Photo Flash: First Look at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's LOVE STORIES

For the holiday season, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presents three classic one-acts by three celebrated writers, LOVE STORIES, now through December 20, 2015. The production features VILLAGE WOOING by George Bernard Shaw, THE JEWISH WIFE by Bertolt Brecht and HERE WE ARE by Dorothy Parker. Real-life married couple James Pickering and Tami Workentin star in LOVE STORIES under the direction of Paula Suozzi. LOVE STORIES performs in the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast onstage!

The work of three insightful and incisive wordsmiths is showcased in LOVE STORIES. Playwright George Bernard Shaw returns to the MCT stage with VILLAGE WOOING. In this charming comedy, from the deck of an ocean liner to a village shop, a reclusive travel writer is pursued by a chatty phone operator on a mission to marry him. In Bertolt Brecht's THE JEWISH WIFE we learn how Hitler's rise to power effects a marriage. In the final one-act HERE WE ARE by Dorothy Parker a newlywed couple is travelling by train to their honeymoon - but not without revealing a few of their insecurities first.

In MCT's production of LOVE STORIES, the lines of fiction and reality blur deliciously as real-life couple James Pickering and Tami Workentin rehearse three classic one-act plays. While they juggle the complexities of their own partnership, whimsical wordplay leads to verbal sparring, onstage and off, but ultimately love conquers all in this loving tribute to life in the theatre.

James Pickering and Tami Workentin perform in their first show together since their marriage in 2013. They first met in 2011 during their only previous stage appearance together in Next Act Theatre's THE EXONERATED. Both veteran Milwaukee actors, Pickering is best known as a long time Milwaukee Repertory Theater company member and Workentin has worked with many theatres in Milwaukee including numerous shows with MCT.

VILLAGE WOOING, THE JEWISH WIFE and HERE WE ARE were first put together as "LOVE STORIES" in 1995 by Jennifer Uphoff Gray (now the artistic director of Forward Theater Company in Madison.) She was struck by the fact that each one-act featured one female and one male actor, were all written in the 1930s by playwrights of different nationalities, and each captured a special moment of conflict in the life cycle of a marriage. Gray directed the first iteration of LOVE STORIES in New York City in 1995. Now Gray is the artistic director of Forward Theater Company where she chose to produce LOVE STORIES in 2012 as part of the company's third season. This time Paula Suozzi took the helm as director with actors (and real-life married couple) Colleen Madden and James Ridge. When MCT Producing Artistic Director C. Michael Wright heard about the success of Forward's production as well as Suozzi's enthusiasm for the piece, he knew he wanted to produce it at MCT someday.

LOVE STORIES is a collaboration with the UW-Milwaukee Theatre Department. Professor Richard Graham will be the Scenic Designer with alumnus Chad Abramowski as Assistant Scenic Designer.

Three current UWM students are involved with the show, Acting Intern Robert Knapp, Acting and Dramaturgy Intern Erika Kirkstein-Zastrow and Stage Management Intern Megan Linzmeyer. This collaboration is an example of MCT's mission to nurture the next generation of theatre artists.

LOVE STORIES performances will take place November 25 - December 20, 2015. (Opening Night: Tonight, November 27) in the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward. Tickets are available Monday through Saturday from noon-6:00 p.m. at the Broadway Theatre Center Box Office, 158 N. Broadway, or by phone at (414) 291-7800. Tickets can be purchased online - 24 hours a day at milwaukeechambertheatre.com.

Pictured: James Pickering and Tami Workentin

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