The A.V. Club's quick fall theater guide
Zane Williams
Some errors and comedy at American Players Theatre.
In college, there’s little shame to be found in blowing off your all-nighter steam by drinking yourself blind, but it also can be nice to take in the culturally enriching offerings of the theater. Madison’s theater scene is vibrant and varied, and includes everything from the Broadway-esque extravagance of the Overture Center to the more scattershot nature of community troupes. The A.V. Club is all about healthy options, so here’s a rundown of what’s upcoming on the stage from now until the end of the year. Check back with us the week of Sept. 10, when we'll drop our much more thorough Fall Theater Guide.
Community theater
Even by community-theater standards, Broom Street Theater often feels like a lurching train on the verge of flying off the tracks. That’s not to say BST doesn’t have its high-energy charms, or that it doesn’t hit a few out of the park. Minglewood Blues (through Sept. 13) is a fictionalized take on the many rough-and-tumble characters found in the iconic compendium of Americana, The Anthology Of American Folk Music. Following that performance is Tales From The Dork Side (Sept. 25-Nov. 1), a sequel to the previous BST production Dork Side Of The Moon.
Multiple companies call The Bartell Theatre home, and one of the most interesting is Strollers Theatre. Strollers opens its season with a production of David Mamet’s fuck-fest Romance (through Sept. 5) before closing out 2009 with Cat’s-Paw, directed by the very talented Madisonian Rob Matsushita (Sept 10-Oct. 3), and The Musical Comedy Murders Of 1940 (Oct 29-Nov 21). Mercury Players Theatre opens with In The Beginning (Sept. 4-26), a musical spoof on creationism written by the Walmartopia team of Catherine Capellaro and Andrew Rohn. It’s followed by Vin (Oct. 9-24) and 1SW33T R1DE (Nov. 20-Dec. 12), the latter a psychological thriller again written by man-about-town Rob Matsushita. A brand-new company, Laboratory Theatre, will première with an black-themed adaptation of Educating Rita (Oct. 2-17), and StageQ will be back with more thought-provoking LGBT-themed works beginning with The Stops (Oct. 30-Nov. 21), a play concerning a gay organist in the Quad Cities Faith Tabernacle. StageQ follows The Stops with Random Harvest (Dec. 31-Jan. 16), a 1940s Hollywood love story.
New kids
The Madison Repertory Theatre closed its doors recently after a 40-year run, and some marooned Rep employees and those with former ties to the company ended up founding two new theater companies: The Bricks Theatre and Forward Theater Company. Forward will start with a stage production of the classic All About Eve (Nov. 7), before transitioning into the post-9/11 comedy, Why Torture Is Wrong, And The People Who Love Them (Dec. 30-Jan. 17). The Bricks Theatre plans to focus on one-acts and shorts in unique venues, and will kick off its inaugural season with An Adult Evening Of Shel Silverstein (Oct. 14-22) at The Frequency.
The pros and those in training
Overture Center has a busy fall schedule beginning with the Tony-nominated thriller/comedy Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (Nov. 10-15). Overture will also feature the always popular and long-running The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Dec. 3-20), and a very special production of Grease (Dec. 8-13), which stars silver-fox American Idol winner Taylor Hicks.
The woodland frolickers out at Spring Green's American Players Theatre wrap up another solid season of outdoor classical theater with continuing runs of George Bernard Shaw’s The Philanderer (through Sept. 19) and Noel Coward’s comedy Hay Fever (through Oct. 3), along with Shakespeare classics like The Comedy Of Errors (through Oct. 4), The Winter’s Tale (through Sept. 26), and King Henry V (through Oct. 2). New this year in Spring Green is APT’s intimate, indoor Touchstone Theatre, which is showing In Acting Shakespeare (through Oct. 14), a one-man adaptation written by longtime cast member Jim DeVita. Also running in the Touchstone is Harold Pinter’s Old Times (through Sept. 11), and Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (through Oct 18).
UW-Madison’s University Theater opens with The Imaginary Invalid (Oct. 23-Nov. 7), putting a steampunk twist on Molière’s farce, and follows that up with the brooding tragedy Blood Wedding (Nov. 13-Dec. 5).
Laffs
At times it can be a struggle to find a ton of sketch comedy in Madison, though local comedian Alan Talaga’s regular gig with The Dan Potacke Show (every other Monday at The Frequency) is consistently funny, inventive, and surreal. By its nature, improv can be hit or miss, but Atlas Improv Company puts on two shows every Saturday at Electric Earth Café, and the core company of Monkey Business Institute (Fridays at the East Side Glass Nickel Pizza) features the two brains—Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda—behind the popular Chad Vader viral videos.
