Bill Theisen is popping up in the unlikeliest of places lately. He spent part of the summer as the comically incompetent constable Dogberry in Door Shakespeare's production of "Much Ado About Nothing" in Bailey's Harbor.
He is about to make his Milwaukee Rep acting debut, playing legendary comic actor Oliver Hardy in the American premiere of the biographical theater piece "Laurel and Hardy" in the Stackner Cabaret. And Theisen continues to be the artistic director of the Skylight Opera Theatre, directing and making the important creative decisions for the nationally respected company.
No Milwaukee stage artist is juggling more balls at the start of the new theater season than Theisen. While rehearsing and performing in "Laurel and Hardy" at the Rep, he is co-directing the Skylight's first show of the season, "Dames at Sea," with Pam Kriger.
The Rep show runs Sept. 26 to Nov. 14, and during that time he will also direct the Skylight's "H.M.S. Pinafore," which will be in rehearsals while Theisen is still playing Hardy on the other side of Downtown. Molly Rhode will fill in for him at Skylight rehearsals when he must be at the Rep.
"It's going to be a crazy few weeks," the artistic director said during a conversation in his Broadway Theatre Center office.
Theisen's frantic early season schedule is a testimonial to his versatility as a theater artist, and it is also a result of the management trauma the Skylight endured and survived in the summer of '09. The crisis began when the extremely popular Theisen, who started his career with the company singing in its chorus, was unexpectedly terminated and the artistic director position eliminated to save money.
When the smoke cleared after a couple of tumultuous months, Theisen agreed to return to his old job at the Skylight, but his contract is for half-time status during the 2010-11 season. The company is considering how to structure its artistic leadership in the context of tight budgets.
Theisen and I discussed the Skylight season, which opens Friday night.
"Dames at Sea" (Sept. 17 to Oct. 3) is a small and frothy confection that spoofs big movie musicals from the ‘30s and plots about understudies becoming stars. A New York production in the late 1960s launched Bernadette Peters toward stardom.
"In these times, I wanted to kick off the season with something that was just fun," Theisen said, adding that the Skylight last staged "Dames at Sea" about 20 years ago in its old Jefferson Street theater. "I've always thought the show would be so charming in that jewel box (the Cabot Theatre)."
The Skylight was founded on producing Gilbert and Sullivan, and it will reprise a tradition of doing G&S at the holidays with its staging of "H.M.S. Pinafore" (Nov. 19 to Dec. 19). It's a production that Theisen has mounted elsewhere, including Kansas City last year.
"When I started at the Skylight, it was a G&S every Christmas. We haven't done that in a while, and it will be nice to return to the tradition this year," the artistic director said.
The music of George and Ira Gershwin is the focus of the Skylight's smaller Studio Theatre show this season. "Gershwin and Friends" (Dec. 31 to Jan. 9, 2011) will be all
George and Ira in the first act, but the song list will broaden to such Gershwin contemporaries as Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and Harold Arlen in Act 2.
Skylight veterans Paul Helm, Cynthia Cobb and Parrish Collier are writing and will perform in the revue, which contains a thin narrative thread.
"Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" (Jan. 28 to Feb. 20, 2011) has become a classic piece of musical theater that its many fans -- include me on that list -- can never see often enough. The Skylight is scratching that itch for the first time since 1984 with a production that will be directed by Ray Jivoff and feature Steve Koehler, Liz Baltes and Alison Mary Forbes.
Mozart meets "Mad Men" in the production of "Cosi fan tutte" (March 18 to April 3, 2011) Theisen has planned for the spring. The modern adaptation, written by the Los Angeles-based Dimitri Toscas, is set in the corporate world of Chicago when Dwight Eisenhower was president. Toscas will also direct.
"I wanted to give an old chestnut a new look," Theisen said in explaining his decision to use the Toscas version. "It strengthens the opera's female characters."
Finally, the Skylight will produce favorite son Josh Schmidt's "Adding Machine" (May 20 to June 12, 2011) to close out its season. Based on Elmer Rice's 1923 expressionist drama "The Adding Machine," the musical, for which Schmidt wrote the score, cleaned up on awards in Chicago and New York several years ago.
"I've known Josh since he was a kid," Theisen said. "He wrote ‘Adding Machine' with the Skylight in mind." Kate Buckley, who regularly directs at the American Players Theatre and other major companies across the country, will stage the piece.
We are likely to soon know how the Skylight will configure its creative leadership after Theisen's contract expires next spring. If the company elects to go forward with a single person responsible for determining its artistic course, will Theisen be a candidate for the job?
A year ago I would have bet that the affable actor-director would take a pass and move on. I don't believe that any more.
"I enjoy working with Amy Jensen so much," he told me during our conversation. Jensen became the Skylight's managing director last fall, after peace and order was restored to company management.
"It's a real joy to collaborate with Amy. It's a great partnership."
If Theisen signs on for another term as artistic director, don't expect him to stay forever. "I just turned 50. There will be another chapter in my life," he said.
"I kind of miss my freelance career."
A Tendency to be Theatrical
A new theater season brings us a new theater company. Theatrical Tendencies will open its inaugural production, "Thrill Me -- The Leopold & Loeb Story," Friday at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center.
"Our mission is to put on stage the lives of folks in the LGBT community," co-founder and executive producer David Carter recently told me. The new troupe is also interested in other diversity themes, he added.
Carter was director of entertainment at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Ill., from 1979 to 1998. Since moving to Milwaukee he has been involved with Soulstice Theatre and Waukesha Civic Theatre.
Others associated with Theatrical Tendencies include artistic director Mark E. Schuster, technical director Kevin Czarnota and human relations director Matt Ballard. Carter said the company will pay its actors.
Theatrical Tendencies plans to produce Terrence McNally's "Corpus Christi" next March.
Damien has been around so long, he was at Summerfest the night George Carlin was arrested for speaking the seven dirty words you can't say on TV. He was also at the Uptown Theatre the night Bruce Springsteen's first Milwaukee concert was interrupted for three hours by a bomb scare. Damien was reviewing the concert for the Milwaukee Journal. He wrote for the Journal and Journal Sentinel for 37 years, the last 29 as theater critic.
During those years, Damien served two terms on the board of the American Theatre Critics Association, a term on the board of the association's foundation, and he studied the Latinization of American culture in a University of Southern California fellowship program. Damien also hosted his own arts radio program, "Milwaukee Presents with Damien Jaques," on WHAD for eight years.
Travel, books and, not surprisingly, theater top the list of Damien's interests. A news junkie, he is particularly plugged into politics and international affairs, but he also closely follows the Brewers, Packers and Marquette baskeball. Damien lives downtown, within easy walking distance of most of the theaters he attends.
