Shepherd Express - September 2026

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OCTOBER 1, 2026

Fall Arts Guide 2026 A FANTASTIC SEASON OF THE ARTS IS COMING THIS FALL, LEARN MORE ON PAGE 34

PAGE 24 | OUTDOOR DINING GUIDE

PAGE 30 | OKTOBERFEST GUIDE

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 3

22

NEWS 06 Will Microgrids Be the Future for Electricity in Wisconsin?

10 Using the Market System to Gain Affordability — Issue of the Month 11 This Modern World 14 Scarlett Salamone Shares the Joy of Farming through Loveland Acres — Hero of the Month 16 Karin Tyler Speaks out on Community Wellness and Safety — MKE SPEAKS: Conversations with Milwaukeeans

MANAGING EDITOR: David Luhrssen (dluhrssen@shepex.com) GENERAL MANAGER: Peggy Debnam (peggy@shepex.com) MEDIA SALES MANAGER: Jackie Butzler (jackie@shepex.com) SENIOR MEDIA CONSULTANTS: Bridgette Ard (bridgette@shepex.com)

FOOD & DRINK

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PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Louis Fortis (louis@shepex.com)

20 Make the Trip to Tofte’s Table

Chuck Hill (chuck@shepex.com)

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22 Biodynamic Wine & Troon Vineyards — Beverages SPONSORED BY

IN MEMORY OF DUSTI FERGUSON (OCTOBER 18, 1971 – NOVEMBER 20, 2007 WEB COORDINATOR: Caroline Dannecker (caroline@shepex.com) DIGITAL STRATEGIST: Sophia Hamdan (sophia@shepex.com)

SPECIAL SECTION 24 Outdoor Dining Guide

STAFF WRITER & CIRCULATION COORDINATOR: Blaine Schultz (blaine@shepex.com)

30 Oktoberfest Guide 2026 34 Fall Arts Guide 2026

STAFF WRITER: Ben Slowey (ben@shepex.com)

CULTURE 60 The Return of Indian Summer (A History into Future) 62 Buckle Up: Fellow Travelers’ Debut Showcases the Culmination of a Creative Detour

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Andreas Scocos EDITORIAL INTERN: Olivia Pagel LAYOUT AND DESIGN: Timothy Czerniakowski

64 This Month in Milwaukee

LIFESTYLE 68 Who Owned Your Childhood?

— Out of my Mind

HEAR ME OUT

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ART FOR ART'S SAKE 74 From the City that Always Sweeps

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Cover - Photo of The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra by Jonathan Kirn.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 5

NEWS

Will Microgrids Be the Future for Electricity in Wisconsin?

BY CHUCK QUIRMBACH

O

ne of the facilities making some people really upset is the immense campus Vantage Data Centers is building for tech giants Oracle and OpenAI, along I-43 north of Port Washington. The planned price tag for what's known as Lighthouse is $15 billion. Workers using bulldozers, construction cranes, hundreds of dump trucks and other equipment are well on their way to turning 672 acres of mostly farmland into four single-story buildings housing many computer servers, switches, routers and other gear.

Amanda Mueller lives in the Town of Port Washington, just a half mile from the construction site. Mueller says one of the worst parts of being nearby is dust that contains a lime stabilizer. “It turns into a paste when it gets wet. It clings to everything, including your heating unit and air conditioner. It recirculates inside your house. You cannot get away from it,” Mueller says.

Mueller also has many other concerns, including construction noise, more paved surfaces or rooftops eventually causing a local heat island, and the effect on local wildlife, particularly migrating bird populations along Lake Michigan.

She's also aware of the huge amount of electricity eventually needed to operate Lighthouse, drawing from the electrical grid that powers homes and businesses across Wisconsin.

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ENERGY OFF THE GRID? While Mueller leans toward more use of nuclear power if the project is completed, Vantage promises that 70 percent of the campus' electricity will “originate from zero-emission energy resources, including solar, wind and battery storage.”

The company also claims the “remaining energy required will be matched with renewable energy purchases.”

In a written statement, Vantage says its “preference is always to use grid power when it is available.” The firm says “a microgrid would only be needed if grid power is not available.”

