Windfall Theatre

FEARLESS 2011 - 2012 SEASON -- WITTENBERG

2012-01-31T14:48:00.000-08:00

Top Left to Right: David Flores as Dr. Faustus, Kyle Queenan as Hamlet and Robert W.C. Kennedy as Martin Luther
Middle: David Flores as Dr. Faustus and Lindsey Gagliano as The Eternal Feminine
Bottom: Late night studying at Wittenberg U.

Omnium Gatherum Ticket Special

2011-10-05T08:14:00.000-07:00

OMNIUM GATHERUM

FRIENDS OF WINDFALL TREMENDOES TICKET SPECIAL CONTINUES!

Thursday, October 6; Friday, October 7 and Saturday, October 8. All shows at 8pm.
TICKETS $15.00! ($5 off the ticket price!)
(Tickets subject to availability, preference given to reservations)

Mention this offer when making reservations by calling the box office at 414-332-3963
OR --- Guarantee your $15.00 seats today by purchasing tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/199310 enter event discount code: FFOG15

Check out the critical accolades for Windfall’s production of Omnium Gatherum:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Shepherd Express Online
Third Coast Digest
On Milwaukee

FEARLESS 2011-2012 SEASON 19 -- OMNIUM GATHERUM

2011-09-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

The cast of OMNIUM GATHERUM. Top photo from left: Ben George, Amy Hansmann, Mohammad ElBsat, Toni Martin and Kevin Hogan.

Bottom photo from left: Ben George, Mohammad Elbsat, Amy Hansmann, Kevin Hogan, Shayne Steilga and Toni Martin

FEARLESS 2011-2012 SEASON 19 --- OMNIUM GATHERUM

2011-09-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

AUDITIONS FOR 2011-2012 SEASON OPENER:

2011-06-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

Windfall Theatre is casting its 2011-2012 season opener:

The Milwaukee premiere of the Pulitzer Prize nominated
Omnium Gatherum by Theresa Rebeck.
Directed by Maureen Kilmurry.

Saturday, June 25th 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
at Village Church Arts 130 E. Juneau Avenue
Please prepare:
2 contrasting contemporary monologues not exceeding 4 minutes.
Call 414.332.3963 to schedule an audition.
Omnium Gatherum runs September 23 – October 8, 2011
(Performance Dates: 9/23, 9/24, 9/30, 10/1, 10/3, 10/6, 10/7, 10/8)
Rehearsals begin in mid-August.

Omnium Gatherum is an impassioned often hilarious and timely ensemble piece in which a gourmet hostess who believes that lively debate is the perfect accompaniment to any dinner party, invites a diverse assortment of opinionated guests to a surreal feast of food and argument with topics including the global implications of September 11th and the US role in the world and beyond.

Diverse cast: African American actresses and Arab American actors are encouraged to audition.
Please prepare 2 contrasting contemporary monologues.
Contact Windfall Theatre at 414.332.3963 to make an audition appointment.

2011-04-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

WINDFALL THEATRE PRESENTS MILWAUKEE PREMIERE OF
RICKY IAN GORDON’S GREEN SNEAKERS

Windfall Theatre concludes its all premiere 18th season of Fearless theatrical adventures with the Milwaukee premiere of GREEN SNEAKERS an opera for baritone, empty chair, string quartet and piano by Ricky Ian Gordon in a limited engagement 4 show run staged in the company’s intimate performance space located at Village Church Arts, 130 East Juneau Avenue, in the heart of Milwaukee’s downtown theater district.

GREEN SNEAKERS continues Windfall’s mission of bringing little known theatrical gems to Milwaukee audiences. It was commissioned by the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival and received its world premiere on July 15, 2008. The much anticipated recording of GREEN SNEAKERS premiered on World AIDS Day 2009. The score was published in February, 2011.

About the opera: Ricky Ian Gordon’s GREEN SNEAKERS an opera for baritone, empty chair, string quartet and piano is an intimate and deeply personal song cycle recounting Gordon’s coming to grips with his partner dying of AIDS as his operatic adaptation of the TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD was coming to life in 1996. Gordon’s poetic lyrics and hauntingly beautiful music play tribute to his partner and speak with poignant truth to anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one.

