Waukesha Civic Theatre Launches 70th Anniversary Season; Directors Vow Bold, Perception-Challenging Fare
The suburban theater celebrates seven decades with renewed artistic focus on challenging traditional narratives, starting with single-ticket sales Thursday.
WAUKESHA — The Waukesha Civic Theatre opens individual ticket sales Thursday for "Our Town," the Thornton Wilder revival serving as the official curtain-raiser on its 70th anniversary season, theatre staff confirmed Wednesday, three days after "Moon Over Buffalo" closes out the venue's Second Stage summer run.
The theatre, which staged its first production in a converted grocery warehouse on Broadway in 1956, says the milestone represents the longest continuous operation of any community venue in Waukesha County, ahead of the Waukesha Moose Lodge's amateur dramatics troupe, which folded in 1998 after a 41-year run, and the Fox River Players, a since-disbanded outdoor company that staged summer productions in Frame Park through 2003.
"Our Town" opens October 2 and runs six performances through October 11, with individual tickets priced at $22 to $28, separate from the $72-per-show season subscription package that went on sale in late August and is currently 47 percent sold, according to box office manager Ruth Aldern.
Seventy Years, One Mission Statement
Artistic director James Morton, addressing a gathering of roughly 60 subscribers and donors at Tuesday's season kickoff reception in the theatre's lobby, described the anniversary as an opportunity to recommit to work that unsettles as much as it entertains, a framing several attendees said was new for a reception that has historically focused on wine selection.
"Seventy years in, we don't want to just be the place where Waukesha comes to feel good about itself for two hours. Some nights, sure. Not every night."
— James Morton, Waukesha Civic Theatre artistic director
Morton did not elaborate on which of the season's five announced shows, a Wilder rotation, a staging of "A Doll's House," a revival of "The Music Man," and an untitled original drama opening in October, was intended to deliver the harder nights, though he confirmed the original production remains the one carrying that responsibility most directly.
Still Short 22 Volunteers
Separately from the artistic messaging, the theatre's volunteer coordinator, Pat Leibold, 52, told Wednesday's gathering that the organization remains short 22 positions needed to run a full season: nine backstage crew, six box office shift workers, four house ushers, and three people trained on the theatre's 1998-model followspot, which Leibold said "requires someone who isn't afraid of a ladder and has done it before, ideally both."
Leibold said the shortage isn't unusual for September, but that this season's five-show slate, one more than each of the past three years, has made the gap more noticeable earlier than usual. Training sessions for new volunteers are scheduled for September 27 and October 4 in the theatre's rehearsal room, both before the "Our Town" opening.
Longtime volunteer usher Carol Behnke, 67, who has worked opening nights at the theatre since 2011, said she signed up two friends from her book club after Tuesday's reception "mostly so I'd have someone to talk to at intermission who isn't also working the aisle."
What Comes Next
Individual "Our Town" tickets go on sale online and by phone starting 10 a.m. Thursday. The box office says it expects the six-performance run to sell at a pace comparable to prior season openers, though it declined to give a specific percentage target, citing what Aldern called "a policy against jinxing October before September's even done."
The theatre's original production, still without a public title, remains scheduled to open October 16. Morton said additional details would follow "when they follow," and confirmed only that rehearsals for it begin the same week "Our Town" opens, a scheduling overlap he described as "normal, if a little busy backstage."