MCT's LOVE STORIES to Run 11/25-12/20

For the holiday season, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presents three classic one-acts by three celebrated writers, LOVE STORIES, November 25 - December 20, 2015. The production features VILLAGE WOOING by George Bernard Shaw, THE JEWISH WIFE by Bertolt Brecht and HERE WE ARE by Dorothy Parker. Real-life married couple James Pickering and Tami Workentin star in LOVE STORIES under the direction of Paula Suozzi. LOVE STORIES performs in the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.

The work of three insightful and incisive wordsmiths is showcased in LOVE STORIES. Playwright George Bernard Shaw returns to the MCT stage with VILLAGE WOOING. In this charming comedy, from the deck of an ocean liner to a village shop, a reclusive travel writer is pursued by a chatty phone operator on a mission to marry him. In Bertolt Brecht's THE JEWISH WIFE we learn how Hitler's rise to power effects a marriage. In the final one-act HERE WE ARE by Dorothy Parker a newlywed couple is travelling by train to their honeymoon - but not without revealing a few of their insecurities first.

In MCT's production of LOVE STORIES, the lines of fiction and reality blur deliciously as real-life couple James Pickering and Tami Workentin rehearse three classic one-act plays. While they juggle the complexities of their own partnership, whimsical wordplay leads to verbal sparring, onstage and off, but ultimately love conquers all in this loving tribute to life in the theatre.

James Pickering and Tami Workentin perform in their first show together since their marriage in 2013. They first met in 2011 during their only previous stage appearance together in Next Act Theatre's THE EXONERATED. Both veteran Milwaukee actors, Pickering is best known as a long time Milwaukee Repertory Theater company member and Workentin has worked with many theatres in Milwaukee including numerous shows with MCT.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was a Nobel-Prize-winning playwright, critic, and passionate socialist whose influence on Western theatre, culture and politics stretched from the 1880s to his death in 1950. He wrote more than 60 plays including PYGMALION, ARMS AND THE MAN, MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION, MAJOR BARBARA and MAN AND SUPERMAN. VILLAGE WOOING marks the first time a George Bernard Shaw play has been performed by Milwaukee Chamber Theatre since MISALLIANCE in 2005. MCT was co-founded by two great fans of Shaw, Montgomery Davis and Ruth Schudson. MCT's inaugural production in 1975 was his DON JUAN IN HELL and for twenty years (1983-2002), MCT was the only theatre company in the United States to produce an annual Shaw Festival. MCT previously produced VILLAGE WOOING in 1981.

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) was a German poet, playwright and theatre director. He is best known for THE THREEPENNY OPERA (with composer Kurt Weill), MOTHER COURAGE, and THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE. Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) was an American poet, short story writer, critic, satirist and screenwriter as well as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. She co-wrote the film A STAR IS BORN with her husband Alan Campbell.

Paula Suozzi makes her MCT directing debut with LOVE STORIES. The former Artistic Director of Milwaukee Shakespeare and Associate Artistic Director of Skylight Music Theatre, her directing credits include work with Illinois Shakespeare Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Florentine Opera Company and Forward Theater.

LOVE STORIES is a collaboration with the UW-Milwaukee Theatre Department. Professor Richard Graham will be the Scenic Designer with alumnus Chad Abramowski as Assistant Scenic Designer. Three current UWM students are involved with the show, Acting Intern Robert Knapp, Acting and Dramaturgy Intern Erika Kirkstein-Zastrow and Stage Management Intern Megan Linzmeyer. This collaboration is an example of MCT's mission to nurture the next generation of theatre artists.

For LOVE STORIES Milwaukee Chamber Theatre is partnering with Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church in BayView to support their Divine Intervention ministry for the homeless programs. Actors Pickering and Workentin are active supporters of the church's homeless work and brought their charity programs to MCT's attention. During the run of LOVE STORIES we will be collecting items for the homeless including warm clothing, non-perishable food items and dry goods, as well as $5 and $10 gift cards to Target and McDonalds.