La Clemenza di Tito
La Clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus) was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Caterino Mazzolà and Pietro Metastasio. Milwaukee Opera Theatre wraps up its season with this outstanding opera, Mozart’s final masterpiece, in conjunction with UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts. Sung in its original Italian, this tale of political intrigue, forgiveness and redemption features a cast of students and alumni. Jun Kim conducts, Jill Anna Ponasik is the production’s stage director, James Zager is the choreographer and Leslie Vaglica its costume designer. April 5-6 at the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd. For tickets, call 414-229-4308 or visit milwaukeeoperatheatre.org.
“Healing Modes”
Frankly Music welcomes back the ever-fascinating string quartet Brooklyn Rider for “Healing Modes,” a program exploring the healing properties of music, which have been recognized since the ancient Greek civilizations. Featured is a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132, as well as more contemporary pieces by composers Reena Esmail, Gabriela Lena Frank, Matana Roberts, Caroline Shaw and Du Yun. Monday, April 8, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 914 E. Knapp St. For tickets, visit franklymusic.org.
The Rivals
When well-to-do Capt. Jack Absolute pretends to be a lowly private in order to win the heart of Lydia Languish, little does he know that he will so become his own rival to her heart! Hilarious confusion swirls around many amorous escapades that reflect as much upon affectation as affection. This celebrated comedy of manners also features the wonderful, word-mangling Mrs. Malaprop. April 5-14 in Marquette University’s Helfaer Theatre, 525 N. 13th St. For tickets, visit marquette.edu.
Wandering Wonderland
The Danceworks Performance Company (DPC) of adult professionals is holding auditions this month for new members. One day, some will surely come from the Danceworks Youth Performance Company, which is modeled on the professional group and presents its own season under the direction of DPC’s Gina Laurenzi. Their spring concert, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, presents the 20+ dancers, ages 7-18, as Lewis Carroll’s immortal characters. “After our very wintery wonderland December production and very snow-filled last few months, it’s been refreshing to work in a quirky world of bright colors, upbeat music and springtime vibes,” Laurenzi said. “For over two months, the dancers have worked to develop a jam-packed mix of very physical dancing with detailed gestures that communicate Alice’s story more literally.” April 6-7 at Danceworks Studio Theatre, 1661 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-277-8480 or visit danceworksmke.org.
