DOOR COUNTY - It's time for stages across the Peninsula to turn up the lights.
The arrival of June means four professional Door County theater companies and one well-established community theater company are kicking the Door's highly regarded theater season into high gear. Here's what these five companies are producing this summer and fall.
Peninsula Players Theatre
The 89th season at Pen Players, America's oldest professional resident summer theater (founded in 1935), offers audiences a warm comedy by one of America's greatest playwrights, the Midwest premiere of a screwball comedy, a rockin' musical, a poignant romantic drama and a "new" Agatha Christie mystery.
It runs from June 18 through Oct. 20 in the company's all-weather, 600-plus-seat pavilion on the shore of the bay of Green Bay, where patrons can relax and picnic on the grounds while watching the setting sun over the waters of the bay and enjoy the ambiance of the beer garden and other gardens before performances.
The season is:
June 18 to July 7: "I Ought To Be In Pictures," a play by one of America's foremost comedy writers for stage and screen, Neil Simon ("The Odd Couple," "Barefoot in the Park," "The Sunshine Boys"), about a burned-out Hollywood screenwriter who reunites with the estranged teenage daughter who's looking for help launching her acting career.
July 10 to 28: "The Angel Next Door," the Midwest premiere of a new madcap comedy by Paul Slade Smith, who wrote two earlier comedies that appeared on the Players stage, "Unnecessary Farce" and "A Real Lulu." This new work has playwrights, actors and other guests at a Newport, Rhode Island, mansion experience an unexpected incident that threatens to ruin the show they are creating, causing comic chaos.
July 31 to Aug. 18: "Million Dollar Quartet," a jukebox musical by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux based on the day in December 1956 when rock 'n' roll pioneers Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis found themselves together by chance with legendary producer Sam Phillips in the recording studio at Sun Records in Memphis, leading to perhaps the most famous jam session in music history. The show features some of the rock legends' most famous hits as well as group numbers.
Aug. 21 to Sept. 1: "Mary's Wedding," an award-winning love story by playwright Stephen Massicotte that begins the night before the title character's wedding in 1920, when her dreams take her back to her relationship with a young farm boy who left to fight in World War I and never returned, but who remains alive through their letters and her imagination and memory.
Sept. 4 to Oct. 20: "The Stranger," an adaptation by Agatha Christie of her own 1924 short story, "Philomel Cottage," that was lost and never was published until 2017, finally premiering in Saratoga, New York, in 2019. The psychological thriller has lead character Enid questioning her seven-year engagement and looking for a bit of spark in her lackluster life when the charming Gerald Strange, who shares her longing for adventure – but may not be all that he seems – enters her life.
Peninsula Players Theatre is at 4351 Peninsula Players Road, Fish Creek. Curtain times are at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 7:30 p.m. Sundays except for a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee to close each show. Tickets are $47 to $53 except for "Million Dollar Quartet," which is $51 to $56; ages 18 and younger receive a 50% discount. Gift certificates are available online. For tickets and more information, call 920-868-3287 or visit peninsulaplayers.com.
Northern Sky Theater
It's a big 2024 for Northern Sky, which features a 30th anniversary run of one of the company's early smash hits, four world premiere musicals and an election-year tradition in its six-show, outdoor/indoor season of original musicals.
Three shows run in repertory during the summer, having started June 12 and running through Aug. 31, on Northern Sky's outdoor stage in the amphitheater in Peninsula State Park. Its indoor stage at the Gould Theater will run one show throughout that summer season and follow with two shows in a fall season from Aug. 31 to Oct. 26. Shows will be held every day except Sundays.
The season on the outdoor stage is:
"Belgians in Heaven" and "Hell's Belgians": It's a pairing of a 30th anniversary production of Northern Sky’s iconic musical comedy and the world premiere of its prequel. This is the 10th time "… Heaven" has been produced on the Northern Sky stage since its 1994 premiere but the first since 2012. The musical comedy by Frederick Heide, Lee Becker and James Kaplan explores how two bickering Belgian-American brothers from a Southern Door County farm learn to love each other with a little help from above.
