Notes from FRANKIE AND JOHNNY'S "First Day of School"

by Marcella Kearns

Happy back-to-school season, friends! We’ve recently had our own “first day of school,” so to speak, at MCT: first rehearsal for FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE on August 28. In this bittersweet comic romance, I'll be performing the role of Frankie alongside Todd Denning (Johnny), with Mary MacDonald Kerr directing.

I’m a perpetual student, so I took some notes for you in the hall. Enjoy these assorted thoughts:

*First thing that strikes me is the intimacy of the room. There’s a cozy gathering of friends and fans of MCT whose tradition it is to listen to the first reading of the play aloud. Several of them vanish after the first act. They want to let the second half come as a surprise or, if they know the play, they might like to wait until they get to see the final product onstage in the theatre. The second half of the read-through feels even more intimate. Intimate’s a big word on this one.

*Some of those friends brought snacks. Snacks and coffee: welcome comforts on the first day.

"Nan and Brian in Bed, New York City," an example
of Nan Goldin's work in The Ballad of Sexual Dependency.

*Amy Horst’s costume inspiration pierces me: Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. She showed me pictures before today, and I’ve seen some floating around the MCT office. It’s been driving me crazy why they looked so familiar. Of course it’s during her design presentation to everyone gathered that it clicks. I caught Goldin’s work at the Milwaukee Art Museum a few years ago when it was on exhibition with other photography. I remember what I felt watching it. Discomfort. Openness. Nakedness. Weariness. Loneliness. Nah—desolation. Intimacy. There’s that word again.

*This is such a song for the rarely celebrated.

*Brandon Kirkham, our scenic designer, says Frankie’s apartment in Hell’s Kitchen is “gritty.” My most recent contact with Hell’s Kitchen was a date with a Manhattan (the drink, to be clear) and back-to-back episodes of Daredevil on Netflix. Same setting, a particular pocket of New York City. Just some decades apart, at least as the Marvel juggernaut has framed it now on film and television. What does the script say about the population of New York City again? I grin to think of a few superheroes running around out there somewhere. Most everybody else is slogging along. Frankie? A slogger.

*Johnny keeps a dictionary in his locker at work. I suddenly want to look up the word “intimacy” for how the dictionary frames that word we use all the time. How do you know when you feel true intimacy? How can one ever know?—all you can do is assure another you feel it. But do they? What’s true assurance? All we really have is our own construct of another based on collected evidence. All we really have is their word that our construct of ourselves is somehow discernible and pleasing to them. Gosh, that’s a rabbit hole. I’m remembering that photography.

*On a break, I find myself trying to remember the productions on which Todd and I have worked together as actors before. Turns out three out of the four were Shakespeare. The first? THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. I laugh out loud: MERRY WIVES is actually mentioned in FRANKIE AND JOHNNY.

*Our assistant stage manager’s name is Jena. Jena’s got a giant job ahead of her. I don’t envy her, and I am grateful already for the help I know she’s going to give along with Judy, our stage manager. Funny. I instinctively trust her in part because her name’s Jena, not just because of the position she holds—because my college roommate’s name was Jenna, and she was fantastic. Associations, connections, coincidences bubbling up… Johnny’s big into that kind of thing. I’ve got a few of my own happening here.

More notes to come, friends. In the meantime, a lovely September to you. I have to head to the rehearsal hall.

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's production of FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE, by Terrence McNally, runs Sept. 20 to Oct. 15 at the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre. Tickets are on sale now at 414.291.7800, in person at 158 N. Broadway or our online box office. Visit milwaukeechambertheatre.com for more details.

How THE DETECTIVE’S WIFE came to MCT

By Deanie Vallone

Playwright Keith Huff

If you hadn't heard of Keith Huff a few years ago, by now you certainly should have. The struggling playwright garnered wild success with his Chicago cop drama A STEADY RAIN, which premiered in 2007 at the Chicago Dramatists Playwrights' Theatre and went on to Broadway featuring Hollywood stars Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman. What followed for Huff included co-producing and writing gigs with award-winning shows “Mad Men” and “House of Cards,” multiple awards and fellowships, and a request to write a screen adaptation of A STEADY RAIN. Despite a leap in fame and paycheck, Huff continued writing for the theatre, including a second installment of an (un)official Chicago cop trilogy with the one-woman show THE DETECTIVE’S WIFE.

Daniel Craig & Hugh Jackman in Huff's A STEADY RAIN

THE DETECTIVE’S WIFE piqued the interest of MCT's Producing Artistic Director Michael Wright when he attended the play's world premiere at the Writers' Theatre in Chicago in 2011. He “was totally captivated by Keith Huff's gritty, naturalistic writing, his storytelling technique and the unique premise of the piece.”[1]

Certainly the same elements that made Hollywood mad about Huff made Wright

Huff is also a writer/producer
for "House of Cards"

attracted to the idea of including the play in an upcoming MCT season. But other details had to fall into place first. Around the same time, MCT was developing its Ruth Schudson Leading Lady Fund, hoping to use the fund to “underwrite one actress’s salary each season, thereby honoring other Milwaukee leading ladies.” Once Ruth Schudson recommended Mary MacDonald Kerr, a prolific Milwaukee actress and director, as a possible inaugural honoree, the idea really took off. THE DETECTIVE’S WIFE could not be a more apt piece for this endeavor. With a single-actress cast, all of the work falls on the shoulders of one talented artist. Wright considered Kerr “perfect” to play lead Alice Conroy.

