Category: Next Act Theatre

Posted on

PSA: Next Act Theatre Announces Its 2025 – 2026 Season: “AGAINST THE ODDS”

Includes Three Wisconsin Premieres, One U.S. Premiere, All Written in Last Seven Years

Milwaukee, WI – With the overall season tagline “AGAINST THE ODDS,” this is the third Next Act Theatre season chosen and overseen by new Artistic Director Cody Estle and Managing Director Libby Amato. The upcoming season boasts four plays never before seen on Wisconsin stages – three of the plays are Wisconsin premieres and one is a United States premiere. All four plays are also comparatively new, having all been written in the last seven years. New season tickets alongside renewals of existing season tickets are on sale now. Single tickets will go on sale July 14, 2025. All tickets may be purchased by calling the Next Act Ticket Office at 414-278-0765 or through the Next Act website at www.nextact.org.

“From the serene beauty of fictional Cardiff Township in Wisconsin’s Driftless region, to the buzzing streets of Chicago, Newark, and all the way to Scotland and London, we’ve got a lineup that’s as diverse as it is thrilling,” said Estle. “As we follow these unforgettable characters, we’ll not only see pieces of ourselves, but we’ll also gain a greater understanding of one another.”

The 2025-26 season opens with the Wisconsin professional premiere of SANCTUARY CITY by Martyna Majok (September 10 – October 5, 2025). In post-9/11 Newark, NJ, two teenagers brought to America as children now face an impossible question: what are they willing to risk for a future in the only country they’ve ever known? These two DREAMers and lifelong friends will fight like hell to establish a place for themselves and each other in America. But as time hurtles on and complications mount, each must reckon with the sacrifices it will take in order to find a place to call home. Jake Penner will make his Next Act directorial debut – he has also directed at Madison’s Forward Theater Company and Spring Green’s American Players Theatre, where he was previously an Artistic Associate. King Hang, Joe Lino and Ashley Oviedo will make their Next Act debuts in the roles of “B,” “Henry” and “G,” respectively. Playwright Majok received the Pulitzer Prize for her play COST OF LIVING, which was presented by Renaissance Theaterworks at Next Act Theatre in 2023.

Next Act will bring a locally-developed play home for its Wisconsin professional premiere when it produces BOSWELL by Marie Kohler (November 19 – December 14, 2025). Kohler, a Wisconsin-based playwright, director and co-founder of Renaissance Theaterworks, workshopped the play at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside before premiering it at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019. It played Off-Broadway at 59E59 in 2022. Next Act’s production will be the first professional production of Kohler’s play in its home state. An earlier version of the play, called BOSWELL’S DREAMS, was presented by Renaissance Theaterworks in 2005.

When ambitious 20th-century academic Joan goes looking for unpublished writings by literary giant Samuel Johnson, she finds her work interrupted by James Boswell. Chatty, bawdy, flawed and deeply honest, Boswell’s 18th-century journals of his grand journey through Scotland with Johnson take Joan back in time, showing her the power of authenticity and the need to make her own place in the world. Heart and mind spar wittily in this epic adventure of friendship, travel and the written word. Laura Gordon (directed SCARECROW, THE REVOLUTIONISTS, MOTHERHOOD OUT LOUD at Next Act), who directed the Off-Broadway and Edinburgh Fringe productions, will direct. Josh Krause (appeared in THE MOUSETRAP, EQUIVOCATION at Next Act) and Brian Mani (appeared in THE CHILDREN, THE VOICE OF THE PRAIRIE, ROUGH CROSSING at Next Act) will reprise their Off-Broadway roles of “James Boswell” and “Samuel Johnson/Father/Doctor,” respectively; Heidi Armbruster (appeared in and wrote SCARECROW at Next Act) will return to Next Act as “David Garrick/Mrs. Thrale/The Lady” and former Producing Artistic Director David Cecsarini will return as “Oliver Goldsmith/Professor/David Hume/Taxi Driver.” Madeline Calais-King and Sarah Zapiain will make their Next Act debuts as “Joan” and “Joshua Reynolds/Louisa/Serving Woman/Gardyloo Woman/Margaret Boswell/Hebrides Tavern Woman,” respectively.

After the new year, Next Act will stage the Wisconsin premiere of SWING STATE by Rebecca Gilman (February 11 – March 8, 2026). It’s hard to know who your friends are in a world that’s more divided than ever. Recently widowed, Peg tends to the native plants in her 40-acre rural Wisconsin prairie backyard. Her solitary days are interrupted only by visits from Ryan, a family friend with a checkered past. When a mysterious theft alerts the authorities, a string of events unfold that forever changes their lives and their community. Pulitzer Prize finalist Rebecca Gilman questions how we help each other when it feels like our way of life is in danger of disappearing. Gilman’s play won a Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work and was nominated for three other Joseph Jefferson Awards and a 2024 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. The Chicago Tribune called SWING STATE “perhaps the first of the great American post-COVID plays.” Artistic Director Cody Estle (directed CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION, THE TREASURER at Next Act) will direct. The cast will feature Tami Workentin (appeared in CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION, PIPELINE, THE SECRET MASK at Next Act) as “Peg,” Elyse Edelman (appeared in CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION at Next Act) as “Dani” and, making their Next Act debuts, Jack Lancaster as “Ryan” and Kelli Strickland as “Kris.”

