Category: First Stage

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PSA: First Stage Presents: That Scottish Play, aka MacBeth!

From our inbox!

Milwaukee, WI – March 10, 2021 – Next up for First Stage’s Young Company, the Theater Academy’s award-winning training program for advanced high school actors, will be MACBETH, Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy, infamously known as the cursed Scottish play. The play will be performed in the newly renovated, theater-in-the round Goodman Mainstage Hall at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center. Directed by First Stage Young Company faculty member Marcella Kearns, with fight and intimacy direction by Christopher Elst, MACBETH is filled with ferocious battles, supernatural horrors, famously gorgeous poetry and some of the Bard’s most vivid characters. Tempted by an evil prophecy from a trio of witches and encouraged by his Lady ever deeper into his own dark ambition, Macbeth rages a bloody path to the throne of Scotland and the forces of destruction are unleashed. Sponsored by United Performing Arts Fund. 

MACBETH runs March 25 – April 3, 2022 at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, located at 325 W. Walnut Street in downtown Milwaukee. Tickets are $15. Tickets are available online at firststage.org or through the First Stage Box Office at (414) 267-2961. Performance runtime is approximately 2 hours plus an intermission. Suggested for families and young people ages 13+.   

Director Marcella Kearns had this to say about the production: “When I was a kid, my military father told me tales of the downfall of a Scottish warrior who had saved his people. I didn’t realize until I was much older that Macbeth was how I learned to love Shakespeare – even before I knew who the playwright was.    

MACBETH demands of its actors prowess with language. Strength for radical physical transformation and combat. Courage and resilience for gazing into the brightest and the murkiest aspects of the human spirit. As Young Company, the cast has brought this arsenal of tools from day one.” 

Added Young Company Director Matt Daniels: “More than 400 years after it was written, Macbeth remains scarily of the moment. This exploration of ambition and its pitfalls is one of Shakespeare’s tightest plays and will be expertly led by longtime Young Company faculty member Marcella Kearns with fight choreography by Christopher Elst. This play is fast, furious and terrifying, and a great way to welcome Young Company’s award-winning Shakespeare chops to the remodeled Goodman Mainstage Hall, where battles for the vast Scottish landscape will be right in the audience’s lap.” 

Young Company Performance Projects are actor-driven presentations using elemental production values. By stripping down to a nearly bare stage, the connection of actor to audience is enhanced, and the words of the play come alive in exciting ways. These fully rehearsed studio projects allow First Stage’s award-winning students to showcase their graduate level skills with full-length material, from Shakespeare to American classics to pieces commissioned specially for them. 

For tickets or more information about MacBeth or First Stage, visit them here!!

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The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors At First Stage

A legend has got to start somewhere!

screen capture for the First Stage website

This is just a rocking full on depiction of many a young persons imagination. Silly characters, seemingly fraught one on one confrontations, and music and dance to warm anyone’s heart…and get those toes tapping under the Marcus Center Todd Wehr Theater’s seats (mine were). And quite literally this musical had the kids jumping up and down in their seats. What a fun accomplishment for these players and this theater company.

The backstory? We have the featured three protagonists or champions or eventual opponents…all facing down other characters on their home turf. After not finding anyone able to ‘challenge’ them, they move on from their comfort zones…until the three of them…Rock, Paper, and Scissors square off and find out exactly how the game rock, paper, and scissors works. It’s an amazing journey. And I won’t give away the other characters that they face or how they eventually defeat them. And a legend has to start somewhere!

But besides our three ‘heroes’, we also have the MC who leads us through the story and fills us in on any of the action that they think we might miss…including a number of dad jokes that provoke the requisite number of giggles!

Max Larson (center) and cast in THE LEGEND OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS. First Stage, 2022. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

As you can see from the photos that I’ve selected to accompany this article, this is just simply a fun combination of disco, Vegas, futuristic, Sci-fi, wrestling, and Soul costuming…I haven’t see just such a collection of patent leather shoes or lame’ material in years. Completely in sync with the show tunes vibe that The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors maintains for 70 solid minutes. So a special hats off to Jenny Thurnau, Costume Shop Manager for bringing this all together.