What is this thing called a microgrid, that Vantage seems to say is unnecessary at Port Washington? One definition is a local energy system that can produce, store and distribute electricity independently from the grid, if needed, powering a nearby institution.

Just down the road in Chicago, the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) operates a campus-wide microgrid that uses rooftop solar, a wind turbine, natural gas turbines and battery storage to provide power. That's especially important in a city that has seen many outages and has aging electrical infrastructure.

Wisconsin has a handful of microgrids at institutions. Most notably at the Gordon Bubolz Nature Center in Appleton, the Village of Boaz in Western Wisconsin, a Gundersen health care complex near La Crosse and on the lands of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.

Illustration by GettyImages/ajijchan.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 7

NEWS Plus, he says the use of coal or natural gas at utility power plants can be reduced, cutting carbon emissions released into the air.

HARD TO BUILD AND COSTLY But Cuzner's colleague, UWM research scientist Ali Moghassemi, while supporting microgrids, acknowledges they can be complex to build and integrate. “You have to plan for different weather conditions. You have to plan for the area you can install the PV (solar) panels, to get the most efficient power. It's also complicated to coordinate with the local utility, because the load (demand) is changing,” Moghassemi says.

Cuzner says there's also a sizable financial cost to build a microgrid.

Still, Tom Content, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin, says with data centers helping fuel forecasts of major growth in electricity demand in the state, it's time to “level the playing field” on power generation and lift up things like microgrids. “Give customers choices they don't often think they have in a monopoly system,” Content says.

He cautions that the Port Washington project appears to be too big to run strictly on a microgrid. But all-microgrid data centers may be catching on elsewhere. A data center campus in Ohio is promising to generate all of its electricity through a large, dedicated microgrid.

UWM’S MICROGRID CENTER UW-Milwaukee is working on ways to expand the use of microgrids, through research at its Center for Sustainable Electrical Energy Systems, located at a UWM building near 1st Street and Capitol Drive.

Outside, center director Rob Cuzner shows off a half-dozen rows of solar panels—that team with natural gas-powered generators, a battery storage unit and an inverter (to convert the solar energy to usable current (AC) power.)

“That's a core microgrid right there,” Cuzner says.

At a lab inside, there are big gray electrical panels, and computers that form a nerve center for the microgrid.

Ph.D. student Kevin Monahan says he and his colleagues are trying to improve the reliability of a microgrid when a massive storm knocks down power lines. “When those things happen, especially at critical facilities like a water treatment plant or military base, there's stuff that we want to stay working,” he says.

Cuzner sees potential in using microgrids at some data centers. He says when a center “is doing all the computations, it's actually pulling a lot of power off of the grid. Then there are times when it's not. It's just kind of pulsing. Grids are not really built to handle that kind of power profile.”

He adds that the demand surges can be compared to the risk of suddenly plugging in a lot of appliances into a home electrical outlet. He maintains a microgrid can add to grid capacity and offset some of that irregular demand.

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Cassie Steiner, of the Sierra Club-Wisconsin Chapter, says “microgrids can play an important role in the clean energy transition—not just for data centers, but for the electrical grid in general.” She says microgrids can reduce “the distance power would need to travel on transmission lines.”

FAR FROM REALITY? Meanwhile, Steiner is questioning Vantage's promise to use 70 percent renewables at the Lighthouse project at Port Washington, calling it “far off base from reality.”

The Sierra Club and Midwest Environmental Advocates have filed a lawsuit, challenging state permits the Wisconsin DNR has granted for the Lighthouse campus.

One more supporter of microgrids is Prof. Giri Venkataramanan, of the UW-Madison Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Wisconsin Energy Institute. He urges politicians, developers, tech companies and the public to “figure it out” over how to power data centers and how many centers are needed.

Venkataramanan says, “We're sort of in a bind in that there's endless public appetite for using all these tools,” such as smartphones, laptop computers, and cloud storage (saving digital data on remote servers accessed via the internet.)

“I mean, people want to know, ‘Where is the nearest Starbucks?’ Alexa (Amazon's voice assistant) doesn't know.

It has to access the database.”

