Tag: Comedy

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PSA: Next Act Theatre Announces Their 2026 – 2027 Season: Pure Entertainment!

Yes, I know, I am a bit behind on this one too. But better late than never and I bet you forgot what they are offering by now, SO, here’s a reminder:

Next Act Theatre Announces 2026-27 Season

Includes First-Ever New Play Commission, Two Wisconsin Premieres and a Modern Favorite

Milwaukee, WI – Next Act Theatre announced its 2026-27 season on Monday, February 9, 2026. With the overall season tagline “PURE ENTERTAINMENT,” this is the fourth Next Act Theatre season chosen and overseen by Artistic Director Cody Estle and Managing Director Libby Amato. The upcoming season boasts a World Premiere, Next Act’s first-ever commissioned new play, two Wisconsin Premieres never before seen on local stages and a modern favorite returning to Milwaukee for the first time in more than a decade. New season tickets alongside renewals of existing season tickets are now on sale. Single tickets will go on sale July 13, 2026. 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.

The lineup for the 2026-27 season includes:

  • TRAYF by Lindsay Joelle, September 16 – October 4, 2026
  • THE BOYS FROM BARABOO by Heidi Armbruster, December 2 – 20, 2026
  • IN THE NEXT ROOM or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl, February 17 – March 7, 2027
  • AT THE WAKE OF A DEAD DRAG QUEEN by Terry Guest, April 21 – May 9, 2027

“This year’s season features a wonderful mix of new voices, Next Act veterans and theatrical powerhouses. Each of the four plays we have chosen leads with heart while engaging complex issues and thought-provoking themes … Together, these four productions create a season that is joyful, daring, entertaining and unmistakably Next Act,” said Artistic Director Cody Estle.

The 2026-27 season opens with the Wisconsin Premiere of TRAYF by Lindsay Joelle (September 16 – October 4, 2026). In 1990s New York City, Orthodox Jewish teens and lifelong best friends Zalmy and Shmuel are intent on saving the world from behind the wheel of their “Mitzvah Tank” van. But when a curious outsider deepens Zalmy’s interest in the secular world of rock and roll and roller skates, Shmuel will have to do everything in his power to keep his and Zalmy’s dreams intact. This road-trip bromance is a funny and heartwarming ode to the turbulence of youth, the universal suspicion that we don’t quite fit in and the faith and friends that see us through. Next Act Artistic Associate Elyse Edelman will make her Next Act directorial debut – her Next Act acting credits include CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION, a staged reading of MRS. CHRISTIE and SWING STATE. She has directed at Renaissance Theaterworks, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Third Avenue PlayWorks, and others. Rachael Zientek will return as an actor, having previously appeared in ALMOST, MAINE at Next Act, and A.J. Magoon, also seen at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Renaissance Theaterworks and Theatre Gigante,will make his Next Act debut.

Next Act will present its first-ever commissioned new play, the World Premiere of THE BOYS FROM BARABOO by Heidi Armbruster (December 2 – 20, 2026). Comedy! Songs! Entertainment! Step right up as Heidi Armbruster chronicles the rise and fall of the Ringling Brothers: five boys from Baraboo, Wisconsin. The story of their circus – the greatest show on Earth – is bookended by the brothers’ scrappy beginnings and difficult ends. THE BOYS FROM BARABOO tells the uniquely American story of a death-defying entertainment empire: music, storytelling, grit and charm create a tale that’s equal parts vaudeville revue and prestige drama. Next Act Artistic Director Cody Estle (previous direction: CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION, THE TREASURER; SWING STATE) will direct. THE BOYS FROM BARABOO will be presented as part of World Premiere Wisconsin, a statewide festival celebrating new plays and musicals running throughout 2026.

After the new year, Next Act will stage IN THE NEXT ROOM or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl (February 17 – March 7, 2027). In a seemingly perfect, well-to-do Victorian home, proper gentleman and scientist Dr. Givings has innocently invented an extraordinary new device for treating “hysteria” in women (and occasionally men): the vibrator. Adjacent to the doctor’s laboratory, his young wife tries to tend to their newborn daughter – and wonders what exactly is going on in the next room. From Sarah Ruhl, one of the most influential playwrights of this century, comes a smart, classy, and electrifying comedy about longing, intimacy,and what it truly means to love someone. Laura Rook will make her Next Act directorial debut – in addition to being a Core Company Actor at American Players Theatre, Rook directed ONCE UPON A BRIDGE at APT, co-directed SUMMER, 1976 at Forward Theater Company with Laura Gordon, and will direct AS YOU LIKE IT at APT in the 2026 summer season. Elyse Edelman will return after directing TRAYF earlier in the season to play Sabrina Daldry. Dee Dee Batteast, an actor, playwright and director who has appeared in three seasons at APT, including acting in PICNIC and THE WINTER’S TALE this past summer, five productions at the Goodman Theatre and her self-produced one-woman show NO AIDS, NO MAIDS, will make her Next Act debut as Elizabeth. Playwright Ruhl is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow and Pulitzer Prize nominee – IN THE NEXT ROOM is widely hailed as one of her seminal works. The play received three Tony Award nominations, including Best Play. Next Act’s production will be the first production in Milwaukee in more than a decade.

