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Five Questions With Malkia Stampley

Malkia Stampley plays Risa in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. 

Courtesy of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park 

  Malkia is thrilled to make her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut! Regional credits include King Lear and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Milwaukee Shakespeare in the Park); Doubt (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Holes and Welcome to Bronzeville (First Stage); Dreamgirls, The Color Purple, A Christmas Carol and Sueño (Milwaukee Repertory Theater); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Children's Theatre of Madison/Theatre LILA); Learning to Stay and Good People (Forward Theater); Crowns (Skylight Music Theatre); The Talented Tenth and Black Nativity (Congo Square); and Raisin (Court Theatre). She twice toured Japan and Taiwan in a Disney music revue. Malkia is also a stage director with credits including Milwaukee's annual Black Nativity by Langston Hughes, the world premiere of Antarctica, WI and Skylight's Five Guys Named Moe, and she co-wrote the play LINES, which premiered April 2018. Television credits include Shameless, Chicago P.D., Empire and The Chi. Film credits include Native Son, Killing Eleanor, Netflix's Beats and Small Town Wisconsin. Malkia received her training at Marquette University and was an acting intern at Skylight Music Theatre and Milwaukee Rep. She is a founding member of Bronzeville Arts Ensemble, Artistic Associate at Congo Square and winner of the Woodie King Jr. Award for her role in Dreamgirls. Follow her on Instagram! @malkiaduewa How long have you been acting, and where did you receive your training? I have been acting for 25 years. I started in high school in a suburb of Milwaukee, performed as a young performer at two professional theatres and then trained at Marquette University. After school, I was an acting intern at Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Skylight Music Theatre. I consider myself still in training. 

Malkia Stampley in August Wilson's Two Trains Running. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

When did you know you wanted to be an actor, and what’s your favorite part of the job? I knew I wanted to be an actor in high school. It felt like a calling, first love, epiphany. Nothing else has given me that feeling outside of my husband, my children and my faith. My absolute favorite part of being an actor is the instant community, the collaborative nature of each production and being able to tap into the soul of someone (the character) who I instantly feel so much compassion for. What is your all-time favorite role you’ve performed and why? That's a hard one. Beneatha in Raisin (the widely unknown musical of A Raisin in the Sun). It was a stripped-down production that incorporated much of the original script at Court Theatre in Chicago. It was truly the best possible way for me at the time to marry classic work with music. Being primarily a musical actress at the time, it was the perfect transition. Raisin was my first show when I moved to Chicago. It was the best way possible to be introduced to the close-knit theatre community and not have to get a survival job. I was dating my now husband at the time and lived on my own away from my family for the first time. That production was a huge part of the journey that came after. 

Chiké Johnson and Malkia Stampley and in August Wilson's Two Trains Running. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

What role have you been dying to play and why? Ruth in A Raisin in the Sun and, in about 10 years, Rose in Fences. I have been fascinated with A Raisin in the Sun since I was a child and dream of having the full experience, playing all the female roles and directing it, but not necessarily in that order. What has been the most interesting part of working on Two Trains Running so far? A few days before coming to Cincinnati, I had just opened a production of Five Guys Named Moe. I directed an all-Black male cast and was honored to work alongside females of color: music director, choreographer, costume designer, light designer, set designer. It was such a unique experience. To immediately be amongst an all-male cast but now the sole Black female, I was hyper-aware of that reality. I instantly fell in love with the phenomenal men in the cast, the assistant director, stage management, and I have admired Timothy Douglas from afar. I have learned so much from the entire team and am so grateful for this opportunity. The other interesting but a rather fun part of this production is working with my husband of over 11 years, Chiké Johnson, who plays Sterling. We have never played opposite of each other except in a short film. Our first production together was A Christmas Carol at Milwaukee Rep, but Mrs. Cratchit and Ghost of Christmas Present do not speak to each other. We thought our kids would be weirded out by seeing us kiss onstage, but they assured us, “It's no big deal, we see you kiss all the time.” I love his work, and it was always a dream to work with him, so I am truly enjoying every single moment.

Two Trains Running, April 16 through May 12 at Milwaukee Rep.

Get tickets at www.MilwaukeeRep.com

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Thoughts From Director Timothy Douglas

Courtesy of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

In August Wilson’s masterpiece, history unfolds around everyday lives against the backdrop of the civil rights movement. Long-time regulars gossip, flirt and play the numbers at a local diner that’s at risk of being taken over by the city. Part of Wilson’s trailblazing American Century Cycle, Two Trains Running paints a compassionate and unforgettable portrait of ordinary people in the midst of transformation. Two Trains Running Director Timothy Douglas provides his thoughts below on the significance of revisiting Wilson's award-winning work. 

