It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Bay View theatre/bar Alchemist Theatre. It’s been even longer since the last time I’ve checked their website. A bit weary over the prospect of a three-show weekend that’s suddenly turn

Patrick Schmitz has reached a rare kind of commercial success as a director, playwright and marketing department for his holiday show. Schmitz’s Rankin and Bass TV special parody: Rudolph the Pissed-Off Reindeer doesn’t open until this comi

New Year’s Eve was a bit odd. My wife and I ended up watching in some drunken improv at the Alchemist Theatre just hours before the first seconds of 2009. The scheduled super-hero-themed New Year's Eve didn't quite happened, as only one woman showed

In arranging an interview with Alchemist Theatre Co-founder Aaron Kopec for an A&E feature, I quickly found out how much time he spends at the place: nearly all of it. The man who helped make one of the most active small theatre spaces in town r

Alchemist Theatre co-founder Aaron Kopec has been able to claim a great degree of success for his one year-old theatre space with a number of sold-out shows. It took a lot of work to get there. Mid last month, he talked to me in the theatre’s bar a

I sit in a comfortable chair on the 28th floor of the Sheraton Hotel Tower contemplating the hour I’m going to be spending in below zero temperatures tonight. The Neo-Futurists' performance space isn’t far from where my wife and I are stayin

I’ve made my decision. It was a decision I’d made in overwhelming sunlight amidst a vicious humidity while sitting by a pool somewhere in a vast, labyrinthine suburban, residential area in Southwestern Florida. I had been sitting the

As winter turns to Spring this weekend, Milwaukee Theatre seems to be looking to stage the darker side of human interaction with a series of openings that mix drama with dark comedy in exploration of dysfunctional relationships.WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGI

Alchemist Theatre opened all the traditional doors for its production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, putting together a pretty solid production. Mark Webber and Sharon Nieman-Kobbert star as older couple George and Martha who play hots to yo

Generally speaking, I like to avoid seeing two shows in a single day. Invariably, the schedule for a weekend gets a bit compressed and I’ll have to see a matinee and an evening show on a single Saturday or Sunday or something. It happens about once