Pre-show activities
included “Rep in Depth,” an interesting history of the production and its
historical setting, presented by Jon
Daly, the play’s Herr Schultz. VIPs pre-functioned at the same time, with
celebrators including assistant choreographer Jayne Pink, Rep board President John Kordsmeier and his wife, Connie,
along with Rep development veep Judy
Hansen and her sister Kathy Seidel,
co-owners of JK Productions.
Katie Heil, her mom, Ann, and pal Peter Mahler
were also on hand, as were Kathy and
Randy Crocker, soon celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, the
ubiquitous Cecilia Gilbert and pal Kimberly Montgomery, and honorary board
member Bill DeLind.
Aprs show, cast and fans convened in the
Zenden Lounge. Lee Ernst (“Master of
Ceremonies”), there with wife Sandy,
was greeted with accolades. Angela
Iannone (“Fraulein Kost”) arrived in a stunning white gown, accompanied by
an entourage including her UW-Whitewater theater students and playwright Neil Haven, her evening’s “eye candy.”
The two are collaborating on the writing of The
Edwin Booth Company Presents.
Also talking theater
were Gerry Neugent, performing in
the Rep’s upcoming Laurel and Hardy,
and director Laura Gordon; as well
as Julie Solochek, soon departing
for a month hiatus in Bruges,
and Tricia Savitt, who played the
role of a Kit Kat Klub girl in college.
Tragedy Memorialized: The Damned Theatre’s gripping
rendition of A Rising Wind, about the
1860 sinking of the Lady Elgin, was
presented exactly 150 years after the Great Lakes’
worst maritime disaster. Presented in Jim
Haertel’s Best Place
tavern at the Historic Pabst Brewery, the play by Ed Morgan and John Kishline eerily recalled that storm-tossed
night.
Actors Sherrick Robinson, Jonathan Wainwright, Peter
J. Woods, Georgina McKee and
Kishline portrayed characters swept up in the tragedy. Helping with period
costuming was Peter Mortensen, the
longtime Pfister concierge, with sound designer Steven White finalizing a new work for his ensemble, Liquid in
Plastic.
In the audience were the
recently married songman David H.B.
Drake; playwright Mike Neville,
whose recounting of that Lake Michigan catastrophe, Drums and Guns, was presented last year in Milwaukee and New York;
and writer/lyricist Wayne Frank.
Fest Funnies: Before plunging in to the bustle of
Tosafest 2010, B&D and pal Joan
Hummert dropped by Cafe Hollander and met its “director of romance,”
bartender Paul Mayberry. His “love
assistants,” Lauren Johnson and Amber
Keckeisen, were also busy at the tappers. Off-duty Hollander waitress Cassie Nottoli stopped over to
introduce daughter Kylie.
At the bar,
Quad/Graphics’ Nate Sheskey and wife
Kaitlin Lemke with baby Harlan chatted with social worker Jake Kordash and teacher Maggie Berger. Over beverages with
boyfriend Johnny Guolee, Loulou Griffin celebrated her first
day as a Juniper 61 cook.
Wending through the
crowds outside were the Milwaukee Kickers’ First Couple, Alex and Helga Nikolic, writer Mary
Wimmer and husband Mike Fleissner
with pals Rich Napholz and Andy Welniak, and Dean Chapman.
Home Sweet Home: A record crowd of more than 200 packed
Villa Terrace, with some latecomers turned away, to hear Louis Wasserman and Caren Connolly discuss their beautiful new
book, Wisconsin's Own: Twenty Remarkable
Homes.
“This is bigger than our
wedding,” the authors chuckled while Boswell’s Daniel Goldin peddled 50 of their volumes. In the audience were the
writers’ editor, Kathy Borkowski, of
the Wisconsin Historical Society Press; Anna-Marie
Opgenorth, Historic Milwaukee’s executive director; Martha Monroe, curator of Villa Terrace; Steve and Barbara Becker, the latter just back from a Wisconsin
road trip with her sister Heidi Maetzold
and the Beckers’ future daughter-in-law, Carrie
Trousil; photographer Mark Heffron;
artist Jane Boller Stroebel; Dr. Pat and Noreen Regan; Dr. Bob Perchik and Mary Holden; plus Greg and Lisa Postles.
A contingent of UWMers
also enjoyed the talk, including planetarium director Jean Creighton and architecture professor Larry Witzling and his wife, Pat;
Zimmerman Design architect Steve Bach
and his wife, Judy; Laurie Albano, a retired county
landscape architect; and Eric Olsen and
Liz Germanotta, who is related to Lady Gaga.
Mopheads Unite: The monthly “Allis After Hours” hosted
a musical tribute to the beloved Beatles, featuring the snappy Liverpool ’64, with costume contest winners Donna Harry, Marcia Scherrer and Jill Bolanowski all related to the band.
Circulating were Charles Allis Executive Director Maria Costello and her husband, Jeff Jordan; development director Patty Redeker wearing spiffy ’70s-era “Coca-Cola” pants; dog expert
Amy Ammen; and M&I’s Nancy Vander Jagt.
Up and dancing were the
recently engaged Jean Azemove and Ted
Finman. From Port Washington were Paul Heaton, Karen Bares, Tom Mullins
and the Java Dock’s Tolloha Batcha.
If you have any tips for Boris and Doris, contact them at borisanddorisott@aol.com. Their next column will appear in the Oct. 7 issue of the Shepherd.
*/?>
