Welcome back to Theater Around Town. This month I bring you the story of the Modjeska Theatre, the glorious ex-moviehouse, turned performance space located on Milwaukee's near south side.
I recently talked with Diane Johnson and Joe White of the Modjeska team.
OMC: Tell me a little about the history of the Modjeska Theatre -- when was it built?
MOD: John and Thomas Saxe, local movie house pioneers, built the original Modjeska Theatre as Milwaukee's Nickelodeon Theatre in 1910. It was named after a famous Polish actress, Madame Helena Modjeska. The theatre was re-built by designers Rapp and Rapp in 1924 in order to increase the number of seats in the interior of the theatre to 1,800 to accommodate moviegoers. Vaudeville acts and Burlesque appeared on the stage, along with the showing of silent movies. When sound films became popular, the theatre was filled to capacity with fans. Eventually it was purchased by Universal Theatres and exclusively showed movies.
OMC: Who owns the building now?
MOD: Stewart and Diane Johnson, who purchased the Modjeska Theatre in 1992 from Universal, now own the theatre. The old movie palace had been not operating for two years when it was purchased, and the Johnsons had it up and running in two months. Since that time, a number of performers and performing groups have appeared onstage at the Modjeska. The Johnsons have renovated the theatre's somewhat, but it is hoped with a major fund drive that it can be restored to its original historic beauty. Architects from Engberg and Anderson Design Partnerships are working on plans presently for this renovation.
OMC: Who governs the theatre? Who runs the day-to-day operations?
MOD: Stewart runs the day-to-day operations and books events in the theatre for the Modjeska Theatre Entertainment Center Inc. Diane is the Executive/Artistic Director of the Modjeska Theatre Co. Inc, a nonprofit theatre company dedicated to changing the lives of youth by producing three musical productions a year, while teaching important life skills at the same time. The youth all pledge to be drug, alcohol and gang free, to attend school on a regular basis and to keep their grades up to the best of their abilities. The students range from 8 to 20 years of age and are challenged to produce a work of excellence onstage. Overall, a board of directors governs the theatre.
OMC: What is the status of the theatre now? Any plans for improvements?
MOD: The Johnsons are currently responsible for their own theatre. However, the Modjeska Theatre's long-range plan is to purchase the theatre from them and restore it. The Johnsons wholeheartedly endorse this move. In fact, they have initiated it.
OMC: How much will these renovations cost? How will that be funded? How long will the project take?
MOD: At this time we are in the very beginning stage of developing a physical plan. We don't have any definitive numbers, as we have not yet developed a plan for fund raising and do not have a time table.
OMC: What type of work is the youth theatre company producing?
MOD: The Modjeska Theatre Company Inc. produces three large productions a year. Our past shows include: "The Wizard of Oz," "Starmites," "The Night of January the 16th," "Stand and Deliver," "Grease," "Little Shop of Horrors," "Peter Pan," "Singin' in the Rain," "Guys and Dolls," "A Midsummer's Night Dream" and "West Side Story." This summer the company will produce a world premier musical, "The Attack of the Elvis Impersonators" and have a New York playwright-in-residence assist the company in doing the first production of this hilarious new musical.
OMC: Where were the kids who performed in the first shows initially from?
MOD: The students who originally performed for the company were from all over the city, the largest number attending South Division High School, but also including cast members from 10 or 12 other Milwaukee schools.
OMC: Has the radius of those auditioning grown over time?
MOD: For our current production of "West Side Story," over 200 students auditioned from over 50 Milwaukee public and private schools. Our company is still growing and attracting more and more schools not only to audition, but also to come and see our performances. Over 3,000 students from approximately 38 schools will attend 3 performances of "West Side Story" this spring, along with many more people who will attend our five public performances.
OMC: How have the actors grown from these experiences?
MOD: The actors have grown significantly as both performers and as people from participating in our productions. Students who otherwise would have dropped out of school must attend school now in order to be in a show. In "West Side Story," we have students choosing to do theatre rather than be in a gang. We have also assisted in finding students counseling when needed, and a distinguishing feature of our company is that we have a counselor work as part of our team at each rehearsal and performance. Three of our students have been awarded full tuition to college, two majoring in Musical Theatre and one majoring in Graphic Arts. A fourth student was recently awarded a $40,000 Ron Brown Scholarship and will be attending Stanford University this fall. The student competed with 4,700 students nationally and only 20 students received scholarships. This student was accepted at Stanford partially based on an essay that she wrote about the Modjeska Theatre Company and her experience in it. Our students are very diverse, as is our audience. Our casts include Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Black, American Indian, Hmong, Asian and White students.
OMC: What other type of work is presented at the Modjeska?
MOD: Other work presented now at the Modjeska Theatre includes dance concerts, music concerts, magic shows and occasional movies along with three to five live theatre productions.
For more information of the Modjeska, please call (414) 645-0700.
Tom Stajmiger is a long time performer in the Milwaukee area and Artistic Director of Stepping Out Productions.
