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A Short History (the first 35 years)
of the Milwaukee Public Theatre

Originally named the Friends Mime Theatre, the Milwaukee Public Theatre was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1974 by Dr. Barbara Leigh and Michael John Moynihan.

As one of the region's few professional outreach theatres, the company has created over 400 original productions and touring/outreach events that have traveled to audiences throughout the community, state, region and nation.

Milwaukee Public Theatre (MPT) creates productions that appropriate ancient, traditional and contemporary theatrical forms into new relationships, juxtapositions and collisions of form, subject matter and content.

The productions have included one-person Plays, two-person Pantomimes, original Musical Comedies, Multi-Media Musicals, Videoworks, Historical Epics, and free outdoor Vaudeville and Circus Theatre.

MPT is also unique in its development of work that integrates people with disabilities into theatre arts and works with professional and amateur visual and performing artists of all ages, races, ethnic backgrounds and economic levels.

The Milwaukee Public Theatre's free-to-the-public summer park/community performances, parades and processions are now in their 35th year. These productions have the most diverse audience of any arts organization in the city, county or state.

MPT also provides opportunities for employment and training for young Milwaukee performing artists from all cultural backgrounds. Each year the company presents between 400 and 600 public events for 100,000 to 150,000 adults and children of all ages, backgrounds, cultures and abilities.

The company tours and gives workshops and performances throughout Milwaukee County, as well as also creating projects that travel within the state of Wisconsin, the region, the nation, and the North American Continent.

*The use of the word "MYTH" was not in the current habit of being synonymous with the word "LIE", but in the traditional sense of a MYTH as a typically ancient story dealing with Supernatural Beings, Ancestors, or Heroes that serves as a fundamental and truthful explanation of the worldview of a people, by explain-ing aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of the society and culture.

Milwaukee Public Theatre continues to maintain a strong education/outreach component, collaborating with artists of many different cultural backgrounds and media expertise.

Workshops have been regularly held in conjunction with the Summer Touring Project in Music, Dance, Visual Arts, Drama and Puppetry. Workshops are also staged in hospitals, senior centers, and other community locations.

Milwaukee Public Theatre workshops can be brought to any site and tailored to fit all ages and abilities and your business, school, community, or personal interests with over 50 professional artists offering a diverse range of activities from which to choose.

"Applied Theatrics" works with the business and corporate community to utilize theatrical techniques in the training environment, focusing on such areas as diversity, sensitivity and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Theatre has been "in residence" at Lincoln Middle School of the Arts since 1979.

MPT's Ajula Performance Troupe is a resident company in the City of Milwaukee's Lapham Park Community at 650 W. Reservoir Ave. (the Community Services building).

Residencies in schools throughout the State have been supported through the Wisconsin Arts Board since the program's inception in the 70's. Thanks to grants from the Helen Bader Foundation, the Milwaukee Foundation, the City and County of Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Arts Board and numerous community based organizations, the company has been "in residence" in many more Milwaukee neighborhoods.

In Memoriam:

Rafael B. Smith

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