Back to Combat With the Bunny

The dead of winter is a strange time for the smallest theatre companies. Far from the warmth of the summer off-season, some of the most fanatical smaller theatre types end up acting on the bizarre, sometimes valid notion that great (or at least entertaining) art can come from immense pressure. These next two weekends, there are a pair of instant theatre shows going on at strange edges of the downtown theatre district.

This week local theatre outfit Bunny Gumbo returns to the stage for another weekend of combat theatre this Friday and Saturday as it presents another round of Combat Theatre. The premise is simplea group of playwrights get together and each picks a subject and a location out of a hat. A complete short with script and production with set, props and costuming are produced in 24 hours. The feverish project tends to result in a flurry of light comic sketches of various types. It’s a casually fun pair of evenings if you’re in the right frame of mind for it. At the end of Friday night’s performance, the group does it again for another program that runs the following night. Performances of Bunny Gumbo’s Combat Theatre is staged January 16th and 17th at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center on 325 West Walnut. Both shows are at 8pm.

Next week, Alamo Basement and Insurgent Theatre present their own brand of instant theatre as they stage another BERZERK!!! program at the Alchemist Theatre on January 24th. More on that next week . . .