 

Mary MacDonald Kerr

Capitalizing on MCT’s commitment to local theatre artists, Wright and director Jim Tasse drew from UW-Milwaukee's faculty members and students to work as designers and assistants for the show. This decision solidified “yet another phase in [MCT's] continuing partnerships with area universities.”

And so THE DETECTIVE’S WIFE came to Milwaukee. In an interview with RedEye Chicago Huff reported that he's shopping around to multiple networks a TV pilot based on the play.[2] While we wish Huff the best of luck in his further endeavors, we're excited to see a live production. The performance will take place in the intimate Studio Theatre in the Broadway Theatre Center, drawing audience members deeper into this subtitled “ghost story.” We've got chills already!

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[1]    Michael Wright. “Interview,” 3 September 2013. All subsequent quotes from Wright come from this source.

[2]    Julia Borcherts. “Q&A: Keith Huff,” RedEye Chicago, 19 June 2013. Web. 7 September 2013.

Mary MacDonald Kerr

In THE DETECTIVE’S WIFE, Alice Conroy is wife, mother, frame shop owner and an avid fan of murder mysteries. So when her husband, a Chicago homicide detective, is gunned down, she sets out to uncover who did it…and why.

This one-woman show features Milwaukee favorite Mary MacDonald Kerr as Alice Conroy. Mary has been a theatre artist in Milwaukee for 19 years. She made her debut  as Seta in BEAST ON THE MOON at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

THE DETECTIVE’S WIFE marks her twenty-first role at MCT, other roles here include Dana/Darryl in THE SWEETEST SWING IN BASEBALL, Sheila in JOE EGG, Lina in THREE DAYS OF RAIN, Hermione/Perdita in A WINTER’S TALE, Karen in DINNER WITH FRIENDS, Vivie in MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION, Harper in ANGELS IN AMERICA: PERESTROIKA and Sally in VOICE OF THE TURTLE.

Mary MacDonald Kerr in MCT's
BEAST ON THE MOON (1995)

She has also performed as Terry Glimmer in SIDE MAN, Maggie in RED HERRING, Frankie in VOICE OF THE PRAIRIE and Li'l Bit in HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE at Next Act Theatre; Anna in BURN THIS and woman number three in STRING OF PEARLS at Renaissance Theaterworks; and Barbara DiMarco in four different runs of SHEAR MADNESS with Milwaukee Repertory Theater.  

She has been a stage director for ten years, directing CRIMES OF THE HEART for Milwaukee Chamber Theatre; BEAST ON THE MOON for In Tandem Theatre; WOMAN IN BLACK at Renaissance Theaterworks; and THE CLOCKMAKER, VIGIL, PURGATRIO, GREETINGS and GOING TO ST. IVES for Next Act Theatre.

RUTH SCHUDSON LEADING LADY HONOREE

Mary MacDonald Kerr is also the first actress to be honored as a “Ruth Schudson Leading Lady.”

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre was founded in 1975, the brainchild of two local actors, Montgomery Davis and Ruth Schudson.  Throughout Ruth’s career, including 65 productions with MCT alone, she has served as a mentor, role model, and friend to countless aspiring and established actors.  

The MCT board of directors, staff, and friends have honored her achievements by raising over $100,000 to establish The Ruth Schudson Leading Lady Fund.  The Fund promotes the work of women on the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre stage, and embodies MCT’s mission to employ and nurture local theatre artists by supporting the salary of one actress each season. 

When asked about Mary’s designation as the first Leading Lady honoree, Ruth Schudson said, “Over the years Mary and I have shared the MCT stage nine times and each of those plays stands out in my memory because her talent, passion and generosity raised the bar for all of us. So - it is so right that the very first Leading Lady honoree is this shining light of Milwaukee theatre - Mary MacDonald Kerr.”

MORE MCT TIES

Ruth Schudson and Mary MacDonald Kerr
in MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION (1999)

An essential part of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s mission is to employ and nurture local theatre artists.

Jim Tasse, the director of THE DETECTIVE’S WIFE, has also directed Mary in her 1995 MCT debut, BEAST ON THE MOON, as well as in THE GUYS and TEDDYKINS. In addition, Jim and Mary have appeared onstage together in MCT’s DINNER WITH FRIENDS, TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL and TOO TRUE TO BE GOOD. 

We are thrilled to not only welcome Mary MacDonald Kerr back to the MCT stage but also to reunite her with fellow MCT veteran Jim Tasse and to honor her as our first “Ruth Schudson Leading Lady.”

THE DETECTIVE'S WIFE, by Keith Huff, performs September 18 - October 13, 2013. Tickets and information: 414.291.7800 or milwaukeechambertheatre.com