Mike Fischer wrote theater and book reviews for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for fifteen years, serving as chief theater critic from 2009-18. A member of the Advisory Company of Artists for Forward Theater Company in Madison, he also co-hosts Theater Forward, a bimonthly podcast. You can reach him directly at mjfischer1985@gmail.com.
Mike’s work as WPW’s Festival Reporter was made possible through the sponsorship of the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF). Learn more: https://upaf.org/
Reading of Gov. Ever’s World Premiere Wisconsin Day Proclamation, featuring artistic leaders from across Wisconsin. Photo: Paul Ruffolo.
“Into the woods, and who can tell what’s waiting on the journey?” The characters at the beginning of Into the Woods don’t know, as they sing these words from Sondheim and Lapine’s beloved musical. Similarly, I’m quite sure that incrediblyContinue reading
Left: Margaret of Anjou and Right: Cersei Lannister
Which Shakespeare character inspired Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones? The answer is Margaret of Anjou, who also inspired Marcella Kearns’ Margaret, an adaptation of the four Shakespeare plays in which Margaret appears. As announced in Monday’s blog post andContinue reading
Source: Monarch Drone Photography.
3/29/23 Update: Since the post below appeared on March 27, we have learned that Illyria Productions’ reading of Margaret has been postponed until late April or early May. We address that postponement in our blog post on 3/29/23. We willContinue reading
Actor and playwright Gavin Lawrence’s The Barber and the Unnamed Prince – which will be unveiled Monday night in a sold-out reading in American Players Theatre’s Touchstone Theatre – may be APT’s entry in the World Premiere Wisconsin festival ofContinue reading
I saw two operas last week, and the experiences couldn’t have been more different. Amidst a sea of empty seats, I attended an extremely well-sung and competently staged but otherwise traditional and entirely predictable 3.5 hour matinee of Bizet’s CarmenContinue reading
Rendering of the TIDY set by Scenic Designer, Jeffrey D. Kmiec. Source: Renaissance Theaterworks Facebook Page.
The breakthrough came in Antarctica. Kristin Idaszak – whose play Tidy will open this weekend as Renaissance Theaterworks’ entry in the World Premiere Wisconsin festival – had long been interested in writing plays about the relationship between science and culture;Continue reading
Cast of HOOPS, courtesy of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
“I contain multitudes,” proclaims actor Ashley Oviedo during an early moment in Eliana Pipes’ Hoops, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s entry in the World Premiere Wisconsin festival. Oviedo nominally makes that proclamation as Cee, joining Aye (Celia Mandela Rivera) and Bey (PaulinaContinue reading
Playwright Art Kopischke, photo courtesy of their website: https://www.artkopischke.com/
Art Kopischke’s You Don’t Deserve to Die – which will receive a reading next Saturday in Green Bay as part of the World Premiere Wisconsin festival of new plays – features a singing deer whose repertoire includes both Dido’s lamentContinue reading
Kim Ruyle was a multi-degreed management consultant whose three decades of work had taken him to 49 states and 45 countries when he submitted his play Kalispell to a playwriting competition in Florida, where he was living in 2017. ItContinue reading
Meet Raymond T. World! Raymond is the mascot for Renaissance Theaterworks’ environmental mystery, TIDY. Photo: Maria Pretzl.
In just two weeks – and just in advance of Earth Day come April – two World Premiere Wisconsin plays will make their debut on the same day: Saturday, March 25. Art Kopischke’s You Don’t Deserve to Die, featuring aContinue reading