First Stage receives Eureka Award for its Next Steps program

by Erica Davis

The Business Journal’s Eureka Awards recognize creativity and innovation in business, education and the arts.  First Stage was recognized in the category of performing arts for its Next Steps program for students with autism.

The Next Steps program began last August and has seen continued growth and enthusiasm within the community.  “The Academy philosophy of teaching life skills through stage skills helps so many students gain confidence, make friends, and express themselves creatively,” said Jennifer Adams, First Stage’s Academy director and Next Steps program manager.  “Bringing this opportunity to students on the Autism spectrum, who often don't have the same opportunities as their typically developing peers, is exactly the kind of thing First Stage wants to do, serve ALL the youth in Milwaukee.”

Components of the program include classes that allow students the opportunity to learn social skills among their peers while participating in theatrical and musical activities, as well as sensory-friendly performances.  The performances are specially designed to serve children with autism and their families.

Next Steps, Summer 2012

Adams attended the Eureka Awards luncheon with First Stage Managing Director Betsy Corry on May 10.  “It is a huge honor to be included among all of the innovative companies at the Eureka Awards,” said Adams. “The drive to push our boundaries and transform lives constantly keeps First Stage on the verge of creativity and innovation in the arts.”

Betsy Corry acknowledges the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the Stackner Family Foundation as sources of vital funding for the program.  Adams noted that the support of many families, community partners, students and teachers ultimately helped make the program, as innovative as it is.  “I am so proud of our Next Steps program and look forward to seeing it continue to grow,” she commented. 

“We don’t necessarily have an agenda except to serve more kids and transform even more lives through theater,” added Corry.  “That’s what we really want to do.”

Learn more about Next Steps classes and sensory-friendly performances.

Alumni On Stage for "Gathering Blue"

By Patrick G.H. Schley

GATHERING BLUE, the final Young Company production of the season, is a unique collaboration between First Stage and Marquette University’s theatre program. What makes it even more exciting is that it gives First Stage alumni who are now students at Marquette an opportunity to work on stage with current students. We caught up with Hannah Klapperich-Mueller, who plays Annabella and Kyle Conner, who is the understudy, on their experiences with the show.

When were you an Academy student?

HKM: I started the summer after seventh grade and took classes or interned every year until my senior year of high school.

KC: I started at the Academy the summer after fifth grade, 2004, and kept going until the summer after my senior year, 2011.

Hannah Klapperich-Mueller and Erin Stapleton. 
Photo by Mark Frohna

What do you want to be when you grow up?

HKM: I want to work in theatre, both as an actor and a designer. I am a theater arts and writing intensive English major, and I am involved in the student theater group as well as Marquette’s improv troupe, The Studio 013 Refugees.

KC: Growing up is a LONG ways away. But the plan right now is to stick with theater performance. I’m a theater arts major at Marquette, and there’s never been a day when I’ve thought that this isn’t right for me. Specifically though, I’d love to focus a lot on classical performance. I find that one of the best parts of a play for me is cracking the words and figuring out how to convey them successfully on stage.


What is your role in the play?

HKM: I play Annabella, the wise old woman who helps Kira learn to dye thread and opens her eyes to a new way to see her world.

KC: I’m the male understudy.

What about the Academy experience prepared you for college?

HKM: The Academy prepared me for life in so many indescribable ways, but first and foremost it taught me that the best art happens when you create a safe and trusting place with the people around you, and that working as an ensemble is the most rewarding part of the process. This lesson has been invaluable in my college experience, both in my class work and in my other projects.

KC: I couldn’t even begin to tell you how much the Academy helped me. I was prepared mentally for the workload that I would find in my major. I was prepared for the type of exercises and techniques that were introduced in college. The list goes on and on. A lot of it came from my work with Young Company. Having the chance to work with people like John Maclay, Todd Denning, Angela Iannone, Matt Daniels and so many others really makes you appreciate and understand what you’re learning. It made me strive to work as hard as I could, and for that I’m truly grateful.

What have you learned in college that has expanded or built upon your Academy experience?

