Milwaukee Chamber Presents ‘Collected Stories’

In collaboration with Madison's Forward Theater Company, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre unveils Donald Margulies’ drama Collected Stories. Milwaukee Chamber previously staged Margulies’ fascinating drama Brooklyn Boy. Collected Stories stars Sarah Day as a renowned short story writer who lives a reclusive life in Greenwich Village. Laura Frye plays the young woman studying the writer’s work. Frye will take her character from timid student to successful writer over the course of the play, with Day acting as the old master who helps her student find her own voice.

The play explores the nature of being an artist in an exhaustive, two-hour show shared between two characters and an audience. The trick, of course, is to keep that interaction dynamic. Director C. Michael Wright should be up to the task, particularly with a seasoned actress like Day, who has created memorable work with American Players Theatre over the years. Frye made her debut with Milwaukee Chamber in August 2011 as the troubled sister Babe in Crimes of the Heart. She managed a very nuanced portrayal in that production. It will be interesting to see what she can do with a more prominent role in Collected Stories.

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's Collected Stories runs Nov. 21-Dec. 16 at the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre. For ticket reservations, call 414-291-7800.

Theater Happenings

• Carroll University's Carroll Players present The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a musical adaptation of an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. The show runs Nov. 16-17 at the Otteson Theatre. For ticket reservations, call 262-524-7633.

• First Stage Children’s Theater celebrates the holidays with a traditional tale fed through early memories of the Rankin/Bass TV special as it presents Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The show runs Nov. 23-Dec. 30 at the Marcus Center's Todd Wehr Theater. For ticket reservations, call 414-273-7206.