Chuck Quirmbach is a veteran Milwaukee reporter, a familiar voice for many years on Wisconsin Public Radio and WUWM.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 9

NEWS ISSUE OF THE MONTH

Using the Market System to Gain Affordability

BY WILLIAM HOLAHAN

U

nder the broad heading of “Affordability,” voters describe the price squeeze of the essentials of modern life including categories like food, gas, childcare, insurance, transportation, education and, of course, “the rent is too damned high.” These are economics problems with regulated market approaches. Too often however loose talk about “socialism” distracts, so this might be a good time to review how markets can work to ease affordability problems.

Following a 250-year tradition, economists describe the economy as having private and public sectors— complementary components of a hybrid system. Private markets allocate most goods and services, a complex process coordinated by prices, competition and tradable ownership rights. A well-functioning public sector, guided by representative government, is essential for the private sector to function well in the public interest. The division of responsibility between these sectors determines the cost of living.

MARKET SYSTEM’S PUBLIC SECTOR The public sector supplies the indispensable infrastructure of a functioning market economy: streets and roads, water systems, schools, harbors, police and fire protection, military defense. The public sector supports markets, regulating monopoly power, providing essential public goods, and stabilizing markets through regulatory agencies such as the FDIC, the SEC and the EPA when unregulated markets cannot deliver affordability or efficiency. It is also the basis for investing in the nation’s most important resource: its people.

YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE ECONOMY Two key investments in people—education and family formation—are best made early in life, precisely when incomes are lowest. Their high-earning years arrive decades later. When borrowing is possible, those higher earnings can be achieved earlier, but private sector lenders require the pledging of assets, i.e., “loan collateral.” While established families can borrow intergenerationally, most young people don't have that option.

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If such investments—in childcare, education and training, health insurance—are to be made (especially if our society expects to compete in a world where other advanced societies routinely make such investments), they must be a public responsibility.

THE FINANCIAL TENTACLES OF CLIMATE CHANGE. The affordability pressures of climate change are arriving before the full force of rising temperatures, floods, fires, droughts and storms. Markets anticipate those direct harms, and those expectations are cascading through the financial system. Insurers raise premiums or withdraw entirely from high risk areas, including in coastal areas of California and Florida and tornado alleys and wildfire zones in the Midwest. Higher costs ripple outward into mortgage markets, regional bank lending, property insurance, municipal budgets, and ultimately to the economic future of Americans of all ages.

Economists have urged for decades that carbon-emitting industries pay a carbon tax, both to induce emission reductions and to promote cleaner energy alternatives. If we want to harness market forces, all those finance costs should be added to the carbon tax.

MARKET APPROACHES TO HEALTH INSURANCE AND SCHOOLS Health insurance: All insurance works by pooling risk: people of similar risk of illness or injury paying similar premium. Applying that risk-pooling principle to health insurance would require that sick and elderly either pay higher premiums or opt out of coverage altogether, precisely the perversity that the Affordable Care Act was designed to solve. The ACA plan includes premium subsidies, but those have been reduced recently, causing premiums to rise and forcing some people to drop coverage. One marketbased proposal to reverse this trend is to force insurance companies to compete with a “public option,” Medicare for those who want to buy into it.

Photo by GettyImages/hyejin kang.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 11

NEWS ISSUE OF THE MONTH Schools: Through taxpayer financing of parental selection of schools, voucher programs—aka Parental Choice—are intended to foster a semblance of competition among schools. The hope is that competitive pressure would cause low-performing schools to improve, resulting in greater educational value per dollar spent. The results are mixed: the plan works well for some but the math and English proficiency gaps persist between the haves and the havelittle. Still, the voucher program has a lot of support, is not going to end, so it's probably time for a new round of innovation through expansion of AI-based tutoring and teacher assistance. This breakthrough technology would reward teachers and students, and target especially those students left behind by the proficiency gap.

Each of these examples show a public sector responsibility in conjunction with private sector economic activity. An especially useful distraction during election season, is to beware of labeling public sector activity as “socialism”— Roads are socialist? Social insurance is socialist? Sports stadiums? It’s a lazy assertion that deepens polarization.

By contrast, centrist economics demonstrates that the public and private sectors are complements within a market system.

