MILWAUKEE, WIS. – Optimist Theatre, producer of Milwaukee’s free Shakespeare in the Park since 2010, has announced the retirement of Ron Scot Fry, its Founding Artistic Director. Fry set the vision and mission of Optimist Theatre (OT), from its founding as Midwest Children’s Theatre (MCT) in 1993, through its evolution to producer of Shakespeare in the Park (SITP) in 2010 to the post-pandemic return to live theater. This year, he designed the inaugural season of SITP’s mobile production with the well-received “A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The Lovers’ Tale.” His new focus will include special theatre projects and his growing contractor business, FryCroft.

Optimist Board President Michelle Owczarski states, “There simply would not be a Shakespeare in the Park here without Ron. We all wish him well in his retirement as Artistic Director, but we are also saddened to lose his strong creative leadership as an active member of the team. I'm glad to say he will continue with the Board as both a member and a mentor. While Ron leaves enormous shoes to fill as Artistic Director, the board is considering several options as how best to move forward with the many roles and responsibilities now open.”

Fry earned his Master of Fine Arts in Drama from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in 1985 with a thesis on scene design for children’s theatre. At MCT, he wrote, directed, designed and performed in numerous original children’s theatre pieces that toured throughout the Midwest. Simultaneously, he worked as an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Carthage College for five years and as the Artistic Director for the Bristol Renaissance Faire for 19 years.

From 1993 to 2020, Fry also portrayed William Shakespeare in the award-winning original one-man show, “To Be! Shakespeare Here and Now”. “To Be” has been seen by more than 80,000 people domestically from Los Angeles to Washington DC, and has traveled as far as Florence, Italy, as well as being adapted for virtual performance during 2020.

Midwest Children’s Theatre officially changed its name to Optimist Theatre in 2009 when Ron and wife Susan Fry realized its focus had broadened, and the plans for Milwaukee’s free Shakespeare in the Park began to coalesce. Quickly teaming up with co-founders Tom Reed and M.L. Cogar, SITP presented its first show in 2010.

As Optimist Theatre’s Artistic Director, Fry directed the SITP performances of “The Tempest” in 2010, “Macbeth” in 2012 and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2015; designed and acted in “Twelfth Night” in 2011, “The Winter’s Tale” in 2014, and “King Lear” in 2018; and was either Technical Director, Scenic or Lighting Designer or a combination of all three for 2013’s “As You Like It”, 2017’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and 2019’s “The Comedy of Errors.”

Over the course of the Shakespeare in the Park years, Fry also directed, designed sets, created 10-foot-tall puppets, acted and taught for numerous other companies, including Bronzeville Arts Ensemble, Black Arts MKE, Theatre Gigante, Milwaukee Public Theatre, Milwaukee Mask and Puppet Theatre, Theatre for Young Audiences in Sheboygan and the Children’s Theatre of Madison among others. He also served as Artist in Residence at the Milwaukee High School of the Arts and the scenic and lighting designer for several shows at Alverno College.

After 12 years of work establishing the company’s contribution to the Milwaukee theatre community, Fry determined it was the appropriate time to move on from his leadership role as Artistic Director. He continues to share his expertise, however, with current design and set building projects for Black Arts MKE’s “Black Nativity” and others.

For Optimist Theatre, Fry continues to guide and serve the company he helped found as a member of the Board of Directors, and expects to continue to provide design services, as needed.

June 4, 2021
From the Optimist Theatre 'Contact Us' page...

"Shakespeare outdoors was a perfect part of my summer for decades in the SF Bay Area. I just moved to the Milwaukee environs and I'm thrilled to discover your company. Looking forward to "Midsummer" Milwaukee-style."

From us Optimists to you... WELCOME TO MILWAUKEE!!! Midsummer-Milwaukee-Style coming right up! First show July 24.... Details very soon :)

So... GREAT News!

We are pleased to announce that Shakespeare in the Park and No Holds Bard 2021 are ON! We'll be presenting A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Midsummer Project, respectively, and SitP will be GOING MOBILE!
​
What does all of that mean?

Shakespeare in the Park: A Midsummer Night's Dream
In the grand tradition of keeping professional live Shakespeare free to see for as many people in the Milwaukee area as possible, we are taking what we've learned over the past decade of live shows (and a year of on-location filming) to build a fully realized, fully staged, fully touring show. Instead of one static location, our stage and cast will move--bringing the show to multiple parks and green spaces near YOU.

