Milwaukee Playwright Neil Haven's COME BACK Gets Reading at Arcade Theatre, 5/4-5

Come Back, a comedy about death, by Milwaukee playwright Neil Haven, will have a unique two-show staged reading Saturday May 4th at 8pm and Sunday May 5th at 2pm at the Arcade Theatre in the Underground Collaborative at the Grand Avenue Mall.

The cast includes Jim Pickering, Deborah Clifton, Laura Gray, Karen Estrada, and Dan Katula. Tickets are $10 and can be reserved online at http://ucmke.org or purchased at the door. One ticket gains admission to both shows. Audience members are encouraged to see both performances, as the genders of the characters will be different.

Audience members will be invited to take part in the development of the play. After each show there will be a discussion and feedback session with the playwright and cast to help with final revisions of the script. Beer and wine will be available.

Sky, a mild-mannered graphic designer prone to anxiety attacks, is compelled to trek across the country "with an elderly parrot and his friend in a bucket." Sky's closest friend, a bird rehabber named Erin, recently succumbed to cancer and left a surprise in her will: Sky is responsible for choosing what to do with her remains. Before she died, Erin planned a road trip which delivers Sky to all of the unconventional places and people that will do something kooky with one's cremains. From infused bullets to a launch into low orbit, Sky must choose the most fitting final resting place for his lost companion. Upon satisfactory completion of the incredible journey, he will receive the bulk of her estate.

Erin thoroughly attended to every detail of the journey, but forgot to consider one factor: her mother. Val would much prefer that her daughter be interred in the extensive family cemetery plot. Unable to override Erin's legally-protected last wishes, Val tracks down Sky and joins him on the trip, hoping to sway his opinion toward the traditional burial choice. Coupled oddly, they embark on a journey in Erin's memory to explore grief, death, souls, and soul mates.

Double Casting - Gender Flexibility: All of the main characters in Come Back may be performed as either male or female. The gender pronouns used in the above synopsis are all flexible. Sky may be a woman; Val May be Aaron's father or his/her mother. The staged reading will be double-cast so that audiences can see two versions of the play. Audience members are encouraged to attend both shows to experience the change. For example, the protagonist will be female for one show and male for the next.

The variance in gender results in curious changes in the audiences' preconceptions about the character relationships. Certain lines and moments take on different meaning. People have very different notions about a male-female companionship versus a female-female companionship, a strained father-son relationship versus mother-daughter. The changes enhance the themes resonant with the current societal shift in ideas concerning the freedom to define our own relationships, marriages, love, and companionship.

Neil Haven is the author of Who Killed Santa?, Stuck, The Playdaters, and Pink Champagne among others. His work has been seen in Wisconsin: In Tandem Theatre, Uprooted Theatre, Kohl's Wild Theatre, Pink Banana, The Brumder Mansion, UW-Whitewater, and other theatres around the country: Secret Theatre (NYC,) Chicago Fringe Festival, Nevada Conservatory Theatre, Freshwater Theatre (Minneapolis,) Matchbox Theatre (Philadelphia) and Bluebarn Theatre (Omaha,) among others.

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