GENTLY DOWN THE (BIT) STREAM

A Conversation with C. Michael Wright

by Marcella Kearns

“In some ways, I feel as though everything in my life has been leading up to this play.”

Throughout C. Michael Wright’s time as Producing Artistic Director, I’ve asked him what spurred him to include each play in the mainstage lineup. He selects his plays as carefully as jewels, after all, threading each together under a broader theme for each season. I’m always curious. Turns out GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM, the cap on MCT’s 2019-2020 season and his final artistic project as the head of the company, has a resonance for him beyond its placement.

Before we undertook a practice of social distancing, at our last in-person meeting in the office, Michael reflected on the shifts we would undoubtedly have to take to bring this story to the public. The eternal optimist, though grieving losses as all of us are these weeks, Michael modeled for me a radical acceptance. “‘Life is but a dream,’” he continued, and smiled.

What follows, gentle patrons, is a conversation he and I had back in early February about the play, his love for it, and dreams. Enjoy.

Recognition

Michael and I are sitting at Miss Katie’s Diner. We’ve come here before to do artistic homework. Once we crossed paths when I was working on FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE; we’ve talked FIRES IN THE MIRROR and admin together; we’ve come for a breakfast after an early-morning television interview on Arts Avenue. Today, he’s the subject of our work. Over coffee and corned beef hash, I ask him the basics: Why is Martin Sherman’s play in the season? What does he love about it?

“Recognition,” he says promptly.

“Elaborate for me! Where are there points of recognition for you?”

If what touches us in a story is recognition of ourselves in others, GENTLY hits home for Michael in ways untold. He connects to the character he is slated to play in the production, a pianist and American expatriate living in London.

“It’s about Beau. But nothing specific about Beau’s history that I relate to,” he replies. “It’s the general sweep of growing up in a similar time frame, when it wasn’t easy to grow up being gay. You were forced to keep secret. You were bullied. There were so many things that Beau goes through that I can find parallels with.

“He traveled, I traveled, because of my artistic life; our experiences are very different but took us to many interesting exotic places. I love to sing, love music, love cabarets. I certainly did my share of going to clubs where Beau would have been playing. I have that history and that easy access. Very rich memory triggers.

“I certainly lived through the AIDS crisis,” he qualifies, digging deeper. “I’ve certainly dealt with crazy artist types. I’ve met and been courted by famous people. I have my own history of living in New York in the 70s and 80s and all the adventures I had as a young gay man. I also think the fact that Beau’s an artist, a musician, strikes a chord too—”

“—no pun intended—”

“—no pun intended!—because I feel like theatre has been my savior as a gay man. Has been my outlet to meet other gay people in a more comfortable setting. It was the same for Beau. And the fact that he has that one channel, that creative channel that keeps him going.”

Michael pauses. “I often feel like theatre saved my life,” he says finally. “And Beau never says it, but I think music saved his life. Because it gave him this hook, this identity. This outlet that helped him survive incredibly difficult times. It’s the struggle and the survival more than anything that I relate to.”

“Saved your life literally or allowed you to be able to live fully as who you are?”

“Saved my life literally.”

We sip our coffee. His words sit between us. So often the power of art is touted, and for so many reasons; but not so often is such a fundamental story told. 

“You have quite a lot in common,” I say, after a time. He nods. I shift gears slowly. “May I ask about your early homework on developing Beau?”

“Sure!” As is his nature, Michael leaps to another subject with an energy that seems infinite.

“What are some strong choices or aspects of character you see to develop, before going into rehearsal? Will you be tapping in to that history?”

“I don’t tap into the history. I tap into the story. The emotional journeys. I think it’s really important that Beau not feel sorry for himself. He’s not a victim. He doesn’t play victim. But he has cut himself off because of all the pain he’s been subjected to. Low self-esteem is a big issue, not feeling worthy—because of growing up at a time when he was made to feel less-than. So it’s hard for him to feel, to understand that he is worthy of happiness, family, love.”

“So that’s a challenge that you foresee going into this process.”

“Yes. I definitely think one of the dangers is to fall into character as victim, and I don’t think it’s about that. He’s an emotionally scarred individual that’s still open to positive experiences but also surprised by them.”

Generations

I consider positive experiences—namely, the love Beau finds within the play. That leads me to asking Michael about his take on the experience of different generations within the story. GENTLY chronicles the struggles and triumphs of the gay rights movement from a personal viewpoint and through the histories of its characters—Beau, who’s seen very difficult times; Rufus, a younger London lawyer; and Harry, an even younger performance artist.

“I think it’s hard as an older gay man telling a story about different generations of gay men not to feel too terribly envious of the new generation!” Michael confesses. “How much easier it is for them! How much more acceptance there is in the world. Tolerance. Understanding. Empathy. But at the same time, I rejoice in knowing that it’s a better world for my young comrades.

