David Hare's Skylight will receive its Wisconsin premiere when the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre opens its 1998-99 season Oct. 17.
The lovers'-reunion drama, which won the Olivier Award for Best Play in London in 1996, begins a six-play season for the professional company, which splits its slate between two spaces -- the 358-seat Cabot Theatre and the 96-seat Studio Theatre -- in the Broadway Theatre Center in downtown Milwaukee.
The nonprofit Equity troupe generally stages small-cast shows, as the company name suggests.
Laura Gordon, Brian Robert Mani and Gerard Neugent are featured. Chamber Theatre founding artistic director Montgomery Davis directs the play, through Nov. 1. Designers for Skylight are Stuart Johnson (sets), Judi Lundberg (costumes), Chester Loeffler Bell (lighting).
Tickets are $17-$29. Call (414) 291-7800 for information. *
Also on the MCT's season:
The Old Settler by John Henry Redwood (Studio Theatre) Nov. 7 - 29.
Madame de Sade by Yukio Mishima (Studio Theatre) Jan. 16-Feb. 7, 1999.
The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams (Cabot Theatre) Feb. 20-Mar. 7, 1999.
17th Annual Milwaukee Shaw Festival (Cabot Theatre): Mrs. Warren's Profession and Pierre Corneille/Tony Kushner's The Illusion Apr. 14-May 2.
Subscriptions packages to the 19th season are available through Dec. 31, 1998 by calling (414) 276-8842. Single tickets are $17-$29. Call (414) 291 7800 for information.
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The mission of MCT, founded in 1979 by Davis and actress Ruth Schudson, is to stage small-cast plays of "literate and philosophical merit while utilizing a pool of the finest local professional actors and artisans."
MCT Marketing director David Anderson told Playbill On-Line the company's roots are in readings and small productions given by Davis and Schudson in Milwaukee homes in 1975. By 1979, they had formalized and incorporated; today MCT occasionally stages larger-cast shows, such as this season's 14-actor Night of the Iguana or Shakespeare plays.
"(The word) chamber originated because...they would perform in intimate spaces that had a chamber-like nature, like someone's den," said Anderson.
-- By Kenneth Jones
