Point Made

 The Milwaukee Film Festival is over, and the last performance of the theatre season is on the horizon. You can always tell because the marketing people are already selling next year's season. My friend Jeanne and I have already committed to The Rep and Next Act. My friend Pam and I will reserve for Gigante and Constructivists. Only money stands between me and more season ticket subscriptions, but surely I will see more theater next season. May 8 God's Spies Yesterday we saw Next Acts performance of Bill Cains, God's Spies . A Scottish lawyer and a now-famous playwright are trapped in a bawdy house with the resident prostitute. They are trapped because everyone in London is restricted to their quarters as the city is besieged by 'the plague.' The ultra-religious lawyer is torn between his beliefs and the tempting presence of the tart.  The playwright is agonizing over his latest script, King Lear. As the play unfolds, the young lady becomes a theater fan and a helpf...

 Ah, Yes, it's film festival time. For the better part of two weeks, Milwaukee is able to feast on the artistic side of the film business. As I write this on Sunday, April 23, I've seen three films, and I'm heading to my fourth this afternoon. Inserted into this busy schedule a doozy-dough between seatmates Pam Frautchi and Jeanne Kornkven, a visit to a tour of the latest exhibit at The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM), and a play produced by the Constructivists. Yeah! You're right. That's a lot of stimulation for this old guy, but that's why I live where I live. April 30 I missed one film at the festival. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret is a film based on the classic book of the same name, written by Judy Blume. Oddly enough, the film is already in theaters. Unfortunately, we have to go out to the burbs to see it. On the other hand, we will have the opportunity to try Marcus's version of Zaffiro's Pizza. Watch this space. May 3 We still have two fi...

 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...

 My late friend Jack had a saying that's lost on young people; it sure was lost on me. With his version of a Finnish accent, he'd say, " We are too soon old and too late, smart." I've never heard anybody answer the question about returning and reliving their youth that didn't include the covariate that they would know what they know now. Maturation and accepting the onset of the later years of our life goes a long way to mellowing our passions. Chicago Bear fans are less intimidating, and the members of the opposite sex who are age appropriate are far more appealing than we might have thought in our youth. Yes, I will admit some men still try to relive their youth in ways that defy logic. This facet of two late smart prevents athletes from realizing when their best years are behind them. More men than women seem to delude themselves into believing that members of the opposite sex half their age are suitable mates.  I'm not going to deny that some of us old...

 Our unconventional winter weather endures like the unwelcomed guest determined to stay at the party even after everyone else has left. Last Friday evening, my friend and I watched a documentary film at the Oriental Theater. Friday was the official St Patrick's Day, so we were fortunate to find a spot to park outside Whole Foods on Prospect. Fortunate until we walked into a considerable headwind on North Avenue. The wind chill factor dropped the temperatures into a feels-like range in the single digits. Fortunately, the high winds evaporated much of the previous night's rain, so we didn't get icing conditions. After an exceedingly mild winter from November until February, this March, a one-two punch of snow and cold is unseasonable and unwelcome. I forget. Did that gopher see its shadow? Seven Guitars,  @  The Rep I've seen two of August Wilson's plays done for the screen,  Ma Rainy's Black Bottom and Fences.  This was my first theater experience of his work, a...