“Which is also why I want to tell the story,” he says, spreading his arms wide. “I want to acknowledge the facts of historical truth while also celebrating the changing times.”

“‘Celebrating the Journey.’” 

“Yes,” he smiles. At this point, the bill comes. He takes it and won’t let me pay. (Michael Wright!) “I felt like I had to go elsewhere to be who I am. But look. Look what I got to do. I was so fortunate. I’m so lucky.”

Michael says his goodbyes quickly. He has an errand—to buy Valentine’s Day candy for the Broadway Theatre Center box office staff. He’s long made it a tradition to bring them occasional treats. Surprises await.

Life is but a dream, I think, as I watch him drive away.

So. It’s over a month later. The world has been changing, and now the radical change has come to us here in Milwaukee. We won’t be able to be in a room together to share GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM, but we’ll hopefully catch it on the bit stream. For a boss and artist who’s made a career of connection, now telling a story about change over generations—what a gentle bridge Michael’s been for us between the past and the future.

Out of the Woodwork

I think I’ve just found a group of fans to rival any other I’ve encountered at MCT!

Through my seasons here, I’ve welcomed a torrent of audience fans of mystery, from Keith Huff’s THE DETECTIVE’S WIFE to DEATHTRAP; of iconic characters of English fiction, from Holmes and Watson to Jeeves and Wooster; of artists beloved to Milwaukee, from Michelle Lopez-Rios to Di’Monte Henning; and more. If a popular etymology attests that “fan” is short for “fanatic,” our audiences are the most delightful of those enthusiasts in my experience. Their love is exceeding (and for that I thank them!).

I wouldn’t be hyperbolizing, however, to say that this collection of fans out-fans any other collective I’ve met in the Broadway Theatre Center lobby. Today, I’d like to introduce them. Conscientious, lyrical, rhapsodic, and effusive about their adoration are lovers not of a genre or character… but of a bird.

Erica Berman’s NO WAKE, receiving its world premiere at MCT, traces the growth of a friendship between a retired lake cabin owner and a teenager working next door. The catalyst and a fundamental link between them? Loons.

Photo from https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsmidwest/4514433523

As fans of the loon come out of the woodwork in anticipation of NO WAKE, I thought it fitting to turn the story over to them. Only they have the words to capture the spirit a loon brings to a place, the meditation and care it inspires in residents of that place, the deep and satisfying connection to one’s environment that they elicit through their presence alone. Here, a few voices. I’m sure in the audience you’ll hear more. And I invite you, if you’re a fan of the loon, to send me your stories!

Enjoy!
 —Marcy Kearns, Associate Artistic Director


From Debra Krajec, local costume designer, director, and professor:

There is nothing in the world like the call of a loon. It is beautiful, haunting, lonely or joyous, but it is

Loon on Lake Winnipesaukee (nesting area)

Photo by Debra Krajec

like no other bird’s call. You often hear the call of a loon used in soundtracks for films (often in places where loons would never be – the jungle??) because it is so unusual. Loons are absolutely amazingly beautiful to me. The stark contrast between the black and white of their feathers, the shape of their very long pointed beaks, their long bodies, their funny webbed feet when you get a chance to see them. Although one bobbing on the water sometimes is hard to spot because even in sunlight the black feathers hide them and they seemed to meld into the water, their silhouette is unmistakable.

The thing I remember most, the reason they are so amazing to me, is their call. You will hear them at dusk or in the darkness of night, crying out. It's a mournful, sad, lonely sound. There is a loon that summer after summer comes past our place at night, and when it's quiet out, with no wind, his cries echo in the Cove and you can hear them bounce off the Hills. It's an amazing sound. They make several different noises, for different reasons. But the mournful cry in the darkness is the one that really touches my heart.

(Hear more from Deb in MCT’s Audience Guide!)

From Nancy Jacobs, longtime patron and friend of MCT:

My family has had a cottage in Northern Wisconsin on a 500-acre lake for over 100 years. I spent every summer as a child at the cottage, which included many hours on the lake. Cottage life is all about enjoying being outdoors, and we have had loons on our lake for as long as I can remember. The loon sounds are so comforting, and when I hear them for the first time on my visits, I feel as though they are welcoming me back to the lake. Every time anyone hears their unique calls from the lake, conversations usually stop to listen to the magical sounds. 

We have had a loon nest on our lake for decades and have watched each year the progression of the adults sitting on the next chicks hatching and riding on the adults' backs, watching the adults teach them how to swim and dive as they grow.  Whenever we are canoeing, kayaking, or taking a spin in the pontoon boat, we look for the loons and spend time watching them. Watching the chicks grow and seeing the interactions between the adults and chicks is particularly fun to observe.

Their natural nesting area has been flooded recently so in the past 4 years our Lakes Association has worked with Loon Watch of Wisconsin to put out a loon platform for nesting to ensure baby chicks are part of the future on the lake.

