Milwaukee Actor Earns Honor at American Players Theatre

Anne Siegel, Shepherd Express

Earlier this year, American Players Theatre (APT) in Spring Green announced four new members to its elite core company. According to the theater institution’s archives, the core company was established in 1998 “to assemble a group of talented, skilled artists to be leaders of the acting company.” Furthermore, it stated that APT would become the members’ “artistic home,” as they were expected to return each season to perform in upcoming productions.

The newest group of four core company members includes Josh Krause, 35, a Milwaukee Lutheran High School graduate and frequent performer on Milwaukee stages. Krause, who grew up in Milwaukee close to the city’s western border with Wauwatosa, now lives in the area with his wife, Rachel, and their infant son. This is Krause’s seventh year at APT (including the pandemic season when no plays were produced).

Krause said he is excited and honored to be recognized as a core company member. He joins the ranks of such well-known APT actors as Marcus Truschinski, Colleen Madden, Brian Robert Mani (who plays the lead in Shakespeare’s King Lear), Jim DeVita, Gavin Lawrence and Kelsey Brennan. All of these names (and many more) are familiar to APT regulars. A number of these actors appear often in Milwaukee stage productions.

The core company represents only 13 of the 49 actors who will appear on APT stages this season. Also among its members are retired “emeritus” members such as Mark Corkins and Jonathan Smoots. In addition to Krause, the other “new” members include: Phoebe Gonzalez (Chicago), Samantha Newcomb (Spring Green) and Laura Rook (Chicago). Gonzalez studied at Northwestern University, while Newcomb studied at DePaul University and Rook studied at Roosevelt University (all Chicago-area schools).

Continue reading full feature here