A Return to Midwest Stages

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Photo credit: Mike Scrivener

Actor Michael Stebbins grew up in Kenosha and trained in Milwaukee, so he’s plenty familiar with the region’s theater scene. He spent much of his adult life out east, however, first in Manhattan then in Columbia, M.D., where he served as artistic director for the city’s Rep Stage. This summer Stebbins returned to Milwaukee, where he’s already landed starring roles in a pair of Theatre Gigante productions: My Dear Othello and this weekend’s Holidays on Ice. In advance of Holidays, which will feature readings of three David Sedaris essays, the Shepherd spoke to Stebbins about the production and the process of reacquainting himself with the city’s theater scene.

What was it that brought you back to Milwaukee?

Well, I spent much of my time based on the East Coast, but over the last few years I would come back to Wisconsin at least once a year. I spent a couple quiet winters in Door County where my friends have a place, and I would visit friends in Milwaukee, too. And when I would go back east, I realized that what attracted me to Milwaukee, and to Wisconsin, is not only that there’s a healthy art scene, but there’s also just a kindness in the Midwest. I find people much more kindhearted here than out east, but it took me getting older to realize that the Midwest is actually some place I wanted to be. It snuck up on me over time. And again, knowing that it has a healthy art scene, I felt like I was coming back to where I was comfortable.

So you didn’t feel like it was a big career risk moving back here?

[Laughs] Oh, I didn’t say that! When I was running this company in Maryland called Rep Stage, I had job security. Of course, I was producing artistic director, so it was a lot of work, but there was real security there. In my heart of hearts, though, I’m an actor and a director. So going back to the freelance life, I think some people could look at that as a risk, but I just thought that as an artist we’re always growing—even at 48 years old, I guess. So there was no guarantee of work when I landed back in Milwaukee, because even though I know some people in the Midwest, there are so many people who are more ensconced in the Milwaukee scene that I had to reacquaint myself.

How has that process been so far?

You know, that’s one of the things people out east did not believe when I said I was moving. I would write to theater directors or artistic folks in Milwaukee, and instead of being told, “Our auditions are usually this month, see you later,” people like Michael Wright at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre and people like Isabelle [Kralj] and Mark [Anderson] at Theatre Gigante would write back and say, “Call us when you’re in town and we’ll get coffee.” They’re more open. Everybody seems more equal. There’s very little ego. So reacquainting with people, and meeting people, has been rather easy.

Are there advantages to being the new guy in the city’s theater scene?

Yes, I think. You know, going to auditions, I will be a new face. At least I’ll be somebody new for them to see. Now what they’ll want to do with me will be another story, because there are many actors in my age range. So I think there’s always some advantage to being new, but I guess it’s up to the artistic directors whether they want to take a chance on a new person or whether they want to keep working with people who they’ve developed a good rapport with.

Let’s talk about Holidays on Ice. What drew you to these essays?

I started performing them years ago at Rep Stage. I had come in to run this theater that was 13 seasons in, and they really had nothing in their holiday slot. And I think there was this thought of, “Is it selling out to put something in the holiday slot?” and to me the answer was, “No, that’s just good box office.” So I was really drawn to David Sedaris’s play The Santa Land Diaries, which he wrote after he wrote the essay The Santa Land Diaries, so I directed that for a couple of years. It was a big hit for our theater. The actor who was playing the role didn’t necessarily want to don the elf outfit for the third year, though, so I wrote to Sedaris’s literary agent and asked about being able to share some of his holiday essays, instead, because people were wanting to see something of Sedaris’s at the Rep Stage. So I started doing some of his selected readings, never certain during that first year what people were going to think of somebody reading essays. But because it is Sedaris, and it is his special brand of humor, delivering them and staying out of their way, they still cast a pessimistic spell. I think I did it out there for four years. So even though I left the east, I think I’m programmed now that as the holidays approach I can’t stop doing them.

Why do you think these holiday essays resonate with so many people?

In these stories, Sedaris can be cynical, but he is still embracing things like family and friendship and what holidays really should mean or could mean. One of the reasons I wanted to do this piece is that there are a lot of things that people can do during the holidays. I’ve certainly been to the Pabst and seen The Christmas Carol, and I know there are a lot of Nutcracker productions. I think this is another nice thing to add to the mix of opportunities in town. And you know, this piece doesn’t ask too much of people. It’s actually a fun, intermission-less hour and 15 minutes, with some Robert Goulet songs playing. So it’s a celebratory thing. Hopefully we’re leaving people with a feel good feeling when they walk out the door.

Theatre Gigante’s production of Holidays on Ice runs Dec. 5-7 at Gigante Studio, 706 S. Fifth St.