Milwaukee Public Theatre celebrated its 40th anniversary with the “Steampunk Circus of Metamorphosis.” The event transformed the company’s space in the Shops of Grand Avenue into a 19th-century carnival with wandering entertainers, a stage for music and dance, delicious drinks and hors d’oeuvres, and sideshow tents. MPT’s co-founder Barbara Leigh, radiant in a costume and headdress she created, warmly welcomed all comers.
A side space featured the “Time Tunnel” created by Ron Scot Fry and Carolyn Mello, a colorful display of photos and promotional materials from the company’s history, along with enormous multicultural puppets and a “Bird of Hope” (created in 2004 as a Wisconsin Arts Board project). The display offered an evocative taste of MPT’s staggering list of productions and tremendous outreach. An old donations appeal evoked the company’s roots as Friends Mime Theatre: “Raise your voice for an artistic group being threatened by silence.” Likewise celebrated was Leigh’s one-woman show, the Survival Revival Revue, born of her endurance through a serious accident.
Musical performances included Peasants Abroad, a stunning belly dancing troupe accompanied by live Turkish fusion music, and Stellamani Dance Company, a highly theatrical trio performing to steampunk beats. Roaming entertainers including the Fabulous Feno, stilt walkers Devora/Debbie Davis and Jahmes Finlayson, and clowns Oh! No! the Miltown Clown and Violetta the Clown. Violetta recalled a professor advising her to audition for MPT in 1987 because the group was “the hardest working company in Milwaukee, and very ethical and community based.”
Among the sideshow entertainers was ventriloquist Larry LaFontsee who spreads a message of hope by performing in schools and hospitals, letting his audiences know that he is deaf in one ear, blind in one eye and still pursuing his art with aplomb. Other tent highlights included Azeeza Islam’s tarot readings, a stereoscope viewing booth allowing participants a glimpse of Victorian 3D technology, henna, face paining and carnival games.
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MPT’s mission couches the arts as a “healing resource that must be available to all people, regardless of age, ability/disability, culture, ethnicity or income level” and the company strives to be “interactive, thought provoking and celebrational.” Last Friday’s Metamorphosis paid vibrant testament to these goals’ four decades of achievement and transmission to the future.
