Category: Stiemke Studio

This is a reprint of my remarks about ”The Niceties ” at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater presented in their Stiemke Studio theater during the 2019 – 2020 season. This originally appeared on my Facebook timeline October 11, 2019.

The Niceties, in the Milwaukee Rep’s Stiemke Theater, is the most challenging play you are going to see this season. And you will love it. But it’s complicated. And you will be disoriented. Trust Me. Playwright Eleanor Burgess has written a 21^st Century drama that confronts contemporary racism in America and delves into how we got here.

The play features exactly two characters, college history Professor Janine Bosko, played by Kate Levy, and history student Zoe Reed, played by Kimber Elayne Sprawl. All of the action occurs in Professor Bosko’s office (and I’ll admit I’ve never seen a campus office quit as nice as this one) on the campus of an elite college. Think Ivy League. Professor Bosko is a white woman and Ms. Reed is a black woman.

Ms. Reed is getting some advice on her American Revolution history paper and everything is going very well when the discussion remains focused on commas, grammar, and spelling. But when the professor questions the Ms. Reed’s thesis and how racism affected the development of the nation after the Revolution, the sparks begin to fly.

I won’t get into the arguments…you really need to experience them for yourselves. But you will agree with some points from both characters. You will certainly disagree with points made by each character. And you will be uncomfortable and some points will hit very close to home. And the play will let you see that. But the play will clearly outline the legacy thinking around the founding of the nation and how new thought and scholarship shows some substantial points missing from our traditional teaching of history.

Kate Levy never for a moment lets you forget that she is a college professor. And Kimber Elayne Sprawl totally inhabits the engaged 19 year old college student, except for just a moment in the second act when Professor Bosco exposes a fact about her personal life and Ms. Reed starts to reassess the situation and their relationship. But only for a moment and then they turn back to their arguments.

Given the roles and story, the major focus is about race in America. But don’t let that be the only issue you see here. There are a number of other, some rather subtle, counterpoints and examples of hierarchies at work. The first is obviously the professor vs. student relationship and who wields the power. And there’s a bit of ageism since the professor is particularly older than her student and she brings that into focus in a fairly inelegant manner. And then there are the questions around class and social rank and elitism and sexuality…and the use of social media as a weapon or defense mechanism (you’ll get to decide).

This is an amazing play that lays out these contemporary social issues and more. I don’t know how Ms. Levy and Ms. Sprawl can maintain the intensity of their roles for the entire play much less the entire run. They do so remarkably well. And are doing it in a set that is essentially a fish bowl since the stage is centered in the Stiemke with seating along both longitudinal sides of the stage.

The Niceties runs through November 3^rd and is directed by Annika Boras who did an amazing job putting Ms. Levy and Ms. Sprawl into their roles and facing down the hard edges that this play presents.

This is a reprint of my remarks about “Every Brilliant Thing” at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater presented in their Stiemke Studio during the 2018 – 2019 season. This originally appeared on my Facebook timeline on April 22, 2019!

Every once in a while the theater presents you with a gem that you weren’t quite expecting. Duncan Macmillan’s Every Brilliant Thing turned out to be that surprise this season. Not originally on my subscription list, I attended under the auspices of the Rep’s Social Media Club! (Thank your SMC)

Although this is technically a one actor play, with the brilliant Scott Greer in the lead role, this play supports the proposition that it takes a village to perform a play! Sounds silly? Well the stage is a Persian rug dead center with the resulting theater in the round allowing the audience to partake…as either the Vet or Dad or the school counselor or the fiancé/wife. Unscripted parts prompted by Mr. Greer. And then there’s the call and response throughout recounting the list of Every Brilliant Thing. Violations all of the fourth wall that brings the serious nature of the play’s subject matter down a notch and insures everyone present is fulling engaged every moment. So if you attend and Mr. Greer offers you a card to read before the show starts…take it! You will not regret it.

Some of the preview information that I had read suggested that there were two characters here despite there being only the one acting role. And at first I thought the second character was the audience…but that’s just not right at all.

The storyline involves the lead character’s dance through life…and it’s funny and sad and a bit depressing at different turns and moments. And keep that word depressing in the back of your mind.

The first remembrances relate to his childhood and the depression suffered by his mother and her initial (and unsuccessful) attempt to kill herself. And his ‘life saving’ measure of inventing a list of every brilliant thing to share with his mother. And as his life grows…the list grows…and goes from supporting his efforts to support his mother…to supporting himself.

