James Ridge News

Milwaukee Repertory Theater  concludes the 2017/18 Season with the great American classic, Our Town, a powerful and moving drama, in the Quadracci Powerhouse, running April 10 through May 13.  Directed by Associate Artistic Director Brent Hazelton, this large ensemble brings together some of Wisconsin's greatest theatre talent on one stage to create an Our Town for our town. 

Milwaukee Repertory Theater is pleased to announce the complete cast of Our Town, the closing play of the 2017/18 Season in the Quadracci Powerhouse running April 10 - May 13. This large ensemble brings together some of Wisconsin's greatest theatre talent on one stage to create anOur Town for our town.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater  concludes the 2017/18 Season with the great American classic, Our Town, a powerful and moving drama, in the Quadracci Powerhouse, running April 10 through May 13.  Directed by Associate Artistic Director Brent Hazelton, this large ensemble brings together some of Wisconsin's greatest theatre talent on one stage to create an Our Town for our town. 

Milwaukee Repertory Theater is pleased to announce the complete cast of Our Town, the closing play of the 2017/18 Season in the Quadracci Powerhouse running April 10 - May 13. This large ensemble brings together some of Wisconsin's greatest theatre talent on one stage to create anOur Town for our town.

CTM's Children's Theatre of Madison delights with the regional premiere of TUCK EVERLASTING, the time-honored children's novel by Natalie Babbitt. Having attended the world premier of TUCK EVERLASTING at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, before the show moved to Broadway in 2016, CTM had a lot to live up to­­--they did not disappoint.

Watch director James DeVita discuss CYRANO DE BERGERAC at American Players Theatre!

American Players Theatre re-imagines PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE, one of Shakespeare's lesser performed works, in an innovative new way-and critics are weighing in!

CYRANO DE BERGERAC at American Players Theatre's newly renovated Hill Theatre is a timeless romance filled with wit and heart-stopping action.

American Players Theatre (APT) announces its 38th Summer Festival Season, June 10 - October 22, 2017, a diverse lineup of eight classical and contemporary plays in repertory that includes the return and work of visiting Chicago director and Jeff Award-winner William Brown taking on Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters in APT's newly renovated flagship 1140-seat outdoor amphitheater on the Hill. 

American Players Theater's William Brown Brings King Lear into the contemporary world, but does that make this Shakespearean Tragedy Relevant? In a word, Yes! The good King has his retirement all mapped out when lo and behold, his family all of people just refuse to cooperate.

When the audience arrives at American Players (APT) Up the Hill Theatre for the opening of William Shakespeare's King Lear, they might believe a presidential press conference will be staged. Green lawn expands into the audience, actors place contemporary white chairs in a distinct pattern and a glass podium greets the audience--and plenty of paparazzi appear to capture the King, the Duke of Gloucester and Duchess of Kent, and Lear's three daughters entering the lawn party. At night under the stars, the royal staging opens when the King appears announcing his 'retirement,' dividing his kingdom to his three progeny. Two dutiful daughters ascend to the podium pronouncing their love, while Cordelia speaks from the back row of chairs, the front of the Up The Hill Theatre. Goneril, Regan and Cordelia were 'dressed to kill', so to speak in sophisticated, fashion worthy coats and the appropriate fascinators, for English royalty, as were the men.This beginning places the audience firmly in a King Lear crafted for the current day, up to the very minute audiences.

Name one person worth passing through the gates of Hades for while singing a song so sorrowful the stones would weep--A parent? A child? A partner? Perhaps even a true friend? American Players Theatre stages Eurydice, steampunk style in the Touchstone Theatre, recreating Sarah Ruhl's ethereal, surreal play examining love and the lengths someone would travel to serve that love. Based on the Greek myth of lovers Eurydice and musical rock star Orpheus, the child of Calliope and perhaps the God Apollo, Ruhl transforms the myth with a tale in tribute to her own father. Directed by Londoner Tyne Rafaeli, this production acquires a spiritual ambiance drawing the audience into Ruhl's and Rafaeli's underworld where Orpheus searches for Eurydice and literal sobs, tears flowing freely, were heard in the audience on opening day.

Quite refreshing and revitalizing as a summer breeze, American Players Theater (APT) opened their 2016 Up the Hill season in Spring Green with a wild version of William Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. Directed by the well-known David Frank, this condensed Comedy revisits a slight nod to Lewis Carroll's 'The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland.' The production plays broadly by quoting  Shakespeare's verse with a tongue in cheek delivery also heightened by Victorian costumes designed by Fabio Tablini.  The imaginative designer envisioned two Dromios which might resemble Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, clothed in wide striped pants, vivid colored jackets and huge straw hats. The story set amid an Ephesus where square marble columns and a great gate placed on the left Up The Hill stage fashioned by Scenic Designer Nayna Ramey, gives Ephesus a rather dream like quality. 

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) announces its 42nd season, exploring the theme of "Misfits." The 2016-2017 Season will feature five exciting productions performed at the Broadway Theatre Center in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.

American Players Theatre (APT) announces its 37th Summer Festival Season, June 3 - October 16, 2016, a diverse lineup of eight classical and contemporary plays in repertory that includes the return and work of two visiting Chicago directors: Derrick Sanders, founding Artistic Director of Congo Square Theatre Company directing The African Company Presents Richard III by Carlyle Brown in APT's intimate 200-seat Touchstone Theatre; and Jeff Award winner William Brown taking on William Shakespeare's King Lear in APT's flagship 1140-seat outdoor amphitheater on the Hill.

For the holiday season, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presents three classic one-acts by three celebrated writers, LOVE STORIES, now through December 20, 2015. The production features VILLAGE WOOING by George Bernard Shaw, THE JEWISH WIFE by Bertolt Brecht and HERE WE ARE by Dorothy Parker. Real-life married couple James Pickering and Tami Workentin star in LOVE STORIES under the direction of Paula Suozzi. LOVE STORIES performs in the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast onstage!

American Players Theatre (APT) is excited to announce its 37th season, which will run June 4 to October 16, 2016. In APT's flagship outdoor amphitheater, William Shakespeare will bookend the Hill season with The Comedy of Errors and King Lear. Also playing on the Hill: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde and Arcadia by Tom Stoppard.

Othello—The name speaks to one of William Shakespeare's most acclaimed tragedies first produced in 1603, and has seen thousands of reincarnations, perhaps hundreds of thousands in the past four centuries. How does American Players Theatre (APT) at their Up the Hill venue renew the drama's intense spirit? On an August summer evening, APT stages under John Langs direction, Andrew Boyce's scenic design and Matthew J. Le Febvre's striking costume design a very intimate and evocaive “Tragedy of the Moor of Venice.” 

First published more than 200 years ago, Jane Austen's famous novel Pride and Prejudice comes to American Players Theatre (APT) and revisits significant gender issues audiences might assume have been resolved. Former Milwaukee Reperatory Theater Artistic Director Joseph Hanreddy and acclaimed J.R. Sullivan adapted one of the world's most popular novels into a compelling, senstive stage play that breathes life into Austen's romantic couples who search for their futures on Spring Green's Up the Hill stage this summer.

'The flower of the garter blooms for every Windsor heart.' So sings the American Player Theatre cast when Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor arrives to open the Up The Hill Theatre season. These beloved characters celebrate 'The Most Noble Order of the Garter' ceremony, which APT stages similar to an early 20th century American Independence day celebration only with English patriotism---summer entertainment costumed by Holly Payne complemented by Nathan Stuber's scenic design.