Switch Witch and the Meaning of Friendship

Get ready for the first show of our bug in a rug children’s theater series, Switch Witch! The bug in a rug crew is getting so excited for this weekend! Take a look at this video taken during rehearsal…and then make sure to buy your tickets.

This is our third season of bug in a rug children’s theatre at Sunset. And it’s so hard for me to believe that this dream is a reality. It all started from reading Love, Ruby Valentine with my daughter and saying “wouldn’t this be a cute play.” February of 2009 was our first bug in a rug production of “Love, Ruby Valentine.” And is has been an amazing journey ever since.

Someone asked me the other day – where do you come up with your ideas for your plays? Well, we are lucky enough to get the rights to some great children’s books, and a lot of times I take a cue from an old fairy tale, but often it comes from a lesson I am trying to instill in my children. As my daughter finished kindergarten and started first grade I found us talking a lot about friends and friendship. I was answering questions like: "What is a best friend mom?" "Can I have more than one best friend?" "How do you know who is your real friend?" Of course I tried to give all the perfect mother answers and even joked that my definition of a real friend is someone who can walk into your kitchen and open your refrigerator without asking (and I do believe that).

In all these conversations, we somehow ended up talking about how a good friend is someone who you can just be with no matter what – good/bad, happy/sad, tired/giddy, whatever the day may bring. Of course, she immediately responded by giving an example of how she and her best friend can not agree on something, but she always knows that the next day they will be friends again, or how she can just tell her best friend she wants to read alone and she goes away and then comes back again later to play. I figured these are great first grade examples of what a true friend is. More than that I hope that she is learning something about herself and building her own self- confidence and realizing that people we call friends are people who, as the quote says, “know all about you but like you anyway.”

As we put together Switch Witch, I thought about how a good witch and a bad witch could become true friends – by accepting who they each are individually and as a friend. And of course I tried to find the humor in it, so that we can all enjoy a good story with a little lesson and a lot of fun!

Put on your jammies, head on over to Sunset bug in a rug theatre, and snuggle in to laugh, participate, learn a little about friendship, and being true to yourself. Besides those great lessons, you also get to introduce your little one to the awesomeness of live theater. See you at the Playhouse!

Recipe for a Wonderful Life

Take 19 adults of various ages and 12 kids from ages 7 to 17; work out over 100 conflicts for the 31 potential days of rehearsal; mix everyone well with a classic story told live and on stage, and you've got the makings for a great holiday show!

We had a read-through of "It's a Wonderful Life" and our first rehearsal on our feet. Considering that Ruth Arnell, our Mary Bailey, cried at 7-year-old Evelyn Barta's speaking of Zuzu's immortal angel lines, we've got a guaranteed heart-tugging hit on our hands! Don't miss it!

-Mark Salentine
Artistic Director

A Summer Stars Camp Performance!

Picture me, dressed in my lime green camp shirt, anxiously awaiting the first arrivals of summer camp, wondering what this summer with bring. Well, I knew it was going to be a GREAT summer camp season when on the first day a little boy says to me (standing tall, big toothless smile, swinging his lunch box) “Will there be singing and dancing?” To which I reply, “Of course there will be lots of singing and dancing!” “Good,” he says, “because I have been practicing.” He then busts into full singing and choreography to “It’s a Hard Knock Life!” right in the lobby of the theater.

This is why I love summer camp season at Sunset School for the Arts.

This year marked our FIFTH summer camp season at Sunset School for the Arts. And what a great summer it has been! We had our first ever summer camp for students ages 4 – 5, where they brought famous paintings (Monet, Picasso, Kahlo, Seurat, etc.) to life through acting, pantomime, storytelling, singing, dancing and, of course, painting. It all wrapped up with a great production of “A Sunny Sunday in the Park” where students each became a person from the famous Seurat painting. They told a story, sang and danced in front of a backdrop of their own huge copy of Seurat’s painting (done with sponge dots, of course).

Next, our Summer Stars, ages 6 – 15, joined us for two weeks of acting, singing, dancing, writing and having a ton of fun. Highlights included a well-executed scene from Midsummer Night’s Dream, some HILARIOUS original commercials, twenty 6-8 year olds dancing to One, clever improvisations, original characters of queens, r2n2, and killer cats, and a great finale with all 54 kids performing “We Go Together” from Grease. More than 200 parents, family members, and friends had a great time watching all of the fabulous performances on Saturday.

These talented kids should all be proud of their hard work (the talented and patient instructors, too). Thank you to all the kids, parents, instructors and volunteers that make these weeks possible.

