Encore In Black And White at Mary Dupont Wahlers Theatre

A still from “Elephant In The Room” features three actors. Rikki Christman (right) points a toy gun at Joe Wahlers (left, seated). James Burreson stands cloaked in the shadows near the center of the frame in front of a vintage coffee shop backdrop.

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Encore Studio For The Performing Arts celebrates their 23rd year as Wisconsin’s premier theater company for people with disabilities with a four-film, 75-minute suite that pays homage to silent and early sound era cinema. “Encore In Black And White” premiered at the Mary DuPont Wahlers Theatre (just off of Fish Hatchery Road) on Friday night, January 27. It continues across four additional days (January 28 and 29 at 2 p.m., February 3 at 8 p.m., and February 4 at 2 p.m.). Tickets are available directly through Encore as suggested donations of $15 per general patron, and $5 for people with disabilities, students, and seniors.

Working with four different writers riffing on four archetypal genres from the dawn of modern cinema, universal director Heather Renken has an exemplary opportunity under this program’s umbrella to exhibit her experience and insight with local actors, not only in longstanding connections to Encore Studio (serving as artistic associate for over a decade), but with Broom Street Theater and Children’s Theater Of Madison as well.

Renken contributed on the writing side to the third short, a colorful spin on noir tropes titled Elephant In The Room. In her recent interview with Channel 3000‘s Doug Moe, Renken graciously cites Encore actor James Burreson’s passion for detective stories as the catalyst to its realization.

Other screenwriters who helped bring “Encore In Black In White” to fruition include Clarice Lafayette, who wrote the zippy piece of horror that opens the night, Redemption. Sarah Jo Schoenhaar’s take on century-old slapstick emerges in Bona Fide, and KelsyAnne Schoenhaar’s witty musical comedy of To Heiress Human closes the screening event on a spirited note (literally). Stick around afterward for a Q&A with the cast and crew.

—Grant Phipps