William Holahan is emeritus professor and former chairman of the Department of Economics at UW-Milwaukee.

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Photo by GettyImages/hyejin kang.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 13

NEWS HERO OF THE MONTH

Scarlett Salamone

Shares the Joy of Farming through Loveland Acres

BY BEN SLOWEY

A

t Loveland Acres Farm, W3358 Loveland Rd. in rural Elkhorn, farmer Scarlett Salamone believes that all people deserve “a spot to head where the air is fresh, the noise is from nature and joy can prevail for the moment.”

Through its many hands-on, collectively minded programs, Loveland Acres invites folks of all ages and backgrounds to experience the euphoria of meeting farm animals, tending gardens, caring for native wildlife, sharing a warm meal together and all other simple yet powerful delights of farmwork.

“We need to teach little ones as soon as we can to take care of each other because that’s how we build the world that we want,” Salamone says. At Loveland Acres she raises cattle, goats, sheep, chickens and ducks for meat, dairy, wool and other things at small scale. The farm makes self-care items like milk soaps, lotions and herbal oils and tinctures. There is also a wonderful community-run garden sown with many different cultural fruits and vegetables plus native pollinator flowers and plants. Every week, Loveland Acres sends hundreds of bags of fresh produce (“Love Sacks”) out to different food pantries and community organizations across southeastern Wisconsin.

SERVING FAMILIES “I try to make sure all the families and people we serve are represented in our garden, even down to the variety of zucchini that we’re growing, which is especially beloved by our refugee friends that not many farmers grow,” Salamone explains. “We had a crew of 20 or so high schoolers earlier this year sowing it all in. Most of them had never seen an okra plant before, but here they were, getting to see and touch one for the first time.”

Salamone dreamed of having underserved children from Milwaukee and Madison coming to the farm weekly, but instead now takes Loveland on Location to provide the variety of programs she has created, like Kids with Kids (playing with baby goats), Chicken & Littles (hatching chicks), Jammin’ and Cannin’ (food preservation), Little Free Library Impact, Operation Monarch Conservation, Tiny Foragers and Mini Milkmaids.

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At Loveland Acres, Salamone emphasizes how important it is to show Black and Brown youth and families that farming is something achievable for them, noting how systemic barriers like redlining and gerrymandering have kept communities of color in the city. “It’s made it so we didn’t even want to look this way. It’s not even a glimmer in a lot of children’s minds. I want to be that glittery glimmer that says, “Hey, check it out! We can grow watermelons and okra, and we can raise our own meat.’ We can take back the fact that our ancestors were literally brought here because we were brilliant farmers and agricultural beings.” Rather than being asked or paid for their work, they were we brought here enslaved. “The farm is about providing access and building that bridge to say we deserve these spaces too, and if this is something you want to work towards, I will be right by your side, standing up to all the people who tell you that you don’t belong.”

RIGHT THING TO DO Seeing little Black, Brown and disabled young people at Loveland Acres having fun, meeting animals and learning to grow their own food brings Salamone insurmountable joy. “I don’t know if there’s words spectacular enough to describe it. It is such an honor, a gift, a blessing. To know that I have young people who refer to themselves as farmers because they’ve been coming here every season since 2020, just about every week--that feels amazing. I’m not one to be prideful because I just think this work is necessary; there’s nothing grand or glorious about making sure people are fed—it’s just the right thing to do.”

Growing up in Illinois, Salamone’s grandparents owned livestock farms. As a little Black girl who experienced horrible racism, she remembers finding solace in her grandparents’ sheep barn. “It was my safe place. I got a runt every year to raise, and as I got older, I asked my dad what happened to last year’s lamb. It was at that point where he taught me that it becomes food for our Easter dinner! I wasn’t sad or wrecked by it, but proud I helped put food on my family’s table.”

Photo courtesy of Loveland Acres Farm.

Salamone dreamed of being a dairy farmer. Not feeling supported in her dream, however, she instead studied special education at UW-Eau Claire. She was a schoolteacher in Milwaukee for 12 years and has two adult children of her own. “At a certain point, I wanted my own children to experience wide open spaces instead of whatever little piece of sidewalk they had to play on.”

