All-In Productions presents a “Nerd Cabaret” with Press Play. The one night-only show features a variety of musical acts drawn from across geek culture. There’s a pretty intellectually diverse group of different people involved with the show, so this could end up being a really interesting mix of different fringe bits of comedy. The list of talent is a bit of a who’s who of Generation X/Millennial talent including Becky Cofta, Carrie Gray, Samantha Sostarich, Sammy Dittloff, Selene Milewski and more. Press Play will be staged this Friday, August 1st at ComedSportz on 420 S. 1st St. For more information, visit All-In online.

Bombshell Theatre presents an all-teen production of Six: The Musical. The weird musical/historical mashup has six girls playing the six wives of Henry VIII. Each of the wives competes to determine who had it worst as an ill-fated bride of the charismatic and tyrannical British monarch. The musical competition format of the musical should serve as a sharply clever format for young performers just beginning to gain a mastery of the stage. The show runs Aug. 5 -7 at the Next Act Theatre space on 255 S. Water St. For more information, visit Bombshell online. ​

So...there’s this local group called Trout Theatre Company. It’s such an oddly cool name for a company. I felt really bad about not knowing about them until I found out that they only just announced their existence this past April 4th. They’re opening their first ever show this month as they present a production of Molière’s Tartuffe at Inspiration Studios in West Allis. The satirical 17th centruy comedy of a religious hypocrite with a pious facade sounds like an interesting choice for the opening show of a new company. The show runs August 7 - 15 on 1500 S 73rd St. in West Allis.  For more information, visit the show’s Facebook events page.
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Playwright Arthur Miller’s acclaimed criticism of the American Dream makes its way to the Next Act Theatre space this month in a production that’s being directed by Christopher Goode. Though it’s being produced by Schmitz n Giggles, it’s not some weird comedic mutation of Miller. It’s a drama featuring some staggeringly good talent that just happens to be better-known for comedy. A drama with Beth Lewinski and Patrick Schmitz and Tim Higgins? Sounds like it could be really powerful stuff given the talent involved. The show runs Aug. 14th - 17th on 255 S. Water St. For more information, visit Next Act online. 
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production The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. C.S. Lewis’ popular fantasy is staged in the dreamy outdoor location at Lapham Peak State Park in Delafield. Dustin Martin directs a production that includes Stefan Kent as Aslan, Ryan Stepanski as Edmund and William Molitor as Father Christmas. But y’know...Tess Cinpinski as the White Witch? That’s going to be really, really cool. The show runs August 21st - September 6th. For ticket reservations and more, visit SummerStage online. 
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​Kith & Kin Theatre Collective stages a fun, little Shakespearian incursion on the stage as it presents a spice-enhanced production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. From the cozy space of Inspiration Studios, a small and hearty cast performs Shakespeare’s classic comedy with wit and grace while periodically being prompted to ingest hot sauces of various curious intensities. 


There is a table with various hot sauces on them tiny serving trays at the foot of the stage. All the actors play in casual costume with signs around their neck as to what character they’re playing at which moment the way is read from the script while acted out. There’s a delightfully irreverent sort of an energy about this stage, which maintains throughout.


The fairy kingdom is kind of fun with its frequent trips back and forth to the table of spice. Eric Madson has a cleverly subtle wit about him that serves the role of Oberon quite well. His sophisticated presence about the stage serves as an interesting counterpoint to Kilian Collins’ cloyingly manic amplifications in the role of Puck. Kaila Bingen has a casually classy comportment that serves the twin queens of Titania and Hippolyta quite well. 


The Athenian love mix-up has a very developed comic dynamic. Jonathan Riker has an earnestness about him as the lover Lysander. He’s given the opportunity to twist this a bit as Lysander becomes affected by fairy magic and falls for Helena. Brittany Haut has a pleasantly towering presence in the role. She and the two other Athenian lovers wield a particularly sharp comic dynamic at the heart of the comedy. Haut shows particular strength as the comedic vertex around which all of the rest of the comedy seems to orbit. Abigail Ford slyly gives Demetrius a pompous confidence that articulates well with the rest of the Athenian lovers.  Ariana Manghera is crushingly vulnerable as the young Athenian lover Hermia. Manghera deftly wields this vulnerability in a way that is also breathtakingly expressive. There is an intricate empathy in her portrayal of the character that feels kind of overwhelmingly attractive at times. The fact that she clearly has a lower threshold for spiciness than much of the rest of the cast adds to her endearing emotionality in the role. 


