Photo: MilwaukeeChamberTheater.com
Playwright Greg Pierce’s Slowgirl was the inaugural play of the New York Lincoln Center’s Claire Tow Theater, a creative space dedicated to producing works by new artists and building new audiences. Now the piece makes its Milwaukee premiere at another playhouse well known for supporting emerging talent: our own Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
Slowgirl follows the labyrinthine journeys of two estranged family members, Sterling (Peter Reeves) and Becky (Sara Zientek), as they begin to own up to their individual pasts to move forward with their lives. “This is an exceptionally beautiful relationship piece. Both of these characters are looking for some sort of redemption. Two flawed human beings find solace by peeling away their protective layers and slowly daring to share their stories, as well as their fears,” says MCT’s producing artistic director and director of the show, C. Michael Wright. “Playwright Greg Pierce has captured the teenage voice with remarkable accuracy while also tapping into the never-ending struggles that anyone today might come up against (but especially a teenager) in the highly stressful world in which we live. Pierce’s dialogue is spot on, simultaneously funny and moving, rowdy and delicate.”
It is worth mention that Slowgirl may be the last time Milwaukee audiences get to see Reeves on stage, as he will be moving to Pennsylvania later this spring. Of this development, Wright shares, “Peter is one of my favorite local actors. He was actually in the very first production I ever directed in Milwaukee—it was about 26 years ago, the play was August Snow and the company was American Inside Theatre. Peter is an amazing person and actor, and I will miss him a great deal when he moves.”
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Wright adds, “Sara Zientek is pretty terrific, too. She absolutely nails this role! I am incredibly fortunate to have two courageous actors digging deeply into this well-crafted script.”
Slowgirl runs Feb. 24-March 20 at Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, call 414-291-7800 or visit milwaukeechambertheatre.com.
Theatre Happenings:
n Marcus Center for the Performing Arts presents Roundabout Theatre Company’s critically acclaimed and award-winning Broadway performance of Cabaret. Join Sally Bowles at the Kit Kat Klub Feb. 23-28 at Uihlein Hall, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-273-7206 or visit marcuscenter.org.
n UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts’ next production for its Five-O-Eight Series is Nobel Prize for Poetry-winner Seamus Heaney’s The Cure at Troy, a rough-hewn version of the Sophocles’ Philoctetes that showcases this modern poet’s “sublime sensibility.” Show runs Feb. 24-28 at Kenilworth 508, 1925 E. Kenilworth Place. For tickets, call 414-229-4308 or visit www4.uwm.edu.
n PostSecret: The Show comes to Marcus Center for the Performing Arts’ Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall Feb. 25-26, bringing immersive, poignant stories from the PostSecret blog via projected images, videos, three actors and a guitarist. For tickets, call 414-273-7206 or visit marcuscenter.org.
n Marquette Theatre presents Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It, a story filled with family feuds, mistaken identities, mischief and hidden passions. Show runs Feb. 25-March 6 at the Helfaer Theatre, 525 N. 13th St. For tickets, call 414-288-7504 or visit diederich.marquette.edu.
n Racine Theatre Guild’s upcoming production Jeeves Intervenes is a delightful British romp full of deception and disguise. Show runs Feb. 26-March 13 at 2519 Northwestern Ave., Racine. For tickets, call 262-633-4218 or visit racinetheatre.org.
