I’m a recipient of the first ever Newaukee Young Professional Bubbler Award! I was selected based on “outstanding work in the community as well as your alliance to and love of our city.” This young professional award recognizes a few key traits: leadership, passion, innovation, drive and love for our community.
It’s truly an honor to be recognized for the hard work and dedication I have for my career, and for loving how awesome this city is!
Take a look at this video featuring all the winners of this years Bubbler Award.
I sat down with actor Mark Metcalf (Animal House, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Seinfeld… yes, the Maestro himself!), but the best part was he was interviewing ME about the start of The Underground Collaborative, the Milwaukee Comedy Festival and other things.
Despite that busy schedule, Matt took a bit of time out of his day to pop upstairs for a visit at the Third Coast Daily offices, where he sat down with Mark. While he was here, he talked to us about the growth of Milwaukee’s comedy scene, the different styles of comedy on the rise in the city and what’s coming up during this hectic weekend at the Collaborative.
Arts groups collaborate to lease space in Shops of Grand Avenue
MILWAUKEE, WI –Three creative and established arts groups: Milwaukee Comedy, Inc., home to the annual Milwaukee Comedy Festival, along with Pink Banana Theatre Co., providing new opportunities in theatre, and Studio Kristelle an open artist studio, officially announce a new office/rehearsal/studio space in the Shops of Grand Avenue as part of the Creativity Works Here program.
Approximately 10,000 square feet on the lower level of the Plankington building will host the three creative ventures. Each organization will operate independently of one another, but will share spaces and resources including marketing, box office services, etc. “Working together just made sense, economically and creatively.” Said Matt Kemple, founder of Milwaukee Comedy Inc., and Artistic Producer of Pink Banana Theatre Co. “Each company has different strengths that can be utilized in unique ways.”
The three companies will each offer different workshops, space rental and artistic undertakings along with administrative offices. Milwaukee Comedy and Pink Banana Theatre will both offer rehearsal space and small performances. Studio Kristelle will focus on music, dance, writing and art and allow the public the opportunity to stop in and visit her studio and observe art in progress.
Businesses including Art Milwaukee and Spreenkler Talent Labs currently occupy spaces in the Grand Avenue through the Creativity Works Here program, an effort to attract artists, creative companies and entrepreneurs. The model was developed by management firm Jones Lang LaSalle, at a mall in St. Louis, MO
ABOUT
Milwaukee Comedy, Inc., founded in 2008 as the parent organization of the annual Milwaukee Comedy Festival, provides educational advancement, resources, performance opportunities and public entertainment in order to strengthen the community through laughter and positive forms of expression. Operations have expanded in 2012 to sponsor and produce local comedy events, offer comedy-related workshops and enhance its promotion of the local comedy community. www.MilwaukeeComedy.com
Pink Banana Theatre Co., founded in 2004, was created to provide professional opportunities to emerging artists. The company offers a refreshing alternative to the more traditional shows often seen in the Milwaukee theatre world. www.pinkbananatheatre.com
Studio Kristelle began in 1990 as a small graphics arts business designing logos for Native American entrepreneurs. Today, Studio Kristelle aims to provide an accessible multi-creative environment for Artists who need a place to share their creative talents with the community and a place for the community to enjoy exploring their creative self with passionate Artists. www.studiokristelle.me
All the hard work begins to pay off as the sixth installment of the Milwaukee Comedy Festival quickly approaches. It’s exciting to see it all start to come together. If you didn’t know, it’s a lot of work to put together a comedy festival. Coordinating comedy groups from all over, organizing staff and volunteers, making flyers, selling tickets… I could go on and on.
The comedy festival is growing, and sometimes the hardest part is keeping it manageable so things don’t get out of hand. It’s the little things that can bring it all to a screeching halt. Think about it. You can throw the greatest party in history: send out the coolest invites, bring in a hip music act and invite the who’s-who in town. But if you run out of ice or toilet paper, the night is going to end on a sour note.
Luckily this year some people have really stepped up to lend a hand. I have to give a shout out to Co-Producer Patrick Schmitz. He has always been a great asset to the festival, but this year especially. Anne Cauley was brought on to the team to help with development, and she organized a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $2500. All the money raised goes to help support the growing comedy scene in Milwaukee. And of course Joel Dresang has been a huge help with Milwaukee Comedy. Thanks!
I had the opportunity to work on a photo shoot with Liz Shipe. She started a project attempting to put a spin on classic fairy tales and children’s stories. The results are pretty incredible to say the least. Here is a short video documentary on the photo project.
Wow. Pink Banana Theatre Co is now officially a non-profit organization; recognized under section 501(c)3 of the IRS code.
I helped with the creation of PB about 6 years ago. I was the Theatre Program Manager at Bucketworks, and part of my job was helping groups start and manage small theatre companies. Flash forward a few years later after I had left Bucketworks, I received a phone call I got from Juanita, Pink Banana founder and producer. She asked me to Co-Produce the theatre company with her, and one of the accomplishments on her to do list was obtaining non-profit status. I took her up on the offer. Because I had worked on many PB productions, including the first show Pink Banana Theatre ever produced, I was familiar with the mission of the organization as well as the style of shows.
