A talented actor in his own right, Jason Economus has had some extremely memorable performances in Milwaukee. By far the most memorable had to be his turn in the final production of the late Bialystock and Bloom Theatre Company�a production of Edward Albee�s ZOO STORY that brought remarkable dramatic intensity to the stage of the Broadway Theatre Center�s Studio Theatre. This week, Economus look...

The Circus Freakshow had it heyday long before Todd Browning’s 1932  cult hit film FREAKS. The appeal of seeing the utter enormity of human morphology—from the armless and legless to conjoined twins, dwarfs, giants, the surreally obese and so on has never really lost its appeal. Where as people used to have to venture to the circus to see such a thing, the fascination has taken a more socia...

� � Friday night, the UWM Peck School of the Arts played host to the Youngblood blood drive for the Blood Centers of Wisconsin. Myself and thirty or so others donated blood in the hours leading-up to opening curtain of Benjamin James Wilson�s new drama Drive Me To Arson. The blood drive had no direct connection with the play, but Wilson�s somewhat gracefully surreal drama possesses the kind of s...

It’s been over a week since I’ve returned from outdoor theatre ins Spring Green, Wisconsin. The allergic congestion and subsequent inner ear infection have cleared from my head long enough to start speculating on the new Youngblood show . . . Veteran fledgling theatre company (with another two new companies opening shows in a couple of weeks, it’s hard to keep track of exactly who is “ne...

There’s no doubt that Youngblood Theatre is taking a few chances staging the somewhat inaccessibly strange Spirits To Enforce. A show that fuses Shakespearian drama with the superhero genre may come across to many as something of a bastardization of both. As executed by Youngblood, however, the play comes across with a striking clarity that really plays-up the unique qualities of theatre in a...

Youngblood Theatre’s Spirits To Enforce opened last night to a near sell-out crowd. The Superhero/Shakespeare drama/comedy fusion piece was received quite well by the audience. Chicago playwright Mickle Maher’s script is easily one of the best I’ve ever seen staged. Spirits To Enforce brilliantly mixes the accessible with the inaccessible in a script so packed with details that it could e...

With a weekend of five (or was it six?) openings firmly behind me, I finally have time to mention the new Youngblood season that was announced at last week’s performance of The Laramie Project. Youngblood Theatre, which opened no less than three shows in July by way of introducing itself, has a much more relaxed pace in the early part of 2010 with three shows opening between January and April. ...

I ducked out of the Milwaukee Rep party Monday night to make sure that I could make it to the Zelazo Center on time. UWM and Youngblood Theatre Company were staging the Milwaukee end of a worldwide theatrical event put together by the Tectonic Theatre Project. I ran into local actor Robert WC Kennedy on the way out to the show. We talked Spring Awakening and Warhol on the way out to the show. I...

  STUFFY BACKGROUND CRITICISMThe Youngblood Theatre Company closes its opening month with a production of God Bridge—a world premiere of a feature-length play by Benjamin James Wilson. A quick glance at the synopsis and cast list reveals a story that feels very much like an ancient fable or parable. A woman who has lost her son travels with her fiancée to a bridge, where both are accosted...

I had been looking forward to Youngblood’s Savage In Limbo since I first heard of the company back in June--partially because the playwright was John Patrick Shanley (who wrote Doubt) but mostly because it was a play set in a bar that was going to be performed in a bar. (The Landmark to be precise.) Maybe it’s all that Cheers I watched growing-up in the ‘80’s, but I love a classy, old bar....