“It's gonna be fun!,” Don Russell says in a public Facebook post. “Think, Chekhov meets John Waters!” Cool. I’m there. What Mr. Russell is referring to is the season-opening production of The Seagull being staged by Cooperative Performance Milwaukee this coming September.
The production in question is re-envisioned and directed by Don Russell specifically for Cooperative Performance Milwaukee. A couple of years back, the Quasi Mondo did a sort of a post-modern adaptation of Chekhov’s classic staged under the title The Seagull 3D. It should be fun to watch another company play with the classic. In the original, artistic and philosophical concerns mix between a symbolist playwright, an actress and a story writer on a country estate in the lat 19th century. Under the direction of Brian Rott and Megan Kaminsky, the Quasi Mondo deconstruction felt fresh and deliciously strange. It should be interesting to see what Russell comes up with for CPM’s re-telling.
The cast includes some interesting young talent including Zach McLain, Brenna Kempf, Kelly Coffey and Katie Merriman among others. It’s being staged in yet ANOTHER space in the Grand Avenue Mall—this one is actually upstairs in the space known as Bucketworks above TJ Maxx. The show runs Sept. 4 - 21. For more information, visit Cooperative Performance Milwaukee online.