HKM: College has reinforced all the lessons I learned at Academy, both in terms of community and the finer points of acting. First Stage was the first place I heard names like Stanislavsky and Chekhov and being in college is expanding my knowledge on all the topics that were introduced to me through the Academy.

KC: As vague as it sounds, I feel that a lot of what I’ve been doing in college has really helped me as an actor be able to pinpoint more specifics about how I perform and how I go about preparing for performances. At the Academy, there was a stress on learning how to prepare yourself for a role and proper techniques that can help you along with that. I find that in college, everything is so much more expansive. That’s not to say that one is better than the other, but I could definitely say that the Academy gave me one of the strongest foundations that helped me be able to grow in so many ways in college.

How does it feel to be back working on an Academy show as an alumni?

HKM: I can’t begin to say how exciting it is to stand in the shoes of the people I looked up to so much when I was an Academy student. I’m honored to be involved and I’m grateful to have this experience.

KC: There are so many emotions honestly. The first time I walked in I just had the biggest smile on my face. Heck, I’m even smiling now thinking about it. There definitely is a different feel, but it’s a feeling of even though my time as a student is over at the Academy, my learning is never going to completely end with First Stage. You can learn so much about all of these performers, and coming back into all of it made me so happy, but also sad to think that I can’t stay longer.

What are you learning from this rehearsal experience?

HKM: Every show I work on teaches me more about acting and the power theater has to touch people’s lives.

KC: My rehearsal experience is different from the others in the sense that since I’m the understudy I don’t have to technically learn everything to be show ready. I’m here if needed, so it’s my job to make sure that I’m ready if an emergency happens. So to actually answer the question, I think that this rehearsal process is helping me to learn more about the different roles that an actor can take in a production.

How do you think Marquette students are benefiting from the collaboration?

HKM: As a Marquette student, it’s wonderful to be able to work with a new group of people and meet other Milwaukee artists. It’s very cool to be able to welcome them onto our stage and share the space we’re used to.

KC: Some of us come from a place where there wasn’t a place that gave the kind of opportunities that First Stage does. So the thought of age appropriate casting may be a thing that they’ve never had the chance to see. The fact that everybody in the show is a strong actor doesn’t hurt to help reinforce that fact either. But what I’m trying to say is that this collaboration is a give and take from both sides and I think that everyone involved is letting their walls down and taking this opportunity to really learn as much as they can about the other.

 

Cast members of GATHERING BLUE

  Why do you think GATHERING BLUE is an important story to tell? What kinds of conversations do you think audience members will have on the drive home?

HKM: This story makes you think about what you want our collective future to look like and the steps we have to take to make it a positive one. I think it will be good for parents and children alike to talk about what it means to have a special talent and how a person can use that skill to make the world a better place.

KC: I think that this piece is special in a way because it so strongly resonates the thought of ‘What if this were to happen’. The story takes you to a whole other world that everyone involved has made seem just as normal as any other day. That’s one of the things that First Stage is great at: making theater relevant for any and all ages. I think this story is great for people to understand the strength that we have in each of us, and will make everybody think about their own strengths.

Why should audiences come see GATHERING BLUE?

HKM: GATHERING BLUE is an opportunity to enjoy theater with your whole family; it’s both funny and profoundly touching, and for many kids who will read this book in school, it’s a great chance to see the story brought to life and experience it in a new way.

KC: Great acting. Great set. Great fun.

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GATHERING BLUE runs May 10-19 at Marquette University’s Helfaer Theater. For tickets visit www.FirstStage.org or call (414) 267-2961.

Preview: First Stage Young Company Graduates to Fully Staged Production

by Peggy Sue Dunigan

 

First Stage Young Company begins a new tradition. The Young Company graduates to its first fully staged production with the world premiere adaptation of Lois Lowry’s Gathering Blue, opening May 10 at Marquette University’s Helfaer Theatre.

Eric Cole’s adaptation of Gathering Blue, the second in a trilogy of Lowry’s post apocalyptic novels, comes to life when the award-winning Young Company collaborates with Marquette University’s Theater Department, although the script was developed in partnership with Oregon Children’s Theatre.