Salamone and her family moved out to Elkhorn in 2008.

“There’s two beautiful oak trees on this property, and when I saw them, I said “this is home.” I could see my kids playing underneath them.”

At the time, Salamone was struggling with lupus and gastroparesis, and her doctor was running out of answers. “I was 96 pounds and starving to death. I got this heart nudge to get goats so we did that, and as they came on to milk, I went on a full milk fast for about 30 days. When we found out how well the milk worked for me, my dream of getting a dairy cow had to slip in there.”

FARMER IN MOTION Envisioning her Milwaukee students playing with the goats set Salamone’s dream of becoming a farmer in motion. “I thought about how it was a disservice that they’re not able to have access to this on a regular, safe basis, and from a farmer who looks like them.” Loveland Acres started with just six small fence panels, three goats and a small flock of chickens. “Little by little, our community has built the farm piece-by-piece. There’s so many stories of whose hands composted or put fence up, or the different seasons that brought different people to help grow what’s here.”

Salamone shares, “It can be really isolating, being out here as a Black woman.” She has experienced harassment from locals in the form of being stalked, video recorded and having had the township called on her. Last year, a few of her animals, including her beloved cow Clementine, died under mysterious circumstances. Earlier this year she was shot at. Nevertheless, Salamone refuses to give up. “I’ve worked really hard to have a space where people feel loved and cared for, and the last four years, it’s been really hard to do that. My health has definitely taken a toll. I don’t leave the farm out of fear. I have unsettled feelings surrounding Clementine’s passing; she wasn’t sick and was perfectly healthy. It’s been a horrible way to live but I believe so strongly in the power of love and taking care of our neighbors. That’s what I believe we should be doing with our lives, and if it costs me mine, then I’ll do it until the day I die.

Nobody’s going to stop me. We do have a couple neighbor allies who stand with us and we’re going to fight this. We deserve to shine.”

Folks can support Loveland Acres by way of monetary donations ($5 buys a hay bale, $10 supports a Love Sack), volunteering or scheduling a Loveland on Location visit. The farm is currently partnered with community organizations like Sun-Seeker MKE, GSAFE, New Beginnings and Hanan Relief Group as well as local farm Johnson’s Vegetables, where Salamone is the beekeeper. She can be found at the West Allis Farmers Market on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Salamone also teaches agriculture to preschoolers on Friday mornings.

Ben Slowey is a Staff Writer at the Shepherd Express.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 15

NEWS MKE SPEAKS: CONVERSATIONS WITH MILWAUKEEANS

Karin Tyler Speaks out on Community Wellness and Safety

BY TOM JENZ

K

arin Tyler, the city’s Director of the Department of Community Wellness and Safety, knows about troubled neighborhoods. She was raised in the central city and experienced trauma and dysfunction.

Her early life story could be a dramatic movie, the plot rippled with loss, grief and triumph. The daughter of activist parents, Tyler grew up on 12th and Keefe in the heart of the central city.

“My home was filled with Civil Rights activists,” Tyler told me. “As children, we participated in protest marches with my parents. My dad had marched with Martin Luther King. He worked at Delco Electronics, and my mother was a nurse.”

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But when Tyler was a teenager, her parents divorced. She lapsed into personal problems: anger, drugs, street culture, suicide attempts and struggles with self-love. When she was 16, she had a child, a boy, and the experience set her straight. “My son and I kind of grew up together,” she said.

As a young mother, she was living in an apartment with her boyfriend. “My boyfriend got violent, kicked my door in, climbed on the balcony and assaulted me sexually. One day, he had a gun to my head. saying, ‘If I can’t have you, no one can.’ I think he wanted to kill me, but he didn’t have the courage.

Eventually, he was incarcerated.

As a result, I dealt with depression, anxiety, and trauma. It took a long time to get myself together.”

If that near-tragedy wasn’t enough heartbreak for one lifetime, Karin later lost her oldest son to homicide in 2011.

Then in 2018, she lost her father, who was killed in a hit and run accident.

WORLD OF VIOLENCE Through a profound understatement, she said, “I feel I can personally help abuse victims because of my own background experiencing the world of violence.”