Loons are so interesting to watch – they can dive for such a long time that when they go down you never know where they will pop up. We rarely see more the one pair of loons on our lake but occasionally hear many loons together at night.

A Documentary Onstage

by Mark Weinberg

FIRES IN THE MIRROR, part of Anna Deavere Smith’s “On the Road: A Search for American Character” series, is a profoundly moving and very human exploration of the terrible events that took place in the Crown Heights neighborhood of New York in 1991. In her introduction to the play, Ms. Smith wrote, “My sense is that American character lives not in one place or the other, but in the gaps between the places, and in our struggle to be together in our differences.” By juxtaposing the actual words of 26 different characters, the play reminds audience members that while none of us can separate our perception of events from the context of our own lives, we must at least make an attempt to understand each other.

The title of the play might suggest that each of us mirrors the world as we see it, often distorting reality in the process, but the performance of it in a theatre, during which each actor plays multiple characters who often see things very differently, offers a site of and an opportunity for reflection where, as one reviewer put it, “the passions and fires of a specific moment can be examined from a new angle, contemplated, and better understood.” The angles at the intersections of experiences, of lives, and of ideas informs every element of MCT’s production of FIRES, from the set to the assignment of roles.

In this way, looking at an event from multiple points of view, FIRES combines the journalistic technique of interviewing subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance. This style of Documentary Theatre, or Verbatim Theatre, has a long and rich history, extending at least to Erwin Piscator and Bertolt Brecht’s development of Epic Theatre in Germany in the 1920s. Both playwrights used non-realistic theatre techniques to present critiques of dominant ideologies. As in Epic Theatre, the characters in FIRES are not presented as part of a realistic story, speaking as if the events shown to the audience are happening for the first time. Rather, the characters are story tellers, and it is the audience’s task to put the pieces together to make meaning.

Documentary theatre began in the U.S. during the Great Depression. The Federal Theatre Project, originally funded by the U.S. government to employ out-of-work actors and other theatre-makers, developed Newspaper Theatre. During its performances there was no attempt to hide the fact that the actors were representing (not impersonating or living as) the characters. Their performance techniques were meant to comment directly on reality, not to create a fictional place. Information became key, and the audience became the protagonist through what has been called “a rhetoric of fact,” although one could argue that the presentations were designed to present the facts in a certain light. It is not surprising that the government found such presentations subversive and stopped funding the theatre. In Brazil, Augusto Boal’s Newspaper Theatre productions even led to his imprisonment and torture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ritz-Theatre-Power-1937.jpg

When we look at Newspaper Theatre, and at FIRES IN THE MIRROR, it is easy to see the importance of social and political crises to the playwright’s decisions about content and the performance aesthetic. It is not surprising then that Documentary Theatre became significant again in the late 1960s, when the Civil Rights, Feminist, and anti-war movements, spurred on by overt racism, sexism, and the Vietnam War, compelled a new generation of theatre makers to find techniques to comment on social crises and injustice. Often organizing as collectives, groups like the Living Theatre (PARADISE NOW), Bread and Puppet Theatre (using 12 foot tall puppets to represent corporate America), El Teatro Campesino (performing agitprop plays for farmworkers on the back of trucks), and the San Francisco Mime Troupe (performing plays such as FRIJOLES about economic policy in Golden Gate Park) in the U.S., and The Theatre Workshop’s OH, WHAT A LOVELY WAR! (a musical ostensibly reporting on World War I, but really commenting on contemporary events) in England used highly theatrical presentations of information and opinions to challenge “dominant media and state narratives around economic and social oppression, democracy, equality, and the rule of law.” Simultaneously, author/activists like Daniel Berrigan in THE TRIAL OF THE CANTONSVILLE NINE and Peter Weiss in THE INVESTIGATION used court transcripts to create dramatic accounts of the trial of Catholic anti-war activists and the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials respectively, exploring contemporary clashes between power, justice, law, and morality using the actual words of others.

One can see the movement towards “Verbatim Theatre,” developing plays from the real lives, experiences, and words of actual people-as-characters, as having two branches. One branch is autobiographical in which the artist is source, character, and performer. In plays like Tim Miller’s MY QUEER BODY, Spalding Gray’s SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA, and Holly Hughes recounting of her trial in front of the Supreme Court as one of the NEA Four, the performer’s emotional interpretation of their own experience of reality shapes the narrative and the performance. Closer to home, the Chicago Workers’ Collaborative is creating powerful plays out of their own experiences of oppression to share information and demand change.