By chance or choice, many of the Young Company actors in the show including Christine Pollnow and Erin Stapleton will be graduating from high school and their time at First Stage Theater Academy. Gathering Blue will be their final performances before heading to college in the fall.



Christine Pollnow at the Utah Shakespearean Festival this fall

Gathering Blue casts Pollnow and Stapleton as the main character, Kira, a teenager who has a visible physical limitation, a person considered unworthy in Lowry's post apocalyptic society. However, Kira’s mother was an accomplished weaver and passed this gift to her daughter before she died. A significant gift, as Kira’s talent becomes more valuable to the primitive culture where she lives, despite her physical imperfections. In an interview with Pollnow, the high school senior said Lowry’s play addresses, “a person can be stronger because of a limitation than others who are considered physically perfect.”

Gathering Blue requires Pollnow to walk with a twisted leg, supposedly a limitation her character was born with. She discovered when rehearsing that this physical characteristic helped considerably in “getting into Kira’s personality much earlier because this usually happens when you step into the costumes and then are completely immersed in the character.” 



Erin Stapleton and Jordan Horne at a Gathering Blue rehearsal

For Pollnow, to christen the first, fully staged Young Company production was definitely worth waiting for, and also incorporates a First Stage outreach to capture teenage audiences. When a teen sees someone on stage, near their age, that individual can be challenged to embrace other new accomplishments or experiences.  At 19, Pollnow sets an inspiring example because after graduation she plans to attend New York University this fall to major in theater. The other actor alternating as Kira and a friend of Pollnow’s, Stapleton, will also be majoring in theater at Webster College.



Another high school senior Jordan Horne was cast as Thomas in the play, a talented carver who befriends Kira. While he connects with Kira as one more orphan in the village, Thomas is expected to restore several lost arts to the village's special celebrations. Horne came away with this perspective on the play that he related, “the arts have fallen by the wayside in Lowry's story, in this setting, because the village fights for food, their survival.”

Horne has performed with First Stage in the Young Company’s Cymbelline, Tom Sawyer, The Thief Lord, and Peter Pan and Wendy. He emphasized how Lowry’s story “glorifies the arts” in this desperately grim culture. The carver, singer and weaver in her story represent all the arts and eventually become valuable to the villagers. Arts that need to flourish and provide soul sustenance similar to the mere necessities in any time period. Horne will also be graduating to the theater program at Carthage College, ready to grow into the next phase of his life. He explains, “I think of leaving First Stage similar to any actor who also graduates from role to role.”

Whatever life course First Stage Theater Academy graduates choose, the young adults take the principles they learned at the First Stage Academy to heart. As the Young Company expands to more full stage productions, this year with Gathering Blue and Romeo and Juliet next season, students following Horne, Pollnow and Stapleton will be further inspired. Pollnow expresses these exact sentiments as she believes playing Kira has been a great role model for her, and she hopes for the audiences, “Kira's not one to take no for an answer, she keeps searching to make something right…and is willing to make a difference in the world.”

Find out more about GATHERING BLUE.                    

First Stage announces JACKIE AND ME extended talkbacks

First Stage is looking forward to hosting Dennis “Bose” Biddle and Ron Rabinovitz for extended talk backs following upcoming JACKIE AND ME performances. Not only have both of these men met Jackie Robinson, but they also developed friendships that had profound and lasting effects on them.

Dennis “Bose” Biddle

Saturday, April 20 & Saturday, May 4 (immediately following the 4:00 p.m. performances)

Dennis “Bose” Biddle, retired social worker and former Negro League Baseball player, began his baseball career at age 17 in 1953. Biddle was entered into the Congressional Record as the youngest person to play in the Negro baseball leagues. Biddle’s baseball career ended in 1955 after a leg injury that never fully healed. He went on to receive is B.A. in social work and worked as a social worker for the State of Wisconsin for twenty-four years. He continues to work with underprivileged youth and juvenile offenders.