Karin Tyler Director, Department of Wellness & Safety Photo by Tom Jenz.

According to the Milwaukee Police Department data, the average age of a fatal shooting or homicide victim is 30, while the average age of a nonfatal shooting victim is late 20s.

Individuals between the ages of 18 and 39 account for approximately 67% of all homicide victims. For fatal shootings, 84% of the victims are male and 76% are Black. For nonfatal shootings, 79% of victims are male and 82% are Black.

I have known Karin Tyler over the years and admired her dedication in helping to reduce violence and dysfunction in the city. A while back, we met in the Department of Community Wellness and Safety offices located in Walker’s Point.

How long have you worked for the Office of Violence Prevention, now called the Office of Community Wellness and Safety? What were your jobs?

I started in 2017 as a family violence prevention coordinator, then a family violence prevention manager, then the operations manager, then the interim director and now I am the director. I’ve done all the jobs.

You have been director for a few months. As the director, what are your job responsibilities?

I oversee the citywide violence prevention effort. My job has three different components. First, prevention, which includes education and awareness. We do this through conferences, webinars, and technical assistance to other departments. The goal is to get ahead of violence before it starts. The second component is secondary prevention, working on retaliatory violence. For instance, we get referrals from the police department about violent situations that have a chance of retaliation. We try to get to that person who might want to retaliate and try to stop the dispute from elevating further.

We have our Promise Keeper team, Home for Life team and our Critical Response team. We also have youth ambassadors with lived experiences, and they deal with their peer groups.

The third component is tertiary prevention, and that includes healing and wellness, which is critical.

What do you mean by healing being critical?

How many full and part-time staff members do you have?

We are coming off 2025 when homicides and non-fatal shootings were up in Milwaukee. We’ve been trying to find healing for all those impacted people—moms, fathers, siblings, kids. The goal is to prevent victims of violence from becoming perpetrators of violence. Tertiary prevention is about healing.

Currently, we have seven full-time staff.

I will sometimes see negative stories and videos about violent incidents on social media and on the local legacy media. How do you counter that?

We are always looking at data, community cultural behavior, and how we can be transparent with our work. We look at how we can give our city hope. This year in 2026, violence numbers are going down. We are making progress. No matter the numbers game, residents need to have a feeling of hope. That is why we have outreach teams in the neighborhoods.

What are your other responsibilities as director?

As a cabinet member, I represent our city on a national scale. We just had a regional meeting with our National Violence Prevention Network. I was looking to see what was working in other cities. In Chicago, they use tax revenue from marijuana sales to help fund their violence prevention office.

Sale of marijuana is illegal in Wisconsin.

In my experience writing about central city issues, if one violent incident happens in a neighborhood, residents will sometimes globalize the issue as if this type of incident happens everywhere when actually it does not.

That is what we try to counteract. I tell my staff to not take it personally when people are angry and maybe challenge our work. We are often dealing with human emotions. When my son passed away many years ago, I couldn’t listen to anything about hope.

I was too emotional.

Does your office work with the grassroots leaders, pastors and residents who are trying to reduce violence?

Our Promise Keepers initiative was really innovative. We have what we call Promise Zone areas of the city.

Promise Keepers uplift the work of grass roots organizations. They work on primary and intervention problems. For example, the Sherman Park street leader, Vaun Mayes, is one of our Promise Keepers, and so is Shawn Moore, who works in the Garden Homes area. They know if there are threats of violence in their neighborhoods. We try to support grass roots organizations. Our main partner is Evolve Church on North 76th Street. They have a younger congregation. They have given us referrals if there is a problem within their congregation. For example, if someone is in imminent danger or threatened, we can help that victim with relocation.

What exactly are Promise Zones?

Promise Zones are certain city areas, zones with high crime incidents and low resources. These Promise Zones are further broken down into impact areas.

Tyler showed me a large wall map illustrating the impact areas or at-risk zones. The North Side neighborhoods include Amani, Lindsay Heights, Harambee, Metcalfe Park and Garden Homes; with Clark Square on the South Side.

If a resident is having issues with violence in the home, should they contact your office?

If your family member is causing trouble in the home and you don’t want to call the police, you should call us.