To close out the season, Next Act will produce the Wisconsin Premiere of AT THE WAKE OF A DEAD DRAG QUEEN by Terry Guest (April 21 – May 9, 2027). Courtney Berringers would like to welcome you to her wake! But—make no mistake—this ain’t your grandma’s funeral. From African Gods and Goddesses to Judy Garland and Whitney Houston, AT THE WAKE OF A DEAD DRAG QUEEN uses legends, icons, camp and drama to tell the story of a pair of drag queens living (and dying) in rural Georgia in 2004. Terry Guest’s whirlwind play explores identity and illness while unapologetically celebrating Black, queer life with all of its sorrows and joys. Come party at the wake – bring your own heels! Dee Dee Batteast will return to direct after acting in IN THE NEXT ROOM at Next Act in February and March.

More casting will be announced for all four shows at a later date.

Next Act will reduce the length of all four productions in the 2026-27 season from four weeks to three weeks. Current subscribers with tickets to performances in the fourth week will be contacted with options for their subscriptions.

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Waukesha Civic Theatre Presents Sense And Sensibility

This was my first visit to Waukesha Civic Theatre. And, no, they are not a new theater, they’ve been providing quality theater in Waukesha since 1957. And it was something of a homecoming for me since I grew up in Pewaukee in the 1950s and 1960s because WCT is located in the Pix movie theater on Main Street in downtown Waukesha. So I saw a few pictures there as a child and later in my teen age dating years. That little bit of coincidence added a little warm feeling for a brisk February afternoon.

So, what is my first encounter with WCT? Kate Hamill’s unique adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. It isn’t the drama that you might expect but: Is it a Comedy of Errors? A Comedy of Manners? A Comedy of 18th Century Society? Or all of the above? I vote for that latter. And yes it is a comedy here, but not the laugh out loud comedy we often experience in our contemporary era. No, this is on the lighter side…the kind of humor that makes you peek at your neighbor what was that? Or roll your eyes in a dramatic, I get it, fashion. Or maybe a titter behind the palm of your hand quickly raised to your face. But it is still a serious play and stays true to the events in Austen’s original novel. But sometimes the acting is just a wee bit exaggerated and over the top…much to the audience’s and my delight.

Oh, Henry Dashwood, how little we knew ye. Henry Dashwood dies within the first few minutes of the play. And his passing is the very pivot point that launches all of the stories and sub stories that co-directors Ashley Levells-Riemer and Patrice L Hood are about to tell in a fast moving series of vignettes, black outs, and quick set changes. Henry left behind a wife, three daughters, and an adult son from a previous marriage. And because of the vagaries of 18th Century law, only the son could inherit Henry’s estate. So his son John, promises to support his step-mother and half-sisters from his inheritance. So we are off!

John Dashwood is played by Mark Thompson who establishes John as an earnest and resolute man determined to respect his fathers wishes. Unfortunately he has married into wealth. Thompson’s John is obviously enamored of his wife, Fanny, but is clearly in fear of her as well. But Amy Wickland’s Fanny is clearly a shrew and a manipulator and has John wrapped around her finger. And after John proposes a fair financial support for the four women, Fanny coyly and coldly and openly, negotiates the terms down to just paying for their moving fees as they are evicted from their home. Fortunately they are able to move to a cottage on the estate of another relative and are also invited to ‘visit’ a number of other notables and relatives.

Mrs Jennings (Bre Brennan) sharing gossip with Elinor (Del Lovejoy, left) and Marianne
(Amelie Davis-Quiroz). Photo by Anne Kenny Creative

I am not going to go into too many details of the story. All of you Austen fans know this one by heart and for the rest of us, let’s not spoil the surprise. But you will certainly glean any number of details as I outline some of the characters in the play and the characters who play them.

Mack Bates certainly has a presence on stage as he plays Sir John Middleton with a certain sense of pomp and a certain sense of dignity, all supported by an awe inspiring sense of whimsy underneath. Such fun and Bates is obviously an audience favorite. And our youngest Miss Dashwood is played by Makayla Lloyd. Lloyd provides a saucy teenager who is curious, bored, overwrought, or just plain done with the goings on of the adults…just like you’d expect a teenager to behave. Angie Rodenkirch’s Mrs. Dashwood is a common sense go with the flow mother who just wants stability and the best for her daughters.