Director Timothy Douglas in rehearsal for Two Trains Running

The works of August Wilson endure because we, as a theatre-going public, have yet to fully absorb the singular brilliance of this profoundly and authentically American playwright. And just when we feel we’ve digested a meaningful portion of his laser-focused representation of what it is to be black in America, it’s in the genuine humanness rooted in all of his characters — “sung” with open-throated abandon — that increasingly reflects our own evolving humanity and compels us to expand the capacity of our listening ears and heart to more deeply experience Wilson’s American Century Cycle of plays. In my revisiting Wilson’s plays, which has become a perpetual practice for this theatre director, I’m ever fascinated by how they continue to reveal their bottomless genius with a perpetual and galvanizing force. Without fail, they speak directly to — and become a mouthpiece for — the prevailing issues of these past 35 years, and I believe they will continue to do so for generations to come… always the telltale sign of world classics. 

Jefferson A. Russell (Wolf), Chiké Johnson (Sterling), Michael Anthony Williams (Holloway) and Frank Britton (Hambone) in rehearsal for August Wilson’s Two Trains Running.

While preparing to direct this production of Two Trains Running, its designation as a 1960s revolutionary’s story inspires my 2019 mind to thematically resound with the watch cry, #BlackLivesMatter. And yet when I imagine the Marx stage peopled with the play’s community of strong and loquacious African-American men, my focus redirects to the equally compelling #MeToo, and instantly I’m besotted with Risa’s clarifying voice and her ability to fully hold her own as the eye within the male-dominated storm of expressed oppression and survival. For me, it is Risa’s informed desires, nestled within her innate resilience — and complete with her scars literally exposed — that offers an anchoring hope for humanity in the way that only an evolved woman can. 

Malkia Stampley (Risa) and Chiké Johnson (Sterling) in rehearsal for August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. 

I dedicate this production to all of Wilson’s women… For though they may be far fewer in number to their male counterparts, theirs is an exponential journey of actualization often achieved through their deafening silence.

Two Trains Running runs April 16 through May 12 at Milwaukee Rep.

Get tickets at www.MilwaukeeRep.com

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6 Things with “Every Brilliant Thing” Star Scott Greer

1. If you were to pitch this show in a concise three-line pitch, what would it be?

The most unique theatrical experience you’ve ever had. It’s funny a lot, sad sometimes, and uplifting always. It’s interactive, but only if you want to participate.

2. This is your first time back to The Rep since Of Mice and Men in 2016, what or where are looking forward to seeing again?

Fonzie. (Just kidding). I loved my time in Milwaukee. I look forward to seeing more this time since I was there in January/February, We used to haunt a great little dive on Milwaukee St. called My Office. I’m looking forward to walks by the lake and maybe catching a Brewers game. But just being back at The Rep will be wonderful. It’s a fantastic place to work. The facility, the staff, everything is first rate.

3. Describe the change in approach from playing Lennie to playing the only character in this production.

Night and day. Playing Lennie for me is so much about his behavior (mannerisms, voice, gait, etc.), the challenge is to bring yourself to the character and live through him. With Every Brilliant Thing, it’s a fictional autobiography, but I’m really just me telling stories about my “life.” It’s really just a performance version of me.

4. You break the fourth wall in Every Brilliant Thing and interact with various members of the audience. What helped you hone your improv skills to react to all the different scenarios from the audience?

I have a strong background in improv. It was the first sort of acting class I ever took. I was a longtime member of Comedy Sportz Philadelphia (a franchise of the original, right here in Milwaukee), and I’ve studied clown and worked with devised theatre companies (Pig Iron Theatre Co.), that rely heavily on improv.

5. What’s the craziest response you've received so far when performing Every Brilliant Thing?

That’s hard to answer because of spoilers, but suffice to say, after every performance, the stage manager and I always say: “well THAT was a first!”

6. What do you hope audience gain or take away from this unique production? 

I hope people leave lighter than when they came in. I hope they are inspired by the little community which every audience becomes. I hope they all start their own list of brilliant things.

Every Brilliant Thing runs April 12 though May 5 at Milwaukee Rep.