Join us as Dennis shares stories of his time in the Negro League and how a dinner with Jackie Robinson changed his life. Dennis will also discuss his reaction to the play and provide information about his organization, Yesterday’s Negro League Baseball Players LLC.

Ron Rabinovitz

Saturday, April 27 (following the 7:00 p.m. performance) & Sunday, April 28 (following the 4:00 p.m. performance)

Ron Rabinovitz became a Jackie Robinson fan, thanks to his father, at the early age of seven. He first met his hero at a Milwaukee Braves/Brooklyn Dodgers game in Milwaukee in 1953. Ever since, Jackie and Ron fostered a long time friendship and one-on-one relationship. In 2011, a documentary titled “Letters from Jackie” The Private Thoughts of Jackie Robinson” was produced highlighting their friendship. Ron has shared his amazing story with corporations, businesses and school children throughout America.

Join us as Ron discusses his reaction to the play and the unique friendship he had with Jackie Robinson that spanned decades.

A very brave boy visits the set of Jackie and Me

By Erica Davis

Zachary Sprader is a typical 12 year old in many ways. He loves all sports, especially basketball, baseball and football.  He even plays baseball on a state baseball league. One of his favorite all-time hobbies is Lego building.

On January 3, 2012 Zach was diagnosed with Early T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.  He went through 7 months of intensive chemotherapy and some radiation to prepare him for a bone marrow transplant.  He received a bone marrow transplant on July 3rd, 2012.  Since then Zach has endured numerous complications as a result of the transplant and has been in and out of the hospital for extended periods of time.  He is on immunosuppressive therapy which compromises his immune system making him more susceptible to infections and viruses.  For this reason Zach is not allowed in public places including school, movies, ball games – you name it. 

Recently Zach's doctors agreed to release him from the hospital just so he and his family could attend a special dress rehearsal of First Stage’s JACKIE AND ME.  Zach’s mom Lisa was able to take a moment to tell us a bit more about Zach and what he had to say about his visit to First Stage.

 

Zach and his family at the Todd Wehr Theater

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a family right now?

Some of the biggest challenges we face as a family is first and foremost keeping Zach healthy, the financial hardships, and not being able to spend time together as a family.  

What would you like others to know about kids like Zach?
Everyone who is going through a journey like Zach’s have many similarities.  I think that it is important to remember that these journeys are long, tough and at times very frightening.  They begin with horrible news of a disease, go through months of treatments, receive life-saving bone marrow, and endure many more months of recovery and sometimes complications from transplant.  Then you hope and pray that the horrible disease won't come back.  

What else should we know about Zach?
Zachary is the bravest young man that I know.  His strength and courage to keep fighting everyday is what keeps us all going. No matter what challenge he faces or what complication is put in front of him, he never gives up hope. He finds the determination to keep fighting.

What did Zach think of Jackie and Me?He really liked how the play resembled the book "Jackie and Me."  He also liked how the director added his own research into the play as well.  He liked that a Rickie Weeks baseball card was used in the story.  I thought the play was outstanding and very profound.  It told such and incredible story.

What was Zach’s favorite part of the play?
The end of the play, when Joey talked about Jackie Robinson's life.

What about Jackie Robinson's story resonated with Zach and your family?

The whole production was just so touching, but what resonated most was how Jackie fought with his heart and strength and not with anger.  Zach realized that if Jackie didn't change the color barrier, life for Zach playing baseball would be different today, as would the world around him. 

Zach's favorite part of his visit was being able to meet Director Jeff Frank, and seeing firsthand what goes on behind the scenes.  After the show, all of the cast members signed a baseball and presented it to him as a keepsake.  He’s been carrying it with him ever since. 

Although Zach’s family is thankful that his Leukemia is in remission, his journey through the complications of his bone marrow transplant continues.

All of us at First Stage are rooting for this very special young man.  Go Zach!

 

 

 

Alumni Spotlight: Luke Kowal

Luke Kowal, current First Stage Board Member and First Stage alumn took a moment out of his busy schedule to speak with us about his days at First Stage and what inspires him to stay involved. 

