R Wee Delicious

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Trevin Gay

Cast members of R Wee Delicious (left to right): Karen Saari (above), Janine Gardner (below), Erica Halverson, Craig Johnson, Scott Haden, Jess Schuknecht.

press release: Are We Delicious? follows their creativity back to its source with a children’s show written, rehearsed and premiered in one week by a cast of parents. Starting with their own children in mind, the ensemble writes short plays for each other, writing and rewriting until they’ve created a toychest of delight for young and old.

R Wee Delicious matinee performances are part of a special Are We Delicious? triple-show with A Serpent's Tooth: the King Lear Musical performing evenings and Dave Durbin's Dirty Delights performing late night.

When: January 26 & 27 at 1 pm and February 2 at 1 pm and 4 pm, Drury Stage of the Bartell Theater (upstairs), 113 E. Mifflin Street

Price: $10 all-ages

Ensemble includes: Erica Halverson, Craig Johnson, Jess Schuknecht, Janine Gardner, Karen Saari, and Scott Haden

Directed and designed by Casem AbuLughod (a director, improviser, actor and occasional Ogre) with help from Atlas Improv co-founder Jess Schuknecht. Stage management by Jenna Marie Mitchell.

ENSEMBLE BIOS

Erica Halverson is a professor of education at UW-Madison where she studies how people learn in and through the arts. She also teaches future educators how to use arts practices to make their classrooms, libraries, and afterschool programs more productive places for learning. Erica is the mayor of Whoopensocker, an arts education program dedicated to engaging kids in creative expression through writing, improv, and performance. Whoopensocker works with 2nd-7th graders at schools, libraries, and community centers across Madison and with Madison's finest actor-educators. Luckily, Mayor is not an elected, but rather a self-appointed position.

Craig Johnson has performed in five AWD's and directed three. If you want to see him on stage he performs with the Monkey Business Institute improv comedy group. If you want to see him on line, you can see him in "Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager" as Weird Jimmy and in "Welcome to the Basement" doing movie reviews as himself.

Jess Schuknecht graduated with a degree in theater and drama from UW-Madison and never left town. He has appeared for numerous theater companies in town, including Forward Theater, CTM, Strollers, The Bricks, and Are We Delicious? amongst others. He became a member of improv mainstay ComedySportz-Madison in 1999, before leaving to co-found Atlas Improv Co. in 2003. He has performed with Atlas, Monkey Business Institute, and The Bronze Medalists. Hugger extraordinaire.

Janine Gardner is thrilled to be a part of Delicious again! She previously wrote and performed in Are We Delicious? Nevertheless She Persisted. Other roles include Hattie McDaniel in StageQ’s Christmas with the Crawfords, Sister Chantelle in MPT/OUT!Cast’s Bare, and Bloody Mary in St. Bernard Players’ South Pacific.

Karen Saari’s In a Clearing celebrated its professional world premiere via Magnetic Theatre Company in Asheville, North Carolina, in Aug. 2018 and was a semi-finalist for the 2018 Eugene O’Neill Playwriting Conference. In a Clearing was a 2015 Wisconsin Wrights New Play Festival winner, was awarded a PlayLab at the 2017 Last Frontier Theatre Conference and has received readings and development via Playwrights Center and Madison, Wisc.’s Workshop Stage. In a Clearing also helped Saari advance to finalist for the 2017 ATHE Award for Excellence in Playwriting. An early draft of her play ‘Rain on Fire was chosen as a “second-rounder” (top 20%) for the 2018 Austin Film Festival. Her comedy Bad in Bed (A Fairy Tale) had its developmental premiere in 2018 at Acadiana Repertory Theatre of Lafayette, LA. Bad in Bed was also a semi-finalist for the Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival. Her one-act plays Joyland, A Robot, a Clown and a Turban and The Ones Who Stay have been performed from Newport, Washington, to St. Louis to Milwaukee. Karen Saari has many written sketches and one-act plays performed in her home city of Madison, WI. A graduate of Northern Michigan University, Saari is a marketing copywriter, voice talent, actor and mother of two. She’s also a member of Playwrights Center. As a performer, Saari has acted with several companies in town. Her credits include Music Theatre of Madison’s (MTM) Bonnie and Clyde (Cumie Barrow) and Sound of Music (Elsa), Alley Stage’s The Odd Couple (Gwendolyn), Mercury Players’ original You’ve Ruined a Perfectly Good Mystery (Lady Bosom-Heaving), Madison Theatre Guild’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Sandy) and Strollers’ Cat’s Paw (Jessica Lyons) and Miss Firecracker Contest (Popeye). She’s also a working voiceover talent.

Scott Haden serves as the director of marketing at Forward Theater Company, and has enjoyed acting at various regional theaters across the country, including American Players Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Writers’ Theatre (Jeff Nomination), Madison Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, and Theatre at the Center. He is proud to work with Madison's Whoopensocker ensemble, and is a founding member of the Wisconsin Story Project, Dolphinback Theatre/Chicago, and the Lovewell Theatre Project, an ensemble of artists that conceive and compose original musicals during intensive three-week collaborations. Scott holds a bachelor's degree in acting from the Webster University Conservatory of Theatre Arts

Casem AbuLughod is a Madison based performer. He improvises with the Monkey Business Institute most weekends. He has acted with multiple Madison based companies including Strollers, Mercury Players, Whoopensocker, and several previous Delicious casts. He has directed several pieces and earned his Masters in Applied Theatre from the City University of New York. Favorite roles include Friar John in 11 Variations on Friar John's Failure, Froggy in The Foreigner, and Musa in A Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.

Jenna Marie Mitchell is delighted to be back with AWD. Up next, she will be working on StageQ's Raid! Attack on Stonewall by AWD's own Malissa Petterson. Previously, Jenna has SM'd for Broom Street Theatre, Madison Shakespeare Company, StageQ, Madison Theatre Guild, Capital City Theatre, Mercury Players Theatre, and numerous Are We Delicii. Shout out to those close to Jenna who help her stay [in]sane.

Acknowledgements

This project is supported by The Joan L and Robert C Gilkison Family Foundation.

The Are We Delicious? 2018-2019 season is sponsored by WORT 89.9 FM community radio providing alternative music, news and public affairs to South Central Wisconsin.  Live streaming, program archives and podcasts are available at wortfm.org

Are We Delicious? is an ensemble of Madison actor/playwrights, composer/musicians and choreographer/dancers who work collaboratively to create a 90-minute show in only 7 days. Everyone writes, everyone acts, everyone sings and dances and no one can rest until the final curtain.

Are We Delicious? is produced by Delicious Creative Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission is to conduct charitable and educational activities related to collaborative performance art projects which prioritize creativity and empowerment, teamwork and cooperation, self-confidence, and expansion of individual creative potential within a supportive group experience.