A 2016 Season Preview in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A piece for your pre-season reading pleasure by Mike Fischer of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Spring Green - "I'd like to see Hamlet's words in Colleen Madden's mouth. I'd like to see Richard III's words in Tracy Michelle Arnold's mouth."

So said American Players Theatre artistic director Brenda DeVita, during a wide-ranging, mid-May discussion in her office about APT's 2016 season and its future.

DeVita was discussing APT's upcoming "The Comedy of Errors," featuring Kelsey Brennan and Cristina Panfilio playing male servants (and twins). But as is frequently true with this dynamic leader, she was also looking ahead.

"Two of our best comedians playing those twins? I'm ecstatic," DeVita said.

"But I'm also excited because it's an opportunity for us to think differently and more expansively about casting," DeVita said, while noting how much she'd enjoyed watching Mark Rylance play Olivia in "Twelfth Night" and how thrilled she is that Deborah Staples will soon be playing Hamlet at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. "If you're good at something, you can do things. And Kelsey and Cristina are really good."

DeVita made clear that such casting decisions couldn't be gimmicks and could never be forced. "I don't ever want to hear someone say, 'Oh, I've always wanted to do such and such a play with all women,' " DeVita said.

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