Photo by Ross Zentner
The Tenth Street Theatre, located beneath the Calvary Church on the corner of 10th Street and Wisconsin Avenue, is the cozy home of Milwaukee’s In Tandem Theatre. The company was founded in 1998 by the husband-and-wife team of Chris and Jane Flieller to share their love for engaging theater, both contemporary and classic, with a wide-ranging audience of theatregoers and artists.
“Our mission is to produce an eclectic program that touches all kinds of different things,” says Jane. “We really, really like working locally. I don’t want to bring in actors from New York or Chicago. I’ve got lots of actors here who are really good. I’ve got playwrights here who are really good. We don’t have to look hard to find talent and we’re very pleased about that.”
On Feb. 27, In Tandem will present the world premiere of Come Back by the prolific Milwaukee playwright Neil Haven. Directed by Jane Flieller with a cast of six, the show runs through March 22 at the Tenth Street Theatre.
Haven was one of a group of well-known Milwaukee actors to graduate from the UW-Whitewater Theatre Program. As a student, he wrote sketches and found he had an ear for dialogue and the ability to dream up clever scenes. After graduating in 2005, he moved to Milwaukee and was soon cast in In Tandem’s Holiday Hell: The Curse of Perry Williams. He continued to write and, in 2010, In Tandem produced his play Stuck , a comedy that has since been picked up by other community groups.
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Haven decided to attend the graduate program in play writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “They said, pretty much, ‘Great, you’re funny, you can write some jokes; now we’re going to teach you how to write and structure a play,’” Haven says. One of the most telling moments was when he learned the distinction between a sketch and a play. “My professor had a very good definition of it. A sketch is about what the sketch is about. It runs its joke, its premise. It might be satirical, might be smart, might have something to say, but it’s about what it’s about. In a play, there’s something happening but that’s not what it’s about. Understanding that distinction allows me to lock in and say, ‘OK, this is what’s happening and here’s what it’s about.’ Now I can write it.”
Haven’s plays include the popular Who Killed Santa? The Choose-Your-Own-Ending Musical Murder Mystery Holiday Whodunit , given its sixth Milwaukee staging this past holiday season by Soulstice Theatre in a double bill with six short comedies by Haven collectively titled Neil’s Dirty Shorts. A more complicated comedy, Pink Champagne , was staged at the Tenth Street Theatre in 2011 in a co-production by UPROOTED Theatre and the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center. Haven’s other works include The Playdaters and Get A Life.
Director Flieller describes Come Back as “a quirky comedy about death, grief and moving forward.” In the play, Sky’s best friend, Erin, has passed away and has left detailed instructions for Sky to follow regarding what to do with her ashes. Says Haven, “It’s about who gets to decide what’s the most important relationship in your life. It’s about our society automatically granting the highest statuses to marriages and family and not taking into account somebody saying, this is the person closest to me or, the most obvious example in this decade, this gay man is my closest companion. I get to decide who I love and who is most important to me, and that’s what the play came to be about.”
Haven wrote every character as non-gender-specific. “Let the director pick,” he says. “Let the director and the company say, ‘This is the story I’m interested in sharing and I want to pick the absolute best actor for each part, be they men or women.’”
Flieller heard a very specific voice for each character when she read the script and cast it accordingly. Sara Zientek, who has also been seen with the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and First Stage Children’s Theatre, plays Sky.
“The play really hits home to me,” Flieller said. “We have to respect how other people mourn. Come Back does it in such a fanciful, lighthearted way. It’s a fun story that discusses a really un-fun subject, the process of grief and recovery.”
In Tandem’s production of Come Back runs Feb. 27-March 22 at 628 N. 10th St. For tickets, call 414-271-1371 or visit intandemtheatre.org. A talkback with playwright Neil Haven will be held on Sunday, March 15 following the 2 p.m. performance.
