next season at The Rep

A few articles make mention of The Rep's season next year; the final paragraphs of this article were of special interest to me:

A sharp-eyed examination of the picture of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 2007-'08 resident acting company that accompanied last Sunday's season announcement package revealed an increase of two persons over the current season's ensemble. Brian Vaughn will return to resident actor status after several seasons of freelancing around the country. Much of that freelancing occurred here, so most persons didn't realize he was not an official member of the Rep's troupe.

Gerard Neugent is new to the resident company. A Milwaukeean since he came here to attend Marquette University, Neugent has worked extensively at the Rep as well as the American Players Theatre in Spring Green and many other theaters in the state.

Veteran Jim Baker, who was in the picture, is taking a leave of absence for the season to rehabilitate his back. Baker suffered a serious spine injury during rehearsals for "King Lear" last summer and had to drop out of the production. Although he has returned to the stage, Baker's back continues to need attention.

The Rep has done little touring in the past 20 years, but the huge success of a traveling "Guys on Ice" production this season will result in the company going back on the road in 2007-'08. Nineteen of the 25 performances of "Guys" the Rep mounted in 15 communities were sold out. The production played to 15,735 persons in January and February.

The tour ranged from Janesville and South Milwaukee to Eagle River and Ladysmith. Red Wing, Minn., was the only stop outside of Wisconsin.

Eight of the cities sold out their initial performances so quickly, they added a second show. Two of those added a third.

"Guys on Ice" is about several ice fishing Packers fans, and some of the venues continued the theme beyond the stage. In Middleton, the Madison Muskie Club hosted a fund-raising dessert reception, erected a lobby display of fishing lures and gave a short presentation via DVD before each performance. For the Cedarburg stop, a patron who was already familiar with "Guys on Ice" created an exhibit of ice fishing equipment in the theater lobby.

Manitowoc went further than a mereexhibition. An ice fishing shanty contest was held in a downtown park. The public voted on their favorite shack by throwing beer bottle caps into a minnow bucket located in front of each contest entry. The winner was determined by weighing each bucket.

Another James Kaplan-Fred Alley musical, "The Bachelors," which had its world premiere in the Rep's Stackner Cabaret six years ago, will hit the road next season after a Jan. 15 to 27 run in the Stiemke Theater. Rep associate managing director Annie Jansen Jurczyk expects more cities to be on the tour for 2007-'08.

The season announcements for Milwaukee Rep next year and American Players Theater, where I shall be this summer, can be found here.