PigPen delivers haunting story of Americana
‘Hunter and the Bear’ spins a tale
Glencoe, Ill. — Deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, in some vanished corner of the 19th century, a logger named Tobias loses his child, named Elliot.
The chief suspect: A bear that’s been haunting the loggers’ camp. Tobias lights out to kill the bear, and therein hangs a tale.
In the world premiere now on stage at Writers Theatre, that tale is called “The Hunter and the Bear.”
It’s being told by PigPen Theatre Company, an exceptionally talented troupe of seven men who met in 2007 as freshmen at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. Since then, they’ve toured as a band playing bluegrassinflected music available on two albums: “Bremen” and “Whole Sun.”
They’ve also deployed their music in highly original theatrical productions involving physical comedy, puppetry and a refreshingly low-tech aesthetic. Cross Milwaukee’s First Stage with Quasimondo Milwaukee Physical Theatre and you get an idea of the magic baked into tales that place a premium on old-fashioned storytelling of the sort you’d hear around a campfire.
After the ensemble warms things up with a ghostly song about the lingering spirits of the dead, it’s around a campfire where we begin, with a man we’ll come to know as Lewis (Dan Weschler) lighted by a flickering flame, while the cast conjures the noise of crackling wood with little more than snapped fingers and clapped hands.
Lewis describes the loggers accompanying Tobias — from the ominously named Cascade Clearance Company — as men filled with “hope and ambition.” Collectively, they’re a cross-section of 19th-century American adventurers.
Pete (Curtis Gillen) is a drifter, running West from his past. The aptly named Bailey (Matt Nuernberger) is a wouldbe Wyatt Earp, for whom regeneration comes through violence. John (Arya Shahi) is a shapeshifting confidence man. Prescott (Alex Falberg) is the entrepreneur; with his name, one imagines the fortune-hunting scion of a prestigious New England family.
They’ll each learn that their quest for a new start can’t outrun their respective pasts — just as they’ll learn that the land they imagine as new has a history older than its trees. Prescott insists that this world is made for the living. But it’s quickly clear that it also belongs to the dead.
Collette Pollard’s multilevel scenic design tells us all we need to know: for every tree that still stands tall, there’s one that’s been cut, scarring a land that’s endured fire and on which ash still falls.
It’s a land filled with the living (often embodied by Lydia Fine’s puppets of various animals) and the dead, including a little girl (Fine’s puppetry, again) whose image haunts Lewis.
The life-size puppet of young Elliot (brought to life and given voice by Ryan Melia) similarly haunts Ben Ferguson’s Tobias, as he guiltily searches for that murderous bear.
Tobias is sure this bear has killed his beloved boy; he seems equally sure that Elliot would still be living if he’d watched over his son more carefully.
That psychodrama — doubled by one involving Lewis and his long-dead sister — lies at the heart of this story.
As PigPen continues to tweak “The Hunter and the Bear” for an anticipated Broadway run, they’d do well to flesh out these central stories — while worrying less about other characters’ backstories, presented in a confusing scene that’s the weakest part of this show.
At its compelling core, this quintessentially American story involves the relation between the beasts out there in the wilderness — witches and Indians, white whales and, yes, bears — and those within.
One can hunt them down. But even after they’re dead they remain very much alive, lingering at the margins of our collective psyche through riveting shows like this one.
DANCE CONCERTS Marcus Center Uihlein Hall:
Milwaukee Ballet’s “The Nutcracker,” 1:30 and 6 p.m. Dec. 26, 1:30 p.m. Dec. 27, 929 N. Water St., (414) 273-7206.
MUSIC Marcus Center Uihlein Hall:
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra performs “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with film projected in HD, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 30, 2:30 p.m. Dec. 31, 929 N. Water St., (414) 273-7206.
Sunset Playhouse:
A Blast from the Brass II concert, 9 p.m. Dec. 31, 800 Elm Grove Road, Elm Grove, (262) 782-4430.
Waukesha Civic Theatre:
“Elvis: The Legend Lives On,” 7:30 p.m. Dec. 29-30, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 31, 264 W. Main St., Waukesha, (262) 547-0708.
THEATER Fireside Dinner Theatre:
“Mamma Mia!,” (opens Dec. 29), 1131 Janesville Ave., Fort Atkinson, (800) 477-9505.
Marcus Center Todd Wehr:
First Stage presents “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical,” 1 and 3:30 p.m. Dec. 27-29, 3:30 and 7 p.m. Dec.30, 1 and 3:30 p.m. Dec. 31, 929 N. Water St., (414) 273-7206.
Racine Theatre Guild:
“Mary Poppins,” 8 p.m. Dec. 31, 2519 Northwestern Ave., Racine, (262) 633-4218.
Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents “I Love a Piano,” (through Jan. 15), 108 E. Wells St., (414) 224-9490.
In Tandem Theatre presents “Holiday Hell: The Curse of Perry Williams,” 7:30 p.m. Dec. 27-29, 8 p.m. Dec. 30, 9:30 p.m. Dec. 31, (through Jan. 8), 628 N. 10th St., (414) 271-1371.
Stackner Cabaret: Tenth Street Theatre: