Ozaukee Living local
  • Home
  • Stories
  • Events
  • #LiveMusicLove
  • Wisconsin Theatre News

#EditorOfOzReviews Wisconsin Live Theatre 

The theatre is the only institution in the world which has been dying for four thousand years and has never succumbed.  It requires tough and devoted people to keep it alive.
John Steinbeck                    

​Be sure to subscribe to Ozaukee Living Local's weekly newsletter to get the latest in Wisconsin Theatre News!

Next Act Theatre presents: CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION

4/28/2025

0 Comments

 
Picture
By Mary Boyle

For their final production of their 35th season, Next Act Theatre in Milwaukee chose a play that embodies the magic of acting.  A "love letter to the theatre", CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION by Annie Baker (Body Awareness, Uncle Vanya, The Antipodes) will most certainly resonate with anyone who’s ever taken a theatre class or anyone who loves live theatre; but, more importantly, the play demonstrates, at its most basic level, how theatre connects people and why that is so important.

Directed by Cody Estle, Circle Mirror Transformation follows five people from Shirley, Vermont who have signed up for an adult acting class at the local community center over the summer.  Marty (Tami Workentin), the teacher, is also the co-executive director of the community center.  Marty is joined by her husband, James (Mark Ulrich); Schultz (Reese Madigan), a recently divorced carpenter who makes artistic chairs; Theresa (Elyse Edelman), a single woman who is new to the community and still recovering from a difficult breakup; and, Lauren (Chloe Attalla), a high school sophomore who hopes to get the lead in West Side Story at her school in the fall.

As the class goes through the standard repertoire of embarrassing and awkward acting exercises, the audience, in the forced empathy that is live theatre, must feel as uncomfortable as one would imagine an adult acting class at a rec center could be, while exploring emotions, sharing memories, and revealing private thoughts and secrets to virtual strangers.  Gradually, the class begins to sync – to be fully present without judgement or projection – which allows them to connect, both with themselves and each other.  Who needs therapy when you could take an acting class?

Tami Workentin is pure brilliance – this may be the best role I’ve ever seen her in – and Chloe Attalla holds her own in her debut performance alongside a cast of Milwaukee’s finest.  Perfectly (and locally) cast and executed, from costumes to set, Circle Mirror Transformation is alternatingly humorous and heartbreaking, but mostly humorous; moreover, it’s a master class in the struggles of being human and the healing power of theatre that simply must be experienced.

CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION runs through May 18th at the artistic home of Next Act Theatre, located at 255 S. Water Street in Milwaukee.  Tickets may be purchased by calling (414) 278-0765 or online at www.nextact.org.
 
Live your own real-life CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION with adult acting masterclasses offered by the Milwaukee Rep at Next Act Theatre! Sign up for Intro to Acting on May 19, Discovering Shakespeare on May 21, or both. Register here! (Ticketholders get a 10 percent discount on either class! Check your email for the discount code!)

Next Act Theatre recently announced their 2025/26 Season!  Join them for the Wisconsin Premieres of SANCTUARY CITY by Martyna Majok, BOSWELL By Marie Kohler, SWING STATE By Rebecca Gilman, and the U.S. Premiere of DINNER WITH THE DUCHESS By Nick Green.
 
About Next Act Theatre
Since 1990, Next Act Theatre has been engaging the hearts and minds of audiences with intimate, compelling productions intended to stimulate thought, foster the exchange of ideas, and promote the development of new perspectives and understanding.  Next Act believes that stories work best when they involve characters in the midst of a struggle or a quest. Audiences identify with them, becoming emotionally and intellectually invested. The character’s situation, tragedy or triumph becomes the audiences’ to endure, mourn or celebrate. The theatre proves itself, then, as essential to the nourishment of our human spirit by bringing us together to examine, experience and explore the human condition, perhaps coming away with knowledge and perspective that only a good story can deliver.



