Point Made

 It has been a fantastic year for my experiences at the theater in Milwaukee.  Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf  This was an incredible production of this classic play. Staged in the small box of the Broadway Theater, the Milwaukee Chamber Theater did themselves well. It featured four outstanding actors and a wonderfully complex set that brought the story to us with humor and horror. There Is A Happyness That Morning Is . The title is not a stolen line from Shakespeare, despite how much it reads that way. Instead, the play is a complex yet funny/serious banter between two academics that ends with one of the most outrageous and entertaining twists I've ever witnessed.  The banter was carried on a wave of emotional timing by actors Cassandra Bissel and Neil Brookshire, with direction by Mary Macdonald Kerr at Next Act Theater. Tidy Cassandra Bissel more than likely didn't even move from her dressing room when she starred in this one women play in which the protagonist rev...

 At the Milwaukee Film Festival. (MFF) First warning! You can not see all of the films. There are far too many films. Scheduling them between the five venues is an art form rather than a technique. Some films will sell out before you can book them. An observation. Someone once said there is no such thing as a bad golf course. Indeed, some are better than others. This is true of the films curated for the festival. I've often thought that rather than sweating over which directors gave us films we liked in the past or who is starring in the film being considered in making a choice, possibly throwing a dart at an enlarged schedule might do just as well. I can't remember not attending the MFF after moving to Milwaukee in 2003. I know there were two versions, and there may have been a blip between them. The current organization started in 2009. It has the distinction of being the 5th largest in the US based on the number of films shown (300+), the length of the festival (4/20-5/4, 20...

 The grass has ris'. I wonder what the temperature is? With one movie, two doctor's appointments, visits to the MAM, an art gallery, and two new (to me) restaurants, it's been a busy week. Taking in the creepy but fascinating thriller Inside, starring Willem Defoe. The imprisonment of an art thief in the highly secure confines of a wealthy art collector's home leads us on a journey to discover what art is and how it can be defined. Talking about discovery, and we will, I had my teeth cleaned and an evaluation of the process concerning the discovery of the masses on my pancreas and bladder. The mass on my pancreas is tiny and will be further examined by a scope inserted through my throat and into my intestines. I anticipate we might have to biopsy this growth. If it isn't cancerous, it might be a matter of further observation rather than removal. If it doesn't grow, it might not be a problem. Other good news is I've been assured that regardless of how the tw...