The other branch focuses on the interpretation by the performers of the words of other people. Moises Kaufman’s THE LARAMIE PROJECT, which presents the actors as both interviewers and the people they interviewed, is a powerful exploration of homophobia and violence. Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s play THE EXONERATED, composed of interviews with individuals who have been released from death row, is designed to create empathy with those who have suffered and to raise questions about the death penalty. Still Point Theatre Collective in Chicago is currently developing a piece by interviewing people involved in the illicit drug trade about their lives.

http://www.annadeaveresmith.org/category/about-anna-deavere-smith/

Anna Deavere Smith is one of the most lauded documentary/verbatim playmakers. FIRES IN THE MIRROR and TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 (about the Rodney King riots, trial and verdict) have been performed hundreds of times and have set a high bar for this style. Her web page describes her newest endeavor THE PIPELINE PROJECT. Its centerpiece is her play NOTES FROM THE FIELD: “Based on interviews with hundreds of individuals, the play shines a light on the lack of opportunity and resources for young people living in poverty and often suffering with regard to their physical and mental health, and how these circumstances often lead them into the criminal justice system. ‘The Pipeline Project’ also seeks to extend the conversation on these pressing issues beyond the theater into America’s communities through audience discussions, public convenings, and other events.”

Rather than tell us what to think, her plays and projects are an invitation to confront contemporary events and issues of social justice. She honors the individuality of her characters while challenging the societies and cultures in which they live to change. Her plays are emotional calls for empathy, understanding, and action. At the intersection where two directors, two actors, and 26 characters met, MCT’s production of FIRES IN THE MIRROR hopes to stimulate audiences to continue the conversation.

For more information, see http://www.annadeaveresmith.org/. 

Keycards & Comedy: A Conversation with Director Ryan Schabach

by Marcella Kearns

Ryan Schabach has technology on the brain.

“I’m thinking about the play all the time,” he confides. “It’s like software running in the background, constantly updating itself.”

He and I are strolling in Red Arrow Park, under the shadow of City Hall. We’re looking for shade so we can discuss his upcoming work at the helm of UNNECESSARY FARCE, the first production of MCT’s 45^th season. It’s a serendipitously appropriate backdrop—the play follows an accountant and police officers’ undercover hunt to catch an embezzler of city funds.

“Keycards,” he says suddenly. He’s fully present, but I can see the program running, the wheels turning as he walks. He’s operating on fifteen levels at once as we find a bench and settle in. “Right now,” he explains, “I’m thinking about how there are a hundred keycards in this play! I need to track them. We all need to know who has what keycard when. We need to know how long it’ll take to grab a keycard and get through three doors.”

Preparing to direct any piece means combing over an astonishing amount of detail. For Ryan, that includes determining exactly when FARCE takes place, as the script requires specific technology—a video camera behind a ficus, videotapes, a “big brick of a cell phone,” and, yes, that host of hotel keycards.

That’s not all. Playwright Paul Slade Smith has upped the ante on the formula of a bedroom farce with this piece (yep, read “undercover” as a double entendre). Most feature the convention of comic near misses through slamming doors, usually around six; FARCE sports eight. Many classic farces’ characters have the feeling of caricatures; they’re painted with broad strokes. With FARCE, Ryan shares, there’s something extra, something earnest about the heroes of the play. “This is new territory for me,” Ryan says. He’s worked with MCT as an actor, fight choreographer, and playwright, but he’s about to make his directing debut for the company. “I’ve spent so much time on the boards looking and listening out. The director’s job is to be an audience member, to look for clarity of moments. I’ve just got to see if the math works out here,” he adds, laughing.

Given the challenges of this particular play, from its design to that comedy math, he’s confident about how to achieve clarity in rehearsal: working precision and pacing from the beginning. “In order to give my artists the best footing from which to develop the play, I need to start with what is the one thing actors have to be confident on. In this situation, it’s space, surroundings, tempo, pace. We’re going to work on character, yes, emotional values, and more, but first we need to find out when a door slams. That informs the rest. With comfort will come the chance to deepen in.”

I’m not surprised by his reply: Ryan’s one of the most gifted and precise comedians with whom I’ve ever worked. He’s inventive, buoyant, and kind in the rehearsal hall. I ask him about his love for comedy, and he practically glows with his devotion. “Comedy is the hardest of all the genres,” he declares. “It’s taken most of my time and dedication to this craft. I could spend a lifetime figuring out these clown roles. A million lifetimes.”

I detour, jumping on the notion of time. Farce is an ancient form, constantly reinvented with each new generation of audiences. I want Ryan’s take on its thriving in our culture: “Why comedy, why farce? Why don’t humans ever get sick of farce?”

“An innate need to laugh,” he replies, and gazes out at the park. Joggers and Harleys pass us east to rendezvous at Bastille Days. Business-attires ending their days loosen ties and cut corners on crosswalks. Downtown Milwaukee in July is swimming with sunlight and a festival mood. For all that, there’s more to this portrait of a summer afternoon, more to this place than we can speak on in an hour. Yet, Ryan manages to address it as he hits at the heart of this vocation.