Luke with First Stage Founder Rob Goodman.

When did you first get involved with First Stage?  7^th grade (12yrs old at the time)

Were you a young performer? Yes

What shows were you in?
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (91-92)
One Thousand Cranes (91-92)
Bridge to Terabithia (92-93)
Frankenstein (93-94)
Peter Pan (96-97)



Luke in One Thousand Cranes (He's on the far right!)

What was your favorite show or First Stage memory?  It’s hard to pick just one, but certainly attending academy classes, or having the opportunity to perform on the main stage along with my sister Anne Kowal in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  I also remember thinking how exciting First Stage was when I was 11 years old and saw my first show, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (89-90).  That made it very special to watch my younger brother Stephen Kowal, perform in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing at First Stage 10 years later.  

How did your experiences with First Stage help shape the person you are today?  I really learned about myself as a person and like many others, First Stage really did teach me excellent life skills through stage skills (except singing).  The musical aspects of First Stage were still in their early stages in my time, but that wouldn’t have helped me anyway!

What inspired you to continue your relationship with First Stage? Tough to say – what doesn’t?!  I had such a phenomenal experience in the Academy, performing and with the people I met at First Stage.  It meant so much in my life that it is a privilege to be involved again in any way.

What is new with you? 
My wonderful wife Alison and I will be celebrating our two year anniversary this month we live in Chicago, IL in the Lincoln Square neighborhood.  Our first child was born in February – Evangeline Lorraine Kowal, thankfully she looks like mom.  I work with healthcare systems throughout the Midwest, and specifically Wisconsin as the Vice President in JPMorgan’s Non-profit banking group.

Get to know John and Seth, playing Joey in JACKIE AND ME

by Jordan Calgaro

John Brotherhood, of Mequon, and Seth Horne, of Wauwatosa, play the lead role of Joey Stoshack in First Stage’s upcoming production of JACKIE AND ME. Both 14 years old, John and Seth have been acting for years and have learned many lessons from their role in this show.



John Brotherhood, Joey in the Monarch Cast



John has been involved with First Stage since he started with the theater academy at age five. Seth has been performing for about four years and debuted at First Stage three years ago.  A love of acting is something they both share; becoming a character and telling messages through storytelling. “My favorite part of performing is at the end of the show when you see the audience smiling and you know that they have enjoyed the show,” Seth said. Similarly, John loves being on stage and finding energy in the silence from the audience, knowing that they are engaged and captivated. “To me, that is something that never gets old. It reminds me that the audience is being taken on the journey of the show,” John added.

With many past roles in numerous shows, Seth and John are not new to First Stage. “My favorite thing about First Stage is the opportunity to get up on a professional stage and perform,” said Seth. “I love meeting adult actors and I love meeting the new kids in the plays.” John has found First Stage to be a place to grow artistically and personally. “For me, First Stage has stayed true to its motto. I have grown as an actor and as a person,” John shared. 

Seth Horne, Joey in the Dodger Cast

Through their role as Joey in JACKIE AND ME, both Seth and John have not only continued to learn and develop acting skills, but they have also learned about the life of Jackie Robinson, his racial barriers and the difficulties and prejudices that came from that. Seth has enjoyed learning about acting and becoming a character. John has enjoyed learning from the show’s subject matter. “The story shows people of my generation how different our society was back then and how far we have come in our relationships with each other,” he said.

According to John, “JACKIE AND ME is a story that everyone, particularly our generation should see!”

ABOUT JACKIE AND ME

Young Joey Stoshack is a headstrong boy with the unique power to travel through time by way of a baseball card. When assigned to write a report on a legendary African-American, Joey travels to New York City in the year 1947 to meet one of history’s greatest baseball players, Jackie Robinson. Through his adventures, Joey witnesses Jackie’s dedication and determination during this turbulent time of segregation. Embark on this uplifting journey that forever changes Joey’s definition of courage, and unites generations through the history and enthusiasm for America’s pastime.