To close out the season, Next Act will produce the United States premiere of DINNER WITH THE DUCHESS by Nick Green (April 22 – May 17, 2026). At the end of a storied career, violin virtuoso Margaret gives her final interview to a young reporter. As the evening wears on, Margaret must confront secrets and ghosts of the past to face an impossible question: how will she be remembered? Boundaries are drawn, lines are crossed and tensions reach a crescendo as a simple dinner becomes a battleground in the fight for the truth. Nick Green’s tense, personal drama explores whether the artist or her art defines a legacy. Samantha Martinson willmake her Next Act directorial debut – she has directed and assistant directed at Madison’s Forward Theater Company and Spring Green’s American Players Theatre. Laura Gordon will appear as “Margaret,” her first acting role at Next Act since 2009. More casting for DINNER WITH THE DUCHESS will be announced at a later date.

More information on the 2025-26 season can be found at nextact.org or by calling (414) 278-0765.

Posted on

Next Act Theatre’s Circle Mirror Transformation: “Are We Going To Do Any Real Acting In This Class?”

A mid-play plaint from Lauren. And then Theresa and Marty assure her they are acting.

The Next Act description of Circle Mirror Transformation doesn’t quite do the play justice. Although every word in the description is true, the play that you will see when you attend transcends your expectations. And although a comedy, there is enough angst, pathos, and confusion to bring us all into an awareness of human frailties as well.

Playwright Annie Baker hasn’t given us a straight forward comedy either. Her Circle Mirror Transformation tells its story through a series of vignettes or skits delimited by black outs that represent the passage of time and allow the cast to change costume and sometimes moods or personas. Our overall setting is a community center class in acting. The action occurs over six weeks and includes a number of games or exercises performed by the five class participants and then candid interactions between class members outside the parameters of the class. The nuts and bolts of this play will resonate with theater insiders and long time theater buffs as well.

The Cast of Circle Mirror Transformation. Photo courtesy of Next Act Theatre.

Director Cody Estle has very carefully assembled a cast that could clearly represent a typical community center class roster. But it is more complex than that and transformation is part of the title and he has deftly brought about the transformations that each character exhibits as the play progresses…not all of them for the better it would seem…but maybe that’s not my call.

Marty is the class leader. Tami Workentin brings us a very confident and in control Marty who without a doubt leads her class through exercises that seem redundant and at times silly to those of us in the audience. I thought Baker was having a bit of fun with theater basics here but I was assured these are actual exercises. And who knew that it is so hard to count to ten as a group. But Workentin doesn’t remain the direct taskmaster throughout and brings on an incredible empathy as she gets to know her students and their issues…well except for Lauren’s late payment for the class. But the confidence that Workentin brings to the class does bring them all out of the shells and lets them feel themselves in a safe space.

left to right, Mark Ulrich, Tami Workentin, and Elyse Edelman. Photo courtesy of Next Act Theatre.

Mark Ulrich is James, Marty’s husband. At first he is rather stiff and maybe a bit resistant and Ulrich gives us a sense that he has to be there…maybe to make sure there are enough students to hold the class? I have been in classes like that. But he does have a fun side that he feels free to exhibit at last, including taking a spin at the hula hoop. And Ulrich gets it. Later Ulrich shows us some tender moments as well, which weren’t quite expected.

Milwaukee favorite Elyse Edelman is Theresa, an actor who has recently relocated to this small community, Shirley, Vermont. We don’t immediately know that she is here because she is hurting after a break up with a boy friend. Edelman is free flowing and natural in this role and brings a sense of direction and purpose to Theresa. Everyone in the class admires her.

Chloe Attalla and Reese Madigan. Photo courtesy of Next Act Theatre.

Another Milwaukee favorite, Reese Madigan plays Schultz, a divorced local man who seems to be here to forget his troubles. Madigan’s Schultz takes an immediate shine to Theresa and Madigan gives us a very shy unsure man as he tries to open up conversation with Theresa. And they seem to hit if off well until Madigan shifts to a clingy lover and ends up pushing Theresa away. But as an actor wannabe, he throws himself into the class wholeheartedly except for the occasional groan when the counting to ten circle fails.

And Chloe Attalla is Lauren, a sixteen year old high school student who is interested in acting. At first Attalla gives us a perfect example of reticent sixteen year old, which is totally expected given she is the only high school aged student in the class. But Atalla also can be explosive when she asks the question in the title or when she shouts at Theresa: “You are a real actor, why aren’t you teaching the class?”. And she too apparently has a issue at home as she dodges Marty’s questions about payment. Attalla plays down to sixteen years old exquisitely. I hope we get to see more of her on Milwaukee stages.

The cast of Circle Mirror Transformation counting to ten! Photo courtesy of Next Act Theatre.

Next Act Theatre is performing Circle Mirror Transformation from now until May 18, 2025. The play runs two hours without intermission in their shared theater building at 255 South Water Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

More information and tickets here!