{image1} "If you're serious about theatre, you just have to go for it," says Pink Banana Theatre's co-founder Juanita Cordova. In 2004, as theater students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she and Carissa Svatek decided they were serious about theater, and they just went for it.
Dedicated to showcasing new works by local playwrights, the women say that they created Pink Banana Theatre out of necessity.
"Not only is it giving people here an outlet for writing, acting and directing," says Cordova, "but it's also giving us the chance to produce."
It's providing real life experience they agree wasn't accessible through school.
They debuted at Bucketworks in December 2004 with the warmly received "One Acts Theater," and by their second production, "One Acts: Bigger and Longer," their contributions from the local theater community --from actors to writers to directors-- had doubled. Pink Banana Theatre was becoming a success, but with the high cost of the venues, they were barely scraping by.
Enter Jim Searles and his Astor Theatre, Milwaukee's gift to independent theater. Encouraging avant-garde groups like Pink Banana and S-martkino to utilize the venue inside his Brady Street Pharmacy free of charge, Searles has allowed local playwrights and producers to bring a unique style of theater into the community.
"The opportunity that Jim offers is so rare and unbelievable," says Svatek. "What we're doing is a very different type of theater. We address a large spectrum of social issues and produce plays that make you think."
{image2} Starting this weekend, Pink Banana will show their first production at the Astor Theatre, "The Summer Mullet Show." Wait, a mullet show?
"Well, it's a variety of one act plays, three short ones in the beginning, followed by a longer one. It ended up being short in front and long in back, you know, like a mullet, so we just went with it," says Cordova.
Local playwright John Manno joined the theater group as a writer and director, and for this show, he's stepped in as co-producer and will be directing "What Toes and Holes Might Touch," the "long in back" play written by UWM filmmaker Wes Tank.
Manno describes Tank's piece as "a play with tantalizing spiritual and religious overtones, such as sin and forgiveness, transgression and expiation. It deals with date rape and its affects on a small group of friends. It is the first script that Tank has written for the live stage, and will surprise and challenge in its use of language and non-naturalistic imagery."
Manno says that the beauty of Pink Banana is its ability to "unify the talents of both town and gown." Some of the "Summer Mullet Show's" actors have never acted before, and on the other end of the spectrum, the show includes "Exit Interview," a short work by renowned local playwright and producer Michael Moynihan.
With a mixed bag of talent and topics, Pink Banana Theatre offers a refreshing alternative to the more traditional shows that the bigger companies in Milwaukee are bringing in.
"We think it's really important to provide people with a medium that deals with real issues, not the kind of thing you see in sitcoms. I mean, this is human survival. This is the way we all live," says Cordova.
Svatek describes the experience of their shows as similar to visiting a contemporary art museum. Cordova agrees, "We want to give people an empty pallette so they can paint."
The "Summer Mullet Show" is showing at the Astor Theatre, 1696 W. Astor St., at 8 p.m. on August 12, 13, 19, and 20. There's a $7 suggested donation, $5 for students.
Pink Banana's Web site is pinkbananatheatre.org
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