Karen Estrada (center) and cast in THE LEGEND OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS. First Stage, 2022. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

And as you can see the lighting and imaginative stage really supports the tone and whimsy of the songs and book for this play! Kudos to Jason Fassl, Lighting Designer and Arnold Bueso, Scenic Designer.

And what I said about kids bouncing in their seats was absolutely true…the cast and play totally reach youngsters where they live! And I saw a number of family groups playing rock, paper, scissor as we walked along the Marcus Center grounds on the way to our transportation. The story has ‘legs’.

The highlight of the show that I attended was the MC (Max Larson ) asking a rhetorical question…how do you spell pterodactyl? But before he could answer himself, a young audience member just went ahead and started spelling it aloud. Bravo!! I won’t tell you the dad joke that follows, but Max wasn’t quite able to deliver that punchline before his audience did! What sheer fun!

My other big plaudit goes out to choreographer Molly Rhode who had a lot of different songs and tempos to deal with, a large cast and ‘chorus’, and special one on one dance moves during the various ‘battle scenes’! It all fit and worked far more smoothly that I would have expected with all of the players involved.

Daisha Lafford and Rick Pendzich in THE LEGEND OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS. First Stage, 2022. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

But none of this would have worked without the amazing staging by Director Kelly Doherty and of course the story, lyrics, and music from John Maclay and Eric Norden.

The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors runs at the Marcus Center through April 3, 2022 and is recommended for theatergoers aged FOUR and older!!

Here is the Link to First Stage for more information and please pay attention to their current COVID protocols.

Oh goodness gracious, I almost forgot Paper!

Austin Nelson, Jr. in THE LEGEND OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS. First Stage, 2022. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

And last but not least: extra credit reading: The Playbill!

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PSA: THE LEGEND OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS Returns To First Stage!

Milwaukee, WI – February 15, 2022 – First Stage is delighted to announce that its next mainstage production will be THE LEGEND OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS, a world premiere co-commission with Oregon Children’s Theatre, which originally premiered in March of 2020. The production features clever, original music from classic rock to dance pop as well as fantastical costumes, sets and puppets that will entertain the entire family. Based on the bestselling book by Drew Daywalt with illustrations by Adam Rex, First Stage Resident Playwright John Maclay wrote the book and lyrics and Eric Nordin wrote the music and lyrics. Choreography is by First Stage alum Molly Rhode and popular Milwaukee actor Kelly Doherty will direct. Kelly made her First Stage directing debut when the play premiered in 2020, but that run was cut short due to the pandemic. Kelly, along with the creative team of THE LEGEND OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS and all of First Stage, is eager to share this delightful production and its infectious joy with audience members once again.  

In THE LEGEND OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS, three fierce warriors return to the stage for a rematch after their brief battle was cut short in March 2020. From the Kingdom of Backyard came Rock, from the Empire of Mom’s Home Office came Paper, and from a messy village in the Junk Drawer Realm came Scissors. They were the strongest, smartest and fastest in all the land. Though they searched far and wide for worthy opponents, no one could beat them . . . until they met each other and a musical battle royale began to see who would come out on top! Sponsored by Molitor Foundation. Performance run time is approximately 60 minutes, with no intermission. Suggested for families with young people ages 4+. 

courtesy of First Stage!!

THE LEGEND OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS runs March 5 – April 3, 2022 at the Marcus Center’s Todd Wehr Theater, located at 929 N. Water Street in downtown Milwaukee. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased in person at the Marcus Center Box Office at 929 N. Water Street, by phone at (414) 273-7206 or online at firststage.org. 

–A fun, family-friendly world premiere musical about friendship, bravery and teamwork-