Sisters Elinor (Del Lovejoy) and Marianne (Amelie Davis-Quiroz) share a moment. Photo by Anne Kenny Creative

And the other two Miss Dashwood? Elinor is the eldest and she is played by Del Lovejoy. Lovejoy portrays a deep thinking rather stoic and quietly conservative young adult. Despite not having much more real world experience than many of the other young people, she seems to invite confidentialities and questions of advice. At times she is in deep pain but no one but Elinor knows it and Lovejoy maybe signals that a bit in her manner but never in her voice. And of course Marianne, the middle Dashwood. Attractive, outgoing, and interested in novels and theater, Amelie Davis-Quiroz plays her to a tee. Davis-Quiroz catches all of the excitement and all of the anguish involved in Marianne’s character as she is the magnet that draws in all of the eligible men.

Marianne (Amelie Davis-Quiroz) is charmed by Willoughby (Noah Merz) as her sisters
Elinor (Del Lovejoy) and Margaret (Makayla Lloyd) observe. Photo by Anne Kenny Creative

And the suitors? Colonel Brandon is an older man…probably a bit out of the ordinary for what most would consider an appropriate suitor for Marianne. Stefan Kent’s Brandon is a seasoned military man who is kind and never overbearing. He sees what needs to be done and takes care of it without asking. Kent’s portrayal brings a real person to life, unlike many of the other characters who are a bit ‘over the top’ (and I do mean that in a delightful way). And Willoughby: he finds Marianne with a sprained ankle and carries her home and soon carries her heart. Noah Merz gives us a very worldly Willoughby but also exhibits his rather foppish demeanor. That very practiced doffing and donning of his top hat eliciting any number of titters and snickers from the audience. And Edward Ferrars is our last gentleman, played by Tyler Glor. Ferrars is a nervous nelly and shivers when reading aloud and often stutters when speaking. Glor’s management of these social stigmas is wondrous and explicit and again elicits responses from the audience. He plays them to the hilt. His early scenes are reading with Marianne so I was slow catching on that there was a growing connection between Ferrars and Elinor.

Caitlyn Nettesheim and Laura Kloser as the Steele sisters. Photo by Anne Kenny Creative

One other pair of characters help push Sense and Sensibility from a drama to a comedy…and they are the Steele Sisters, Anne and Lucy. Laura Kloser is Anne and Caitlyn Nettesheim is Lucy. They play well together. The sisters are silly, loud, and often obnoxious…ne’er do wells?? Well at least on the surface but they are a noisy counterpoint to much of the more ‘serious’ characters we’ve encountered. But Kloser and Nettesheim catch their sly and devious sides too when they don’t have a larger audience.

And there is a happy ending.

Edward Ferrars (Tyler Glor) and Elinor Dashwood (Del Lovejoy). Photo by Anne Kenny Creative

My guesstimation is the play runs about two hours plus a fifteen minute intermission.

Sense and Sensibility runs from now through February 22nd, 2026 at the Margaret Brate Bryant Civic Theatre, 264 West Main Street in downtown Waukesha.

More information tickets can be found here.

Extra credit reading: The Playbill!

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A VERY DEADLY CONSTRUCTIVISTS HOLIDAY

From the Contructivists website describing A Very Deadly Constructivists Holiday: “…we’re back for the third year of this new kind of Holiday standard.” Well this certainly is a new kind of holiday play. In no way is it a holiday play that you would expect, even in your wildest fever dreams around the holidays. It is at times loud, silly, totally in your face, and often profane! No holiday sacred cow or reindeer for that matter goes ungored.

Deadly? Yes indeed. This concept was created by Jaimelyn Gray and Gray also directs. There are seven skit/sketches loosely bound to the seven deadly sins. And the cast shift roles and persona as they work their way through each one. And one beloved character actually dies during one memorable skit. The cast includes Autumn N. Green, Becky Cofta, Ekene Ikegwuani, Kellie Wambold, Libby LaDue, Logan Milway, Nate Press, Nicole McCarty, and William Molitor.

But there is plenty of music here and dance as well. Some of it very animated and engaging and some of it is just over the top silly. The plentiful humor is dark indeed and every shade of gray. The performers all bring out the best and worst of the situations. You will recognize many of the songs done here but maybe not the lyrics as the writers took great liberties with the meaning of a number of Christmas carols. St Nick narrates until… And yes there are adult themes…you can only guess…given that the opening skit is Lust and is situated in a bar…so give it your best shot.

At a brief 55 minutes with just a quick blackout between scenes for a set change, you barely have a chance to catch your breath…between chuckles or just as often groans. Unfortunately it only ran for four performances over three days so I was lucky to catch it.

So, if there is a fourth. remember: this is a short skit based play with adult language and adult situations and no subtlety whatsoever. It isn’t the holiday play that you’d expect but it might be the holiday play you deserve when the holiday stresses start to get on your last nerve.