Get tickets at www.MilwaukeeRep.com

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Our Partnership with Lucky Plush

Things I Know to be True is at its heart a family drama, but the presentation of that story is heightened with the incorporation of physical theater techniques. Our partner in this pursuit of innovation is the Chicago-based ensemble dance-theater company, Lucky Plush. Founded in 2000, Lucky Plush stages productions in Chicago and has presented work in over 55 cities across the U.S.

(Cast members rehearsing movement, L-R: Bill Geisslinger, Kevin Kantor, Aubyn Heglie, Zach Fifer & Jordan Baker) 

In collaborating with Lucky Plush, The Rep has explored how movement and story connect in a way, unlike anything we have ever done before. Milwaukee Rep Artistic Director Mark Clements first saw the work of Lucky Plush while participating in the Door County Kinetic Arts Festival and was “riveted” by their ability to take improvised stories and create new physical theater-dance pieces from the ideas.

(Cast members working with the movement director, L-R: Kelley Faulkner, Kevin Kantor, Lucky Plush Artistic Director Julia Rhodes & Jordan Baker)

It was there that he first proposed a collaboration to Lucky Plush Artistic Director Julia Rhoads, who shared his excitement at the prospect of working together. Clements feels that he and Rhoads are good artistic partners due to their own strengths and similarities: “We are not afraid to try anything and we are not afraid to say if something does not work . . . She is not precious about anything; she’s very direct.” These qualities allowed the team the chance to explore through rehearsal new ways of storytelling and physicality without being mired down by expectations. The results are a new and exciting production that will impact audiences through its beauty.

The American Premiere of Things I Know to be True runs March 5 through March 31 at Milwaukee Rep. 

Get tickets at www.MilwaukeeRep.com 

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Meet the Cast: The Chinese Lady

Meet the small but mighty cast of Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady! As two new faces to Milwaukee Rep, get to know Lisa Helmi Johanson and Jon Norman Schneider as they take on their roles in this historic new play.

Lisa Helmi Johanson, Afong Moy

Lisa is making her Milwaukee Rep debut with the historic play, The Chinese Lady. She has toured the country with Fiasco’s Into the Woods and Avenue Q. When not on tour, you can find Lisa in New York City doing productions such as Three Sisters, Women Beware Women and Rescue Rue; where she was nominated for Best Actress by BroadwayWorld.  She has also performed regionally with Arena Stage, Denver Center, 5th Avenue Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse and St. Louis Rep. She has participated in several workshops like August Rush with director John Doyle and Beetlejuice with director Alex Timbers.

When not on stage, Lisa has been seen on television in “Law & Order: SVU,” “Z-Rock” and “The Onion News Network.” Some of Lisa hidden talents include 20 years of playing the violin, ten years of piano as well as playing five other instruments.

Jon Norman Schneider, Atung

Jon is making his Milwaukee Rep debut in The Chinese Lady as Afong Moy’s right-hand man, Atung. Originally from the Bronx in New York, Jon has been seen on the stage in national and international productions. He has been seen in London at Tricycle Theatre in Paper Dolls as well as several regional theaters including Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alliance Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Dorset Theatre Festival, Goodman Theatre, Kennedy Center, McCarter Theatre, and the Old Globe. He has also appeared on stage in New York productions such as the title role in NAATCO's Henry VI and Awake and Sing!, The Oldest Boy at Lincoln Center, Queens Boulevard (the musical) at Signature Theatre and Durango at The Public Theater, among others.

When not on stage you can find Jon in films such as Bitter Melon, Manila Is Full of Men Named Boy, The Normals, and HBO's Angel Rodriguez and the TV series "Succession," "Jessica Jones," "Veep," "The Electric Company," "30 Rock," and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

  See Lisa and Jon in action as they bring to life the story of America’s first female Chinese immigrant in The Chinese Lady in the Stiemke Studio, February 13 through March 24. Get your tickets at www.MilwaukeeRep.com or call our Ticket Office at 414-224-9490

Get Tickets → bit.ly/TheChineseLadyMKE

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Meet the Cast: “Junk”

Meet the cast of Junk one of the largest plays we have produced on the Quadracci Powerhouse stage! From local to national talent, you won't want to miss this stellar cast in the Tony-nominated play, Junk. 

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents

Junk: http://bit.ly/JunkMKE

by Ayad Akhtar

January 15 – February 17, 2019

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What are Junk Bonds?

http://bit.ly/JunkMKE

Junk bond

jə NGk bänd

Noun

A high-yield, high-risk security.

