Onstage Online Milwaukee September

​The presence of COVID is fiercely felt as a month that would normally feature a return to the Milwaukee theatre season is conspicuously missing its usual shows. This is not to say that there isn’t quite a bit that is still going on online. Here’s a look at some of what to expect in the coming weeks as Summer descends into Autumn.

Roasalind with Door Shakespeare
Door Shakespeare missed an entire summer season due to COVID. This month the company presents a virtual staging of a one-act play by the man who first introduced Peter Pan to the world. The play tells the tale of the mother of a famous stage actress who is accosted by a young man who has fallen in love with her daughter.

Rosalind runs online September 2-13. For more information, visit Door Shakespeare online. 

​...But I’m Just Not IN LOVE with It
The Village Playhouse has been running its annual One-Act Play Festival since the mid-1980s. A tradition that has been going for that long doesn’t simply pause because of a global pandemic. It shifts to a digital stage. And so it is that The Village Playhouse will be hosting a free donations-welcome online performance of playwright Michael Lucchesi’s “...but I’m just not IN LOVE with It”

The performance takes place on National Actor’s Day, Tuesday, Sep. 8 at 7:30 pm on Facebook Live. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page.

​Creditors with the Fleeing Artists
Kenosha-based Fleeing Artists Theatre had originally planned for the final online show of its summer season to happen in August. After the tragedies  of the past month in Kenosha, the group elected to postpone the performance into. September. This month, the group presents an online stage reading of August Strindberg’s tragicomedy The Creditors. Saige Spinney and Adron Duell play Tekla and Adolph--a couple who own a seaside resort. Bryant Mason plays  Adolph’s friend Gustav. The intricate interpersonal trinity should work well in an online video conferencing format.


The free performance runs September 11th -13th on Zoom. The show is free. Fleeing Artists will be collecting donations during the weekend for Kenosha’s rebuilding efforts. For more information, visit the show’s Facebook page.

A Prison Made of Light with Theatre Gigante
One of the most reliably good small stage theatre groups in town presents a Zoom-based staged reading of Thomas Haskell Simpson's A Prison Made of Light. "Broadcast to you directly from the outer realms of place," it's described as a playful poetic piece. Mysterious? Yes. Trust in Theatre Gigante. They know what they're doing. 

The reading takes place on Zoom on September 16th at 7pm. To reserve a space in the Zoom, email Theatre Gigante: gigante@theatregigante.org.

​Moving Stories with UWM Dance
The UWM Dance Department continues to navigate its way through the pandemic with an online performance of narrative dance with work by faculty and guest performers including Maria Gillespie, Daniel Burkholder and Caitlin Mahon. There will also be a film adaptation collaboration with filmmaker Christal Wagner and an original composition by Kiran Vedula.


Tickets for the livestream even are $18. The money from the ticket sales goes directly to supporting student scholarship funds. The show takes place at 7:30 pm Sep. 17 - 19. For more information visit UWM’s Peck School online.

Cafe Mocha Murders
Local playwright Deanna Straasse hosted an engaging drama online last month with a Zoom-based reading of an intimate, little complicated romance. This month she and a number of talented actors bring a fictitious, little coffee shop called The Bean Shack to life in a murder mystery comedy featuring Haley San Filippo, Kara Penrose, Christopher Goode, Melody Lopac and more. Last month’s offering from Strasse and company worked quite well in a videoconferencing format. This month they’re tackling a much larger ensemble comedy that is going to require a hell of a lot of attention to timing and delivery. It’s an ambitious step-up in complexity from last month.


The Cafe Mocha Murders run Sep. 25 and 26. Both performances start at 7:30 pm on Zoom. For more information, visit the show’s Facebook events page.    ​

​The Quest for Solomon’s Treasure
First Stage goes for something quite ambitious this September as well as it presents the first in its Milwaukee--based mystery series The Quest For Solomon’s Treasure. (Solomon Juneau I presume.) Written by John Maclay, the series follows a group of six kids as they follow clues on a treasure hunt.


The seven-episode streaming series runs September 20 - November 1. The entire series will remain up through May. For more information, visit First Stage online.