With respect to theatre openings, Halloween feels a bit peaceful next to the rest of the month. Aside from Acacia’s new show,which opens on Friday, there are a host of really good Halloween shows that I’ve already seen and another River West visitation of Insurgent Theatre. The Milwaukee-born theatre company returns to Milwaukee at 8pm on November 1st to stage a free performance of its traveling show Ulysses’ Crewmen at the Jackpot Gallery on 825 East Center Street.
Consisting of Ben Turk and Kate Pleuss, Insurgent Theatre has been traveling the country performing their political drama to various rooms of various sizes. Their road journal is located here. It's a really interesting read. The blog proudly lists the road show’s limited expenses and income. The contemporary DIY theatre scene may not have the kind of energetic mystique of the DIY punk scene of the ‘80’s, but this blog makes for an interesting display of the other side of the theatre---one that travels around in a Volvo named Mary on an operating balance somewhere in the neighborhood of $600. This is the jagged lower edge of the performing arts and it says a lot about the senseless excess of big budget touring Broadway productions . . .
