Renaissance on the Br!NK!
Now in its fifth year, Renaissance Theaterworks’ Br!NK New Play Festival graces the Milwaukee area with new work by Midwestern women playwrights, July 31-Aug. 5. As in past years, two resident playwrights have been carefully chosen by Renaissance’s selection committee to have full-length pieces workshopped by Renaissance artists and given staged readings at the Broadway Theatre Center and touring venues.
Kristin Idaszak’s The Surest Poison explores the work of pioneer forensic toxicologist Alexander Gettler through the perspective of reporter Lois Long. Taking the form of a Prohibition-era murder mystery, the play plumbs the darker side U.S. history; the drama here stems from the federal government’s practice in the 1920s of employing chemists to make denatured alcohol as deadly as possibly, thereby killing those—often economically disadvantaged—individuals who drank bootlegged liquor.
The second full-length offering is Nabra Nelson’s Nubian Stories, a completely unique blend of Nubian folklore and modern history. Central character, Nuba, is forcibly relocated from her village before its intentional flooding to create the Aswan High Dam. Folk tales are drawn from Nelson’s own transcriptions of her mother’s oral accounts. Given the worldwide refugee crisis, this piece could not be more relevant.
Br!NK’s offerings also include a series of 10-minute plays called the Br!NK Br!efs. New last year, this component provides further opportunity for women playwrights to have their work rehearsed and seen by local audiences. Selected from more than 52 submissions, this year’s six plays are fully staged and will be presented Aug. 4-6 at the Broadway Theatre Center.
Finally, Br!NK opens its acumen to the community through the Playwriting Labs. Held Aug. 4-5, this year’s workshops are titled “Muscular Monologues” (taught by resident playwright Idaszak) and “Writing the 10-Minute Play” (taught by local playwright, director and script consultant Jennifer Dobby).
In a recent interview, festival founding director Mallory Metoxen shared Br!NK’s central intent: “Our goal is to have the playwrights walk away with something they feel is better than when they came in. Even if they come in for the week and do a thousand different things, and none of them work, at least they know that they don’t work. That’s what we’re here for. We’re here in support of the playwright.” From an audience perspective, Br!NK is nothing short of inspirational as well. (Selena Milewski)
For a full schedule of staged readings and Br!efs performances, ticketing information and registration for the Playwriting Labs, visit r-t-w.com.
‘Ignite: A Hip-Hop Dance Experience’
“Ignite” is Kim Johnson’s baby. As artistic director of the wide-ranging Danceworks’ DanceLAB program, she initiated this eclectic, energetic summer urban dance concert—unique in the city—six years ago. With her recent promotion to managing director, responsible to all of Danceworks’ many programs, this is her finale at the “Hip Hop” helm and it’s a passionate one. I asked her what characterizes hip-hop dance in 2018. “There are no rules,” she answered. “That’s what’s so exciting. It doesn’t separate street dance from modern or contemporary dance.”
If you’ve seen past shows, you’ll recognize many of the artists in this year’s program. In one manifestation or another, Richard Brasfield’s ReVamped Dance Company and the terrific dancer-choreographers Clayvon Savage, Joshua Yang and Gabi Sustache have produced memorable work every year. So has SueMo: A Dance Experience, the ballet-influenced contemporary dance troupe of Melissa Sue Anderson and Morgan (Mo) Williams, and its young company, SueMo II. All of these artists are back. All are masters of their styles and ceaseless explorers of dance art.
Sustache will dance duets with returning artist Juni Yang and prolific newcomer Gina Laurenzi, the well-known Danceworks Performance Company dance artist. Other newcomers to the showcase are Rae Bu of Quasimondo Physical Theatre whose choreography draws on Asian somatic practices; UW-Milwaukee-trained dancer Chancie Cole; TRUE Skool choreographer Antonio “AJ Poppins” Johnson; and Bay View High School prodigy Nate Ramos. The age-diverse members of Paul Webb III’s Danceworks Ignite Workshop this summer will demonstrate their hip-hop chops. (John Schneider)
Performances are at 6 and 8 p.m., Saturday, July 28, and 6 p.m., Sunday, July 29, at Danceworks Studio Theatre, 1661 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-277-8480 or visit danceworksmke.org.
MORE TO DO:
Shinbone Alley
Written by Mel Brooks and Joe Darion, music by George Kleinsinger, lyrics by Darion and directed by James Valcq, Third Avenue Playhouse’s Shinbone Alley was one of the boldest musicals of the 1950s. It’s an off-beat musical that has appeared in several versions—live musical theater, on record, in concert, as a television special and even as an animated film. This bizarre, highly original musical takes you into the streets of the big city—seen in part through the eyes of a cockroach and an alley cat. July 26-Sept. 2 at Third Avenue Playhouse, 239 N. Third Ave., Sturgeon Bay. For tickets, call 920-743-1760 or visit thirdavenueplayhouse.com.
‘Broadway and the Great American Songbook’
This enticingly titled concert is by the Florentine Opera as part of its At the Center Series, which spotlights the opera company’s featured operatic soloists in all vocal ranges. These are the same artists who appear in the Florentine’s regular season of fully staged and produced operas, but in this case, they appear sans costume but with personality and, of course, soaring voice. This At the Center concert features Broadway songs by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Alan Lerner and Frederick Loewe, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. July 27-28 at the Florentine Opera Center, 930 E. Burleigh St. For tickets, call 414-291-5700 or visit florentineopera.org.
DanceMKE
DanceMKE 2018 is a four-week dance competition featuring Milwaukee area dance artists from any discipline. Selected performance groups will battle it out over four consecutive Tuesdays, and a panel of local dance experts will select the top three groups from each week to advance to the finals. Lest you think this is a small-scale affair, know that last year, more than 450 area dancers performed to nearly 4,000 dance lovers throughout the competition. The 2018 installment promises just such an outpouring of talent. DanceMKE is open to dancers age 9 and older who perform any type of dance; solos to groups of 20 are welcome to compete in dance selections ranging from three-and-a-half to six minutes long. Monetary prizes go to the top three dancers or dance groups. July 31, Aug. 7, Aug. 14 and Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-273-7206 or visit marcuscenter.org.
