dedicated to my brother Bill. The Boss was his favorite musical artist…rest in peace, dude.
Tim Backes’: Cae//sura. A World Premiere At Kith And Kin Collective
It is Sunday afternoon. I am sitting in the fellowship hall of a church. The choir is singing Agnus Dei. Emma is about to have a cathartic experience. Why am I here?
There is a choir. They anchor the set and form the back scenic element through all of the play. And they play an integral role in the story as they sing Agnus Dei behind Emma, our lead character. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this is a musical. This is a very serious drama. Something of a coming of age play but unlike almost any other that you will have seen. But we are going to delve into family interactions, personal relationships, long term friendships, and the inner struggles that we all experience at pressure points in our lives.
Emma is back home at some small town somewhere in small town America. She is here for a civic dedication of something important for her late father. This is only the second time that she has been home since she left for college, out of town, somewhere more interesting, somewhere not home. The last time she was home was a few years earlier for his funeral. Her father was a well respected and well loved music educator, best known for his high school master singers choir, the church choir, and other civic choirs. He hoped that Emma would follow in his footsteps and exceed his success. From an early age he taught her to sing and play the piano…adult complex things…that she apparently was good at…but she bristled at not being allowed a typical childhood…keeping that to herself without sharing it with her family…and so she left.
So Emma is home and staying at her parents house with her mother and her brother and sharing her childhood room with her significant other. And a lot of that hidden turmoil, angst, and resentment starts to boil up inside her with nowhere to go…until she starts having dreams of a choir signing Agnus Dei conducted by a prominent male conductor. And she is helping her mother sort out her dad’s things. Sheet music for the school or church, photos for the dedication and trash that he saved. He was one of those who couldn’t throw things out and built little piles, but he knew where everything was. So you can feel where our story is going to go.
Alyssa Booten understands Emma better than I think Emma does. She cleanly expresses the angst that Emma is feeling and with a clear eyed stare out into space narrates the situation and her feelings to the audience. So we know more than even her mother. And she slowly starts to confront the recurring choir. Will is her significant other, played with great compassion and love for Emma by Ekene Ikegwuani. And he has amazing empathy for the rest of her family as well. He is quick on his feet and defuses a number of tense moments. Sam is Emma’s best friend here. Played by Gray Berendt, Sam is a constant calm and support, and a source of gossip and local history that at times intrigues Emma and at time annoys her. Her brother Aaron is played by Malcolm McCanles, described as a ne’er do well by Emma, he still lives at home with his mother. Backes provides plenty of proof of his lowly status and McCanles plays it with an intensity. But he too has feelings and is hurting, but unlike Emma doesn’t feel the need to keep it bottled up inside and just lets it out at often the wrong time and with little nuance. Jan is Emma and Aaron’s mother. Played by Maggie Marks, we are offered a solid middle American mother, seemingly more 20th Century in type than I would have expected. She is handling her husband’s loss with a certain stoicism and is proud of the honors that he is receiving. And that leaves The Conductor. He is emphatic in conducting our choir, always with his back to us, until he finally answers one of Emma’s challenges. Michael Chobanoff has the proper pomp and circumstance here as The Conductor!
This is a World Premiere written and directed by Tim Backes. And he hits it out of the park as both author and director. The drama is intense and telling and revealing of human nature and human relationships at their core…and given the complex nature of the text, he carefully controls the movement and timing on the stage.
Kith and Kin Collective is presenting Cae//sura through October 19th, 2020 at Resurrection Lutheran Church at 12400 W. Cold Spring in New Berlin.
Additional information and tickets can be found here. This show has adult language.
Extra Credit Reading: It is worth reading the synopsis before you go
R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps: Phantom Of The Auditorium @ First Stage!
When my son was a youngster, R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series was golden in our home. Whether a parent reading them to him or reading them himself as he got older, they never were out of circulation. I don’t know how many books we acquired…but more than a few. It’s been a few years so I don’t remember any of the stories, but that experience certainly piqued my interest in First Stage’s: R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps: Phantom of the Auditorium.