Bonds are a type of debt. They are loans, where you, the investor, serve as the bank. You lend your money to a company, a city, or a government and it agrees to pay you back the money you have loaned in the form of regular interest payments. A government may sell bonds to raise money for an infrastructure project or to fund debt. A company may sell bonds to raise money to expand its operations or to take over another company. The most secure bonds are Treasuries, which are issued by the U.S. government and are deemed virtually risk-free.

A Treasury bond will pay a lower yield than a bond issued by an established (investment grade) company and the bonds of an established company will pay lower a yield than a bond issued by Crooked Carl’s Crocodile Farm, for instance, or in this play, Izzy Peterman’s company, Saratoga-McDaniels. In Junk, Robert Merkin is the financier—or financial advisor—underwriting the bonds that Peterman’s company is issuing in order to take over Everson Steel and United. He has a stable of investors willing to lend Peterman the money in the form of bonds and receive in return an attractive rate of interest. Conservative investors are often drawn to the safety of bonds instead of stocks.

That doesn’t mean that bonds are free of risk. If the risk factor is high, the bond will pay a higher yield or interest rate. So you stand to make more money, but you are at greater risk of losing that money as well. That’s why the riskiest issuers—fledgling companies or unstable foreign governments—offer what are called high-yield or “junk” bonds, which carry a credit rating of BB or lower by Standard & Poor’s Index, or Ba or below by Moody’s Investors Service. They are called “junk” because they are more likely to default and end up worthless.

Shared courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents

Junk: http://bit.ly/JunkMKE

by Ayad Akhtar

January 15 – February 17, 2019

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Meet the Playwrights: “Mark Twain’s River of Song”

Randal Myler

Randal is excited to be returning to The Rep, where he co-conceived and directed last season’s Low Down Dirty Blues and Back Home Again: On the Road with John Denver. Randal received a Tony Award Nomination for It Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues (Best Book of A Musical), and the show itself, which he also directed, was nominated for Best Musical. His musical on the life of Hank Williams Lost Highway ran for two years at the Grand Ole Opry’s Ryman Auditorium, and Off-Broadway garnered many awards, including a Drama Desk nomination and Best Director nomination from the Outer Critics Circle. Mr. Myler’s hit musical Love, Janis ran for over 750 performances Off-Broadway and has been produced throughout the country, and his directing and productions have received over fifteen Jeff Awards and nominations from Chicago critics. Randal’s numerous regional theatre directorial credits include Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, the Arena Stage, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Alley Theatre, BAM, Denver Center, Cincinnati Playhouse, Old Globe, Arizona Theatre Company, Kansas City Rep, Northlight Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and many others.

Dan Wheetman

Dan is happy to be returning to Milwaukee for the third time. Dan is a musician, actor, award-winning musical director, and Tony-nominated author. His plays, “It Ain’t Nuthin’ But The Blues, Appalachian Strings, Fire On The Mountain, Mama Hated Diesels, The Road: My Life with John Denver and Lowdown Dirty Blues written with co-author Randal Myler, have been performed in theaters throughout the US. He has recorded a 78rpm record with R. Crumb, played in John Denver’s touring band for eight years and wrote a Christmas song for Kermit the Frog. He is a Sage Arts recording artist and songwriter as a solo artist and a member of the long-running band, Marley’s Ghost.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents

Mark Twain’s River of Song: http://bit.ly/RiverOfSongMKE

by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman  Directed by Randal Myler

World Premiere! January 18 – March 17, 2019

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MEET THE CAST: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley

Meet the cast behind this classic story with a modern twist. From new and returning Rep actors, you’ll enjoy each one of their performances as these beloved Austen characters.

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MEET THE PLAYWRIGHTS: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley

Lauren Gunderson is a playwright, screenwriter and short story author from Atlanta, GA. She studied Southern Literature and Drama receiving her BA in English/Creative Writing at Emory University, and her MFA in Dramatic  Writing at NYU Tisch, where she was also a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship.

She was named the most produced playwright in America by American Theatre Magazine in 2017, was awarded the 2016 Lanford Wilson Award from the Dramatist Guild, the 2016 Otis Gurnsey Award for Emerging Writer, recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s 3-Year Residency with Marin Theatre Company and awarded the prestigious 2014 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You (also a Susan Smith Blackburn Blackburn and John Gassner Award finalist). I and You was an NNPN Rolling World Premiere at Marin Theatre Company and has seen over 40 productions nationwide.    

