Category: Milwaukee Youth Arts Center

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The First Stage Young Company Presents The Rose Of Treason By James Devita

Regular readers will remember that the Young Company is a group of First Stage actors generally of high school age. And they generally perform adult themed programs without any adult actors. They have done some truly amazing and challenging adult plays recently. My favorites among them have been Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy Of The People, and an amazing surprise, Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell’s Ride The Cyclone! I probably look forward to the Young Company season more than any of the other theater in Milwaukee,

And for their first play of the 2025/26 season, they have selected The Rose Of Treason by James Devita. Most of you probably recognize Devita. He is a lead actor and mainstay on the stages of the American Players Theatre and a novelist and playwright. First Stage had previously presented his play, The Amazing Lemonade Girl, with a large cast at the Todd Wehr Theater.

Like The Amazing Lemonade Girl, The Rose Of Treason is based on a true story. This one, a very compelling and sadly contemporary feeling dramatic narrative around the Scholl family. Set in Hitler era Germany, Mother and Father Scholl have two energetic and curious youngsters, Hans and Sophie. In their youth they enthusiastically enroll in the Hitler Youth and revel in the group experience and active events. Their parents are supportive but at times dubious about what they are ‘learning’. And despite the start of World War II, they are entitled enough to attend the university in Munich instead of being directly involved with the war effort.

(L to R) William Swoboda, Marko Van Slyke, Elliot Lippman, and Lio Landis in The Rose of Treason by James DeVita. First Stage Young Company, 2025. Photo by Paul Rufollo

But then as the war unfolds and Nazi atrocities start to become apparent, Hans and his friends at university decide to form a resistance group…calling themselves The White Rose…and publishing leaflets and encouraging others to resist their government. When Sophie arrives in Munich, Hans tries to shield her from his activities, but she is too curious and too observant to miss such goings on. And of course, she throws herself full on into the movement. SPOILER ALERT: Eventually they are discovered by the Gestapo, tried for treason in a mock trial, and summarily executed. BUT there is hope in this story…

Reiley Fitzsimmons in The Rose of Treason by James DeVita. First Stage Young Company, 2025. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

Reiley Fitzsimmons is Sophie Scholl and she plays her with an unbounded energy and sense of nature and life. As she matures and becomes even more thoughtful it is inevitable that she would throw all of her energy into the resistance. Her older brother, Hans Scholl, is played by Marko Van Slyke. He gives us a bit of an enigma…amazingly invested in the Hitler Youth, earning accolades and awards, he teases his sister about his success there. So it seems surprising that he would so easily enlist in the resistance movement and Van Slyke gives us a very thoughtful young adult version of Hans, who does in fact take on a serious leadership role. Edward Owczarski plays Father. Owczarski tries to be a stern forceful father at times but shows himself to be a bit of a doting parent. He never yields in his support of his children even in the chilling late scenes. And Mother is given that loving parent vibe, who just wants to fuss over the details by Alice Rivera. Her studied repacking of Sophie’s suitcase as she goes off to college is a touching tribute to her motherly instincts. And Rivera carries that through during her final moments with Hans and Sophie that defy you to not to choke up.

(L to R) William Swoboda, Reiley Fitzsimmons, Marko Van Slyke, Lio Landis, and Natalie Ottman in The Rose of Treason by James DeVita. First Stage Young Company, 2025. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

This is a large cast performance with a number of young actors playing Hans co-conspirators…active…dedicated…intelligent…and loyal to the resistance…college students. They write and publish and distribute their leaflets…and work out ploys to avoid Gestapo detection.

(L to R) Marko Van Slyke, Reiley Fitzsimmons, and Lio Landis in The Rose of Treason by James DeVita. First Stage Young Company, 2025. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

But there is a solid chilling factor here as a number of young women play Gestapo roles…complete with military precision…Swastika armbands…and snappy Nazi salutes. There is some hope. Will we be able recognize when this happens again and how will we respond. Will we be Hans and Sophie?

One note on seating. The Goodman Mainstage Hall is generally a theater in the round. For this performance there is only seating on three sides as the fourth wall is used for a screen where photos and quotes are projected to enhance the text of the play. Since this is general admission you may want to get there early to get the best seating to view the screen. And this is a small intimate theater so you will never be more that four rows away from the actors.

The Rose Of Treason will be performed at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center through November 16th, 2025. More information and tickets here! Approximately 90 minutes including a brief intermission

Inspired by true events, the show contains discussion and depictions of the Holocaust, Nazi party and its actions, politics, and violence; audiences may feel uncomfortable as the characters experience these things, but in the end the message of hope and truth prevails.

There will be changing lights, projections, and loud sounds that may be overwhelming for those with sensory sensitivities. We offer sensory kits for patrons who may need them

Recommended for families with young people ages 12-18 and courageous leaders of all ages

Extra Credit Reading: The Enhancement Guide

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A Note To My Readers and Milwaukee’s Art Organizations!

