Jeff Wise, David Kenner, and Michael Schantz of “An Enemy of the People”

Wheelhouse Theater Company presents Henrik Ibsen's AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, directed by Jeff WiseListen in as Wheelhouse Theater Company founders Jeff Wise, who also directs the show, and actors David Kenner and Michael Schantz, discuss the company’s production of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, rebuttal plays, parallels to today (the phrase “drain the swamp” is in the text—seriously), reactions to overtly political plays that aren’t political screeds, the toxicity of forced conformity, and letting the audience draw their own conclusions.

“…the thing that really motivated me to do this play, the theme that I think stands out the most, is this idea of what it takes to step outside the collective, and have a new idea. And that is something that I think Ibsen was directly pointing at…”

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Steven Carl McCasland and Mallory Berlin, of “A Doll’s Life”

Nora in Rep, by The Beautiful Soup Theater CollectiveWe all know the story of Nora & Torvald from Ibsen’s classic A Doll’s House (wasn’t it the first thing every directing student worked on in class?). But have you ever wondered what happened to Nora after she shut the door?

Betty Comden & Adolph Green, who wrote the book & lyrics to the musical (yes — musical) A Doll’s Life, wondered just that — and the result was one of the better-known Broadway flops of the 20th Century, running for only 5 performances.

Steven Carl McCasland, Artistic Director of The Beautiful Soup Theatre Collective, has brought the musical back to NYC with a production at The New Ohio Theatre, running it in rep with the original Ibsen. In this episode of Go See a Show!, I interview McCasland along with Mallory Berlin, who portrays Nora in A Doll’s Life.

Producer’s Note: Very sorry for the lateness of this episode! Had some uploading difficulty; hope everyone can catch one of the remaining two performances!


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The Beautiful Soup Theater Collective presents
Nora in Rep
thru February 5, 2012
The New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher Street, New York, NY
Wednesday January 25th – 7:30pm – A DOLL’S HOUSE
Thursday 26th – 7:30pm – A DOLL’S LIFE
Friday 27th – 7:30pm – A DOLL’S HOUSE
Saturday 28th – 2:00pm – A DOLL’S HOUSE
Saturday 28th – 7:30pm – A DOLL’S LIFE
Sunday 29th – 2:00pm – A DOLL’S LIFE
Sunday 29th – 7:00pm – A DOLL’S HOUSE
Wednesday, February 1st – 7:30pm – A DOLL’S LIFE

Thursday, 2nd – 7:30pm – A DOLL’S HOUSE
Friday, 3rd – 7:30pm – A DOLL’S LIFE
Saturday, 4th – 2:00pm – A DOLL’S LIFE
Saturday, 4th – 7:30pm – A DOLL’S HOUSE
Sunday, 5th – 2:00pm – A DOLL’S HOUSE
Sunday, 5th – 7:00pm – A DOLL’S LIFE