Gordon describes the genesis of GREEN SNEAKERS:

“On August 1, 1996, my late partner, Jeffrey Grossi, passed away. There was a day when I was staring into our closet…and his sad little green sneakers suggested to me a text, about the day we bought them together…what ended up becoming a cycle of poems, tell the story of that day, and the period after, leading up to his death. They end with my…pilgrimage to a place where I had hoped I might find others, who had gone through what I had just gone through, and could empathize."

Critical praise for GREEN SNEAKERS:

“A triumph, superb mini-opera and masterpiece.” ~ Opera Today

“Gordon’s musical setting is heartfelt …it just perseveres onward, not unlike the work of a caretaker or survivor…There’s no politics nor hardly any anger in this work… It’s part diary, part memory book and requires immersion and preparation for its emotional wallop.” ~ DenverPost

“Gordon's musical style is tonal and non-dissonant, classical tinted with Broadway and pop. This eclectic combination gives the work immediacy and makes each individual listener a participant” ~Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

About the composer: Ricky Ian Gordon is an artist of diverse talent writing vocal music that spans art song, opera, and musical theater. His songs have been performed and recorded by internationally renowned singers Renee Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Audra MacDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Frederica Von Stade, Andrea Marcovicci, Harolyn Blackwell, and Betty Buckley, and many others. His recent works include: SYCAMORE TREES and THE GRAPES OF WRATH. He is currently working on commissions for New York's Metropolitan Opera with Playwright, Lynn Nottage, and is also writing a new musical for Playwrights Horizons with Richard Nelson.

He has taught Master Classes and Composition Classes in Colleges and Universities throughout the country including Yale, NYU, Northwestern, Juilliard, Carnegie-Mellon, Michigan State, and San Francisco Conservatory. He has been the featured Composer-in Residence at various festivals including The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Ravinia. His honors include many awards from ASCAP, The National Endowment for the Arts, the Shen Family Foundation award and the Stephen Sondheim Award.

About the ensemble: Windfall ensemble member Larry Birkett (baritone) is joined by gifted Milwaukee based musicians Nancy Maio (violin), Jessicca Williams (violin), Maria Gesiorak (viola) and Beth Bender (cello). Adam Baus is musical director and Shawn Gulyas directs.

GREEN SNEAKERS is an intimate cathartic song cycle that must be experienced by all those have known love and lost it for whatever the reason.

PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS TODAY AT:

www.brownpapertickets.com

2011-02-09T10:59:00.000-08:00

Nurture's Wonders cast Ben George, Thomas Dillon, Robert WC Kennedy, Michael Gau and Amy Hansmann

Windfall Theatre continues its all premiere 18th season of Fearless theatrical adventures with the world premiere of NURTURE’S WONDERS a disturbingly depressing comedy by Thomas Rosenthal staged in the company’s intimate performance space located at Village Church Arts, 130 East Juneau Avenue, in the heart of Milwaukee’s downtown theater district.

     About the play: Rosenthal’s NURTURE’S WONDERS a disturbingly depressing comedy for our times revolves around Marti & George Parker a typical American couple raising their children in South Fondy, USA until a mysterious young man named Marshall with ambitions of being a rap music star arrives in town on the same day that the school principal Hipple shows up at the Parker’s home with a gun found in their oldest son’s locker. Now Marti & George are determined to make sure their youngest son, Isaac, avoids the same fate so they try to find him a hero…even if all he really needs is a parent.
     NURTURE’S WONDERS contains adult language and content and its message is best suited to those 17 and over. It is a powerful and achingly current play. The show’s edgy comedy with unexpected pop culture twists and turns speaks to our troubling times. With headlines about gun violence and bullying in our schools riddling the news on nearly a daily basis and in the wake of the AZ shootings Rosenthal’s play will touch those who understand that the proliferation of guns is a detriment to our society and taking a tragic toll on our children’s safety, security, innocence and future.
    About the playwright: Windfall Theatre ensemble member Thomas Rosenthal has a Master’s degree in playwriting from Indiana State University. He came to Milwaukee as an acting intern at the Milwaukee Rep where he received playwriting consultation from award winning playwright Steven Dietz. Windfall has produced three other critically acclaimed world premieres of Rosenthal’s scripts the comedies TAN LINES and NAUGHTY ANGEL and the love story mystery/drama WHEN I GIVE MY HEART.
    About the ensemble: Windfall has assembled a talented ensemble of Milwaukee theatre artists to weave this irreverent comedy’s prescient and too timely tale: Amy Hansmann (Marti Parker), Robert W.C. Kennedy (George Parker), Michael Gau (Marshall), Ben George (Hipple), Thomas Dillon (Sarge) and Carol Zippel (Yvonne). Maureen Kilmurry artist in residence and guest lecturer at Marquette University directs.

