Artists in Action Live Video Chat Tuesday, September 29 at 7 p.m. Join us LIVE on Tuesday, September 29 at 7 p.m. (CDT) on Skylight's Facebook and YouTube pages for the second episode of the new Skylight Social series, Artists in Action. Co-hosts Christie Chiles Twillie, frequent Music Director at Skylight, and Michael Unger, Skylight Music Theatre Artistic Director, will discuss the importance of diversifying the voices writing for musical theatre. They will look back at how writers of color have historically been under-represented in the musical theatre canon. Skylight is working to support diverse writers with our MKE MaKEs New Works Festival—the inaugural year of which focuses on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) writers. Learn more about MKE Makes in the section below.

Guests this episode include musician and scholar Wallace Cheatham; performer and director David Flores; and director, educator and performer Sheri Williams Pannell.

Meet the Guests Wallace Cheatham is internationally recognized as a musician and scholar. He is a member of the American Alliance of Composers, an organization that was founded by Aaron Copeland. He looks forward to the publication of his essay, "Racism: Opera's Unlisted Cast Member," later this year in the Journal of Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan in Ibadan, Nigeria. In 2022 he will conduct Schubert's "Mass in G Major" for chorus and orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

David Flores has performed extensively with many Milwaukee theater, music, and dance companies including Alchemist, Boulevard, Cornerstone, First Stage, In Tandem, Milwaukee Chamber, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Off The Wall, Optimist, Renaissance, Skylight, Theater X, Theatre Gigante, Windfall, Florentine Opera, Milwaukee Opera Theatre and Wild Space Dance. Credits include everything from Albee to Die Zauberflöte and Shakespeare to Sondheim. He has also served as stage director for well-received productions with Boulevard (Pal Joey), Milwaukee Opera Theatre (Thank You. NEXT? World Premiere), and Windfall (Figaro). He studied music and dance at Harvard University, and he is a long-time member of the City of Milwaukee Arts Board.

Sheri Williams Pannell is a Milwaukee hometown talent who has often performed and directed at Skylight. Pannell is a stage director, playwright and artistic director at Bronzeville Arts Ensemble; artistic associate at First Stage; stage director/teaching artist at Black Arts MKE; and co-director of the drama ministry at Calvary Baptist Church. The City of Milwaukee honored Pannell as an “Artist of the Year.” Pannell is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Peck School of the Arts. She is a graduate of Spelman College with an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Co-host Christie Chiles Twillie is a pianist, music director, and sound designer. At Skylight: Five Guys Named Moe (2019 Footlights Winner for Best Musical Direction for a Professional Production), Newsies, and The Gospel at Colonus. Regional: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, The Last Five Years, and Sweeney Todd. 2018 Broadway World Finalist for Best Music Direction (Big Fish). Compositional: BTAA nomination - Best Music Direction (Yellowman), A Raisin in the Sun (Invictus Theatre), In The Red & Brown Water (Northwestern), short film The Pandemic. Twillie's Bachelor and Masters studies were in Piano Performance at West Virginia University. Co-host Michael Unger (Skylight Music Theatre Artistic Director) is also the Producing Artistic Director of NewArts in Newtown, CT, started with a local father in response to the Sandy Hook tragedy. For NewArts he has directed a dozen musicals involving 600 local children. He was Associate Artistic Director of Off-Broadway’s York Theatre. Unger has directed benefit concerts for the Sandy Hook and Parkland communities. World premieres: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Caligula, and A ROCKIN’ Midsummer Night’s Dream (featured in the award-winning film “Midsummer in Newtown”). Other credits: McCarter, 59E59, Paramount, Signature, Cape Playhouse, Deaf West, and the MUNY.

Catch up with Artists in Action

Watch the previous Skylight Social Artists in Action with Chiké Johnson, Sheri Williams Pannell, Malkia Stampley, and Co-hosts Christie Chiles Twillie and Michael Unger.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

MKE MaKEs: A New Musical Works Series Accepting Submissions Through November 1 MKE MaKEs is a series to develop and present world premiere music theatre works. MKE Makes is currently seeking submissions of never-before-produced musicals by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) writers and composers from across the country. BIPOC writers should submit their works through an online form here. Submissions for consideration are being accepted through November 1, 2020. Photo: Mark Frohna Virtual Doors Open Milwaukee September 26 - October 11, 2020 Doors Open Milwaukee is headed online this year, with a series of virtual building tours that you can experience from Sept. 26 until Oct. 11, 2020. Skylight and the Broadway Theatre Center are featured among the 85+ buildings that typically open for in-person tours during the event, and will offer a virtual photo tour for visitors to explore online this year.

Building pages will be available to view beginning September 26 by visiting doorsopenmilwaukee.org.

Announcing the Revised 2020-21 Season More information about subscription and single ticket availability coming soon. Visit our website to learn more about the revised 2020-21 season.

Questions? We encourage you to read our Health and Safety Protocols and our Frequently Asked Questions.

For more information on subscriptions, tickets and exchanges, please call the Box Office at (414) 291-7800, Monday – Friday, from noon - 5 p.m. or email [email protected]

Skylight is working to address critical issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. We unequivocally support social justice and Black Lives Matter. We mourn the toll caused by decades of systemic racism, hatred and violence. We stand together with our community of Skylight artists and fellow arts organizations to embrace diversity. We commit to use our art form to tell stories that increase understanding, empathy and peace. In a world torn apart on so many levels, we must do all we can, in whatever ways we can, to make the world a better, more empathetic, and more accepting place.

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Skylight Music Theatre 158 N. Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202