Photo by Posy Knight
Seat of Our Pants rehearsal for 'Lips Together, Teeth Apart'
Laura Monagle, Kirk Thomsen, Selena Milewski, and Chris Goode rehearsing 'Lips Together, Teeth Apart'.
Terrence McNally’s Lips Together, Teeth Apart debuted Off-Broadway in 1991 as a reflection on the AIDS crisis. And yet, the play isn’t a historical curiosity but continues to live on stage with a performance this month by 53212 Presents and Seat of Our Pants Readers Theatre Troupe.
“McNally’s play is set of course during the AIDS epidemic, but the misconceptions, fears and prejudices that the two couples reveal in the play are still with us,” says Readers Theatre’s Mark Flagg, codirecting Lips Together with Kirk Thomsen. “Set on July 4th, Independence Day, at a beach house previously owned by a brother who has died of AIDS, the couples struggle to reveal their genuine dependence on another, or to connect with each other at all. Characters are unable to express their deepest thoughts and anxieties, their secrets, or the truth about themselves—except via monologues to the audience—as they go through the motions of celebration.”
Affiliated with the Milwaukee Theatre Alliance and the Milwaukee Coalition Against Hate, 53212 Presents is focused on cultivating performance and community events in the 53212 zip code. Seat of Our Pants is Flagg’s long-running project with productions stretching back over the past 30 years. “Our goal is to present affordable, engaging, live theatrical experiences with experienced and newer talent, offering patrons a chance to immerse themselves imaginatively in story and text rather than production values,” he explains.
At the upcoming production of Lips Together, “patrons will see music stands, a few chairs and stools, and we'll ask them to imagine what we reveal via limited stage directions,” Flagg says. “There will be some nods to costume pieces, required music cues, a very few hand props, and some Foley effects that audiences at live radio theater productions enjoy, but because I really like how audiences listen when we make the story the primary event, we want them to work their imaginations.”
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Milwaukee theatergoers will recognize many familiar faces in the cast. Kirk Thomsen (Off the Wall, Quasimondo Physical Theatre) plays John Haddock, an admissions counselor at a private boys’ school. His wife Chloe is played by Laura Monagle (Skylight Music Theatre, Sunset Playhouse); Chloe’s brother Sam Truman by Chris Goode (Windfall Theatre, Outskirts Theatre). Sam’s wife Sally by Selena Milewski (Theatre Gigante).
“McNally’s plays are a feast of language and action in which characters express themes subtly and boldly with humor and deep feeling,” Flagg adds. “I’m drawn to his work by the struggles of his characters to find connections with each other amidst circumstances which seem only to divide them. His body of work is so expansive that it appears to offer entry to just about everyone.”
December 15-17 at Amorphic Brewing, 3700 N. Fratney St. Admission is $20 at the door.
