Tag Archive for stebbins

Shepherd print review of QUORUM

October 12, 2016 / gigante / No comments

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.

Next up: Theatre Gigante presents QUORUM

September 12, 2016 / gigante / No comments

QUORUM, a play by Gigante Artistic co-Director Mark Anderson, opens October 7, at Plymouth Church, on Milwaukee’s East Side.

A social/political satire, first produced in Milwaukee in 1993 by Theatre X, takes a look at democracy in the hands of the people. A bunch of strangers meet in a room, and attempt to form themselves into a group, which turns out to be not so easy. Votes are split 50/50, not everybody fully appreciates the responsibilities of being a member of the group, the whole thing seems to be run by bullies and buffoons….

As we surveyed the current political landscape, Theatre Gigante decided to dust off our copy of QUORUM and see if it is still relevant. It is. Perhaps even moreso than it was 23 years ago.

Our new production features a cast of Gigante veterans: Leslie Fitzwater, Michael Stebbins, Bo Johnson, and Isabelle Kralj & Mark Anderson, plus some wonderful newcomers, Ron Scot Fry and Jocelyn Ridgely.

The second stop on this season’s “Gigante Tours Milwaukee” series, QUORUM will be performed at Plymouth Church, 2717 E. Hampshire Street (two blocks East of UWM’s Mitchell Hall). It’s a very appropriate setting for a play about strangers meeting in a rented room, attempting to form a group.

For tickets and show schedule, follow this link.

Gigante’s WOYZECK in Swiss press

February 24, 2016 / gigante / No comments

The Swiss newspaper Le Nouvelliste recently brought its attention to Parisian singer Christine Zufferey and Theatre Gigante’s upcoming production of WOYZECK, to be presented in Kenilworth 508 Theatre March 4-12, 2016.

Theatre Gigante’s acclaimed production of WOYZECK brings Christine back to the Gigante stage to perform the evocatively beautiful songs written by Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan which, interlaced throughout the story, underscore the poetic nature of this WOYZECK, written by George Büchner and adapted for Gigante by James Butchart.

Here, Christine’s powerful voice lends itself well to the hypnotically charged music of Waits & Brennan, and she will perform it with Gigante regular Frank Pahl, a brilliantly innovative musician from Ann Arbor, who, as Music Director of the production, will display his talents on various instruments, including those self-devised and made.

Gigante audiences will remember Christine performing on Gigante’s Studio Series in February 2015, and Frank, who performed with his scintillating Little Bang Theory on the same Series in July.

Gigante is thrilled to welcome both back as part of WOYZECK!

Follow this link to more information about Gigante’s WOYZECK.

1950s Poet Frank O’Hara featured at Gigante Studio

November 16, 2015 / gigante / No comments

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!

Gigante kicks off Studio Series with HOLIDAYS ON ICE by David Sedaris

December 3, 2014 / gigante / No comments

Tiny Tim and the Sugar Plum Fairy got you down?

Ready for something different?

Then HOLIDAYS ON ICE is the show for you!

MICHAEL STEBBINS, who recently appeared in Gigante’s “My Dear Othello,” will bring to life – with simply a chair, podium, boom box and a bottle of water – holiday stories by American humorist DAVID SEDARIS, on DECEMBER 5, 6 and 7, 2014, at Theatre Gigante’s Studio, 706 S. 5th Street, at The Pitch Project (next to Brenner Brewing Company).

“Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris” features Stebbins reading the stories “Season’s Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!,” “Dinah, the Christmas Whore” and “Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol” from the collection Holidays on Ice.

As part of the show, there will be also be opportunities for audience members to win holiday door prizes. Performance times are 8 p.m. on December 5 and 6, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, December 7. There is a suggested donation of $15 and tickets may be gotten by calling 414-961-6119, or at the door starting one hour prior to performance time. Parental discretion is advised.

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

December 5 and 6 at 8pm
December 7 at 2pm

Gigante Studio
706 S Fifth Street
in Historic Walker’s Point

photo by Mike Scrivener