It truly is my favorite time of year at the theater. As one parent said, it is amazing to see the progression and range of confidence and ability when watching six year olds and 15 year olds on the same stage. I feel the same way—I love it—especially when I get to know the six year olds and watch them grow through the years.

I’ve known some of these kids since they started in their first Creative Drama class at age 2 and it’s a great feeling to then have some summer camp graduates working backstage and assisting in classes. I cherish the fact that the performing arts have become a part of these kid’s lives through participation and appreciation. And I feel even better knowing that Sunset had a role in their new-found passion.

See you in the fall!

Erika Navin


Take a look at some of the best moments from this exciting performance:

The greatest thing I've heard all day and the greatest thing I've seen all day

Jonathan West here. Managing Director, and all.

Okay, so, Friday afternoon at The Playhouse. Hum drum, right? Oh, no. Far from it.

First of all, allow me to present you with this tale. Sarah our Box Office Manager just walked into the office and told me an unbelievable story about the sale of 26 Subscriptions she just took. Believe me, I call any sale of 26 Subscriptions an unbelievable story, but this one takes the cake.
A lady came to our Box Office today to buy the 26 Subscriptions. She and her co-workers had just been sacked, down sized, laid off, shown the door. It was a sad day for the whole lot of them.

But these downsized workers all looked at each other and said, "Hey, we all really like each other, let's keep doing stuff together." So they pooled their money (yes, some of it from their separation packages) and decided that the fun thing they would do together in the coming year was to go to plays at The Playhouse. I mean, seriously,a story like this could make a fella cry.

So, to the All State Alumni Group (LOVE THE NAME!) I say, "We salute you!"

Continuing with the show portion of SHOW AND TELL, my Aussie friend Andrew Bednall from the Mayfair Rotary Club shot me an e-mail today. The Mayfair Rotary Club has bought out the July 31st performance of HAIR for a fundraiser and in the spirit of "getting their groove on", some of the members were recently caught promoting in a fairly cool, not decidedly traditional Rotarian way. Here for your viewing pleasure are our Rotarian friends.


Pretty glad I didn't play hooky today, I must say.

The Audience - Bless Them!

Oh my!…. what a weekend!! We knew this show would make audiences laugh, but we were not prepared for wave after wave of almost hysterical laughter! We were bouncing with glee backstage to hear it!

Opening night was unbelievable, with probably the most receptive audience that I have ever heard. They joined in on the moose call, applauded spontaneously in the middle of several scenes, and audibly and without volition voiced their approval and/or disapproval of several of the characters with "oohs" and "ahs". BLESS THEM! It was just plain fun!

All actors realize that the audience reaction is what spurs them to better performances… and our cast rose to the occasion with a super performance. It was as though an electrical charge was passing between the audience and the stage and moving both the audience and the actors to greater intensity in their actions and reactions. It was a wonderful exchange with everyone benefiting.

The other three audiences and hence, performances of the weekend were a tiny bit more low key… but still thoroughly satisfactory. A good time was had by all. The lesson here? If you are in the audience and have the urge to laugh or cry or react emotionally … it's okay. It is even more than okay - it will add to the experience for everyone!

Click here to read our first review of LEADING LADIES from Russ Bickerstaff on expressmilwaukee.com (it's a really nice one).

Here's some pictures from the show to let you in on some of the fun.

Unsung Heroes Backstage

In theatre, there are always unsung heroes, who get very little public credit. Two on this show, among others, are husband and wife, Scott and Merry Jaeger. In the program, they are simply listed as props coordinators. In reality, they are an indispensable part of the team. Besides gathering and preparing the necessary props, they are also serving as stage hands, moving furniture, and opening and closing the curtain. (They can be seen for a few minutes in dim light setting up the party scene as "caterers".)

So instead of working three to six performances per show, as is usual for props crew members at the Sunset, this requires them to be there for every performance. And best of all, they do it responsibly and cheerfully! A rousing round of applause for Scott and Merry and for all backstage volunteers in theaters everywhere!

Check out the video featuring Scott and our props shelves.

Elm Grove Memorial Day Parade...we were louder than the bag pipes!

We marched in the Elm Grove Memorial Day Parade on Monday, and we had a ball! (Fueled by many Krispy Kreme donuts, mind you.) We were positioned between the Friends of The Elm Grove Library which featured a lady dressed like a book (clever) and a group of bag pipers (we were much louder). When asked if they knew any show tunes, the bag pipers kind of shrugged their shoulders. Someone get those lads and lassies in kilts the original cast recording of BRIGADOON!

Here's some photos of our spirited crew for your viewing pleasure.