The Milwaukee 2024 – 2025 art season was simply remarkable. I was continually surprised and challenged by the art, music, dance, and theater events that I was fortunate to experience. And I hope that it also helped me to improve my understanding of the arts and increase my ability to see. I know that I was able to expand my coverage of theater as the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre and Next Act Theatre invited me to participate in their seasons. And I want to thank the artists, performers, directors, art admins, and university professors who encouraged and supported me in 2024 – 2025. It let me know that I was adding value and moving in the right direction with my efforts at An Intuitive Perspective.

So I felt a great deal of excitement and anticipation as the 2025 – 2026 season got underway. And I was off to a great start with Next Act’s Sanctuary City and Vanguard Milwaukee’s Presentation of Lungs. And then I was called away for a family emergency and missed a few other season openers and felt a profound sense of loss. And it just reinforced in me that art is important: to the individual and to the community. I am home now and intend to jump back into the season with both feet this weekend. So for those readers looking forward to a review of your favorite theater company, I am sorry. And to those organizations looking forward to my support, I am sorry. I may get called away again, so if I seem to be missing in action, please bear with me.

So this seems like a good place to add these thoughts. Milwaukee’s arts scene is incredibly vibrant and diverse and the level of professionalism is truly remarkable. But please don’t take it for granted. As Wisconsin has slipped to 50th place in public support of the arts, please support your favorite art groups by attending every event that interests you. And donate to them in any manner and any means that you can. It is important.

I love you all!

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Vanguard Milwaukee’s Presentation of Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs Touches You Here And Here…

Before we delve into the play that is Vanguard Milwaukee’s season opener, I recommend that you arrive early. There is a prologue that starts about 10 minutes before curtain. It is a silent dance or pantomime, if you will, performed by the two cast members…and they will experience all of the human emotions here, silently, that they will experience in the action during the play. It won’t make much sense as it is happening, but you will be glad that you were there!

For me, the thematic quote from the play: “I don’t know if I want a big laugh, or a big cry?” [I am disclaiming this as a paraphrase since my mind isn’t that sharp anymore]

Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs is a deep dive drama into couple relationship…not just at one point in time but in times. Lungs is a fairly recent play, originally staged in 2011, so it will speak to any of us who have had a special other in our lives. It is dynamic and hyperactive and very very intense at times. Macmillan also wrote Every Brilliant Thing which, I hope, many of you were able to see at the Milwaukee Rep or the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

Lungs only has two characters. A couple. A man and a woman. If you look up Lungs on line you will see that Macmillan names them simply M and W. Vanguard only lists the two actors on their hand-card playbill, which works just fine. Being such an intimate couple and being exposed in intimate situations that we shouldn’t actually be privy to, they don’t refer to each other by name.

George Lorimer and Caroline Hansen. Photo by Jake Badovski. Photo courtesy of Vanguard Milwaukee.

So, our actors are George Lorimer and Caroline Hansen. They are tasked with very challenging roles here, only interacting with each other, and never ever leaving the stage for the 75 or so minutes of the play. But Lorimer and Hansen have clearly put in the work and have the that certain stage chemistry that lets us accept that they are the intimate and loving couple that they are portraying on set. And director Matt Daniels (Scrooge in the Milwaukee Rep’s Christmas Carol) has added to their task with a simple but elaborate choreography (reminiscent of movements in the prologue) that helps tell their story as they experience love and tenderness, fear and anxiety, and a bit of anger from time to time. So as the story is told through complex conversation, Lorimer and Hansen also have to dance around the stage and each other to clearly convey the feelings of the moment. And they are at the Goodman Mainstage in the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center. This is a very intimate theater in the round venue and plays perfectly into the story and Daniels vision.

So as I said, Hansen and Lorimer get no respite from being the focus of attention. Daniels has them constantly in motion and Macmillan has them constantly in conversation. And it is intense and they perform flawlessly. But at one point Hansen is almost on a breathless stream of consciousness freak out rant and Lorimer finally has to tell her to take a breath. And the initial point is a particular stress point that catches Hansen and the audience by surprise and the reaction repercussions catch Lorimer and the audience by surprise and a great deal of loss of personal focus results. How Hansen and Lorimer can turn on a dime from one event and relevant mood to another without obvious scene breaks is simply amazing. But it all works here.

And every situation resolves, just as it does in real life, sometimes for the worse and sometimes for the better…but we do have situations for all time…and the final resolution is a good note, while sadly true.

Vanguard Milwaukee is a young and vibrant theater group that is relatively new, only being founded in 2022. But it gives us proof that Milwaukee is a vibrant theater town and it insures that we have talented young actors training for the future. This was my first experience with Vanguard but I am looking forward to the rest of their season!

Lungs runs from now through September 28, 2025 at the Goodman Mainstage Hall at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center. LUNGS runs approximately one hour and fifteen minutes with no intermission.

Additional information and tickets can be found here!