After about two and a half years of research, paperwork, drafts, edits, new drafts, more edits, the paperwork finally began to take shape into something presentable. The first step that began the paperwork nightmare was submitting a request for an Employer Idetification Number (EIN). With this I could then file for our Articles of Incorporation as a Nonstock Corporation. I worked with the Board of Directors to adopt by-laws, a dissolution agreement, and the vision statement of the company. Finally, everything was mailed along with all the official forms.
It was a huge undertaking, but I learned a great deal and certainly feel the satisfaction of accomplishment!
After a month long search and over 60 applicants, Next Act Theatre has chosen theatre professional Matt Kemple as their new Marketing and Public Relations Manager. Matt joins the already first-rate staff of Next Act mid-way through their 18th season, bringing with him an extensive theatrical background and love for the arts.
Matt is a resident of Milwaukee, having been transplanted here from Columbus, Ohio almost four years ago. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, Media, and Theatre from St. Norbert College in De Pere, WI with extensive acting, directing, technical, and production experience.
Previously, Matt was the Director of Theatre for three years at Bucketworks, a creative resource center located in downtown Milwaukee, as well as the Operations Manager at Mad Science of Waukesha County which focuses on providing science based learning activities for children.
Matt has aided in the creation of a dozen different theatre companies, groups and organizations across the Midwest, including multiple programs and events with emphasis on new and emerging local artists. During the summer of 2007, Matt worked as stage manager for former Theatre X Artistic Director John Schneider’s “Project Non-Violence”, a program associated with the Greater Milwaukee Boys and Girls Club focusing on the theatre process with local inner-city youth. He is currently the director and founder of the Milwaukee Sketch & Improv Festival, a celebration focused on promoting sketch and improv comedy throughout the Greater Milwaukee area.
Matt has extensive design and construction experience as well, including three theatre spaces, recording studio, library, wood shop, coffee shop, and deck.
So I built a deck for my girlfriend Dawn’s dad, Gordy. I have never taken on a project quite like this by myself before.
Here's the original deck and steps.
Long story short, there was a small deck already in place that was starting to become rickety and fall apart, so a new one would need to be built, and why make it the same size? Bigger is always better. Last fall, they thought way ahead and added a sliding glass door off the living room. Due to an accident, a handicap ramp needed to be installed quite suddenly , so the insurance company assembled one about 16 feet long off the existing decking. In order to use the new door, two small steps were built to connect to the ramp temporarily.
I took the old deck apart piece by piece, which was no easy task! The original deck was put together with framing nails, so I pretty much only used a hammer and circular saw to take it all apart. I made some temporary steps using the old deck steps and screwed it all together to make sure it didn’t move around and was safe.
Taking the old deck apart.
After a few days, I removed the temporary steps and remaining structure to measure everything out and figure out were the post holes would be dug. The old deck was built over conduit feeding electrical going to the garage, so I had to take very careful measurements to make sure problems didn’t come up later.
Temporary steps in place, time to call it a day.
We hired a company to dig the holes and pour the concrete, which was a good idea because the soil had a huge amount of rocks where the holes needed to go, and would have taken literally weeks to dig by hand. It took a Cat two full days to dig the eight holes. Deck holes in Wisconsin must be dug below the frost line, which is 4 feet deep! Any shallower and the deck could shift off the house from freezing and thawing over time. This obviously could make things very unsafe.
Look at that!
The day after the holes were finished, the inspector came by in the morning and approved the holes and the concrete was poured. Metal brackets were inserted into the concrete before it dried so the posts could be mounted and secured with bolts. The hard part is getting the posts set perfectly to one another to ensure the deck is level and square. It can cause major problems with the construction of the deck if the joists are not built correctly from the start.
The start of building!
We attached the main beams on either side of the posts, and added additional supports when two beams needed to be joined together. The decks dimensions are 8′ x 20′, much nicer than the five foot square of the old! Posts needed to be measured and cut to the proper height for the deck pieces on the top layer, and metal framing brackets needed to be installed to hold everything in place. This part took much longer than I thought, but still only two days for this part.
All in place, ready for the actual decking.
After all the joists are in place, additional support is added to the ends of the joists. The beginning of this can be seen in the photo to the right. After this, the deck part can go down! This was by far the most time consuming part. I built the framing and joists out of treated wood beams. The deck part used was Trex, which I think is recycled plastic, but it looks just like wood and should last much longer. In the end it looked really nice but was very hard to work with. Cutting and drilling was a bit harder than traditional pine, and every hole had to be pre-drilled so the material would not crack or split! In the end, the deck turned out great, but took a very long time. It’s always good to be familiar with the materials you are using, and never be afraid to ask questions!
