Tag Archive for Comedy

Shepherd print review of QUORUM

Theatre Gigante’s ‘Quorum’ of Satire, Frustration


By Russ Bickerstaff
October 12, 2016

The characters in Theatre Gigante’s production of Mark Anderson’s Quorum form a cozy ensemble of local theater veterans. Anderson is first to arrive, playing a fragile, silent giant named Sammy. Next is Gigante co-founder Isabelle Kralj as Vivian, a comically contemptuous and domineering figure who quickly takes control as the rest of the ensemble arrives. Leslie Fitzwater is warmly ingratiating as Sylvia, someone very cautious of upsetting anyone else. Ron Scot Fry tenderly plays a dreamer named Martin.

Everyone in the room seems more or less in favor of coming together as a group except the charmingly surly Abner played by Michael Stebbins. Will resolution come in the form of a lab-coated Bo Johnson as a secretary with perfect penmanship? What of the mysterious arrival of Roberta, a relatively silent woman made all the more mysterious by the very expressive eyes and postures of Jocelyn Ridgely in the role?

Anderson’s comedy of petty unproductive action is particularly potent in an election year marked by incompetence on nearly every side of every political issue imaginable. The satirical sharpness is overwhelming as we watch in horror a group of people seemingly incapable of getting even the smallest thing accomplished. In a theater setting, it’s something we can all safely laugh at. In the context of the world around us, Quorum is delightfully upsetting. It’s the most fun you’ll have being frustrated in a theater this year.

1950s Poet Frank O’Hara featured at Gigante Studio

In the upcoming BEAUTIFUL AND POINTLESS (Dec 4-6), Theatre Gigante stages five plays by poet Frank O’Hara: Try! Try!, Grace and George, Change Your Bedding!, Lexington Avenue, and Very Rainy Night.

FRANK O’HARA (1926-1966) was a poet, playwright, art critic, and curator in 1950s and 60s New York. In his life and work, he was a creative and social force connecting writers and artists, being close friends with writers John Ashbery, Joe LeSeuer, Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) V. R. “Bunny” Lang, Kenneth Koch, and visual artists Grace Hartigan, Alfred Leslie, Alice Neel, Willem de Kooning, Larry Rivers, Jasper Johns, Joan Mitchell — and many many others.

O’Hara wrote his friends into his plays and poems, and his friends painted, drew, photographed and wrote about him. In Try! Try!, O’Hara’s fellow poets John Ashbery and Violet Lang played the leads; Grace and George were played by painters Grace Hartigan and George Montgomery.

This is Gigante’s third foray into the world of Frank O’Hara. In 2000, Ed Burgess took O’Hara’s Very Rainy Night and wrote a framework around it, adding another character, more dialogue, and including music and movement in his staging. Two years later, director Wes Savick directed three more O’Hara plays for the company, including Lexington Avenue and Change Your Bedding!  Gigante is excited to re-visit Ed and Wes’ work, and to add two new scripts, Grace & George, and Try! Try!

COME SEE THE SHOW!
Dec 4 @ 7:30
Dec 5 @ 7:30
Dec 6 @ 3:00

call 414.961.6119 to reserve a seat

Gigante Studio
706 S Fifth Street
Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point Neighborhood

For more information, click!

Theatre Gigante opens its 26th Season


Gigante’s Big Top at Kenilworth Studio 508 November 14-16 at 7:30pm

Theatre Gigante opens its 26th Season with two rollicking and wacky theater pieces created by graduates of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris: David Gaines, who Gigante audiences will remember for his fabulous one-man show 7 (x1) Samurai, which he performed for Gigante in 2009, and Gigante regular Malcolm Tulip, who has entertained Milwaukee audiences in quite a few Gigante shows.

THE SCOTTISH…PLAY
created by Malcolm Tulip

A LITTLE BUSINESS AT THE BIG TOP
created and performed by David Gaines
 
For tickets:   brownpapertickets.com or call 800.838.3006

Rollicking-ness!

It’s coming…Gigante’s rollicking season opener

 

A LITTLE BUSINESS at the BIG TOP
&
THE SCOTTISH…PLAY

 

November 14-16, 2013
at
UWM Kenilworth Studio 508

 

more exciting news!

Tickets can now be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets:
gigantebigtop.brownpapertickets.com
…or by calling 1.800.838.3006
…or at the door!

Get your tickets now!!!