Off the Wall Theatre brings high energy and crazy antics to the stage with its performance of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth. This quirky story follows the Antrobus family in Excelsior, N.J., as they face threats of the end of the world. The performance is broken up into three acts, each centered on a major disaster, including the Ice Age, a flood and modern war.
The performance opens with a monologue from the maid Sabina (Kathiamarice Lopez), assessing the current disaster (Ice Age) and the Antrobus family dynamic. Lopez then loses her temper after having to repeat her lines three times to cue Mrs. Maggie Antrobus (Carole Herbstreit-Kalinyen) exclaiming, “I hate this play, I don’t understand a word of it.”
Thursday’s opening night audience laughed in amusement as theater owner and director Dale Gutzman came down the aisle in an attempt to calm the situation, to which Lopez replies with a jab at Off the Wall and how she wishes Skylight would hire her instead.
Lopez steals the show with every outburst and effortlessly breaks the barrier between the actors and audience. The Skin of Our Teeth appears perfectly cast, especially Lopez and the Antrobus family. Off the Wall regular Jeremy C. Welter portrays the high-profile patriarch with great pride complementing Herbstreit-Kalinyen’s performance as the frantic mother who would “see the rest of us stretched out dead at her feet if it would be any benefit to her children.” While Lopez’s character is a maid in the first and third acts, she appears as a beauty queen in the second act, hilariously tempting every man on stage, no matter their age, including Mr. Antrobus.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Off the Wall’s intimate setting proved perfect for the production as cast members constantly addressed the audience and paraded up and down the aisles. The cast doubled as a stage crew during the two intermissions, transforming the Antrobus’ quaint home into an Atlantic City boardwalk for Act II and finally into a rundown home post World War. This method proves you don’t need an outrageous set to draw in an audience, just talented actors and a 25-seat theater.
The Skin of our Teeth continues through July 2 at Off The Wall Theatre, 127 E. Wells St. For tickets call 414-484-8874 or visit offthewalltheatre.com.