“We already live in a world that has a lot of suffering in it,” he reflects. “What if we use comedy to achieve change? What if we say, ‘Let’s laugh at this terrible situation’? In the audience, I may realize ‘Oh, I need to change this.’”

He elaborates. “What theatre does best is that it allows for empathy. Comedy, when produced well, allows the audience to have an involuntary physical reaction. We laugh. When that happens, it makes us instantaneously reflect. It opens our hearts, souls, selves. With that involuntary reaction, we have recognition. We see characters, real characters, in a ridiculous situation, and we think, ‘I’ve been there.’ We laugh, we gasp, we think, ‘I got out of it. Oh! I hope they get out of it!’ Theatre, comedy, allows us to have hope. To believe in hope.

“As opposed to whatever the opposite of comedy is called… tragedy? No, not tragedy...”

We both set to thinking.

“Defeatism,” he decides. “We see a betrayal, a darkness onstage, our empathetic reaction is going to be ‘that’s how the world is.’ You’re defeated.”

Ryan speaks generally in this moment, but I think back to something he’s said early in our conversation—that we, as artists, have a responsibility. I smile. What comes to mind in that moment is a real groaner, but I can’t help but think it: necessary farce.

Here’s to the clowns, Schabach. I can’t wait to see them. Keycards and all.

On Civil War and Civil Discourse: A Reflection on BEN BUTLER

by Robert S. Smith

Despite the Civil War ending over 150 years ago with a Union victory, events in Charlottesville, VA and debates over Confederate statues affirm that indeed the cultural wars spawned from the conflict remain with us today. BEN BUTLER provides a timely, historically significant drama that echoes the persistence of what W.E.B. DuBois coined, “...the problem of the color-line...” While this play captures the set of negotiations that informed the decision that ultimately secured a Union victory – that is, welcoming black people into the war effort so they too could fight to end slavery - the themes of the play ask critical questions about race and race relations in this country.

African Americans have provided valiant contributions to every military conflict that earmarks United States nationhood. From the Revolutionary War forward, Black people have fought and died for a country that, from its inception codified race-based slavery, later recognized Jim Crow segregation, and still fails to resolve racial inequalities in many arenas. From the Colonial Era through the Civil War, the impetus to fight was always freedom and emancipation. After the abolition of slavery, African American participation in military conflicts hinged on the belief that fighting for one’s country would lead to socio-political and socio-economic equality. While many have documented and heralded these patriotic feats and acts of heroism, public awareness of these contributions remains desperately low. The Civil War, however, was a particularly important fight given what was at stake. Despite the incessant denials of Union leaders, led by President Lincoln, African Americans knew the Civil War was a fight over slavery and therefore over their status as people. BEN BUTLER provides a glimpse into the decision that ultimately gave the Union army its greatest weapons; 4 million people who had intimate knowledge of the enemy, and a tireless commitment to throw off the shackles of slavery for good. This exchange between Shepard Mallory and General Butler highlights the historic moment:

MALLORY. General, all I’m saying is that we’ve been trained to build fortifications. We can do that facing north or we can do that facing south. The uniform and the gun and standing alongside your troops, well, that part is up to you.


BUTLER. You are delusional. Do you know that?

MALLORY. We can stay here and help to kill Virginians or you can send us back where we will help to kill you. We want to stay here and help you kill Virginians. That doesn’t seem too delusional to me. That’s just good sense.

Prior to the full welcoming of African Americans into the war effort in 1863, a Union victory remained elusive. The addition of African American servicemen, and Black women in various roles, eventually helped secure a Union victory.

But wartime participation was never a guarantee of full citizenship, especially during the Civil War. In fact, in 1861 African American status before the law was dictated by the pernicious Dredd Scott decision in which it was determined that black people were not and never had been considered citizens of the United States. Contrary to collective imaginings about enslaved people, they were certainly aware of these legal developments and understood that the ending of slavery necessarily included citizenship. Much like the War for Independence, or even WWII as a war against fascism, wartime service was a direct indication of one’s commitment to the nation and therefore ought to include fundamental rights. BEN BUTLER recognizes the ways African Americans navigated the Civil War with an eye on the prize of full citizenship, which to them was synonymous with freedom.

MALLORY. So, I am not a slave and I’m not a free man….What should I say I am?


BUTLER. Why do you have to say you are anything? I don’t walk around telling people I’m a Presbyterian. Just keep your mouth shut.

MALLORY. Yes, sir. I will do that, sir. And thank you, sir.


BUTLER. “Thank you”? For what?


MALLORY. Thank you for, well, for interpreting the law and applying it in such a good way to this particular situation. Thank you, sir.


BUTLER. You really have nothing to thank me for. Your situation is not improved over what it was when you were at Sewell’s Point.


