1. What was the FIRST play you ever saw?: THE FANTASTICKS. It ruined me. I thought all you needed to make a play was trunk full of cardboard props and a harp. I loved the music, made my mom buy me the soundtrack for my 5th grade birthday, and the rest is history.

2. What makes you LAUGH and CRY in a theater?: I am a tough cookie - can I say that here? So the answer is always “the unexpected”. The production of OUR TOWN directed by David Cromer that just went to NYC made me cry so hard I thought I was going to throw up - and I have seen that show literally dozens of times and directed it once.

What makes me laugh is harder - although I have a brilliant memory of seeing a high school production of NOISES OFF that nearly killed me. I was 17 when I saw it, and it has crystalized into an unrealistically perfect production in my memory.

3. Who is your favorite THEATER ACTOR?: In Milwaukee, I love Gerry Nugent. I remember him when he was student at Marquette, and its amazing to see how far he’s come. In general, I loved seeing Michael Shannon onstage at Red Orchid in Chicago. That’s a tiny theatre, and he gave me goosebumps.

4. Has theater ever CHANGED your perspective? Your life?: Being in theatre clearly changed my life. I barely got out.

Seeing a production of PILGRIMS OF THE NIGHT at Theatre X changed my perspective on what theater could be.
A production of Sarah Kane’s CLEANSED by Defiant in Chicago made me feel raw for days.
Seeing Adam Rapps NOCTURNE caused me to break up with my boyfriend at the time because I just couldn’t see being with anyone who didn’t get all that beauty.

What is your FAVORITE PLAY? Where did you see it? Why is it your favorite?: I love ART by Yasmine Reza. I also love TOP GIRLS by Caryl Churchill, and MACBETH by Shakespeare. I can’t pick one - that would be insane.

My favorite performance of a play would have to be the HAMLET that I saw at South Coast Rep a year or two ago, staring some guy from a TV show. I was prepared for it to be horrid, but it was amazing! For the first time I felt I had an understanding of the castle as a small isolated place with too few people, and of Hamlet as young man way over his head in emotion, making decisions in an escalating hysteria. It was full of relationships and identifiable characters as opposed to simply Shakespearean archetypes. I mourned for Hamlet when he died. I felt like I had been through an experience.

6. Why THEATER?: It’s important to sit in anticipation in the dark with people you barely know for reasons other than an alien invasion or imminent bombing. But seriously, we need to be together, we need to experience things together, and we need community, no matter how much stuff we buy in this country to effectively cut us off from each other.

Stories are how we learn, and having them acted out in front of us can be (isn’t always) a revelatory experience. When we share something beautiful/moving/frightening, we become more human to each other, we remember that we are the same, and ultimately it makes us more humane.

A million years ago, when Inertia Ensemble still existed and I was a part of it, we were asking people for 5$ if they were going to stay for the performance at the cafe we were performing in that night. One guy bitched and moaned about it, but eventually parted with it and stayed to watch. After the show, he gave me the most profound compliment. He said, “I’m glad I stayed. I feel better.”

This post was submitted by Stephanie McCanles.

Rex Winsome filled out the Your Live Theater Story Form.  You can too by clicking here.

1. What was the FIRST play you ever saw?: Christmas pagaent.

2. What makes you LAUGH and CRY in a theater?: I sometimes laugh at stupid shit, but i don’t like that. I like when i laugh at something that only means something in the context of the peice, when something contained within one of the characters becomes funnny. I cry when characters are caught within situations that turn their attempts at ethical or even rational action into devastating unintended consequences and they become aware of it and don’t know what else they can do.

3. Who is your favorite THEATER ACTOR?: My favorite performance was a guy doing notes from underground by candlelight. I don’t know that guys name. Ice Volt also kicks ass.

4. Has theater ever CHANGED your perspective? Your life?: Changes my perspective often. Though, very little i’ve seen on stage in Milwaukee ever has. Every aspect of my life is currently shaped to best serve producing theatre.

What is your FAVORITE PLAY? Where did you see it? Why is it your favorite?: I can’t narrow down to one. Notes From Underground at the Brick in NYC, Conversation Storm at Darling Hall, 7 Jewish Children at Rooms in Chicago, Depth of a Moment and Deviants at MN Fringe are all up there.

6. Why THEATER?: The traditions and institutions of theatre are currently in crisis mode like no other medium, there’s tons of dead stuff that needs to be learned from and then shoved aside, as a result there is so much that can be done with theatre that’s barely been tried. It provides unique ephemeral experiences, while other mediums provide unique objects or mass producable simulations of experiences.

This post was submitted by Rex Winsome.