Director Jeff Frank and adapters John Maclay (book and lyrics) and Danny Abosch (music and lyrics) have given us a spooktacular musical. Yeah, that’s trite but it’s fun to say and this presentation finally put me in the Halloween spirit. But let’s talk about the scary element for a moment. Yes, Phantom of the Auditorium is eerie and spooky. Delightfully so. But on the scary rating chart I would put it down as a healthy Halloween BOO! and nothing more. First Stage recommends this for young people 8 to 18 but when I attended on Saturday there were many youngsters who were younger than 8. And they seemed to have a great time!! Now, there are a number of black outs that allow the actors to accomplish some sleight of hand scene changes and some flashing lights just before the spooky bits…but what fun!
Just a little background for those not familiar with First Stage. First Stage presents dynamic theater for children, most often at the Marcus Performing Arts Center. These main stage productions are amazing large cast musicals with boisterous music, colorful costumes, brilliant sets, and dramatic lighting. The casts involve a lot of young people and a number of adults. Most often the adults rather anchor the plays and guide the action for the younger stars. Phantom is all of that except there are only two adult actors…and the young actors carry this show. Literally. The two adult roles are Ms. Walker, the school teacher, and Emile, the night janitor. Older young actors could have played these roles and the play would have been just as amazing!
And now the fun begins! Brooke and Zeke are best friends in middle school and bond over horror movies. So when Ms. Walker announces that she is holding auditions for a very very scary play, well they are all in! The play is The Phantom and Brooke wins the role of Esmeralda and Zeke is the phantom. And then it turns out that Ms. Walker’s grandmother tried to present this play years and years ago but it was canceled under mysterious circumstances. The play was banned and all the scripts destroyed…except the one Ms. Walker inherited from her grandmother…which is the script that she is using here.
Brooke is an intriguing middle schooler, confident, curious, sure of herself, and maybe a little of a tomboy yet. She is determined to make the most of her chance to play Esmeralda and is taking it very seriously. Zeke on the other hand is more playful, a bit lazy, hasn’t read the script, and is something of a prankster. This gets him into a bit of trouble and introduces a number of the spooky transitions. Tina thinks she should be the lead. She is the understudy. She is an overly aggressive over achiever who just oozes contempt in her loss. Assigned to build the set and select the props she bosses it over the others. And then there is the new kid Brian who would like to be in the play but joins his new school too late. Ms. Walker assigns him to assist Tina. And oh oh, the internal love story found in every great drama or musical develops as Brian and Brooke find it difficult to speak in each others presence and for the first time Zeke experiences a bit of jealousy.
And of course: as the rehearsals begin, there start to be strange occurrences. Flashing lights, strange apparitions, spooky movements in the background, light failures, and an underground labyrinth. Like her predecessor, Ms. Walker wants to cancel the play but her intrepid cast demand that they continue. So Brooke, Zeke, and Brian take it upon themselves to discover the source of all of the mysterious events. And I leave the story there!
For those of you who have followed my reviews of First Stage presentations, hopefully you remember that they use two casts of young actors for each play. In this case the Thrills cast and the Chills cast. I got to see the Chills cast. Jenna Krysiak is a very compelling and sincere Brooke and is often the most visible actor on stage even when the spotlight is elsewhere. Maryn Davis is just a boundless source of energy and the perfect mischievous teen as Zeke. Harper Fornstedt is over the top intriguing as Tina and Ryan Stepanksi is a solid , calm, and maybe a bit older than he seems character as Brian. The adult actors are included in both casts: Karen Estrada as the quintessential school teacher Ms. Walker and Zach Thomas Woods as the officious and distant night janitor, Emile.
I had a few moments of conversation with director Jeff Frank before the show. I mentioned that in order to review the work at First Stage, I always flew solo, but wished I had a child or grandchild to bring along. But even as an adult I enjoyed each and every show, even the ones that tended more toward a silly side. He said he had friends who didn’t come because they didn’t have child to bring along or a child in the cast. He suggested that they just come down anyway. I agree! If you are curious about First Stage, just come down. And this might the perfect musical to get started with. It is complex in music, story, and choreography. The actors and sets are amazing and as always the presentation is as professional as you’re going to see in Milwaukee! And it will get you in the mood for Halloween…a perfect place to start the holiday seasons.
If you plan to go and want to see a particular actor make sure you pick the day that their cast is featured! Thrills or Chills! Tickets can be purchased here. Phantom of the Auditorium is playing at the Todd Wehr Theater at the Marcus Performing Arts Center though November 2, 2025.
Extra Credit Reading: The Playbill. The Enrichment Guide. And the Social Narrative Pamphlet