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By Joshua Pohja, Wisconsin Classic Stage
Wisconsin Classic Stage is your neighbor on Wisconsin Avenue, performing at Calvary Presbyterian Church, 935 W. Wisconsin Ave., a short walk from the Marquette University campus.
This fall we’re bringing something to your doorstep that Milwaukee has never seen, and we’d appreciate getting the word out for this esoteric HALLOWEEN event!
On Oct. 30 we open the Milwaukee premiere of Gertrude Stein’s opera “Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights.” It is the first professional staging of Stein’s 1938 libretto, which has never been officially scored until now. Composer Lincoln Donner (only 19 years old) has written an original monophonic choral score, and the audience receives sheet music and sings along. Director Cole Castine’s immersive staging has no stage and no blackout. The action moves through the aisles of our Sanctuary Hall, a 27-foot viper puppet stalks the crowd, and the all-Wisconsin cast is led by Antonio Parra Jr. as Faustus.
The piece connects modernist poetics, the Faust tradition from Marlowe to Goethe, the lineage of Robert Wilson’s 1992 production, and a very current question: in an age of AI, is there a soul inside the machine? We have a study guide ready to share. I’d welcome the chance to host a class, bring an artist to your classroom, or hold a post-show conversation for Marquette students and faculty.
Performance details
- Dates: Oct. 30–Nov. 8:
- 8 p.m. Fridays
- 8p.m. and 10 p.m. Saturdays
- 8 p.m. Sundays
- Cost: Standing room tickets are $10, which puts the show within reach of any student budget.
- Location: Calvary Presbyterian Church, 935 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee
- Run time: Approximately 70 minutes, no intermission.
We hope to welcome you just down the street.
Joshua Pohja
Executive Artistic Producer, Wisconsin Classic Stage
jp@wisconsinclassicstage.com
wisconsinclassicstage.com
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