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Through 2021
Milwaukee County Historical Society
“Where Waters Meet”
Historian John Gurda put it well in the title of one of his books, Milwaukee: A City Built on Water. The confluence of three rivers and a useable harbor made Milwaukee an industrial and transportation hub and spurred UWM’s School of Fresh Water Science to take a leading role in research. The year-long exhibition “explores the role water played in the city’s history through geography, commerce and recreation, and highlights the reasons that Milwaukee is considered a water-centric city today.”
Through May 2
Saint Kate—The Arts Hotel
“Rafael Francisco Salas: In Flowered Fields”
Midwesterners feel overlooked and disregarded—until politicians start calculating electoral votes. Ripon College art professor Rafael Francisco Salas is part of a long tradition of regional landscape painting but brings a dark and evocative contemporary twist to his work. Says Museum of Wisconsin Art curator Tyler Friedman, “The exhibition is sure to initiate discussions about the Midwest—its overlooked beauty, contemporary conflicts and the sins that remain inscribed on its soil.”
Every Tuesday
ACA Music & Entertainment’s ACA Live
ACA Music & Entertainment have been producing regular weekly live streams to keep artists playing during the pandemic. Every month, local artists take the stage at ACA’s production studio to perform via livestream with proceeds benefitting the artists. The April slate of shows includes Peter Thomas & Steve Vorass and Swing Explosion featuring Pete Sorce. The shows start at 7 p.m. on Facebook Live.
Every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Milwaukee DJs on Twitch
On any given night, Milwaukee’s vibrant DJ scene is hitting the virtual club, broadcasting sets from the comfort of home. DJ Bizzon has been producing live streamed sets every Wednesday and Friday night on his channel, as well as Sunday afternoon’s R&Brunch streams. DJ Snackdaddy every Saturday night. Milwaukee-born DJ Kid Cut Up is also regularly live on Thursday and Saturday nights.
April 16
Carthage College
“Singing Opera Workshop”
Still trying to find that hidden talent during the pandemic? Maybe opera singing is for you! The Carthage Music Department presents the Spring Opera Workshop in the A. F. Siebert Chapel. Only students, faculty and staff will be allowed to attend the performance, but external patrons can still participate in the live streamed event from home. The workshop has a long tradition in the music department and have included original compositions from Professor Greg Berg.
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April 16-18
Riverside Theater
“Ghost Tour”
Back by popular demand, the Riverside Theater will host 60-minute ghost tours in hot spots of paranormal activity not normally open to the public. The bar will be open for service before and after tours. The tour will be complete with historical tidbits about the theater from haunted historians and spine-tingling tales from past ghost hunts. Late Night Ghost Hunts will also take place for limited guests on Friday and Saturday nights from 11:30 p.m. - 2:30 a.m. These tours will begin on the stage with a séance led by a medium who’s no stranger to the spiritual energy of the theater. Limited to groups of 10 or fewer.
April 16-May 29
Walker’s Point Center for the Arts
“Is/Isn’t”
Milwaukee artists Kate E. Schaffer and Zina Mussman investigate the traditions of abstract painting and the prison of binary thinking through their joint exhibition. “Contemporary American culture frames existence through oppositions, through “either/ors” they explain. Their intention is to “redirect and focus on gray areas in order to expose the artificial, constructed theater of reality.” Opening reception is Friday, April 16, 6-8 p.m. Masks required.
April 20
Sugar Maple patio
Milwaukee author Zhanna Slor
Set in part in Riverwest, the debut novel by Milwaukee author Zhanna Slor, At the End of the World, Turn Left, is a mystery about a pair of Russian sisters in Milwaukee who get tangled up in their father’s questionable Soviet past. The novel is a complex musing on immigrant and Jewish identity. “The idea of ‘home’ has always been, to me, a confusing, complex and interesting one—I have spent a lot of time trying to understand what it means,” she explains. “I think it’s an important thing to understand, in this modern, globalized time. Even after writing this book, I’m still not entirely sure that I do!”
April 22-May 2
Milwaukee Ballet
“Re.Gen”
Outstanding one-act ballets that premiered in Genesis, Milwaukee Ballet’s internationally acclaimed biannual choreographic competition, are revisited here. Italian choreographer Enrico Morelli’s The Noise of Whispers embodies the tender, slow movement of Chopin’s First Piano Concerto. Brazilian Maria Oliveira’s Pagliacci tells a heartbreaking love tale with classic commedia clowns. Bolero-Let There Be Light is the first dance Australian Timothy O’Donnell made for company dancers after winning Genesis 2009. Now, he’s Milwaukee Ballet’s resident choreographer and leading character dancer. The show is available at the Baumgartner Center for Dance and by video on demand.
April 23-May 9
Cooperative Performance
Thunder Domestic
It’s like a sophisticated video game. Zach Byron Schorsch’s Thunder Domestic is an interactive dance theater experience, which because of its interactive nature (audience chooses the next character to follow or the next scene to go to) can be viewed many times with a new narrative each time. Thunder Domestic features five performers from several states who rehearsed virtually, including Milwaukee expat Selena Milewski. It streams on demand with tickets and information through Cooperative Performance's website. cooperativeperformance.org
April 27-May 23
Milwaukee Repertory Theater
“Alexis Roston Sings Ella Fitzgerald”
When Ella Fitzgerald debuted in Harlem, she was a homeless 16-year-old in a dirty dress. She went on to become one of the world’s most recognized names in jazz—even among people who never listened to her music. After swing and bebop, Fitzgerald’s career took her to concert stages singing from the Great American Songbook. She could bat words around like the ball in an especially vigorous tennis match but could also draw deep meaning from the lyrics of romantic ballads. Actress Alexis Roston (last seen at The Rep playing Billie Holiday) will sing Duke Ellington, Cole Porter and George Gershwin in Fitzgerald’s style.