What you need to know now:

• 12 matinee performances over six weekends, beginning July 24-25
• Full list of dates and locations will be announced very soon. (We've lined us some great spaces!)  Updates will be posted here.
  
• As always, the shows will be totally free to attend for everyone
  Limited spaces at each performance will be held as reservable for our Members
  (If you'd like to donate to help keep our performances free, or to become a member, click here.)
  
• The stage show will be co-directed by M.L. Cogar, Optimist Theatre’s Dramaturg, and Tom Reed, Associate Artistic Director
• The show will run 60 to 75 minutes, and feature a cast of six actors playing multiple roles. The story will focus on the follies of the lovers, and the foibles of the fairies Oberon and Puck.

No Holds Bard: The Midsummer Project
Following the success of our No Holds Bard: The Pericles Project (if you missed it, visit our YouTube channel and check it out) we will follow the live performances by filming our story to create a new season that will stream over the fall/winter.

From Executive Director Susan Scot Fry
​​​​​​​"We’re happy and relieved to be joining the ranks of our fellow companies bringing live theatre back to audiences who are craving love, connection and laughter. With our mobile set, we’ll be able to help fill that need anywhere there’s a piece of flat grass, an electrical outlet and bathrooms within walking distance."

"This is also our opportunity to take our shows to green spaces all over Milwaukee. Connecting with all of our diverse communities is one of our cornerstones. It’s why we Optimists work so hard to keep our performances free."

After all, All the world’s a stage!

Optimist Theatre's No Holds Bard and The Milwaukee Turners are pleased to announce that the "live hosted" segments of "The Pericles Project" will be broadcast from beautiful Turner Hall, beginning February 24.

The 16-episode production streams two (brief) episodes at a time, alternate Wednesday evenings at 7:30 CST. Episodes 7 & 8 will be shown on Feb. 24; you can catch up on prior episodes (or find out more) at www.NoHoldsBard.org, or at the NHB Facebook page or YouTube Channel.

Faced with the realities of COVID-19, Optimist Theatre responded by creating a web series of Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Shot starting in late summer with minimal cast and crew in outdoor locations around Milwaukee County, we were able to observe appropriate distances and other health & safety protocols on set that would have been impossible in a traditional theatrical setting.

We have since then been editing and working out the surprising number of technical details involved with the multi-platform stream that we're planning to begin on January 13th! 

Join the separate mailing list for No Holds Bard and/or visit the website to get all the details about how, where and when to catch the thrilling adventures of Prince Pericles!!

It's a Sad News/Good News Situation

Heartfelt greetings from Optimist Theatre
We have both sad (but probably not surprising) news and an update on our current programming.

We’ve decided to postpone Romeo and Juliet until 2021. This was an incredibly difficult decision to make. We have been dedicated to making Peck Pavilion performances happen. But, we reached a point when we had to decide whether to hang on and roll forward with possible live performance dates for R&J or, instead, to do something we could do well right now (well, soon, anyway). 
​

First, Why Postpone?
While it might have been possible to produce at the downtown Peck Pavilion this summer, it’s become a slimmer and slimmer chance. Some of the reasons we chose to delay Romeo and Juliet?

• It’s impossible to forecast with certainty when Milwaukee will reach phase 4 (gatherings of 100 allowed with social distancing),
• Audiences are indicating they will feel uncomfortable gathering in large groups for a while even after phase 4 is achieved,
• The Marcus Performing Arts Center cannot predict when they may re-open their performance spaces, which includes the Peck Pavilion,
• The further forward we push the dates, the less likely the weather would be pleasant outdoors in the evening, and
• Shakespeare in the Park needs a minimum of 10 weeks of lead time for designing, building, rehearsing, etc. prior to opening. It’s doubtful a green light could be given more than 2 weeks ahead.

So, we made the hard choice to postpone.
                                                                                                                       sigh...


But, there is Good News!!!
On the flip-side, this postponement is an invaluable opportunity.
We are embracing today and our current resources to focus on what we CAN do to fulfill our mission and bring some Shakespearean fun to our community. Shakespeare in the Park is our highest profile event every season but Optimist Theatre is very busy year-round.

