There’s a chill in the air, but it’s still a great weekend to head outside for your aesthetic thrills. After this week, you have to wait for the January ice sculptures. So jump in.
#5: October, Before I Was Born at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
Why? Because a play reading is a chance to check in on a work in progress, and Lori Matthews’ drama about a family waiting to hear about loved ones after a Tennessee industrial accident is, by accounts so far, a winner. It recently won an award at a Virginia new play festival. C. Michael Wright directs this one-time only event with a cast that includes Michael Cotey and Raeleen McMillion.
#4: The Prometheus Trio at the Wisconsin Conservatory.
Why? Because pianist Stefanie Jacob, violinist Timothy Klabunde and cellist Scott Tisdel take a lot of pleasure in finding rarely heard gems in the repertory, and this concert is no exception. They’ll perform a Beethoven trio originally written for clarinet, and works by Eugène Ysaÿe and Édouard Lalo, pieces with beautiful melodies that should showcase the string playing of Klabunde and Tisdel.
#3: The Rivals at Skylight Theatre.
Why? Because world premieres don’t come around every day, and the opening production in the Skylight’s ambitious season should kick things off with a splash of comedy. Kirke Mecham’s The Rivals is loosely based on the famously funny Restoration play of the same name, giving it a particularly American spin by setting it in Newport, Rhode Island at the turn of the 20th century. So real American icons like Vanderbilts and Astors join the play’s famous fictional characters – Mrs. Malaprop and Jack Absolute. The cast includes Skylight favorites Alicia Berneche, Diane Lane and Andrew Wilkowske. And a host of top-notch singers form around the country.
#2: Alverno Presents’ Global Union at Humboldt Park.
Why? Because there’s still time to sip a beer, sit on a picnic blanket and listen to music, and Global Union always ends the summer concert series with a grand, international flourish. Two afternoons of music include bands from around the globe. We’re particularly keen on Blitz the Ambassador, a Ghanian-American rap artist (Sunday), and the Columbian “electro-tropical” outfit, Bomba Estéreo (Saturday). But take our word for it, there’s something here for every taste and style of dancing shoes.
#1: Wild Space Dance Company’s In the Space Between at the Pritzlaff Building.
Why? Because a Wild Space concert is always an event, and the opening of the company’s 25th-anniversary season should be that and more. For this event, Deborah Loewen and the company team up with photographer-video artist Tom Bamberger to turn the historic Pritzlaff Building (325 N. Plankinton Ave.) into a network of spaces charged with images and movement and music (by UWM professor Amanda Schoof). Like the best collaborative works, you are never quite sure what it will amount to until it happens. So just be there when it happens.
Photo: Bomba Estereo, performing at Alverno Presents’ Global Union.
