Issued by: Polly Morris
414-372-2077
pmorris2@earthlink.net
Date: March 4, 2002
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Issued by: Polly Morris Date: March 4, 2002 |
MILWAUKEE - The Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP) is pleased to welcome the Cedar Creek Repertory Company, under the artistic direction of alumnus Kevin Miller, to the Peck School of the Arts Mainstage Theatre. The Cedarburg-based theatre company is moving its production of the new Tom Patrick comedy, MIDDLEMAN, to UWM for a limited run, March 22-30, 2002. The production, directed by Patrick, a 1992 graduate, also features several PTTP alumni and faculty members both onstage and off. (See attached Fact Sheet for ticket prices and other details.) Kevin Miller founded Cedar Creek Repertory Company (CCRC) in 1998 to bring world-class theater and innovative theater education to historic Cedarburg and the Greater Milwaukee area. Miller graduated from the PTTP in 1992 and has performed overseas in Paris, France (Israel Horowitz's Line) and Sydney, Australia (John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath). His regional credits include The Cleveland Playhouse, The Northern Stage Company, American Inside Theater, and First Stage Children's Theater. He has been involved in creating new plays with the Lark Theatre Company in New York City and at the Cleveland Play House. He currently devotes his time to CCRC and to his work as a theatre educator.
According to Corliss Phillabaum, interim director of the PTTP, Miller is continuing in a proud tradition: "For more than thirty years members and graduates of the Department of Theatre and Dance have played a major role in the creation of new companies in the greater Milwaukee area. We are delighted to be cooperating with the Cedar Creek Repertory Company, founded by a graduate of the PTTP, in presenting a play written by another PTTP graduate and featuring PTTP alumni in its cast."
MIDDLEMAN, which will receive its world premiere at the Cedarburg Performing Arts Center prior to moving to UWM, is the story of Larry, a man who becomes painfully aware of what his life might have been in the wake of a near-death experience. Caught between fantasy and reality, science and religion, need and greed, Larry attempts to reclaim his wasted life. As he comes to recognize the things that are truly important to him, he also learns that he has all but destroyed them. MIDDLEMAN is a black comedy that traces the journey of a man who tries to forge his future by struggling to win back all that he has lost. Tom Patrick, who wrote and is directing MIDDLEMAN, is a Chicago based playwright, actor and director. His play, Descent (A Darwinian Comedy), has been staged in Chicago by Tango Productions and The Aardvark Theatre, in Milwaukee by Next Act Theatre, and in New York by the Stage Door Acting Ensemble at the Sanford Meisner Theatre. His screenplay Cowcatcher was a semi-finalist in the Sundance Institute's Screenwriter's Workshop, 2001. As an actor he has worked with Lookingglass, Next, Shakespeare on the Green, and Mary-Archie theaters in Chicago, as well as American Inside and Next Act theaters of Milwaukee. As a director he has worked with Chicago Screenwriter's Network and Shakespeare's Motley Crew where he staged their critically acclaimed production of Twelfth Night.
The cast features several other PTTP alums, including Miller. Veteran New York stage actor Michael Stebbins, who plays Larry, graduated from the PTTP in 1992, the same year that he appeared in the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre production of 84 Charing Cross Road. Stebbins has performed for the New York Public Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Manhattan Library Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre of Washington D. C. and is currently the Artistic Director of the Stage Door Ensemble at the Sanford Meisner Theatre in New York City. Steven Koehler (Charlie, Cowboy One), another 1992 graduate of the PTTP and member of CCRC, works regularly as an actor in and around Milwaukee. His credits include Charles Lindbergh in Next Act's Hauptman; Bill Page in Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's The Song of The Turtle; and Bert Jefferson in Madison Rep's The Man Who Came To Dinner. Rounding out the cast will be Cedar Creek Repertory Company members Debra Babich and Elaine Wyler, and Lee Becker, a veteran of Door County's American Folklore Theatre.
Behind the scenes, PTTP graduate Lisa Flegel Sottile will stage manage the production and fellow alum Christopher Guse, now a member of the PTTP faculty, will design lights. Pamela Rehberg and Sandra Strawn, also of the PTTP faculty, will design costumes and create props, respectively. Allen Washatko, a principal architect with the Cedarburg firm Kubala Washatko Architects, will design sets, and Mik Moore will design sound.
Kubala Washatko Architects and The Washington House Inn are the official sponsors of MIDDLEMAN.
Founded in 1978, the Professional Theatre Training Program at UWM is a three-year conservatory program that offers students B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees in acting, costume production, stage management and technical production. Degree candidates study with the skilled professional faculty and with guest artists, and engage in international exchanges. As a conservatory program, the PTTP places a high value on production experience, and students are expected to participate in as many as eight productions each season.
Set Design: Allen Washatko
Lighting Design: Christopher J. Guse
Costume Design: Pamela J. Rehberg
Sound Design: Mik Moore
Stage Manager: Lisa Flegel Sottile LOCATION: All performances take place at the Peck School of the Arts Mainstage Theatre, 2400 East Kenwood Boulevard, on the UWM campus. There is ample parking in the adjacent underground structure, and the theatre is accessible. (Patrons with accessibility questions should contact the Peck School of the Arts Box Office at (414) 229-4308.)
Ticket Information: Single tickets are $16 and $9 for students and seniors. PTTP. Group rates and available. For tickets, please call the UWM Peck School of the Arts Box Office at (414) 229-4308. Box office hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10 AM-5 PM and one hour prior to performance.
Saturday, March 23 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, March 24 at 2:00 PM
Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 PM
Friday, March 29 at 7:30 PM Talkback to follow performance
Saturday, March 30 at 7:30 PM
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