Milwaukee Rep Opens GUTENBERG! Tonight, 8/24

Milwaukee Repertory Theater previously announced casting for Gutenberg! The Musical, the first production in The Rep's 2012/13 season, and The Mountaintop, which opens this September.

Gutenberg! The Musical! will be directed by Rep veteran Laura Gordon who directed last season's delightful production of In the Next Room or the vibrator play and Speaking in Tongues the previous year. Gutenberg! The Musical! will feature comedic actor and Rep favorite Gerard Neugent, former Milwaukee Rep Acting Intern Eric Damon Smith and frequent Rep collaborator Musical Director/Pianist Paul Helm. Gutenberg! The Musical! runs in the Stackner Cabaret from tonight, August 24 – October 14.

"Anyone who likes the zany humor of Monty Python will love this show about two guys and a pianist pitching an incredibly ludicrous, over-the-top musical filled with 16 ridiculous songs," says Artistic Director Mark Clements. "It's been on my list of pieces to produce for awhile, and now is the right time. It's a two-hour festival of silliness, laughter and joy – come and enjoy!"

The cast for Guttenberg! The Musical!:

Gerard Neugent – Doug / Eric Damon Smith – Bud

Gerard Neugent (Doug) has been a member of The Rep's Resident Acting Company for five seasons and recently appeared in their Quadracci Powerhouse production of Othello as Iago; other recent productions include The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) in the Stackner Cabaret and as Michael McCormick in Lombardi on the Quadracci Powerhouse stage. Other recent roles include Happy in Death of a Salesman, Clown 2 in The 39 Steps and Stan Laurel in Laurel and Hardy. Eric Damon Smith (Bud) is a former Milwaukee Rep acting intern from the 2002/03 Season. Recent credits include: Jaques in As You Like It (Muse of Fire); Mosca in Volpone (City Lit); Jamie in Long Day's Journey into Night (Polarity Ensemble) and his Jeff Award nominated turn as Flaminio Scala in the regional premiere of The Glorious Ones (Boho and Theatre on the Lake). Other credits include work with Northlight Theatre, Remy Bumppo and Riverside Theater.

Paul Helm – Charles

Paul Helm (Music Director/Pianist) (Charles) returns to The Rep after performing in Always . . . Patsy Cline last season.Other Rep credits include: Laurel and Hardy, Guys on Ice, Life Could Be a Dream, Why Do Fools Fall in Love?, The Polish Diva from Milwaukee and Blue Rose: The Rosemary Clooney Story. Paul has also performed, directed and music directed with Skylight Music Theatre, First Stage Children's Theater, Florentine Opera Company, Marcus Center for the Performing Arts and American Folklore Theatre, among others. Recent credits include Packer Fans from Outer Space, Gershwin and Friends, The Music Man, Seussical, Grease, Ragtime, U: Bug: Me!, Beauty and the Beast, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Elmer Gantry (2012 Grammy award winner).

The Creative Team for Guttenberg! The Musical! includes: Laura Gordon (Director); Paul Helm (Music Designer); Stephen Carmody (Scenic Designer); Rachel Laritz (Costume Designer); Charles Cooper (Lighting Designer) and Sarah Hoffmann (Stage Manager).

The Mountaintop is the first productionin the Stiemke Studio for the 2012/13 Season and will be directed by May Adrales, who returns to The Rep after directing last season's critically-acclaimed Stiemke Studio production of Yellowman. The cast features Bill EuGene Jones and Nikiya Mathis, both making their Rep debuts. The Mountaintop runs in the Stiemke Studio from September 26 – November 4.

"The Mountaintop isn't a biography, per se, but rather a very smart, very funny, very moving, and very respectful exploration of the ideas that were occupying Dr. King's mind on the night prior to his death," says Mark Clements. "The maid character is essential to this innately theatrical play, but impossible to describe without giving away a clever twist that the audience will absolutely lap up!"

The cast for The Mountaintop:

Bill EuGene Jones – DR. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bill EuGene Jones (DR. Martin Luther King, Jr.) most recently understudied the role of DR. Martin Luther King. Jr. in the Broadway production of The Mountaintop. Mr. Jones' Broadway credits include Passing Strange, Radio Golf, Gem of the Ocean and A Raisin In the Sun. His Off-Broadway credits include Waiting for Godot and Three Sisters at Classical Theatre of Harlem and The Actors Rapat The Acorn Theatre. His regional credits include: Arena Stage/Huntington Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Dallas Theater Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Circle Theatre, ALLIANCE THEATRE and Alabama Shakespeare Festival, among many others. Mr. Jones is a graduate of Prairie View A&M University and Yale School of Drama.

Nikiya Mathis – Camae

The cast also includes Nikiya Mathis (Camae) whose New York credits include: Milk Like Sugar at Playwrights Horizons (and La Jolla Playhouse) and The Brother/Sister Plays at The Public Theatre. Nikiya has worked at a variety of regional theaters including McCarter Theater, Two Rivers Theatre, Continuum Company, New Freedom Theatre and New Century Theater. Nikiya has an MFA in Acting from New York University.

The Creative Team for The Mountaintop includes: May Adrales (Director); Lee Savage (Scenic Designer); Holly Payne (Costume Designer); Gina Scherr (Lighting Designer); Barry G. Funderburg (Sound Designer); Jared Mezzocchi (Projection Designer); Jill Walmsley Zager (Dialect Coach) and Richelle Harrington Calin (Stage Manager).

Milwaukee Repertory Theater also announced today the slate of directors for the 2012/13 Season. The list is comprised of several directors returning to The Rep: Laura Gordon, Mark Clements, May Adrales, Megan O'Brien, Brent Hazelton, Aaron Posner and Ron OJ Parsons, as well as many who will be making their Rep directing debuts: KJ Sanchez, Art Manke, Marc Salem and Richard Maltby, Jr.

The complete list of directors for The Rep's 2012/13 season:

Gutenberg! The Musical! – Laura Gordon

Assassins – Mark Clements

The Mountaintop – May Adrales

Blues in the Night – Megan O'Brien

The Diary of Anne Frank– KJ Sanchez

A Christmas Carol– Aaron Posner

Sense and Sensibility – Art Manke

Mind Over Milwaukee– Marc Salem

How the World Began– Brent Hazelton

Clybourne Park– Mark Clements

A Raisin In the Sun– Ron OJ Parsons

Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash– Richard Maltby, Jr.

Tickets for Gutenberg! The Musical! start at $35.00. Tickets for The Mountaintop are $25.00 – $40.00 (prices are subject to change). Single Tickets for all of Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 2012/13 productions will go on sale Tuesday, August 7. Single Tickets can be purchased online at www.MilwaukeeRep.com, through The Rep's Ticket Office by calling 414-224-9490 or in person at 108 E. Wells Street. Group tickets are also available for purchase by calling Patron Relations Manager Christine Yundem at 414-290-5340.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater is a nationally-recognized company that presents compelling dramas, powerful classics, award-winning contemporary works, full-scale musicals and side-splitting comedies housed in its three unique performance venues – the Quadracci Powerhouse, Stiemke Studio and Stackner Cabaret. The Rep also produces an annual production of A Christmas Carol at the Pabst Theater. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mark Clements, The Rep is committed to creating plays that are meaningful and relevant to the society we live in – plays that are challenging, visceral and engage the community through the issues they explore.

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