Toil and Trouble

Toil and Trouble

by Lauren Gunderson
directed by Linetta Alexander Islam
co-produced with Mad Rogues

featuring the talents of Adam Qutaishat, Joel Kopischke, and Maggie Marks
with production design by Alan Piotrowicz

In Lauren Gunderson’s Toil and Trouble, underemployed friends Adam, Matt and Beth are desperate to beat the recession any way they can–like combining forces to take over a small island in South America. But when a fortune cookie tells Matt that he will rule and Beth gets a little too handy with a dagger, plans go awry. This hilarious adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth pits friend against friend, ambition against fate, pet-sitting against miniature vicuna mogul-dom.

Produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc.

September 23rd, 24th, 25th, 27th, and 30th, 2021 @ 7:00pm
October 1st and 2nd @ 7:00pm

Cast

Adam Qutaishat (Adam)

Adam Qutaishat is a multiracial actor, director, designer, teacher, writer, composer, and advocate working throughout the Midwest. Area highlights include work with Next Act Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Renaissance Theaterworks, Playwrights' Center, National Theatre for Children, All In Productions, Windfall Theatre, American Gothic Performing Arts Fest, and Music Theatre of Madison. Adam serves as Associate Artistic Director for Music Theatre of Madison and as an Artistic Associate for All In Productions. Adam also does extensive work on audio fiction podcasts and can be heard on the upcoming Dracula ( The House Theatre of Chicago), The Wanderer (Fable and Folly Network), and Vigil (All In Productions). Adam's new musical Micro, co-written with Heidi Joosten will receive its first reading as part of the Wisconsin New Musicals Cycle on  December 8 at Lakeside Street Coffeehouse in Madison, and their new play, Absent will be receiving a workshop reading this November. Adam also co-directed and conceived of the album An American Mythology with MTM, a new musical concept album feature Wisconsin BBIPOC composers, which can be found on bandcamp. For more of Adam's past and future work, check out adamqutaishat.com.

Joel Kopischke (Matt)

Joel is ecstatic to be back on a stage, even more so to work again with Adam and Maggie. Joel has previously performed with Mad Rogues, including Prospero in The Tempest, Falstaff in Merry Wives of Windsor, and the Porter in Macbeth. He has recently performed virtually with Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s YPW Showcase and Schmitz & Giggles. Over the other zillion years of performing professionally, singing loudly and having fun on stage, TV, radio, film, and more, he has performed with Skylight Music Theatre, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, First Stage, MSO, TAP, & Melody Top. Additionally, Joel has released humorous holiday CDs I Got Yule Babe & Ground Control To Santa Claus and his musical Dairy Heirs, co-written with Alissa Rhode & Eva Nimmer, debuted in 2018 at Northern Sky Theatre (original cast recording now available). He is currently writing a new musical with Adam Qutaishat. Joel has upcoming performances in at Musical Mainstage at Sunset, Little Women with Forte Theatre, and I Got Yule Babe at Waukesha Civic and Schauer Arts Center.

Maggie Marks (Beth)

Maggie Marks is so incredibly exited to be performing again, and especially considering how long it's been for so many of us. Sunstone Studios is an enormous gift in a small space to those of us who thrive on theater.  She feels so grateful to Amber Reagan and Jim Neuner for their hard work and vision.  During the pandemic, Maggie filled some of her performance/theater needs with renovating Sunstone Studios, filming a movie, various Zoom theatrical projects, and virtual school for her kids.  She worked virtually with Schmitz and Giggles for SKETCH 22, and Voices Found Repertory in their Halloween production of THEY CALL ME DRACULA as well a their NEW WORKS FESTIVAL. Also during the pandemic, she performed a piece called WOMENS VOICES for Seat of Your Pants Reading Theater Troupe. Most recently prior to Covid she worked with Renaissance Theaterworks Brink Festival, First Stage, Sunset Playhouse, Mad Rogues, Cardinal Stritch, Schmitz and Giggles, and Seat of Our Pants Readers Theater Troupe.  Next up she has her directing debut of THE TAMING by Lauren Gunderson at Sunstone Studios in November,  and will then be performing in DIARY OF ANNE FRANK for Milwaukee Entertainment Group in January. A huge thank you to Amber for her support and respect, and of course lots of love and thanks to her husband Sean and children.

Production Staff

Linetta Alexander Islam (Director)

Linetta Davis is a playwright, actor and educator based in Milwaukee. Her first play, A Black Woman’s Burden: Her Journey from Pain to Freedom, is a choreopoem which presents four archetypes of modern day women who struggle with their relationships and self-worth while seeking restoration and renewal from childhood sexual abuse. The Shepherd Express compared Linetta’s work to that of Ntozake Shange’s, stating, “The slam-style mid-to-late ‘90’s spoken word style of Ntozake Shange’s stage drama is mirrored in the work of Milwaukee playwright/poet Linetta Davis.” Spanning genres, Davis has also written a romantic comedy, I Used to Love Him (2012), and a tragedy, The End of Hope (2013), as well as a memoir, Honey and Vinegar (2010), chronicling her cathartic writing experience as she grieved the death of her father. Davis is also director and founder of Rebirth Ink LLC, a firm specializing in publication, consulting, and productions. Linetta has sat as a guest panelist for Truth to Reconciling: “The Hidden Impact of Segregation”. Marquette University, was a featured speaker, SWAN Day MKE: “Women & Nature”. Urban Ecology Center and Guest Panelist, 80th Anniversary of “Their Eyes Were Watching God”. She has created and implemented community events to promote family literacy, Co-founded the Milwaukee Chapter of S.I.M.S.A., a rites of passage program for African American Girls, a member of The Table: A 1st Century style community in the 21st century, and most recently, directed and produced a virtual excerpt reading of her play, “The End of Hope”, a tragedy that confronts childhood abuse, domestic violence, and the need for trauma informed care.

Alan Piotrowicz (Production Designer)

Alan Piotrowicz makes his home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he has designed for several companies including All In Productions, Cooperative Performance, Danceworks, Falls Patio Players, First Stage Children’s Theatre, In Tandem Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Next Act Theatre, Renaissance Theaterworks, Theatre Gigante, Theater RED, and Windfall Theatre. He’s also designed for TITAN Theatre Company in New York City, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre in Holland, MI, and Ivoryton Playhouse and Brief Cameo Productions in Ivoryton, CT. He sits on the board of both Cooperative Performance and Brief Cameo Productions. He received his training at UW-Madison and The Santa Fe Opera. www.alanpiotrowicz.com

Liv Mauseth (Stage Manager)