"Hell’s Belgians," also written by Heide, Becker and Kaplan and featuring characters from "… Heaven," focuses on Angelique, the guardian angel in the original show, as she contends with dark forces to earn her wings. It was written to make sense to those who have yet to see the original.
The two "Belgians" shows will play together Mondays and Thursdays at 6 and 8:30 p.m. – "Heaven" is the first show on Mondays, "Hell's" the first on Thursdays – while "Hell's Belgians" goes it alone at 7:30 p.m. Fridays. "Heaven" will not take the stage July 4.
"The Fisherman’s Daughters": The work by Katie Dahl has its world premiere after a preview production in 2021. It tells the story of two sisters in Fish Creek in 1908 who must reckon with their differences when Wisconsin’s governor decides to turn their homestead into part of Peninsula State Park. It's on stage at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The indoor season at the Gould is:
"Girls on Sand": This world premiere by company members Lachrisa Grandberry and Molly Rhode, with music by Alissa Rhode, takes a summery, female spin on the Northern Sky megahit "Guys on Ice" as lifelong friends Grace and Zoey spend a July day on a beach trying to follow their one beach rule – no negativity. It premieres on the Gould stage Thursday, July 11, and runs at 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays through Aug. 24.
"Reality Trip": Another premiere, this new Richard Castle-Ron Barnett musical follows three college friends vacationing in Door County who want to get off the grid and reconnect when a charming AI home assistant installed at their rental cottage makes it tough for them to truly unplug, calling up the importance of human connection in a digital world. It opens over Labor Day weekend at 2 p.m. Aug. 31 and Sept. 2, then runs at 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 12.
"And If Elected": Northern Sky's traditional presidential election-year show, written by artistic director Jeff Herbst, Dave Peterson and the late Fred Alley and premiering in 1992, features facts, jokes and songs from U.S. presidential elections dating back to the very first one on 1787. It runs at 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays from Oct. 14 to 26.
Northern Sky Theater is a nonprofit professional organization that produces original musical shows in repertory. Tickets for outdoor shows are $27 for adults, $17 college and teenage students, $12 ages 3 to 12 for standard seating; $35, $25 and $20 for premium seating. Shows at the Gould at $38 for adults, $25 college and teenage students, $20 ages 12 and younger. For tickets or more information, call 920-854-6117 or visit northernskytheater.com.
Third Avenue Playworks
After kicking off its season in May with a three-week run of "Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson," TAP in downtown Sturgeon Bay playhouse heads into summer with four more shows for 2024, including an original chamber musical based on a classic Christmas story for the holiday season.
The season is:
June 12 to 30: "Stones in His Pockets," with actors Neil Brookshire and Dan Klarer playing 15 characters, including two resourceful Irish men working as extras on a Hollywood film being shot in a small Irish town, leading to a tale of corruption, mischief and pathos in this work by Marie Jones.
July 17 to Aug. 18: "Jeeves Saves the Day," a comedy by Margaret Raether, adapted from stories by P.G. Wodehouse, in which the faithful title character, valet to loopy Bertie Wooster, tries to save his employer from misfortune at the hands of his relatives as Bertie is caught between the machinations of his fierce Aunt Agatha and the pleadings of his cousin Egbert.
Sept. 25 to Oct. 13: "No Wake," a work by Erica Berman about a determined, bullhorn-equipped, retired professor trying to save the loons that are dying on his lake, a local teenager hired to clean the house next door, and the growth of a bond between them even though they grate on each other at first.
Dec. 11 to 29: "A Gift of the Magi," an original musical by James DeVita (book and lyrics) and Josh Schmidt (music and lyrics) based on the classic O. Henry tale of a young, poor married couple trying to figure out how to afford to buy a Christmas gift for each other.
Third Avenue PlayWorks is at 239 N. Third Ave., Sturgeon Bay. All shows have an unticketed pay-what-you-will preview performance two days before the official opening night, followed by a ticketed final preview the night before opening (the first date given above is the pay-what-you-can preview). Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; each show also has at least one 2 p.m. Friday matinee. For tickets or more information, call 920-743-1760 or visit thirdavenueplayworks.org.
