PRESS

July 22nd, 2008. Jaymee Sherman reviews Systems for Vital Source.

July 17th, 2008. Burt Wardall reviews Paint the Town for Vital Source.

July 15th, 2008. Russ Bickerstaff reviews Paint the Town for The Shepherd.

July 4th, 2008. Russ Bickerstaff blogs about Systems.

July 5th, 2008. Russ Bickerstaff interviews Rex Winsome.

July, 2008. Artsy Schmartzy previews Paint the Town.

June, 2008. Russ Bickerstaff previews Paint the Town.

June 18th, 2008. Artsy Schmartzy starts a debate!

May 20th, 2008. Unofficial PIAD 3 Review.

May 14th, 2008. Russ Bickerstaff reviews Play in a Day 3.

April 25, 2008. Russ Bickerstaff reviews Cracks in the Floor and 31.

April 24, 2008. MKE Magazine asks us to pitch our show.

April 16, 2008. Russ Bickertaff previews Cracks in the Floor and 31.

April 15, 2008. Russ Bickertaff interviews Wes Tank for Cracks in the Floor.

March 28, 2008. Bus Rickertaff runs into us, on the bus no less!

March, 2008. Jonathan West adapts Berzerk!!! script into short film.

March 27, 2008. Jonathan West interviews us for his Big Mouth Artsy Schmartsy Podcast.

March 2008. Russ Bickerstaff pre-views Ides of March Dance off on his blog.

March 2008. Rex Winsome quoted on Artsy Schmartzy

Jan 29 2008. Artsy Schmartzy muses about 8 1/2 x 11.

Jan 2008. Russ Bickerstaff discusses 8 1/2 x 11, on his Shepherd Express blog.

Jan 2008. Vital Source Online publishes this review of Berzerk!!!

Jan 10 2008. The Onion AV Club recommends Berzerk!!!

Jan 2008. Artsy Schmartzy participates in Berzerk!!!

Jan 10 2008. Russ Bickerstaff previews Berzerk!!! in the Shepherd Express.

Dec 13 2007. Russ Bickerstaff mentions Insurgent as a solution to stagnant local theatre.

Dec 6 2007. Russ Bickerstaff writes for 8 1/2 x 11.

Oct 18, 2007. MKE Magazine includes us in their cover article on Milwaukee Arts Collectives.

Oct, 2007. Artsy Schmartzy upstages us.

Sept 22nd, 2007. Rex Winsome rants against Shakespeare on the nightly news.

Aug 8, 2007. Artzy Schmartzy meets Lucky and Pozzo.

July 22, 2007. Vital Source Online reviews Play in a Day.

July 5, 2007. The Shepherd Express publishes a review of Made in the Mouth.

July 2007. Shepherd Express previews Made in the Mouth.

June 2007. MKE previews Made in the Mouth.

January 2007. Vital Source Online reviews Golden Apollo.

December, 2006. Vital Source Online reviews Gorilla Theatre: Berzerk.

October 14, 2006. Someone talks about Lucky and Pozzo in their blog.

September 23, 2006. VLAD!! Watch the slideshow, he's there!

August 24, 2006. Jonathan West (Bialystock and Bloom) tells MKE magazine that we want to take over the world.

June, 2006. OnMilwaukee says you should know us.

May 18, 2006. Mke Magazine publishes a profile of Ben and Tracy, regarding our efforts with INSURGENT THEATRE.

May 11, 2006. The Shepherd Express publishes a review of The Plight of the Ruling Class.

May 1, 2006. Vital Source Online publishes a review of The Plight of the Ruling Class.

April 27, 2006. The Shepherd Express publishes a preview of The Plight of the Ruling Class.

July 25, 2005. OnMilwaukee.com publishes an article about The Astor Theatre that includes an interview about None of These is Nothing.

January 2005. Riverwest Currents publishes a preview of Bring the War Home.

January 2005. The Shepherd Express publishes an interview about Bring the War Home.

January 19, 2005. OnMilwaukee.com publishes a piece on Bring the War Home.

September 1 2003. The Vital Source publishes a review of ReVerb.

July 15th, The Shepherd Express published this review of Paint the Town.
Tuesday, July 15,2008
Revolutionary Tale

Theater Review

By Russ Bickerstaff

  One of two Insurgent Theatre shows to open at the Alchemist Theatre this past weekend, Rex Winsome’s Paint the Town plays out like some grim fairy tale of modern revolution. Winsome plays a radical known only as Big Red who lives in a converted space in a disused section of an urban subway system with co-revolutionary Nadia Mensche (played by Kate Pleuss). Nadia’s mother was a radical in Europe prior to settling down in the U.S., and Red sees potential in her to be very influential as well. Nadia is tied to the world through her family, present onstage in the form of her half-brother, Arthur (played by Jason Hames).

  Hames, Pleuss and Winsome narrate much of the story out of character with the kind of energy that speaks to a great enthusiasm for the story they’re telling. There’s a pleasantly whimsical sense of fun about the way they deliver the story, which goes a long way toward making the heavier dramatic elements of revolution feel less overwhelming.

  As a playwright, Winsome has veered far enough away from the intellectual theory of social revolution to keep the story comfortably character-driven. As an actor he does a pretty good job of delivering the casual social elements of his own script. The early parts of the story come across as an enjoyably bizarre twist on the traditional domestic sitcom. Red sits there at his desk working on a bomb or some such and there’s Nadia coming through the door with a bag full of groceries she’s lifted off some stranger.

  The dialogue between Red and Nadia is written accessibly enough to sound as though it wouldn’t be entirely out of place accompanied by a laugh track, but lofty enough to be casually engaging to anyone familiar with abstract philosophy. Their intellectual intimacy is cleverly represented in debates that quickly evolve into verbal chess matches, only audible in the form of a series of philosophers’ names. Portraying that kind of intimacy onstage could be disastrously challenging, but Winsome and Pleuss have more than enough of a rapport to make it work. In the role of Nadia’s half brother, Hames adds just enough drama to create the perfect kind of outside friction necessary to drive the plot.

Paint the Town runs through July 27 at the Alchemist Theatre.