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Mary Boyle

    Reviewing live theatre in Wisconsin since 2014.  Proud member of the American Theatre Critics Association.

    americantheatrecritics.org

    #OzTheatre

    Memories Dinner Theater 
    Cedarburg Cultural Center 
    Cedarburg Performing Arts Center
    Cedarburg Children's Theater 

    Port Summer Musical Theatre 
     

    Dance
    Pommersche Tanzdeel 

    Music
    ​Lakeshore Symphonic Band 
    Ozaukee Chorus

    ​Port Washington City Band

    #MkeTheatre

    Milwaukee Repertory Theater 
    Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
    Skylight Music Theatre 
    Florentine Opera 
    Milwaukee Opera Theatre
    First Stage Children's Theater
    Next Act
    Renaissance Theaterworks 
    Theatre Gigante 
    Vanuard Productions 
    Secret Handshake Productions
    The Constructivists 
    Boulevard Theatre 
    Optimist Theatre

        Shakespeare in the Park 
    ​Bombshell Theatre Co.  
    Kith & Kin Theatre Collective
    Pink Umbrella Theater Co.
     
        Accessible Theater for All
    Morning Star Productions 
    Kids From Wisconsin 
    ​Milwaukee Youth Theatre


    Dance 
    Milwaukee Ballet 
    Danceworks
    Kho-Thi Dance Company 
    Water Street Dance Company 
    Wild Space Dance Company 
    Warped Dance Company 


    Music
    Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
    Festival City Symphony 
    Present Music 
    Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra - MYSO 
    The Milwaukee Choristers

    #WITheatre

    American Players Theatre
    Spring Green, WI
    Fireside Theatre
    Fort Atkinson, WI
    Door Shakespeare
    Northern Sky Theater
    Peninsula Players Theatre
    ​Third Avenue PlayWorks

    Door County, WI 
    Summit Players Theatre
        Shakespeare in State Parks
    Forward Theater Company
    Madison Shakespeare 
    Children's Theater of Madison 
    ​Madison Opera

    Madison, WI
    Sunset Playhouse
    Elm Grove, WI
    Wilson Center
    Brookfield, WI
    Waukesha Civic Theatre
    Lake Country Playhouse

    Hartland, WI 
    West Bend Theatre Co.
    Musical Masquers 
    Spotlight Productions
    West Bend, WI
    Lakeshore Productions, Inc.
    Random Lake, WI
    Kettle Moraine Playhouse
    Slinger, WI
    Sheboygan Theatre Co. 
    TYA, Sheboygan
    Weil Center
    Sheboygan, WI
    ​Falls Patio Players 
    Menomonee Falls, WI
    Schauer Arts Center
    Hartford, WI
    Ghostlight Theatre Co.
    Fond du Lac, WI
     Fond du Lac Community  Theatre
    Fond du Lac, WI
    In Tandem Theatre
    Fond du Lac, WI

    Music
    Kettle Moraine Symphony
    ​
    Umbrella Groups
    United Performing Arts Fund 
    Milwaukee Theatre Alliance
    Imagine MKE
    World Premier Wisconsin
    Mad Stage 
    Wisconsin Dance Council
    ​
    Wisconsin Arts Board  

    Small Arts & Culture Cohort
    ​

    Categories

    All
    Broadway
    Broadway At The Marcus
    Digital
    EditorOfOzReviews
    First Stage
    Forward Theater Co.
    Holidays
    Madison
    Milwaukee
    Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
    MkeTheatre
    Musical
    Renaissance Theaterworks
    Theatre
    The Rep
    Youth Theatre

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022

    RSS Feed

Published By:

Picture

Ozaukee Living Local
A Community Supported Publication

OLL is always looking for Contributing Writers and Photography, which is an excellent way to highlight what your business or organization is doing in Oz.  Not a writer but have a Story Idea or Event Submission?  Just contact us at:
 [email protected]  

Contact Us

[email protected]

Join our mailing list today!  One email newsletter a week, every Friday, with everything you need to know about what's happening in Oz.  
Subscribe Now
  • Home
  • Stories
  • Events
  • #LiveMusicLove
  • Wisconsin Theatre News