Optimists are still hot on the heels of fulfilling our mission and goals in 2020.

We have three programs in high gear:

Zoom To Be!
Our award-winning educational outreach program, To Be! Shakespeare Here and Now! has successfully adapted to a virtual platform.

14 shows for a middle school in Maryland and one in Wisconsin taught us a lot. Thanks to this adaptation, we are no longer limited to the distance our William Shakespeare (live and in person) can drive. Er… ride. On a horse… less carriage...!

No Holds Bard!
It’s so new, we aren't quite ready to describe it to you and there’s not even a blurb yet on our website! The focus, though, is on fun with Shakespeare.

Stay tuned for all the info about this program!



(graphic credit for Will in sunglasses to the Charleston City Paper, Charleston, South Carolina.)

To All of Us Optimists
Here's to embracing all the possibilities of today, doing work we can be proud of, and looking to the future.

With all our love, gratitude and optimism,

Susan, Ron, Tom, ML, Christie, Karen and Barbara

A Special Note to Our Supporters: Members, Donors and Financial Supporters – Thank You.
Nearly every arts organization in the country have suffered steadily decreasing financial support and for understandable reasons (https://artsnc.org/covid-19-pandemic-bad-for-arts-nonprofits/). Happily, thanks to you and organizations like the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the Milwaukee Arts Board, we have funding to help keep our doors open.

As The Comedy of Errors was winding up, we pinned our twins down long enough bring you a fresh "10 Questions!"

What brought you to theater and to Shakespeare?
// Connor - I saw Jack Black in School of Rock and wanted to be an actor. I auditioned for plays in high school and played Falstaff in my first Shakespeare play, Merry Wives of Windsor. During the production I fell in love with the language.

// Cole - Orientation for my freshman year of high school included improv games and some acting exercises. I had a lot of fun with them and the drama teacher, so I auditioned for the fall one-act. I've loved acting and been close friends with Mr. Ivkovich ever since. The first Shakespeare show I was in was A Midsummer Night's Dream at UW-Parkside, directed by Matt Schwader (I was Snug) and the concept was Steampunk which was a lot of fun.

// Rebekah - I was in my first play when I was six. It was a play my brother wrote and I didn’t have any lines, but I have loved being a different person on stage since then. As far as Shakespeare goes, my first favorite “book” was Twelfth Night. In middle school, I fell in love with the twin confusion and Feste the fool. How fitting that in this show, I not only got to play a clown, but also a confused twin!  

// Thorin - I grew up in rural Wisconsin, I loved books and movies (storytelling), but there wasn't much theater around me so I didn't see it growing up. When I got to University, I decided I wanted to take part in the storytelling and I started doing theater. I fell in love with Shakespeare after doing a month-long intensive in Lennox, Massachusetts with Shakespeare and Company.


What did 10-year-old you think you’d be when you “grew up?”
// Connor - I wanted to be artist and draw comic books.​

// Cole - I always wanted to be an artist because my grandparents have made their living off of their amazing art for 40 years now. If you want to see some of their work you can visit XNTrixart.com (XN-Trix, get it?!)

// Rebekah - A teacher (which I am so grateful I already get to do with First Stage). 

// Thorin - I thought I'd be an engineer because I was always good at math. My uncle was an engineer and I knew it was a good job. I changed my mind after I realized, although I did well in math, I didn't enjoy it.
​

What do you think is the greatest challenge of portraying your character?
// Connor - The greatest challenge is making Antipholus of Ephesus a sympathetic human being who doesn't just yell and hit things.

// Cole - For me it’s been the most difficult keeping Dromio positive. When I first read the show, I saw him as very resentful of his situation, and we get to laugh at his pain. However ML and Ron wanted to play his resilience and intelligence, along with his inability to not tell a joke, rather than focusing on any anger he may have towards his circumstances.

// Rebekah - I  think when you have a lot of good jokes, it can be really easy to just try to make people laugh, the challenge is to make people laugh because you are being present and honest in the moment. 

// Thorin - The greatest challenge was letting go of what he's "supposed to be," to find out who he is.

We've got a few tee shirts left and we want to free up that storage space, so take the opportunity to scoop up some bundled tee shirt deals. Shop now for shirts or other SitP logo or items!