Her work has been commissioned, produced and developed at companies across the US including her first musical, The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful and Her Dog! at The Kennedy Center, which opened in DC to rave reviews and continues its life in a statewide tour. Her work is published by Dramatists Play Service and Playscripts and includes the plays Silent Sky, Bauer, I and You, Exit and Toil and Trouble. She has spoken nationally and internationally on the intersection of science, theatre and arts activism and teaches playwriting in San Francisco. She is a Playwright in Residence at The Playwrights Foundation, a Dramatists Guild member, and was a member of Just Theatre's New Play Lab. She writes for The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, tweets @LalaTellsАStory, and curates HowToPlaywright.com.

Margot Melcon is a theater artist, administrator, and writer. Margot is a graduate of California State University, Chico. She was the Director of New Play Development at Marin Theatre Company for seven years, where she was the dramaturg for over 30 productions—including six world premieres—and administered the company’s two annual new play prizes and commissioning program. She has developed plays with TheatreWorks, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Crowded Fire Theater, Shotgun Players, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, The Kennedy Center, The New Harmony Project, and Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. She is currently the Program Executive for Promoting Culture at the Zellerbach Family Foundation. Margot received a Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for New Play for Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.  Margot latest work is with Lauren Gunderson as a sequel to Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley.

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Meet The Composers

Get to know more about five of the creators of some of the beloved hits featured in this “jumpin jive” musical-revue, The All Night Strut!

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents The All Night Strut!

November 9, 2018 – January 13, 2019

Tickets: 414-224-9490 or www.MilwaukeeRep.com

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Meet the Cast: The All Night Strut!

Meet the five triple threat actors/musicians/dancers that will take audiences on a musical journey through the hits of the ‘30s and ‘40s starting Nov. 9.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents The All Night Strut!  

November 9, 2018 – January 13, 2019

Tickets: 414-224-9490 or www.MilwaukeeRep.com

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The Evolution of Mystery Plays

Perhaps the first mystery to clear up concerning The English Mystery Plays is why they are called mystery plays. They have nothing to do with either Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie, nor does the term "mystery" relate to the concept of theological "mysteries of faith." On the contrary, the origin of the term "mystery" is very humble and mundane. In the late Middle Ages in England,  a craft or trade was often referred to as a mystery, that is, a carpenter professed carpentry as his mystery. In Shakespeare's Measure for Measure (also to be performed by the Rep this season) Pompey says to the executioner: "Do you call, sir, your occupation a mystery?" So it is in this sense that the term "mystery plays" evolved because these plays were first performed in the 14th and 15th cen­turies by the various guilds representing their particular mysteries. Each guild would select a story from the Old or New Testament and present it on a pageant wagon which would be car­ried through the town on the Feast of Corpus Christi. It is the precursor of our modern day float parades. Gen­erally a guild of workmen would choose a story that was somehow ap­propriate to their trade or mystery. For example, the carpenters would perform the play of Noah since they could most easily and professionally build the necessary ark.

These, then, were simple plays pre­sented by simple citizens of a blessed­ly uncomplicated society. It is this bright-eyed, perhaps naive view of the basic root story of Christianity that gives these play s their freshness, humor, and profound religious fervor. For although the plays abound in " earthy" language and occasional four-letter words, they are the perfect expressions of people who literally lived their religion twenty-four hours a day, so basic and so fundamental was their belief.

Unfortunately, these plays are rare­ly performed because so little is known of them in dramatic terms. Two of them, The Second Shepherds'  Play and The Play of Abraham are occa­sionally performed and often taught in Theater Lit courses, but they  are usually taught as curios or something that " has to  be  read."  They certainly are forbidding looking in their original language and one of the first problems involved in the modern production of these plays is, in a sense, translating them for the modern ear without losing the poetic simplicity of the originals.

I have chosen plays from six or sev­en cycles of mystery plays. A "cycle" is simply a group of plays as presented in a particular English town. For instance, York has its own cycle of plays, as do Chester, Coventry, Wake­ field, etc. We are using essentially the Wakefield cycle (sometimes called the Townley plays ) as our basic cycle with interpolations from York, Chester, Cornwall, and others. In their original productions, each play was done on a separate, elaborate pageant wagon; we are doing all our plays on one set composed of several platforms and containing the tradi­tional and necessary acting areas for these plays. A yawning pit in the mid­dle of the stage is Hell-Mouth where the bad people go - and the bad angels too. Raised above the main playing area is "The Heavens" where God observes the Fall and eventual Redemption of Man and from whence the occasionally descends to participate in the action.

