This week, we preview Forty Carats by the Village Playhouse and The Flesh Trade by The Alchemist Theatre.
American Players Theatre Season: The Second Half
American Players Theatre continues its summer-into-fall series of indoor (Touchstone Theatre) and outdoor (Hill Theatre) productions of contemporary and classic plays this month—plus a final entry opening in October. George Bernard Shaw had a noteworthy skill for dressing up serious social issues in the clothing of lively banter and sex appeal—both of which are on full display in Heartbreak House, which runs Aug. 3-Oct. 5. Imbued with timeless questions about morality and power, William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure offers a complex and powerful look at the battle we all face to be our best selves; it runs Aug. 10-Oct. 6.
Directed by Ameenah Kaplan and adapted from the novel The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally, Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good is set in the Australian penal colony where we find that all crimes are not equal and not all prisoners are crooks. It runs Aug. 11-Oct. 7. Finally, John Morogiello’s Engaging Shaw brings us back full circle, as it centers on the famous philandering author of Heartbreak House.
At American Players Theatre, 5950 Golf Course Road, Spring Green, Wis. For tickets, call 608-588-2361 or visit americanplayers.org/plays.
Forty Carats
Adapted by Jay Allen from a play by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Gredy, Forty Carats is a “rom-com” about a 40-year-old woman who gets a new lease on life when she starts dating a man half her age. It all begins when twice-divorced real estate agent Ann (Sam Billeck) takes a vacation to Greece, where she meets Peter (Zach Sharrock), a young, wealthy and urbane man she sees as a vacation fling who she’ll never see again after heading back home to her mother and teenage daughter. But when Peter suddenly shows up on her doorstep a few weeks later, Ann must decide what to do with the conflicting emotions, priorities, responsibilities—as well as her own reputation in the local community.
For those wishing to attend Forty Carats, Village Playhouse offers some helpful logistical advice: “National Avenue is closed between 70th and 76th streets due to construction. You can still get to the theater by taking 70th or 76th St. to Orchard or Greenfield to 73rd St.” (John Jahn)
Aug. 3-19 at Village Playhouse, 1500 S. 73rd St., West Allis. For tickets, call 414-207-4879 or visit villageplayhouse.org/forty-carats.
The Flesh Trade
“Corsets, cannibals and cash collide in this darkly comedic ragtime-infused musical,” Alchemist Theatre explains regarding their upcoming production of The Flesh Trade, which was written and will be directed by Michael Christopher. It’s also variously described as “A darkly comedic, fun, funny and sexy Old West show with murder and music.”
Honey (Kendall Yorkey) is a tough and scrappy saloon dancer and lady-of-the-night who is about to call it quits when a mysterious survivor of the Donner Party of doomed westward trekkers arrives and offers her some much-needed money. To what purpose? It’s for procuring some fresh meat. Is this really the way Honey will escape her old brothel-based life in Tombstone? Or, as Alchemist punningly puts it, “has she bitten off more than she can chew?” (John Jahn)
Aug. 3-18 at The Alchemist Theatre, 2569 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. For tickets, call 414-207-4879 or visit fleshtrade.brownpapertickets.com.
MORE TO DO:
Shinbone Alley
Written by Mel Brooks and Joe Darion and with a cool jazz score by George Kleinsinger, Shinbone Alley was one of the boldest musicals of the 1950s. Featuring direction by James Valcq, Third Avenue Playhouse takes on this daring, off-beat musical that has appeared in several guises over the many decades since its premiere—live musical theater, on record, in concert, as a television special and even as an animated film. This bizarre, highly original musical takes you into the streets of the big city—seen in part through the eyes of a cockroach and an alley cat. Through Sept. 2 at Third Avenue Playhouse, 239 N. Third Ave., Sturgeon Bay. For tickets, call 920-743-1760 or visit thirdavenueplayhouse.com.
DanceLAB Teen
This concert features original dance pieces from members of Danceworks Youth Performance Company (DYPC), as well as works that have been developed by dancers from the performance company’s upper-level technique classes. In addition, DYPC artistic director Gina Laurenzi worked with instructor Julia Edwards to create, as Laurenzi describes, “a unique collaboration between professional and up-and-coming youth artists” in the form of new choreography and structured improvisations based on a theme danced by the teen DYPC artists. Saturday, Aug. 4, at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Danceworks Studio Theatre, 1661 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-277-8480 or visit danceworksmke.org.
Wild Space Dance Company & the William Kentridge Installation at the Milwaukee Art Museum
More Sweetly Play the Dance, the South African born William Kentridge’s awesome audiovisual installation at MAM, runs 14 minutes, waits, then repeats. On Thursday, Aug. 9 from 5-7pm, so will an accompanying, sometimes interacting, live dance performance by Shirley Gilbert, Tori Isaacs, Tisiphani Mayfield and DeMar Walker staged by Wild Space Dance Company director Debra Loewen. Loewen explains. “I’m locally sourcing the dancers. I want them to bring something of themselves and of Milwaukee in response to Kentridge’s Johannesburg. I’m using a very light touch.”