MALLORY. Maybe things aren’t a lot different than they were. But they’re a little different. Just a little. Just a little bit better. When you are counting on favors from white men, I’ve learned not to expect too much.

This exchange also reminds us of the tension between a people daring to be free citizens, and another people who cannot imagine them free, nor as equals before the law. One of the core challenges presented by race and racism rests in the negotiation around Black identity. And it is in this nexus between race and identity where W.E.B. DuBois’ classic work remains so poignant. The legendary scholar wrote, “...the Negro is...born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, - a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world....One ever feels his two- ness, - and American, a Negro: two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body....” This “double-consciousness” where Black people traverse two worlds, one as Black Americans, the other as Black people who live in America, has been protective and made space for revolutionary undertakings. It is witnessed in the performative acquiescence that kept slave owners unaware of slave resistance and revolts; in the formation of Black institutions that softened the blow of Jim Crow and also served as anchors during the Civil Rights Movement; and even in the cultural productivity that hid the nuances woven into Negro spirituals, or in the brash, social commentary of hip hop lyricism. Throughout the play, Mallory has to craftily mask his revolutionary self to keep Butler at ease. The fugitive slave had learned this performance throughout his life as a bondsman. Yet, despite having to perform he nonetheless manufactured a reservoir of human dignity. This nuance is captured here by legendary author Ralph Ellison in his haunting work Invisible Man, “I am not complaining, nor am I protesting either. It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen, although it is most often rather wearing on the nerves.” A similar commentary is found in this exchange between Butler and Mallory:

BUTLER. Mr. Mallory, may I ask you a question?


MALLORY. You’re the general. Seems to me you can do pretty much anything you want. Isn’t that the way it works?


BUTLER. Most of the time.


MALLORY. So ask me.


BUTLER. Are all Negroes like you?


MALLORY. (Takes a moment to consider how he should answer.) Yes, sir. Every one of us is exactly the same. I’m glad you noticed that.


BUTLER. You are making sport of me.

MALLORY. No, sir. I’m just letting you know that once you’ve met one Negro, there is really no point in meeting another one. Don’t even waste your time.

BEN BUTLER uses history to force us to consider our nation’s past, and how its remnants shape our present. It revisits the Civil War, when the nation was nearly torn asunder, and in doing so reminds us of the toll paid along the paths of liberty and democracy. It dares us to remember that African American contributions were central to winning the Civil War, out of which the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th Amendments were born. It requires us to consider the meanings and preservation of identity in the face of daunting attacks on one’s true self. And in our city, like many other cities across this nation, BEN BUTLER dares communities to embrace the distinct wounds that are the progeny of our nation’s failings with racial equality.

Robert S. Smith is the director of the Center for Urban Research, Teaching & Outreach at Marquette University.

Embracing Uncertainty: BEN BUTLER in Rehearsal

by Mike Fischer

“There is a law. The law is clear. Fugitive slaves must be returned to their owners.”

So says General Benjamin Franklin Butler to runaway Virginian slave Shepard Mallory. Mallory is seeking refuge in the Union fort Butler commands in the heart of Virginia. Less than 24 hours earlier, Virginia had formally seceded from the United States. 

As playwright Richard Strand suggests in his play BEN BUTLER, things aren’t nearly as “clear” for Butler as he’d initially imagined. Butler may later say to Mallory that “everything is fine like it is.” But throughout Strand’s play, both the law and life itself prove otherwise, springing surprises that will forever alter the script Butler inherited – while making him a pivotal player during one of the most significant dramas in all of American history.  

With a hefty assist from Mallory, both Butler and his adjutant – Lieutenant Kelly – eventually open their hearts to the prospect that they might play their scenes in that history differently. Strand approached his play with a similarly open mind. “It is hard for me in retrospect,” he said during a March 2016 interview in American Theatre magazine, “to be sure what I had in mind when I wrote the play.”

For trained lawyers like Butler, soldiers like Kelly – and, yes, theatre artists like Strand – moving forward often involves summoning the courage to be uncertain or even lost. Straying from the path opens one to new ways of seeing. It frees the mind of the rituals and conventions that lead us to trace increasingly narrow circles. And it’s integral to how the phenomenally talented Michael Cotey approaches directing, as he’s making clear once again in directing Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s production of BEN BUTLER.

Multiple Choice(s) . . .

I spent time with Michael and his cast during the second week of BUTLER rehearsals. 

Michael Cotey (left) and the cast of BEN BUTLER:
Marques Causey, Drew Brhel, Chase Stoeger,
and David Sapiro.

The cast’s initial three days of invaluable table work – during which they’d explored the historical background to Strand’s play, as well as what makes their respective characters tick – were now behind them. Full runs of the play – during which the cast starts from the top of the show and works all the way through to the end – were still ahead of them. 

The rehearsals I attended occupied that unsettling but also exciting middle period during which actors were first on their feet, immersing themselves fully in each scene while playing with everything from where they moved to when and how Mallory nudged Butler and Kelly toward a moral awakening. 

