Though a number of local theater groups have tried to rectify the issue, Milwaukee stages still often fail to represent the area's rich cultural diversity. In an effort to help broaden the scope of local theater, Renaissance Theaterworks is beginning a new cultural diversity series. This month, the women-founded, women-run theater company opens the series' first project as it collaborates with the African-American theater group Uprootedon a production of Lynn Nottage's Crumbs From the Table of Joy.
The play, which opened off-Broadway in 1995, is set in 1950. Playwright Nottage was born in 1964. Although it's easy to criticize the merits of a mid-20th-century historical drama written by a playwright too young to fully remember the era, such criticism misses the show's significance. Nottage has said that she wrote the play in an effort to understand the era. Things have changed so much that it can be difficult to comprehend what earlier generations lived throughespecially in this case, when it remains to be seen how the mid-20th-century will be viewed by future generations.
Nottage looked at the emerging history of the 1950s and saw it painted in black and white. With Crumbs From the Table of Joy, she attempts to explore the full complexity of the era. The resulting script isn't perfect, but it's a step toward better understanding a volatile point in the history of civil rights in the United States.
The drama takes place in a cramped apartment as rendered in the intimate space of the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre. Chicago-native Morocco Omari plays Godfrey Crump, a man who has moved from Florida to Brooklyn, N.Y. Making the journey with Crump are his daughters, 17-year-old Ernestine (played by regional actress Tiffany Yvonne Cox) and 15-year-old Ermina (played by Chicago-based actress Ashleigh LaThrop). The out-of-town cast is joined by local stage talent Marti Gobel in the role of Aunt Lily, a revolutionary womanwith a penchant for bourbonwho expresses Communist sentiments. This role should afford Gobel a chance to shine in a very dynamic role.
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Renaissance Theaterworks' production of Crumbs From the Table of Joy runs Jan. 14-Feb. 6 at the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre. For tickets, call the Broadway Theatre Center Box Office at 414-291-7800.
Theater Happenings
- On Jan. 8 from 3-7 p.m., Pink Banana Theatre Company stages its one-night-only fund-raising gala at the 10th Street Theatre. “One Hundred Years of Women” celebrates a century of advancement with performances by a number of local groups, including The M.U.T.E.S., Danceworks, Renaissance Theaterworks, Brewcity Bruisers and more. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Healing Center. Advance tickets can be purchased online from Brownpapertickets.com.
- At 8 p.m. on Jan. 8, the Racine Theatre Guild welcomes baby-boomer comic Dylan Bolin for a performance of his one-man show Peace, Love and a 30-Year Mortgage. Dylan relates his experience of transforming from a Midwestern hippie child to a debt-ridden, mortgage-paying comic. For tickets, call 262-633-4218.