We have people with lived experiences who are relatable. We also coordinate the Commission on Domestic Violence, which includes all the organizations and nonprofits that deal with domestic violence—Sojourner, UMOS, the Asha Project, and more, and also the police and sheriff departments.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 17

NEWS MKE SPEAKS: CONVERSATIONS WITH MILWAUKEEANS

Do you work with the city police department and county sheriff’s department?

Through my history of working in this office, connection with law enforcement is very important. I remember when my son was killed, I had to think about my other family members. What are they going to do? And what about the aftermath of violence. When will a perpetrator get out of jail? Will he kill again or be killed as an act of revenge? Anger lasts a long time, and a family member of a victim might seek retaliation.

‘Stop Snitchin’: I’ve seen this statement on T shirts, and I’ve heard it from police. If residents won’t report a crime or snitch on criminals, what is there to do?

Our office is the middle ground between police and residents. Our credibility is important because we need to have influence to get into the communities. We need to get information to stop that retaliation.

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I have a mom’s group. Moms who have lost sons to violence feel like it is important to report a criminal. It can be a cultural thing, too. In our work, we’ve been dealing with decades of racism and even hatred.

What is the annual budget for the Office of Wellness and Safety and how is the money spent?

I give a recommended budget to the mayor’s office, who then holds budget open houses for public input, and then it goes to the common council.

Currently, our budget is about $1 million, but we also get a SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) grant for another $1 million. We get additional funds from other grants, businesses and philanthropic partners.

Your predecessor, Adam Procell, stated that he wanted community violence intervention workers to be better paid and receive benefits.

I learned a lot from Mr. Procell. He spent 20 years in prison for murdering a gang member when he was 15.

He and I were dealing from opposite sides of trauma and violence. I have my grief over my son being murdered, and he has his guilt over what he did.

But we do want our team members to have benefits. They risk their lives to help prevent violence. Police officers get benefits.

For assistance with issues of violence or potential violence, call CONNECT WITH US at 414-286-5468 or email OCWS@milwaukee.gov. For further information, visit milwaukee.gov/ staysafe

Tom Jenz is a Milwaukee writerphotographer and author of the Central City Stories column for shepherdexpress.com.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 19

FOOD & DRINK | SPONSORED BY DISCOUNT LIQUOR

Locally family owned and operated for 64 years offering over 8,000 wines, 4,000 liquors and 2,000 beers at two locations: Milwaukee and Waukesha. discountliquorinc.com

Make the Trip to

Tofte’s Table

BY HAZEL WHEATON

I

had heard about Tofte's Table from friends over the past few years but had never visited before this summer. The drive to Waukesha for dinner seemed like a bit of a haul, when there were so many great options closer to home. That may seem silly—it's not like I was driving to Green Bay—but it can be hard to argue with laziness. Now that I've tried it, though, I will always have the motivation to make the drive. Waukesha residents can boast of having one of the best restaurants in the metro area in their backyard. People who live in the Milwaukee area owe it to themselves to make the trip.

Tofte's Table can be hard to pin down. It feels expansive, yet it's intimate: There are only 19 tables here, including bar seating. The light and airy feel transformed into secluded and intimate when the sun went down. Our server was friendly and chatty in a way that made me feel like I was at a favorite diner. Yet everything arrived like clockwork, both ends of our table being presented with their plates simultaneously with the smooth and elegant efficiency of a fine dining establishment, not a fork out of place.

The menu, instead of being divided by course, is separated into categories by origin: garden (salads, vegetables and snails), poultry, sea creatures, steer & hog, and desserts.

Plates can be paired or shared—let the price point and the helpful server guide you as to serving size.

20 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

SEVEN-COURSE TASTING MENU For our party of six, our server recommended the chef's tasting menu. The parade of seven courses, all selected at the chef's discretion, and unknown to us until they appeared on the table, read almost like a greatest hits menu, but there's nothing wrong with that.

The pacing was perfect. Each course came at just the right time so we didn't feel rushed and didn't feel stuffed. One can tell that the kitchen and the servers have a lot of experience with this routine.