2010-09-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

2010-09-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday in the Park with George - In Concert

2010-04-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine
May 7-22, 2010

Performance Dates:

5/7 (Fri), 5/8 (Sat), 5/14 (Fri), 5/15 (Sat),
5/17 (Mon–Pay What You Can)

5/20 (Thur), 5/21 (Fri), 5/22 (Sat)

All performances are at 8:00 p.m.

TICKETS: $20
Village Church Arts -130 East Juneau
Reservations: (414) 332-3963

Featuring:
Larry Birkett, Nadine Borngraeber, Parker Cristan,
Ben George, Vanessa Libbey, Bryce Lord, Michael Marino,
Tamara Martinsek, Karl Miller, Beth Mulkerron,
Kristen Pagenkopf, Emily Pogorelc, Heather Reynolds,
James Sampson, Marilyn White
Direction: Carol Zippel
Musical Direction: David Bonofiglio
Stage Management: Megan Peterson

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this modernist musical theater masterpiece fictionalizes the life of French pointillist painter George Seurat and the creation of his masterpiece "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." The production is a breathtaking meditation on art, emotional connection and community.

THREE SISTERS

2010-02-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

by Anton Chekhov
in a new translation by Mitchell Fay
February 12-27, 2010

Performance Dates:
2/12 (Fri) | 2/13 (Sat) | 2/19 (Fri) | 2/20 (Sat)
2/22 (Mon–Pay What You Can) | 2/25 (Thur)
2/26 (Fri) | 2/27 (Sat)
TICKETS: $20

Village Church Arts
130 East Juneau | Milwaukee
Reservations: (414) 332-3963
All performances are at 8:00 p.m.

Direction

Maureen Kilmurry

Featuring
Gladys Chimel | Thomas Dillon | David Ferrie | Howard Goldstein Amy Hansmann | Kevin G. Hogan | Michael Kane | Robert WC Kennedy | Bethany Ligocki | Liz Mistele | Thomas Rosenthal | Kyle Stefanski | Ken Williams | Carol Zippel

Stage Management
Megan Peterson

This poignant, romantic Russian masterpiece follows the lives, loves and dreams of sisters Olga, Masha and Irina. Living in a stifling provincial town they long to return to Moscow where they grew up and were happy. But they find their hopes for an idyllic life at odds with the relentless real world changes closing in on them. Chekhov’s passionate play will warm up your winter!

Guarantee your seats to an unforgettable theatrical adventure—Call Today!

Three Sisters is made possible by a grant from the United Performing Arts Fund

Windfall Theatre is a proud affiliate member of UPAF

THE RECEPTIONIST

2009-09-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

by Adam Bock
September 25-October 10, 2009

Performance Dates:
9/25 (Fri) | 9/26 (Sat) | 10/2 (Fri) | 10/3 (Sat)
10/5 (Mon–Pay What You Can) | 10/8 (Thur)
10/9 (Fri) | 10/10 (Sat)

TICKETS: $20
Village Church Arts
130 East Juneau | Milwaukee
Reservations: (414) 332-3963
All performances are at 8:00 p.m.

Direction
Shawn Gulyas

Featuring
Larry Birkett
Mark Bucher
Sonia Rosenthal
Carol Zippel

Stage Management
Christine Daleness | Megan Peterson

It’s just another routine day at the Northeast Office—Beverly deals effortlessly with ringing phones and her colleague’s romantic troubles. But the surprise visit from a charming rep from the Central Office disrupts the friendly routine. And as the true nature of the company’s business comes to light, The Receptionist is a comic mix of The Office sprinkled with The Sopranos.

Guarantee your seats to an unforgettable theatrical adventure—
Call Today!

