Renaissance Theaterworks Blog

The successful bidder for the Greek dinner for eight offered by former RTW board member (and Greek goddess), Angela Toeptzes Strelka at the spring fundraiser was a group of RTW season ticket holders that included board member Cathie Anderson, and friends Cindy Angelos, Kathy Block, Linda Burke, MaryLynn Cinaelis, Miriam Horwitz and MaryNell Regan.  Our dinner was held on Thursday, July 31st at the home of Cindy Angelos and Ed Ehrlich. The deck where the meal was served overlooks Lake Michigan. It was filled with pots and pots of flowers, the work of Cindy’s green-thumbed husband Ed, and festively decorated in Greek blue and white. With Greek music playing in the background (no Abba), we truly felt we were on an island in the Aegean Sea. In fact, some of us were so taken with the spirit we even attempted to execute a Greek dance (we are not giving up day jobs and going on tour). Angela and her husband Tom prepared a marvelous meal allowing us to graze throughout the evening. The evening started with typical Greek appetizers, dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), taramasalata (caviar tip), melanzanasalata(eggplant dip), sardines, octopus, loukaniko (Greek sausage) with tzatsiki (yougurt sauce) and three Greek cheeses. This feast was followed by entrees of horiatiki salad, spanakopita (spinach/cheese pie), pastitsio (Greek lasagne) and loin lamb chops.  Just when we thought we could eat no more, the desserts came: risogolo (a cinnamon-spiced rice pudding), baklava, kourabethies (power-sugar covered ladyfingers) and diples (potato- chip looking dessert dripping with honey).  All of this washed down with Notios wine, Mythos beer, ouzo and metaxa brandy left us shouting OPA! Angela and her husband Tom were terrific event hosts, amusing us with stories about the Greek community and Greek customs and traditions (like the movie, Big Fat Greek Wedding, Angela and Tom claim all Greeks are cousins, but unlike the movie, not all Greeks believe Windex is the universal cure for what ails ya!), and explaining the origins and ingredients of many of the foods. A highlight was when Angela told us that the round pan she used to make spanakopita (the spinach pie) is over a 100 years old and was brought to this country by her mother’s mother and passed down to Angela. Now that’s tradition!Another nice Greek tradition we enthusiastically embraced was the fine tradition of cooking way too much – and giving the leftovers to the party guests! On behalf of our entire group, a thank you and “OPA” to Angela and Tom and to RTW for putting this item on the auction table so it could be on our dinner table. Reviewed by:  Cathie Anderson (top photo left) 

We’ve had a few bugs to work out, but we are back on target with our blog and are committed to giving you all the inside scoop and juicy details of Renaissance Theaterworks.  And just in time for the new season.  But before we jump to the exciting 2008-2009 Season, I wanted to give you a quick view of what’s been going on since the run of Fat Pig.Fat Pig was a HUGE success.  The actors were fantastic, the show was funny and touching and made you a bit uncomfortable (how could it not when you are calling a beautiful, charming woman a Fat Pig!  Kudos to the actors, Susan Fete, the director and all the people behind the scenes to make this one of the most sought after shows in Milwaukee.  Tanya  Braden  Leah Wayne

Let’s see, we also had a smashing success at our annual fundraiser “Salon Soiree”.  This year’s fundraiser had a theme of Renaissance Men.  We had different types of Renaissance Men in the house, that meant different things to Renaissance Theaterworks.  Among the men in attendance were  Norman Moses, Wayne T. Carr, Mayor Tom Barrett, philanthropist Harry Franke,  Josh “making it big Off-Broadway in NYC” Schmidt, as well as many other RTW fan favorites.  They all told a personal insight into their lives in the theater as well as what makes Milwaukee a great place to live and to see great theater.  It was truly a good night for Milwaukee theater.  Plus we raised a few bucks!

Keep checking back often.  We have some reviews coming from students at MATC who saw FAT PIG.  We’ll see what they thought of it.  Plus we’ll be hearing from the Renaissance Theaterworks Friends Group and about the upcoming Play Reading “Smell of the Kill.”

See you soon!