Director’s Note

Playwright Nagle Jackson passed away at age 88 on July 15, 2024, just a month after we of SoOP had our first read through of his fine play. We are especially happy to honor a terrific theatre artist who had strong links to Milwaukee and its ‘regional theatre’ scene. Mr. Jackson was an actor, director, teacher, writer, translator and producer of an immense body of work. This play is probably not one considered in his major ‘canon’ of works, and it has never been produced in MKE, although it had a fine run at Princeton’s McCarter Theater’s Stage II in 1983. Ironically, actor Scott Howland knew of Mr. Jackson when Scott was at nearby Rutgers. I have wanted to do this play for years because it’s such an actors’ romp, one that underscores the efforts and sacrifices actors and companies make to engage in their crafts. Given the divisions and dangers in our current political scene, the play has particularly strong relevance. In WI, a state weak in arts funding, our performers and companies know first-hand the struggles of producing art. Still, ATEP provides a way to laugh at the hardships, even as the actors have to go underground.