Photo courtesy of Carthage College
Fighting for Home runs Feb. 21-29 at Wartburg Theatre on the Carthage College campus (2001 Alford Park Drive, Kenosha).
This week, Carthage College presents a play based on interviews with women about issues related to being a female in the military over the last 30 years, ‘Fighting for Home.’
Theater
No Wake
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s (MCT) season continues with a world-premiere theatrical staging of No Wake by Wisconsin playwright Erica Berman. Previously, it had been featured as a reading in the 2017 Wisconsin Wrights Festival in Madison, as well as at MCT’s Montgomery Davis Play Development Series (2017-’18 season).
MCT producing artistic director C. Michael Wright says, “Erica Berman is a gifted young playwright who just happens to reside in Madison. How lucky for us! I could not be more excited, or proud, for MCT to be the first company to produce her work. I’ve always been attracted to stories that explore complex relationships between people, especially when they involve an unlikely pairing of individuals; No Wake is such a play—it’s funny, insightful, moving and hopeful, and it makes me feel good about the human race.”
The play’s director, Kayleigh Kitzman, adds, “I believe in the healing power of theater and the mirror-like quality of live performance. As a multifaceted theater-maker, my primary focus is on storytelling and the link of shared experience. No Wake has a little something for everyone: humor, heartache and healing. I’m most excited to take audiences on this therapeutic journey with these characters as we tread through the murky waters of life and living.” (John Jahn)
Feb. 21-March 15 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, call 414-291-7800 or visit milwaukeechambertheatre.com.
Othello
Othello (a.k.a. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice) is a legendary William Shakespeare tragedy. Its story revolves around its two central characters: Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army, and his treacherous ensign, Iago. Given Othello’s varied and, alas, all-too enduring themes of racism, jealousy, betrayal and revenge, it’s still often performed throughout the world not as a museum piece but as something quite relatable. Taking on Othello currently in Milwaukee is Mad Rogues Theatre Company.
You may know Mad Rogues from their (in)famous series known as “Bard & Bourbon,” which consists of classic Shakespearean plays performed by increasingly inebriated cast members. But that is not what their production of Othello will look like. Rather, it will be part of their “Gravediggers” series, created this season (as they explain it) “to open our doors to those members of our community who might not be interested in watching a drunk Shakespearean performance,” as they “understand that not everyone is comfortable in an environment where getting someone drunk is a part of the spectacle.” So, this is serious Shakespeare! (John Jahn)
Feb. 20-29 in Studio 4A of the Marcus Performing Arts Center, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-273-7206 or visit marcuscenter.org.
Fighting for Home
Based on interviews with women about issues related to being a female in the military over the last 30 years, Fighting for Home, by professor Martin McClendon and directed by Marcella Kearns, highlights their struggles to protect their country from its foes, while these women of the military also deal with rapidly changing policies and deeply entrenched—often chauvinistic—beliefs within the armed forces.
How do the stated military policies and declarations of support match up with the realities confronting women as they fight for their country and for their place within the military? Fighting for Home addresses the ongoing battle of female soldiers to serve their country and to do so within a safe place—“safe” including not being sexually harassed or assaulted by their fellow soldiers. Safe also means being free of policies that don’t let them advance, free of stigma, stereotypes and the infamous “don’t ask, don’t tell” policies of past decades. In this powerful play, the audience hears stories of courage, hope and struggle as the U.S. comes to grips with these vital issues facing so many families today. (John Jahn)
Feb. 21-29 at Wartburg Theatre on the Carthage College campus, 2001 Alford Park Drive, Kenosha. For tickets, call 262-551-6661 or visit carthage.edu.
More to Do
“Hyperlocal MKE #22—NEXUS”
The theme of the 22nd Milwaukee composers’ and choreographers’ “improvisation salon” is the word nexus, defined as “an important connection between the parts of a system or a group.” Composer-performers Andy Miller, Allen Russell, Barry Paul Clark and Pat Reinholz, as well as choreographer-performers Maria Gillespie, Joelle Worm, Mair Culbreth, Alfonzo Cervera and Dan Schuchart will think about that independently, practice together several times, then meet before an audience (at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 23, in the Jan Serr Studio of Kenilworth Square East, 2155 N. Prospect Ave.) to create an unrepeatable, hour-long performance “prioritizing spontaneous composition and the simultaneous events of the unknown.” Hyperlocal shows are thrilling and indescribable.
A Fox on the Fairway
Two rival country clubs, Quail Valley and Crouching Squirrel, are competing head-to-head in an annual inter-club golf tournament. With money, jobs and reputations on the line, madcap adventures ensue with mistaken identities, slamming doors and over-the-top romantic shenanigans. Filled with love, lust and light good humor, Ken Ludwig’s A Fox On the Fairway is entertainment for golf and theater lovers alike. Feb. 21-28 at Racine Theatre Guild, 2519 Northwestern Ave., Racine. For tickets, call 262-633-4218 or visit racinetheatre.org.
“Classical Light”
The “light” in the title of the Kettle Moraine Symphony’s upcoming concert doesn’t mean light (as in rather vacuous) music, but music with a certain glow or brightness about it in terms of its mood, character or temperament. Works on the program are certainly variegated by style and era. These are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 40; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8; Richard Strauss’ Serenade for 13 Winds; and Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium for brass choir. Sunday, Feb. 23, at 3 p.m. at Kewaskum High School Theater, 1510 Bilgo Lane, Kewaskum, Wis. For tickets, call 262-334-3469 or visit kmsymphony.org.
The Nerd
Now an aspiring young architect in Terre Haute, Ind., Willum Cubbert has often told his friends about the debt he owes to Rick Steadman, a fellow ex-soldier whom he’s never met but who saved his life after being wounded in Vietnam. He has written to Rick to say that, as long as he is alive, “you will have somebody on Earth who will do anything for you.” So, what happens when Rick suddenly shows up at Willum’s apartment on the night of his 34th birthday party? It gets more intriguing when we discover that, much to Willum’s dismay, Rick turns out to be, essentially, a bumbling oaf with no social sense, little intelligence and even less tact. The Nerd is presented by Sheboygan Theatre Company Feb. 21-29 at the Leslie W. Johnson Theatre on the Horace Mann Middle School campus, 2820 Union Ave., Sheboygan, Wis. For tickets, visit stcshows.org.
