FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Cindy Moran, Public Relations Director, 414-224-1761 January 9, 2007 QUIRKY NEW MUSICAL COMEDY SHOW by Stackner Cabaret Season Sponsor
Stackner Cabaret The candidates for president of the Paranormal Society are set to present a musical comedy show reenacting actual paranormal events that have happened to them. Personal friction, a limited budget and the fact that they are amateur performers take this meeting to other-worldly levels of fun. Tickets can be purchased in person at The Rep Ticket Office at 108 East Wells Street, or by telephone at 414-224 9490. Tickets can also be purchased online 24/7 at milwaukeerep.com. THEY CAME FROM WAY OUT THERE is a delightful quirky new musical comedy by Jahnna Beecham, and Malcolm Hillgartner, the same inventive minds that brought us the Stackner hit CHAPS! during The Rep’s 2004/05 season, along with creative collaborator Michael J. Hume. This Cabaret piece is about the wild antics of a Paranormal Society and their need for electing a new president to run their sincere group of true believers. As we spend some time with Virginia, Zeff, Fleets, Frank and Gair, we’ll be taking a freewheeling journey through all things cosmic: UFOs, goddesses, the Sacred Thing, the Bermuda Triangle, Men in Black, you name it. THEY CAME FROM WAY OUT THERE is sure to be an evening of mind-bending fun and entertainment. Playwrights Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner are prolific creative talents.They wrote the musical CHAPS! The show has played at 25 regional theaters around the U.S. including the Cincinnati Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, Lambs Players Theatre in San Diego, Tacoma Actors Guild in Washington and PCPA in Santa Maria, CA and the Nashville Dinner Theatre. They have been commissioned to write plays for The Cleveland Play House, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre and The Children’s Performance Troupe in Michigan. THEY CAME FROM WAY OUT THERE premiered at the Oregon Cabaret Theatre in March of 2004 and, in addition to The Rep’s production, will also be performed at the Artist Repertory Theatre’s during the 2006/07 season. In addition to being playwrights, Malcolm and Jahnna work in the theater as actors, directors and producers. For five years, they produced THE GATHERING AT BIGFORK, a new plays festival in Bigfork, Montana. Terrence McNally’s Tony award-winning play, MASTER CLASS, came from THE GATHERING AT BIGFORK. As writers, they have also written 120 published books for children and young adults, under the pen name Jahnna N. Malcolm. Publishers include Scholastic, HarperCollins, Bantam, Simon & Schuster, Samuel French and Random House. Their book series, The Jewel Kingdom, was published by Scholastic in 1997 and has sold 2.7 million copies. Last summer, Barnes and Noble published The Jewel Kingdom in hardback. Their parenting book, I’m Counting to 10, was published in March 2001 and is a compilation of humorous columns they wrote for Sesame Street Parents magazine. It received a Parent’s Choice Silver Award for 2001. January 2005 was the launch date for their new Tween series for Simon & Schuster entitled, Love Letters. They are currently writing and producing the For Kids Only series of books for Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. Besides writing the script for the movie, The Ruby Princess Runs Away, they have also written over 200 commercials for TV and radio and 25 industrial films. Their teleplay The Battle of the Bunheads was purchased by ABC for an After School Special. They wrote the script for Virgin Games’ CD-ROM Clandestiny and for four years wrote the award-winning interactive Baby-sitters Club stories on Prodigy and The Baby-sitters Club Third and Fourth Grade Adventures CD-ROM. Their movie script, Scared Stiff, is scheduled to go into production in spring of 2007. Michael J. Hume, co-author, is an actor, writer and director. He is a company member at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has appeared in 15 seasons with OSF. Productions he has appeared in include THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, KING JOHN, ROOM SERVICE, THE BELLE’S STRATAGEM, THE ROYAL FAMILY, OEDIPUS COMPLEX, WILD OATS, RICHARD II and NOISES OFF, to name a few. In a recent article for The Rep’s Prologue publication, Jahnna Beecham commented on her new show, "The seed for THEY CAME FROM WAY OUT THERE was planted 26 years ago when Malcolm and I were young actors working in Seattle. Some friends put on a midnight show at the Empty Space and we crowded into the tiny theater on Pike Street with the rest of the theater community to see what our pals