Does that awakening happen for both men all at once, like an epiphany? Or did they – like most of us whose nagging conscience natters away at us even as we stubbornly continue to sleepwalk – gradually stumble toward a new dawn?

In challenging his actors to answer such questions, Michael urged them to exercise what Keats once referred to as “negative capability”: opening their minds to the many ways one might play a scene, without prematurely feeling compelled to choose one of them. Actors understandably want to lock down how long they hold a beat, how to inflect a line, and when to move in on a scenic partner; at some point they must do these things so that a production can cohere. 

But just over one week into the rehearsal process, Michael was in no rush for his actors to get there. Doing so risked overlooking possible solutions to a scenic problem – just as Butler risked missing a legal and practical solution to the dilemma posed by runaway slaves if he assumed he already knew all the answers. 

Butler, like the actors embodying this story, needed to take time to ask questions. Was he just going to interpret history? Or would he be an agent who might change it? 

. . . And Alternative Histories

During the two full days I watched rehearsal, Michael repeatedly sidestepped his four actors’ attempts to pin down how they should play a particular moment. 

“Just try something,” he said to them, more than once. Pick a place to stand or move, he’d suggest, without specifying the specific line where it should happen. He and his cast played with adding comic bits – in a script that includes a generous helping of humor – which he freely admitted he might later take out. Michael encouraged the cast to use as much of the stage as possible, while conscious that at some point they’d need to make definitive choices involving direction and space.  

“Everyone right now should be trying all the choices that come to them and seeing how they play out,” Michael said to me during a pre-rehearsal chat in MCT’s conference room. 

“Actors sometimes stop themselves midstream and then back up because they’re afraid of making the wrong choice and are trying too early to make the right one,” Michael continued. “I want actors right now to be making choices that may feel wrong, but that then cascade into other choices we might have otherwise never known are possible. And even if one makes a choice that ultimately doesn’t make sense, it can help us figure out what the right choice is.”

Michael emphasized that as a director, he himself regularly makes midstream adjustments, as he tries to practice what he preaches to his actors: remaining open to the hidden possibilities within a script. A moment. A performance. A life.

“You think you know what you want, but then you see your actors rehearsing the play and you learn more about what the play is,” he said. “You’re also learning how the actors in your cast work, and what’s the best way to speak with each of them about what you see. 

“I often feel full of BS in the early stages of rehearsal, because I know I’ll adjust what I’m saying and how we’ll proceed, based on things I see in the room. That’s why, in the first few weeks of rehearsal, I don’t like giving my cast an ultimate destination or saying ‘this is what you’ve got to do.’ I want them to figure some of that out for themselves. I want us to figure that out together.”

Much as Butler does, with the help of Shepard Mallory and Lieutenant Kelly. 

For what’s true in Michael’s rehearsal room is also true of the characters these actors play in BUTLER: By recognizing that history is contingent and messy rather than preordained, we can better appreciate and more fully inhabit each minute of the present, while leaving ourselves available to the full potential of the future. 

“So many possibilities,” George says at the end of Sondheim’s SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. For “every second of time,” as Walter Benjamin once wrote, could be “the strait gate through which the Messiah might enter.” One just need open’s one eyes. And see.

MCT Board Member Profile: La Toya Sykes

by Max Seigle

1. WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

I was born in Chicago, then moved to Mendenhall, Mississippi and came to Milwaukee when I was in 6th grade and have never left. My family lived in the Harambee, Franklin Heights and Washington Park neighborhoods and I graduated from Washington High School. From there, I enlisted in the Army and served my tour based in Hanau, Germany. I served as an equipment parts and records specialist, and had to make sure all the weapons had ammunition and computer systems were functioning properly. 

La Toya Sykes with students from Our Next Generation

I returned to Milwaukee and began my higher education receiving an associate’s degree in liberal arts and sciences from Milwaukee Area Technical College. I went on to Concordia University to earn a bachelor’s degree in management and communications. I completed a master’s degree program at Springfield College with a major in human services and minor in community psychology. 

2. HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT MCT?

I learned about MCT from current board member Mickey Ripp. In collaboration with my work at Our Next Generation in Milwaukee, Mickey invited a group of Our Next Generation students to attend an MCT show and expose them to a part of the city’s culture they had never experienced before. The show was LOBBY HERO and the students loved it! Afterwards, they were treated to a talkback program with the actors and production staff. It was such a positive and amazing experience that I felt I had to do some work with MCT and that was part of the reason why I joined the board.

The other part was artistic director Michael Wright and managing director Kirsten Finn. They are so open, honest and transparent — you can ask them anything. They are also really good at articulating what a show is about in “real world” terms and selling their product to diverse audiences.

3. WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO BRING TO THE TABLE AS A NEW BOARD MEMBER?

I hope to bring a more diverse population of theatregoers to MCT. I work in a part of Milwaukee where families often budget more to go to the movies and not the theatre because they think it’s too expensive. I want to let them know that seeing a play can be affordable and you won’t “break the bank.” There are so many things that companies, like MCT, do to bring in patrons, like “pay what you can” nights and a variety of subscription packages at different rates. I want my community to become season ticket holders — we just have to get the message to the masses!

4. FAVORITE MCT PLAYS YET?

So far, my favorite play has been SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE JERSEY LILY. It was very entertaining and had a lot more laughs than I anticipated. I also really enjoyed the pace of the production. I brought some of my students from Our Next Generation (third to seventh-graders) and the play kept them engaged the whole time! When we were on the bus getting ready to leave, one of the actors from the show was heading out and came on board to say hi and the kids thought that was so cool! It was the icing on the cake for that visit!

Students from Our Next Generation after a matinee performance of
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE JERSEY LILY.

5. WHAT DO YOU DO PROFESSIONALLY?

Since 2014, I have served as the President and CEO of Our Next Generation (ONG) in Milwaukee. It’s a nonprofit youth organization with after-school programming during the school year and camp in summer time.

We offer Homework Club which is ONG’s oldest and most time-tested method of academic intervention and relationship building.  Our award-winning Outbound Learning Program combines the academic support and one-on-one mentoring of Homework Club with opportunities to expand students' horizons beyond their own neighborhood.  We bus students to participating corporate and community partner sites, where they meet employee and community member volunteers. This gives students the opportunity to see the possibilities!

We also offer art and literacy programming that most students don’t always get in school anymore. When they came to MCT, they found out that the theatre is a rich space with so many roles to pursue — actors, writers, production staff, administration and more. Over the course of the year, we touch about 1,000 youth and their families. One of the things I love about the opportunity to lead this organization is that, often times, the children are introducing their families to something new and positive in the community based on their experiences at Our Next Generation. 

Before Our Next Generation, I worked for the YMCA of the USA. I ran a college access program in 40 states and created cohorts of professionals to come together to help students find pathways to higher education.

6. WHAT DO YOU DO FOR FUN? ANY HOBBIES?

I love food! I like to go out and try different restaurants and cuisines around Milwaukee.

I love to travel, too. Over the last few years, I’ve been afforded the opportunity to do more travel and visit new places in the world. Last year, I traveled to cities in 10 countries, including Hong Kong in China, Thailand, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and Israel. Thailand was probably one of my favorites — the food was great and the people were really friendly and welcoming. When I was there, I had a chance to experience some of the communities more intimately and see how the natives live and eat and just get a whole different level of appreciation there. I love sharing my travel experiences with family and friends and introducing them to parts of the world they’ve never been to. I want to show them that if you work hard, you can play hard, too!

7. WHERE TO EAT BEFORE A SHOW?

I love Mason Street Grill downtown, that’s one of my favorite spots. Emperor of China on Brady Street has really good Chinese food. Five O’Clock Steak House is my favorite place to get a steak in town and they make fantastic homemade desserts. They are not only “bananas” with the steak but “bananas” with the dessert, too!

8. FAVORITE WISCONSIN SPOTS

I like taking getaways to Wausau. The city has a nice small-town feel with great food and a great space for “R and R.” You can really clear your mind for the road ahead.

I really like the Fifth Ward area in Milwaukee. It’s wonderful to see how the neighborhood is changing with new restaurants and revitalized spaces.

I’m a big sports fan and I’m excited about the new Fiserv Forum. I love living in a city where we have so many professional sports and the level of access is really good to get tickets.

I’ve really grown to enjoy what Milwaukee has to offer, and it’s even better now as an adult being able to sprinkle in different entertainment options, like shows at MCT.

9. ANY OTHER ORGANIZATIONS YOU ARE A PART OF THAT YOU ENJOY AND WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT?

I serve as Vice President of the Zonta Foundation Board, an entity that exists to raise and disburse funds to organizations who share our mission of empowering women and girls through service and advocacy. I also serve on the President’s Advisory Board at Carroll University.  I am a member of African American Ladies Empowered to Grow Opportunities (A-LEGO) and the Milwaukee – WI Chapter of The Links, Incorporated.

10. BACK TO MCT: WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE PEOPLE IN THE AREA TO KNOW ABOUT THIS THEATRE COMPANY WHO MAY NOT BE FAMILIAR WITH IT?

I would tell people first that MCT is just a darling place to be. There is not a bad seat in the house.

You don’t have to dress up, you can just come as you are and you’ll find the staff is very friendly.

The plays are amazing. These are New York-style shows produced right here in our backyard. The artists are so at point in their craft.


I also tell people that coming to an MCT show is a great date thing to do but coming as a group is a lot of fun, too!