The Milwaukee Repertory Theater has chosen a British theater artist to be its next artistic director. Mark Clements, who has been living in Philadelphia and directing at the Walnut Street Theatre, the oldest operating theater in the country, will succeed Joseph Hanreddy in the top artistic job at the Rep. Hanreddy is leaving this spring after 17 years in the position.
Clements, 48, has a long list of stage directing credits in England, including working in the West End, London's equivalent of Broadway. He was artistic director of the Derby Playhouse from 1992 to 2002, and worked with siblings Vanessa and Corin Redgrave as associate artistic director of their Moving Theatre Company from 2002 to 2008.
In this country, Clements has worked in Philadelphia and New York. Off-Broadway, he has directed shows at the Roundabout, Promenade and Lucille Lortel theaters.
The bulk of his work on both sides of the Atlantic has involved contemporary classics and popular plays such as "Of Mice and Men," "Born Yesterday" and "Shirley Valentine," and Clements has had significant experience developing and directing musicals. His restaging of "Les Miserables" in Philadelphia last year attracted considerable attention.
Clements is a London native and British citizen with permanent residence status in the U.S. He will direct a production of the musical "Oliver!" that opens in Philadelphia next month and will then move to Milwaukee.
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.