were up to. What we saw was one of the funniest plays ever – THE PARANORMAL REVIEW by Erik Brogger. We laughed ourselves silly and thought how it would make a terrific musical.” Some years passed, they met another writing partner, Michael J. Hume, and THEY CAME FROM WAY OUT THERE was the result. Included in the talented cast of THEY CAME FROM WAY OUT THERE are: Jill Mari Anderson (Virginia), making her Rep debut appearance; Lenny Banovez (Zeff), a member of The Rep’s 2006/07 Acting Intern Company; Chip DuFord (Fleets), returning to The Rep after having performed in the Stacker 2004/05 hit CHAPS!; Michael Herold (Frank), a favorite in the Stackner Cabaret and recently seen in The Rep’s production of A CHIRSTMAS CAROL; and Katherine Strohmaier (Gaia), returning to the Stackner Cabaret after wowing audiences last season as Rosemary Clooney in THE BLUE ROSE. (To learn more about our Resident Acting Company, Guest Actors, or our Intern Company, please visit milwaukeerep.com). The production/design team for THEY CAME FROM WAY OUT THERE includes: Susannah Barns (Scenic Designer); Jeffrey Stolz (Costume Designer); Aimee Whitmore (Lighting Designer); Malcolm Hillgartner (Music Director); Jon Newton (Music Accompaniment); Mark S. Sahba (Stage Manager) and Kelly O’Rourke (Stage Manager). Tickets to THEY CAME FROM WAY OUT THERE range in price from $25.00 to $38.00. For more information or to charge tickets, call 414-224-9490. Tickets can be purchased online 24/7 at milwaukeerep.com. For group sales of 20 or more, call The Rep Ticket Office at 414-224-9490. Special Events for THEY CAME FROM WAY OUT THERE
For more information about The Rep’s Access Services, please contact The Rep’s Ticket Office at 414-224-9490. QUIRKY NEW MUSICAL COMEDY SHOW by FACT SHEET THEATER: Stackner Cabaret DATES: January 12, 2007 – March 11, 2007 DESCRIPTION: The candidates for president of the Paranormal Society are set to present a musical comedy show reenacting actual paranormal events that have happened to them. Personal friction, a limited budget and the fact that they are amateur performers take this meeting to other-worldly levels of fun. PERFORMANCES: Wednesday 1/17/07 - 7:30 p.m. Tuesday 1/23/07 - 7:30 p.m. Tuesday 1/30/07 - 6:30 p.m. - Early Bird Wednesday 2/7/07 - 7:30 p.m. Wednesday 2/14/07 - 7:30 p.m. Tuesday 2/27/07 - 7:30 p.m. TICKET OFFICE LOCATION: TICKET PRICES: TICKETS/INFORMATION: 414-224-9490 or buy tickets online at milwaukeerep.com TICKET OFFICE HOURS: ### Open to the public before and after all evening performances, Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s newly-remodeled Stackner Cabaret, located on the second floor of the Milwaukee Center, is our own full-service bar and restaurant. Featuring delicious dinners, as well as late night cocktails, coffee, and desserts, the Cabaret is the ideal meeting place for patrons attending Rep performances. For dinner reservations, call 414-224-9490. The Stackner Cabaret is now smoke-free. Milwaukee Repertory Theater is a nationally recognized theater company that presents a critically-acclaimed selection of compelling dramas, powerful classics, award-winning contemporary works and lively Cabaret shows on three stages from September through May. The Rep also produces an annual production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. The Rep’s home, the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex, contains the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater, the Stiemke Theater and the Stackner Cabaret. The Rep is also “home” to a Resident Acting Company of 11 actors who perform with The Rep throughout the season. The Rep is proud to be a cornerstone member of the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF), which provides major annual financial support. The Rep is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), a management association of some of the nation’s largest non-profit professional theaters that collectively bargains with the unions that represent the actors, directors and designers that work at The Rep; a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the nonprofit professional theater; and a member of Theatre Wisconsin, the statewide association of non-profit professional theaters. This theater operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors' Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. The set, costume and lighting designers are members of United Scenic Artists, a national labor union. This theater is an equal opportunity employer. Except in plays where race itself is an issue, casting is decided based on ability, not race. Milwaukee Repertory Theater |
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