Photo by Mark Brautigam.
#5: “Current Tendencies” at the Haggerty Museum of Art.
Overwhelmed by elves, sugarplums and other holiday iconography? Well, it’s the perfect time to clear the visual palette and take in some of the finest image and object makers in the city. Among the 10 Milwaukee artists represented are Reg Baylor’s delicate and bold portraits, Sharon Kerry-Harlan’s iconographic textiles and Mark Brautigam’s hauntingly empty photographs (shown above). And there’s nothing like the quiet of an art museum after endless hours of sleigh-bells jingling ring-ting tingling.
#4: The Best of Combat Theatre at Milwaukee Youth Arts Center.
Combat Theater is theater in the trenches – participants have 24 hours to create and stage a short play, starting from scratch (themes and locations are picked out of a hat). And this week, you have a chance to sample the best spontaneous (more or less) creations from the past decade. In true Bunny Gumbo fashion, they’ll range from the silliest of the silly to the thoughtful and slightly serious. But surely a good time will be had by all.
#3: Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s “Messiah.”
On it’s own little road trip – before it makes a big road trip to NYC later this season – the MSO takes Handel’s beloved oratorio around the city spreading melismas of joy along the way. The symphony has assembled an impressive quartet of soloists, who will sing along with the always impressive MSO Chorus. Check the symphony’s website for the weekend’s schedule.
#2: “After Dark” at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Sure, performance artist Marina Abramović can create powerful rituals that mesmerize and shock. But did she ever create her own holiday? Something for, um, “The Rest of Us”? No! Viva Frank Costanza and his grand holiday alternative, “Festivus.” The Milwaukee Art Museum caps its year of “After Dark” celebrations with the Festivus for the Rest of Us, and we sure hope there will be the traditional Feats of Strength and Airing of Grievances. And why not? Milwaukee, after all, boasts the first and only place where one can purchase Festivus Poles. And some have argued that it is the Queens of the Midwest. ComedySportz Beth Lewinski hosts.
#1: Ex Fabula’s “Family Ties” at Turner Hall Ballroom.
Speaking of “grievances,” this might be a fine time to get slough off the year’s residue of family slights and annoyances, and prepare for the next family holiday gathering. Milwaukee’s fabulous storytelling collective gives you a chance to share and hear stories of the ties that bind, including – we’re sure – ones appropriate for the holiday season. Meaning they will involve drunk uncles at family gatherings, or perhaps something a little less “sit-com.”
