News @ the Peck School of the Arts

In 'best year,' UWM-trained actress Brittani Ebert is hard at work

Chris Foran

October 25, 2015

Journal Sentinel

Brittani Ebert is in the middle of a pretty good year.

The actress, born in Madison, raised in Sun Prairie and with a theater degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has appeared on two of television's top comedies — ABC's "Modern Family" and The CW's "Jane the Virgin" — and returned in a role on the long-running daytime drama "General Hospital."

It's "the best year I've had so far," Ebert said in a phone interview from southern California last week.

But first, she's got some auditions to do. On Friday, she had three of them, all for voice-over roles.

"I'm laser-focused on what I want to spend my time on," Ebert said. "They say it's who you know, but it's (also) who knows you."

Ebert has had that practical approach from the start.

Read more: Journal Sentinel

Shakespeare acting program helps veterans deal with emotions

Carrie Antlfinger

October 8, 2015

Washington Times

 William Shakespeare’s words from more than 400 years ago are proving to be healing for modern-day veterans.

A group of Milwaukee-area actors started workshops in which veterans depict conflict-heavy scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, aimed at helping the former service members deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and reintegration issues, and mental health problems.

Read more: The Washington Times

Theatre - First Stage steps into ring with 'Luchadora!'

Jim Higgins

April 3, 2015

Tap Milwaukee

 

 

 

First Stage's next show celebrates grandmothers, brave girls, strong women — and wrestling, specifically the Mexican tradition of lucha libre wrestling. Playwright Alvaro Saar Rios can explain it in an elevator pitch: the folk tale of Mulan set in the world of lucha libre.

First Stage opens the world premiere of Saar Rios' "Luchadora!" on April 10 at the Marcus Center. It's not their first collaboration: Saar Rios adapted Lois Ehlert's "Mole Hill Stories" for a First Stage production in 2013.

When Saar Rios, an assistant professor of theater at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, was growing up in Texas, he loved to watch wrestling.

Read the full article here: Tap Milwaukee 

Theatre - BWW Reviews: First Stage LUCHADORA! Wrestles with Human Super Heroes to Win Fans

Peggy Sue Dunnigan

April 17, 2015

Broadway World

 

 

First Stage's World Premiere LUCHADORA! introduces the world of lucha Libre, or Mexican sport wrestling, to Milwaukee this spring in an exciting play were the thumps and bumps against the ring ropes thrill the audience. Playwright Alvaro Saar Rios relates a multi-layered story based on the cultural heritage and legacy of the Mexican phenomena lucha Libre where the wrestlers behind individually created face masks and costumes become human super heroes for legions of fans.

Read the full article here: Broadway World

Theatre - Boulevard Theatre Presents Kate Fodor’s ‘Rx’

 

 

Amanda Sullivan

4/15/2015

Shepherd Express

UW-Milwaukee Theatre’s follow-up to Little Women: The Musical is Slightly Bigger Women: What Happens When “Little Women” Grow Up, which offers a look at the changes in women’s lives across the century. Show runs April 22-26 at Kenilworth Studio 508 (1925 E. Kenilworth Place). For tickets, call 414-229-4308 or visit psoacal.uwm.edu.

Read the full article here: Shepherd Express

PSOA - Kenilworth Open Studios

Shepherd Express

4/8/2015

Tyler Friedman

 

On Saturday, April 18, Prospect Avenue’s Kenilworth Building will open its doors to the public for its annual family friendly, interactive show-and-tell event, Kenilworth Open Studios (KOS). From 11 a.m.-2 p.m., all six floors will be teeming with 100-plus of UW-Milwaukee’s best and brightest eager to share the ways they are changing the world with art and technology.

Built by the Ford Motor Company in 1914, the Kenilworth Building passed into Uncle Sam’s hands during World War II to function as a munitions factory. Later, after a stint as General Motors’ Spark Plug Division, the building was acquired by UWM and served primarily as a storage warehouse until being refurbished and repurposed in 2006: half to be used as dorms and half to house faculty and graduate students studying art and design, theater, dance, film and music.

Read the full article here: Shepherd Express

Theatre - PSOA Alumni in RENT: The Musical

Kalliope Vocal Arts

March 27th - 29th & April 2nd - 4th
7:30 PM Each Night
2 PM Matinee on Saturdays

10th Street Theatre
628 N. 10th Street

Learn more here: Kalliope Vocal Arts

Inter Arts - From Microsoft to MADtv, here are 11 UWM alums whose work you know

Laura Otto

Today @ UWM

March 26, 2015

 

 

UWM alumni include many business executives and high-ranking public officials, such as the U.S. ambassador to Iceland, Luis Arreaga. Here are 11 Panthers whose work you certainly know, as we celebrate the many paths to success. Way to represent!

Read the full article here: Today @ UWM

Theatre - UWMPSOA Alum Travis Knight Stars in Forward Theatre's Production of 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike'

Forward Theatre Company

March 26, 2015

 

IN AN OLD FARMHOUSE in Bucks County, PA, Vanya and his adopted sister Sonia are living out their middle age after years of caring for their ailing, Chekhov-loving parents. It's a mild and tedious existence. That all changes once their movie-star sister Masha arrives with her twenty-something boy-toy Spike. Soon the siblings are dressing up as fairy-tale characters, channeling Maggie Smith, and dodging the voodoo curses of their soothsaying cleaning woman. Amidst the hilarity, there are moments when this family finds that good old-fashioned human connection might not be obsolete after all.
"...brainy and witty and clever and cute...In this hilarious mashup, classic themes of existential loss and longing are given both a modern spin and endlessly inventive comic twists." — Variety

Get tickets & read more here: Forward Theatre Company

Film/Theatre - TERRY BYRNE TAKES THE LONG ROAD TO THE COLLEGE

Brandon Magown 

March 24, 2015

The Signal

 

 

 

 

It is not everyday that a serious car accident can change someone’s life in a positive way. For Terry Byrne, a professor of communications at the College, that’s exactly what happened – his life was shaped by a drunk driving accident.

Byrne, known by his students as just Terry, has worked at the College since 1987. His many years of working in the entertainment industry have not only given him a surplus of knowledge to pass on to his students, but has also given him priceless anecdotes.

“You can tell he not only knows what he is talking about, but that he truly enjoys teaching it,” said Jacqueline Ilkowitz, a senior communications major who has taken five classes with Byrne.

Read the full article here: The College