The mechanicals are great fun as well. Kellie Wambold makes quite an impression simply as Peter Quince, who is putting together the comic drama which ends the play. Wambold’s charisma carries out the comedy at the heart of the mechanicals. Rick Bingen registers some charm in the role of Bottom. Hailey Kanderski and Christopher Johnson give quite a bit of comic definition around the edges of the ensemble as fairies and mechanicals as well. 


The spiciness could have come across as a bit of a cheesy gimmick were it not for the fact that director Kimberly Laberge has done such a good job of fostering a warm and playful atmosphere for the cast to interact with. Everyone in the ensemble sits in chairs behind the action as the story makes its journey across the stage. This is absolutely essential as the frequent pauses for spice-dipped cheese bites might otherwise feel like a tedious interruption in the momentum of the comedy. The sympathetic energy flowing through the ensemble maintains momentum straight through the performance in a deeply enjoyable Shakespearian experience. 


Kith & Kin Theatre Collective’s Bard Bites production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs through Sunday, July 27th at Inspiration Studios on 1500 S 73rd St. in West Allis. For more information about this and future shows, visit Kith and Kin online.

​Optimist Theatre hits local parks this summer with a remarkably streamlined outdoor production of The Taming of the Shrew. Director/Dramaturg Kelley Faulkner treats one of Shakespeare’s most popular romantic comedies like a light cover jam sung into the heart of summer amidst a falling sun and a casual breeze through the trees. The traditional setting of the comedy is shrugged-off in favor of a 1980s Jersey boardwalk setting. A cast of three rolls through a dizzyingly abbreviated 1-hour staging of the classic comedy that favors a sense of chaotic fun over the light gravity that might have given the production enough inertia to hold it all together coherently. What the production lacks as a unified piece of Shakespearian comedy it more than in sheer fun--particularly for anyone who might find its pop ’80s Jersey shore atmosphere appealing. In many ways the comedy itself is kind of dated, so the lack of central focus might actually work in its favor. 


An acting ensemble of three valiantly attempts to bring a full cast of a Shakespearian comedy. It’s pretty remarkable that they’re able to keep all of the characters in the story distinct enough to carry off the plot to begin with. To be able to do so with a mix of different Jersey stereotypes while staying true to the heart of the comedy? That’s priceless. Though...not necessarily satisfying for audiences looking to see something that feels like a fully-realized production. Libby Amato is particularly fun as a Jersey Kate who is comically mistreated by a comically confident George Lorimer as Petruccio. Kailey Azure Green plays a whole variety of other roles...as does everybody in a three-person cast rolling through an hour of Shakespearean comedy. The best comic realizations of Shakespeare comes from a cast that feels like it could completely move off book and do something totally improvised that would still fit perfectly within the confines of the script. Amato, Lorimer and Green definitely have the right kind of chemistry to bring that wild, anarchic energy across. 


It’s a fun, free late afternoon in a park with a bunch of light comedy written by Shakespeare and recited by the Jersey Shore. Big hair, bright colors and plenty of ’80s pop interstitials. On some level it almost feels like it’s trying too hard to be ’80s. That’s really part of the fun, though. It cuts away at the problematic nature of a comedy that feels a lot like it’s condoning misogyny and spousal abuse. Best not to think too much about what lies at the center of a comedy from several hundred years ago and just sink into the surface-level fun of people laughing at what they SHOULD laugh at: ridiculously amplified New Jersey accents reciting clever bits of iambic pentameter amidst weird wigs and neon in the park in a breezy late afternoon.  


Optimist Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park production of The Taming of the Shrew runs through August 17th at various parks across the county. For dates, times and more information, visit Optimist Theatre online.