Door Shakespeare
What is likely William Shakespeare's most famous tragic romance is joined by an adaptation of a comedic Jane Austen novel when the outdoor stage in the Garden at Bjorklunden hosts Door Shakespeare's 28th season from July 3 to Aug. 17.
Playing in repertory on the Door Shakespeare stage are the Bard's "Romeo and Juliet" and Austen's "Emma," the latter adapted by Joseph Hanreddy.
The company has staged "Romeo and Juliet" twice, but not since 2015; its other production was in 2003. Directing the 2024 production is Dimonte Henning, who has acting, directing and producing credits with theaters in Milwaukee and across the Midwest, including Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, and is a founding member of the Milwaukee Black Theater Festival.
Henning's version of "Romeo …" will follow the original text and setting but use various aspects to make the production fresh, such as a diverse cast and a mix of period-correct and modern elements in costuming and design.
"Emma" is one of Austen's comedies of manners and errors, about a young woman who thinks she's a terrific matchmaker, but isn't. The director is Maggie Kettering, who is known to Door County theater buffs for her work as an actor with Peninsula Players Theatre.
Hanreddy was formerly artistic director at Milwaukee Rep for 17 years and director of Door Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Twelfth Night" and "Much Ado About Nothing." Hanreddy also adapted Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" for the stage, which Door Shakespeare produced in 2011.
The Door Shakespeare season runs from July 3 to Aug. 17, with "Romeo and Juliet" on stage Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and "Emma" on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Shows take place at 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 5 p.m. Saturdays. Tickets are $30 to $45 for adults, $35 to $40 for students, $20 to $35 ages 12 and younger. For tickets or more information, call 920-854-7111 or visit doorshakespeare.com.
Rogue Theater
For the first time in a number of years, Door County-based community theater company Rogue Theater has a permanent home, the DC Arts Center in Sturgeon Bay that Rogue artistic directors Stuart Champeau and Lola DeVillers opened last fall. Rogue will produce five shows from mid-June to the holidays for its first full season in their new theater.
The season is:
June 13 to 30: "On Golden Pond," the award-winning, timeless classic by playwright Ernest Thompson of a long-married, elderly couple whose annual vacation to their summer home is upended by the teenage grandson left in their care by their daughter and son-in-law, who are off to Europe. Yes, it's the play adapted into the 1981 movie of the same title starring Henry Fonda, Katherine Hepburn and Jane Fonda.
July 12 to 21: "The Golden Age of Comedy," a reprise of Rogue's recreation of classic comedy sketches from the 1950s to the '70s, along with some stand-up, skits and musical numbers.
Aug. 1 to 4 and 15 to 25: "Heroes," a dramatic comedy by French playwright Gerald Sibleyras, translated into English and adapted in 2005 by Tom Stoppard, about three World War I veterans plotting to escape the nursing home where they live, despite their war wounds, agoraphobia and ages.
Sept. 12 to 22: "Clue: On Stage," an adaptation of the 1985 movie inspired by the classic murder-mystery board game. This farce-meets-mystery show has six mysterious guests assemble for an unusual dinner party at a remote mansion, where murder and blackmail are on the menu.
Oct. 17 to Nov. 3: "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novella that explores how good and evil live within humans, as Henry Jekyll experiments with exotic chemicals to bring up his bad side in Hyde, with the two personalities in one body battling each other in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.
Dec. 20 to 22 and Dec. 27 to Jan. 5: "Hallelujah Girls," a comedy by Jamie Wooten, Jessie Jones and Nicholas Hope that sees a feisty group of Southern women decide that life is too short after the death of a friend, thus vowing to change their lives and achieve their dreams.
Rogue Theater shows play in the DC Arts Center, 917 N. 14th Ave. Sturgeon Bay. Showtimes are at 7 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays; "The Golden Age of Comedy" and "Hallelujah Girls" do not have Thursday shows. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 students. For tickets or more information, call 920-818-0816, visit roguetheater.org or email 1roguetheater@gmail.com.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 orcclough@gannett.com.
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