So that second character? That depends. At first I thought it was his mother. She is prominent and her struggles can weigh heavy on the plot. But I think it shifts to the list of Every Brilliant Thing as it rapidly takes on a life of its own and approaches a million things. But as the lead enters full on adulthood we realize it is depression. Unseen but not unspoken and certainly not unfelt.

There are a lot of joyous events recounted…some decidedly sad ones…and discussions of family dynamics and the little things that we learn about one another…and the tells that help guide our responses…even with those we love.

And Kudos to the Stiemke Theater itself for transforming from a traditional proscenium type to a three sided auditorium with the jewel box stage in the fourth corner to a theater in the round this season!!!

There are after play discussions about mental health topics for those who have the time or inclination to attend…participation is not required.

This runs through May 5^th…so there is still time to catch it and it will be worth your while.

This is a reprint of my remarks about “The Chinese Lady” at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater presented in their Stiemke Studio during the 2018 – 2019 season. This originally appeared on my Facebook timeline on March 6, 2019!

Spoiler alert! I am putting that out front here just in case. I may not actually spoil anything but I don’t know how to tell my story about my experience with The Chinese Lady and have to worry about whether I am giving too much away!

Over the years I have always found the plays at The Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Stiemke Theater to be their most challenging and thought provoking each and every season. So I have made it a point to make sure I see all of them even when I can’t make the rest of the Rep’s season.

So it was with great expectations that I attended their presentation of The Chinese Lady and I am delighted with it. It’s based on a true story of the first female Chinese immigrant to the United States.  Afong Moy was brought here as a Chinese curiosity to demonstrate and display other Chinese curiosities, namely Chinese household items that the American public could purchase from her ‘employer’. And I have employer in parentheses because she was brought here under a ‘contract’ with her father with the intention she would return home. But instead she remained in America as a side show attraction for decades and it isn’t known if she ever returned to China.

The Chinese Lady only features two roles. Lisa Helmi Johanson as Afong Moy and Jon Norman Schneider as Atung. Atung is also in the employ of the American importers and acts as Ms. Moy’s interpreter and protector.

The Rep did away with the traditional stage in the black box theater and presents Ms. Moy in a giant version of a literal black lacquer Chinese box that Atung opens to expose the wonderful exotic items within. The box that will be her stage throughout and essentially her prison in life. A place where Americans pay to see the exotic woman and her exotic environs and her exotic traditions.

And the structure of the play works a bit differently too. Usually if a play features an aside, where a character speaks directly to the audience, it is usually to reveal a secret, fill in a fact, or progress the story further down the timeline. But in The Chinese Lady…most all of the play is an aside. Ms. May and Atung address the audience directly throughout most of the play. When they do speak to each other, those interludes act as the asides and expose those secrets or surprises or fill in context that they can’t provide directly to us…because they aren’t always known to each other until they are spoken.

One of the points where words have multiple meanings as we live through the play…early on Ms. Moy breaks the artifice of the stage by stating her dress wasn’t hers…her body wasn’t hers…which is true for the character…the physicality belongs to the actress although we are supposed to suspend disbelief and accept the character as real. But even the character experiences this dress isn’t hers…this body isn’t hers…it belongs to the importers who brought her from China. And it becomes even less her own possession as she ages and loses her native language skills, her memories of China, and the life she should have been able to forge for herself. It runs from hopeful to sad to tragic in the end.

And as she repeats rituals throughout, we watch Ms. Moy mature and turn from the hopeful 14 year old youth into a mature world wise woman. Ms. Johanson does an incredible job of portraying that growth and awareness beyond just the scenic and costume changes. And Mr. Schneider identifies his concurrent aging process without the benefit of a costume change. They both excel in their roles.

The playwright, Lloyd Suh has crafted a marvelous play where words carry meaning beyond their apparent message…particularly as other meanings come to light later in the play. And it is a play that speaks to today…but demonstrates that we didn’t get here in a vacuum and lays out that path that got us to 2019. It isn’t as pretty as we pretend it to be and the characters let us know that. My one quibble here…after fashioning a view of the world and an amazing play that tricks us down its own path…he sums up the ending too quickly, too forcefully, and of course too uncomfortably. But this is the one play this season that I intend to see again before it ends it run.

So…The Chinese Lady will be at the Stiemke through March 24…so there’s time to see it…but not that much time…so hurry! And there are NO bad seats in the Stiemke!!!