Windfall Theatre Auditions: Season 17

2009-07-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

Windfall Theatre seeks actors for Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov and directed by Maureen Kilmurry (Performances February 12-27, 2010 / Rehearsals beginning early-January 2010) and Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George in Concert directed by Carol Zippel (Performances May 7-22, 2010 / Rehearsals beginning April 2010).

Actors: please prepare 2 contrasting monologues not exceeding 4 minutes.
Singer/Actors: please prepare one song. Accompanist will be provided.

Auditions will be held on Saturday, August 1 from 10:00 a.m. -2:00 p.m. at Village Church, 130 E. Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee.

Please call Windfall Theatre at 414.332.3963 to make an audition appointment.

BETTY'S SUMMER VACATION

2009-04-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

by Christopher Durang
May 1-16, 2009

Performance Dates:
5/1 (Fri) | 5/2 (Sat) | 5/8 (Fri) | 5/9 (Sat)
5/11 (Mon–Pay What You Can) | 5/14 (Thur)
5/15 (Fri) | 5/16 (Sat)

TICKETS: $20
Village Church Arts
130 East Juneau | Milwaukee
Reservations: (414) 332-3963
All performances are at 8:00 p.m.

Direction
Maureen Kilmurry

Featuring
James Boland | Ben George
Robert Hirschi | Christine Horgen
Melissa Keith | Marty McNamme
Tamara Martinsek | Shannon Nettesheim
Sonia Rosenthal

Stage Management
Christine Daleness | Megan Peterson

Betty looks forward to a relaxing vacation at the ocean. But her friend Trudy chatters incessantly; and then there are her other summer share housemates—hunky Buck, who’s pathologically hitting on women all the time; and sweet, withdrawn Keith, who carries a shovel and a mysterious hatbox and just may be a serial killer . . . and there seems to be a laugh track coming thru the walls?!?

Durang Brings a "Bit of Bobbit"
to Betty’s Summer Vacation

Windfall Theatre invites you to join us on a nutty/merry dark ride with the Milwaukee premiere of Christopher Durang’s Obie Award-winning Betty’s Summer Vacation. Christopher Durang is a master of dark comedy. In established works such as Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Beyond Therapy, and Baby with the Bathwater, Durang mixes humor with pathos while making audiences intrigued and amused at the same time. Betty’s Summer Vacation is no different. Durang’s tale of a trip gone bad is a life lesson straddling the fine line between the humorous and the macabre.

Looking for a little rest and time by herself, Betty rents a summer share at the beach. But Betty’s luck turns to delicious lunacy when this sensible Everywoman gets drawn into the chaotic world of some very unsavory housemates—her friend Trudy, who talks too much; the lewd, semi-naked Buck, who tries to have sex with everyone; and Keith, a serial killer who hides in his room with a mysterious hatbox. With sand between her toes, walking a thin line between sanity and survival, poor Betty will leave her summer vacation more terrorized than tan.

Durang explains, “The theme of the play is, basically, the ’tabloid-ization’ of American culture—how in the 90s in particular, human nature’s interest in horror and gossip combined with television’s need to hook viewers, and the result was we all fell into the habit of looking at human tragedy and disgusting behavior as a fascinating kind of ‘mini-series’ for our delectation.” The Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings (important, but also riveting as a “mini-series”); the Menendez brothers killing their parents and claiming they were sexually abused; Lorena Bobbit cutting off her husband’s penis and throwing it into a field (where it was found—and John Wayne Bobbit, with his re-attached member, later made a porno film—what a great couple!); the O.J. trial; various scandals regarding Michael Jackson; and of course, the extremely riveting coverage of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal, full of lies, betrayal (that scary Linda Tripp), sex (of course) and all presented 24 hours a day with music and beating drums presenting The Presidency in Crisis! as if it was some sort of TV news equivalent of Ben-Hur. Which it was.

Christopher Durang’s take on tabloid fodder and our attraction to it resonates with today’s boom of reality television and court trials. So, you won’t want to miss this wildly irreverent take on our media addictions gone awry.

Guarantee your seats to an unforgettable theatrical adventure—
Call Today!

WHEN I GIVE MY HEART

2009-01-29T13:11:00.000-08:00

Windfall Theatre presents the world premiere of

When I Give My Heart by Thomas Rosenthal

February 20 - March 7, 2009

Village Church Arts

130 E. Juneau Avenue

Tickets $20

Call the box office at 414.332.3963 for reservations