3929
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
Written by Michael Muckian, Contributing writer
Dec 1, 2011
Milwaukee Repertory Theater artistic director Mark Clements directs a scene in the upcoming production of ''Next to Normal.'' – Photo: Adam Horowitz
On mild days, you might still find Mark Clements walking his pooches – boxers Walter and Blanche – on the Milwaukee lakefront. If he appears to be lost in thought, perhaps he's reminiscing about a Green Bay Packers game or London's Arsenal football (soccer) club. Don't be surprised if his head turns at the potato-potato-potato sound of an idling Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Clements, 50, has a passion for contact sports and motocross, fields he considered pursuing as a young man in England. But fortunately for Wisconsin, he chose a very different career – in the theater. After successes in the United Kingdom and on the East Coast, he's setting box office records in his second season as artistic director of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
Clements and friend and fellow Brit Michael Pink, artistic director of the Milwaukee Ballet, were drawn to the city for its vibrant performing arts scene. Their genius has catapulted their respective organizations to the next level of achievement, and the city's cultural stature has risen along with them. Civic leaders increasingly view cultural tourism as a major force in the city's economic future.
Clements' artistic influence and broad choices of material have breathed new life into his troupe. And Milwaukee has breathed new life into the artistic director in return. If Milwaukee loves Clements, the feeling is mutual. The city has proven to be a perfect setting for his diverse set of interests, including football and motorcycles.
"People talk about Milwaukee like it's some large village, but I don't see that at all," he says. "Milwaukee has so much going on culturally. I am still discovering the city."
Clements' girlfriend Kelley Faulkner, who played Sally Bowles in the director's inaugural Rep production of "Cabaret" last season, earlier this year gave birth to daughter Amelie. That event, along with his growing affection for the city, means there's a very good chance the English ex-pat will be around for awhile.
A wealth of experience
Like Pink, Clements comes from an English theatrical family. Despite his early desire to play professional soccer and race motorcycles, he followed his parents into what might be called the family business. He started on the technical side – lights, sound design and props – quickly moving into management.
By age 17 he was assistant stage manager for a local theater company, graduating to stage manager at 21. He made his directing debut with Harold Pinter's "The Dumbwaiter" at the Royal Theatre in Northhampton. By age 29 he was artistic director of the Derby Playhouse, directing some 50 productions and producing more than 100 shows.
Clements served as associate artistic director for Vanessa and Corin Redgrave's Moving Theatre Co. before moving to the United States to produce and direct plays in New York and Philadelphia, and then coming to Milwaukee.
Awards have marked milestones in Clements' career. Nominated numerous times in England, he won New York's 2004 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Production of an Off-Broadway Musical for "The Thing About Men." In Philadelphia he picked up dual awards for best director and best production for his version of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" in 2007. In 2008 he won his second Barrymore Award for best production of a musical for his new staging of "Les Miserables."
Main stage musicals were one of Clements' first innovations when he arrived at the Rep. Rep fans were initially startled – and ultimately enraptured – when he chose "Cabaret" to kick off his first season last fall.
Clements is following up this year with "Next to Normal," a Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical about a suburban housewife with bipolar disorder. As he did with "Cabaret," Clements asked Pink to do the choreography.
More theater in Milwaukee
"There is more theater in Milwaukee than one might expect," Clements says, praising the Rep's facilities and multiple stages. "The Milwaukee Rep is one of the largest theaters in terms of real estate that I've ever seen, akin to Britain's National Theatre in that regard."
But like most area arts companies, the Rep has a loyal but small following relative to the metro area population, something that Clements is working hard to correct. He'd like to see a wider socio-economic and cultural variety of theatergoers evolve, including younger audiences.
The Rep chooses its shows to appeal to different audience segments, but that doesn't always attract the people he'd like to introduce to the performing arts. It's a constant struggle to capture a larger share of the entertainment dollar, and results have been mixed.
"'Lombardi' will have been the Rep's most successful play ever in terms of ticket sales," says Clements about the recent production of Eric Simonson's play about the legendary Green Bay Packers coach, which required additional shows to meet all the demand. "But at the same time I have this beautifully rendered play "Yellowman" about prejudice within the African-American community, and I am not getting the people I know this play deserves."
More aggressive marketing and greater retail opportunities may help the Rep increase its revenues. For ideas, Clements and his staff have been looking at how the music industry and professional sports market themselves. "I want to be more proactive about taking care of the audience in the building," he says.
The Rep also has studied other dramatic venues, such as American Players Theatre. The Spring Green company has theatrical marketing and retail sales down to a science. Three years ago, APT lengthened the season of its open-air amphitheater and increased its seating capacity with the addition of The Touchstone, a 200-seat indoor "black box" theater constructed with funds raised during the height of the lingering economic recession.
Serving LGBT audiences
Not surprisingly, Clements counts LGBT theatergoers as among the best audiences for theater in general – and the Milwaukee Rep in particular. Clements is still surprised when racism and homophobia rear their ugly heads.
"I was doing 'Happy Now?' (at Philadelphia's Walnut Street Playhouse) before I got here and got letters complaining that I had a gay character on stage," Clements says. "In this day and age that makes me angry. I want to keep our audiences, but not at the expense of not being able to explore these issues."
Milwaukee suffers from many of the same phobias. The pushback he received about some of the Kit Kat Club boys in "Cabaret" came as no surprise in a city where same-sex couples usually don't hold hands walking down the street.
"The Rep actually is the straightest theater I've ever worked in," he says. "I'd like to see a pinker strand running through this theater."
Clements plans to further cultivate Milwaukee's LGBT community, finding the right plays at the right time to make the kinds of social statements the director feels need to be spotlighted. Clements loves being controversial in ways that get people to think.
"I want to have the right conversations with the right people in the LGBT community to find out what they want," he says.
Settling in
Milwaukee audiences want to be challenged by what the Rep puts on stage, Clements says. Toward that end, he's started commissioning works from new writers that explore a variety of subjects. One play the troupe commissioned is ready to launch, and two more are slated for the near future.
"There is a hunger for new works in this market, but the question is just how large an audience they will attract," Cements says. "Low attendance is a big frustration for theater-makers. It's the obligation of the arts to provide us with a broader view of life, but it's no use playing to empty seats."
These are the kind of thoughts that occupy Clements' mind as he takes off daily from his home in the city's Yankee Hill neighborhood with his dogs Walter, named for the John Goodman character in "The Big Lebowski," and Blanche, named for the Rue McClanahan character from the television series "Golden Girls."
"Most people think she's named for Blanche Dubois from 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' but that's not the case," Clements says with a smirk. "It's a reasonable guess given that I am ultimately the guy who lives and falls by his theater's success."
