Melisa Pereyra News

American Players Theatre (APT) announces its 38th Summer Festival Season, June 10 - October 22, 2017, a diverse lineup of eight classical and contemporary plays in repertory that includes the return and work of visiting Chicago director and Jeff Award-winner William Brown taking on Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters in APT's newly renovated flagship 1140-seat outdoor amphitheater on the Hill. 

American Players Theater's William Brown Brings King Lear into the contemporary world, but does that make this Shakespearean Tragedy Relevant? In a word, Yes! The good King has his retirement all mapped out when lo and behold, his family all of people just refuse to cooperate.

When the audience arrives at American Players (APT) Up the Hill Theatre for the opening of William Shakespeare's King Lear, they might believe a presidential press conference will be staged. Green lawn expands into the audience, actors place contemporary white chairs in a distinct pattern and a glass podium greets the audience--and plenty of paparazzi appear to capture the King, the Duke of Gloucester and Duchess of Kent, and Lear's three daughters entering the lawn party. At night under the stars, the royal staging opens when the King appears announcing his 'retirement,' dividing his kingdom to his three progeny. Two dutiful daughters ascend to the podium pronouncing their love, while Cordelia speaks from the back row of chairs, the front of the Up The Hill Theatre. Goneril, Regan and Cordelia were 'dressed to kill', so to speak in sophisticated, fashion worthy coats and the appropriate fascinators, for English royalty, as were the men.This beginning places the audience firmly in a King Lear crafted for the current day, up to the very minute audiences.

Name one person worth passing through the gates of Hades for while singing a song so sorrowful the stones would weep--A parent? A child? A partner? Perhaps even a true friend? American Players Theatre stages Eurydice, steampunk style in the Touchstone Theatre, recreating Sarah Ruhl's ethereal, surreal play examining love and the lengths someone would travel to serve that love. Based on the Greek myth of lovers Eurydice and musical rock star Orpheus, the child of Calliope and perhaps the God Apollo, Ruhl transforms the myth with a tale in tribute to her own father. Directed by Londoner Tyne Rafaeli, this production acquires a spiritual ambiance drawing the audience into Ruhl's and Rafaeli's underworld where Orpheus searches for Eurydice and literal sobs, tears flowing freely, were heard in the audience on opening day.

Quite refreshing and revitalizing as a summer breeze, American Players Theater (APT) opened their 2016 Up the Hill season in Spring Green with a wild version of William Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. Directed by the well-known David Frank, this condensed Comedy revisits a slight nod to Lewis Carroll's 'The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland.' The production plays broadly by quoting  Shakespeare's verse with a tongue in cheek delivery also heightened by Victorian costumes designed by Fabio Tablini.  The imaginative designer envisioned two Dromios which might resemble Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, clothed in wide striped pants, vivid colored jackets and huge straw hats. The story set amid an Ephesus where square marble columns and a great gate placed on the left Up The Hill stage fashioned by Scenic Designer Nayna Ramey, gives Ephesus a rather dream like quality. 

BLOOD WEDDING by Federico Garcia Lorca, translated by Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata, is directed by Ensemble Member Daniel Ostling at Lookingglass Theatre Company. Currently in previews, the production opens tomorrow, Saturday, March 12 for a run through April 24, 2016 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

?Lookingglass Theatre Company continues its 28th Season with Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding, translated by Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata, and directed by Ensemble Member Daniel Ostling. Blood Wedding runs March 2 - April 24, 2016 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

American Players Theatre (APT) announces its 37th Summer Festival Season, June 3 - October 16, 2016, a diverse lineup of eight classical and contemporary plays in repertory that includes the return and work of two visiting Chicago directors: Derrick Sanders, founding Artistic Director of Congo Square Theatre Company directing The African Company Presents Richard III by Carlyle Brown in APT's intimate 200-seat Touchstone Theatre; and Jeff Award winner William Brown taking on William Shakespeare's King Lear in APT's flagship 1140-seat outdoor amphitheater on the Hill.

Lookingglass Theatre Company continues its 28th Season with Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding, translated by Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata, and directed by Ensemble Member Daniel Ostling. Blood Wedding runs March 2 - April 24, 2016 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson. The Press Opening is Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. Single tickets to Blood Wedding go on sale to the general public on January 13, 2016.

Lookingglass Theatre Company announces casting for the remainder of its 2015-2016 season, which includes Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding, directed by Ensemble Member Daniel Ostling, and the World Premiere of Thaddeus and Slocum: A Vaudeville Adventure, written by Ensemble member Kevin Douglas and co-directed by Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks and Krissy Vanderwarker. Blood Wedding runs March 2 - April 24, 2016 with tickets on sale to the general public starting January 13, 2016. Thaddeus and Slocum runs June 1 - August 7, 2016 with tickets on sale to the general public starting April 6, 2016. Lookingglass Theatre Company is located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

American Players Theatre (APT) stages Pierre D. Marivaux's romantic romp The Game of Love and Chance surrounded by the warmth of Spring Green's Touchstone Theatre. What could be more enchanting and elegant on their intimate stage than a golden Rococo chandelier illuminating Nathan Stuber's mimimal and sophisticated set design? Only these APT actors who dazzle the audience dressed in their lush, period Robert Morgan costumes.

First published more than 200 years ago, Jane Austen's famous novel Pride and Prejudice comes to American Players Theatre (APT) and revisits significant gender issues audiences might assume have been resolved. Former Milwaukee Reperatory Theater Artistic Director Joseph Hanreddy and acclaimed J.R. Sullivan adapted one of the world's most popular novels into a compelling, senstive stage play that breathes life into Austen's romantic couples who search for their futures on Spring Green's Up the Hill stage this summer.

American Players Theatre (APT) will launch its 36th Season tonight, June 6, 2015 with a preview performance of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. The performance begins at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are still available.

American Players Theatre (APT) will launch its 36th Season June 6, 2015 with a preview performance of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Love and sex: This dynamic pair of human needs has dominated society's conscious since Eve offered Adam the apple and together they discovered their nakedness. The two subjects frequently intermingle on stage at Spring Green's American Players Theatre for the company's final selection in their 2013 season when APT opened the decadent Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

The 21st annual New American Playwrights Project (NAPP) takes the stage at the Utah Shakespeare Festival from today, August 8 through 30.

The 21st annual New American Playwrights Project (NAPP) takes the stage at the Utah Shakespeare Festival from August 8 through 30. Three plays will be presented as staged readings in the Auditorium Theatre at 10 a.m.on selected dates. Chosen from hundreds of plays submitted, this year's lineup includes SHUNNED by Larry Parr, TWENTY-SEVEN by Ed Morgan, and ADAM AND YOSHI by Tom Cavanaugh.

Now in its 37th year, The Rep's production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, sponsored by MillerCoors, is Milwaukee's beloved holiday tradition which has delighted audiences for generations at The Pabst Theater. Adapted by Joseph Hanreddy and Edward Morgan, Dickens' classic masterpiece brightens the holiday season with its beautiful carols and timeless message of hope, peace and love and the true meaning of the holidays. Milwaukee Repertory Theater is delighted to announce that Aaron Posner returns to The Rep to direct A Christmas Carol. Posner directed The Rep's To Kill a Mockingbird, which broke all-time attendance records last season, as well as the lyrical, beautifully-realized production of My Name is Asher Lev in 2010. This will be the first time that Posner has directed A Christmas Carol. This year's cast includes Milwaukee actors Marti Gobel and Jonathan Wainwright; Rep newcomers Melody Betts, Renata Friedman, Melisa Pereyra, Luigi Sottile and accomplished stage actor Christopher Donahue as Ebenezer Scrooge. Returning to The Rep this year are former Rep Artistic Intern Ensemble members Alexander Pawlowski and Emily Trask and frequent Rep guest artist Jonathan Smoots. Also rounding out the cast are Rep Associate Artists Angela Iannone and Gerard Neugent and Chicago actor Erik Hellman. A Christmas Carol runs at The Pabst Theater from November 29 - December 24.