We are using many primitive but perfect stage devices; waving fabric to suggest the rising seas of Noah's flood and to engulf the unfortunate Pharoah when he tries to chase  Moses  across the  Red  Sea; drums  and noisemaker s to suggest the sound of infernal chaos or the wrath of God; slap-sticks for the clownish earthly kings.

The plays are being presented from November 19 until December 26, neat­ ly spanning the Advent and Christ­mas seasons,  and they tell the story of the Bible beginning with the Crea­tion and Fall of the  Angels, and terminating with the Flight Into Egypt. Those who are expecting pious religi­ous pageantry will be delightfully sur­ prised by the freshness and lack of pomposity of these works. They are great, moving, comic and extraordinarily theatrical works which should erupt about the stage with great gusto and humanity - no stiff religiosity here. The production uses a great deal of music performed instrumentally and the company of actors.

These plays mark the literal  begin­ ing of European theater and it is well to see how really dramatic our theatri­cal origins are. One can well under­ stand from working with these plays, how a Shakespeare evolved in the Eng­lish  language stage tradition.  He has a remarkable background to draw upon.

-Nagle Jackson

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From Page to Stage: “In the Heights” Scenic Design

Every production brings a new designer with a different vision of how the world of the play should look. For Scenic Designer, Tim Mackabee, his vision wasn’t something out of a book but on the street. In the Heights takes place in the real-life neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City. From location research to designing each piece of graffiti, take a look at the process of how this set will become a reality on the Quadracci Powerhouse stage.

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Meet the Cast of “In the Heights”

Get to know the multi-talented cast of In the Heights. From Broadway to local favorites, this cast is sure to knock your socks off with their portrayal of this Tony-award winning musical.

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Meet the Cast of“Guards at the Taj”

Guards at the Taj features two imperials guards tasked with guarding the glorious Taj Mahal and all that encompasses it just before it is revealed to the public for the first time. The two guards, are best friends and share a bond that is put to the test during this dark comedy. Take a minute to get to know the actors that will portray Humayun and Babur in Guards at the Taj.

First up is Yousof Sultani who will play Humayun in our production. Yousof Sultani was born and raised in Northern Virginia. In his junior year of college, Yousof was selected and given a scholarship for the American Theatre Wing's Springboard NYC program and had the privilege of learning from John Rando, David Capparelliotis, Randy Lutterman, Peter Francis James, Neal Patrick Harris, Martha Plimpton and Leah Gardiner. He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Performance.

Though this is Yousof’s first production at Milwaukee Rep, he has been seen in Chicago and regional theaters across the country. He was last seen on stage in The Doppelgänger: An International Farce at Steppenwolf Theater. Some other Chicago credits include United Flight 232 at House Theater, Disappearing Number at TimeLine Theater and Othello at Chicago Shakespeare. Regional credits include Amadeus and Henry V at Richmond Shakespeare Theater. His favorite role so far was performing as "Hamlet" at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in D.C. through TEXT ALIVE! You can catch him next in Milwaukee Rep’s Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.

When not on the stage, Yousof has been in countless film and TV shows including Glass House, “The Brave” and “Chicago Fire” on NBC and “Empire” on FOX. Outside of performing, Yousof enjoys playing 2nd base in the Chicago Theatre Softball League with the Goodman Theatre, and also plays Quarterback for their football team against Steppenwolf annually. He can also spends his time creating music, taking acting classes, attending shows and watching movies.

Co-staring with Yousof in this dark comedy is Owais Ahmed. Owais has been seen on the Milwaukee Rep stage before during Ayad Akhtar’s The Invisible Hand in 2015/16 Season. Owais is Chicago based actor where he is also a proud ensemble member of Definition Theatre Company, a Chicago ensemble-based theatre founded by graduates of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Owais has been seen in countless Chicago theaters including The Qualms at Steppenwolf Theatre, Blood & Gifts at TimeLine Theatre, The Reckoning of Kit at First Floor Theater, Red Handed Otter at A Red Orchid Theatre and Samsara at Victory Gardens. Owais regional credits include Anon(ymous), The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing and Passion Play. 

When not on the stage, Owais has been in a number of films and TV shows including Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Age Of Ice, Empire on FOX and Chicago Fire on NBC. Owais was nominated for a 2018 Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Performer in a Supporting Role in a Play for "The Invisible Hand" at the Steep Theatre Company.