Renaissance Theaterworks continues a commitment to fresh material next month with the first in its Groundworks programs. The series has an ambitious goal of staging, “bold, adventurous theater and cultivate the next generation of artists.”
The first program on the series is Jen Silvermans’s Still. It’s a complex drama that weaves together some pretty striking elements. Take Joe Pichetti. The towering Marquette University alum will be playing a baby. A tall baby named Constantine who is dead. The script describes the character as being "slippery, as unclothed as possible, unearthly, disturbing, and charming.” I think Pichetti can pull it off. He’s got a great potential for intensity about him onstage.
It might sound like a dark comedy but it’s not. It’s a play about still birth. There’s a 41 year-old mother. Her son Constantine was stillborn. There’s an 18 year-old dominatrix. She’s pregnant. There’s a 20 year-old midwife looking for redemption or a career change. The Middleton-based actress Gwendolyn Rice joins Erica Waide and Molly Corkins in the production. I’m not as familiar with Rice, but Waide has made notable appearances is drama and musical theatre before. Corkins has made quite an impression in and around the edges of a few productions.
The show is being staged Dec. 11 and 12 at Urban Harvest Brewery & Taproom on 1024 S. 5th St. Sounds like an interesting venue for a show distinctly outside the usual type of theater space. For more information, visit Renaissance Theaterworks online. For more information about Groundworks, visit the project’s page on Generosity.