The tone is elevated American comfort food. That translates to melting pot, with different cuisines taking their turns for a look in. Comfort food means mashed potatoes, risotto, kielbasa with sauerkraut, fried chicken, meatloaf. Some of the dishes have been on the menu since the restaurant opened in 2016. But in the case of the duck confit tostadas, which started our meal, why mess with perfection?

That tostada mingles Asian flavors—a crispy wonton, shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, sesame and a hoisin drizzle—with the traditional cilantro, fresh tomatoes, and queso fresco of a tostada, and a generous mound of perfectly tender duck.

The duck was followed by the fried chicken, with a thick but crisp coating and topped with a maple drizzle.

Photo by Hazel Wheaton.

After the richness of the duck and the fried chicken (which edged up to, but didn't the line into greasy), three lighter dishes followed. Roasted Brussels sprouts topped with maple bacon, honey and shaved Parmesan; fresh burrata paired with a simply dressed Mediterranean-style artichoke salad and toasted ciabatta; and a single perfectly seared sea scallop atop a bed of asparagus risotto.

After that break, it was back to heavier dishes. German food got its turn in the form of a delicious grilled kielbasa topped with sauerkraut and a coarse mustard aioli. Rounding out the meal was grilled tenderloin, served on a bed of earthy wild mushrooms and shallots, with creamy Parmesan mashed potatoes on the side. The rare tenderloin—chef's choice—was perfect as far as I was concerned. But if you prefer your meat a little less bloody, be sure to tell your server if ordering the surprise menu.

Those who don't drink alcohol are treated well, with an extensive selection of craft mocktails, zero-proof cocktails, de-alcoholized wines and non-alcoholic beers.

Reservations are strongly recommended, though you can get lucky and snag a seat at the bar, and outside tables are first-come, first-serve. Parking is plentiful; if a downtown event makes street parking difficult, there's free parking after 5 pm in the bank lot, a short and pleasant walk across Love bridge from the restaurant.

Tofte's Table 331 Riverfront Plaza, Waukesha (262) 408-5633 https://toftestable.com/

DESSERTS AND COCKTAILS We were given three different desserts, including a dense flourless chocolate cake and a seasonal blueberry and lemon shortcake. To me, the standout was the sticky toffee pudding, which was lighter than any toffee pudding I've had before — sweet without being sickly, sticky without being weighty. It was a marvel.

Craft cocktails, a specialty here, range from the sophisticated to the outrageous: Don't be surprised to see your drink bubbling or smoking. Our party's choices included the elegant Queen Bee, the Vern's Smoky Manhattan, and two seasonal options, a Blackberry Margarita and a light and refreshing Peach Sangria.

All dishes: $4-26; desserts: $8-11. Chef's menu (available for parties of 5 or more): $55. All forms of payment accepted; a 3% processing fee charged for credit cards (NA debit) Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 5–9 p.m.; Closed Sunday and Monday Hazel Wheaton is a Milwaukee writer. She has had the privilege of learning about food by talking to local experts and tasting everything she was offered—including almond pastries in Morocco, whisky and haggis in Orkney, escargot in Lyon and more.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 21

FOOD & DRINK BEVERAGES

| SPONSORED BY DISCOUNT LIQUOR

Locally family owned and operated for 64 years offering over 8,000 wines, 4,000 liquors and 2,000 beers at two locations: Milwaukee and Waukesha. discountliquorinc.com

Biodynamic Wine &

Troon Vineyards

BY GAETANO MARANGELLI

“

I

s there such a thing as the right kind of wine?”

It was a question I asked Neal Rosenthal, a legendary importer of great European wine. Neal’s company, Rosenthal Wine Merchant, is one of the wine import companies which set a standard for wines made honestly — without herbicides and pesticides in the vineyards, with little if any sulfur or chemical additives in the cellar. I expected Neal to answer diplomatically, with a wine merchant’s sensitivity to the wildly disparate tastes of oenophiles.

He did not.

“Of course there’s a right kind of wine!”

Neal bellowed back to me, with the ire of an offended lion.

“Is there such a thing as the right kind of wine?” is a kind of question I’m also asked. And after I answer my questioners the way Neal answered me, they ask me, “Why?’ While I was in Ashland, Oregon for a playwriting residency late this spring, I visited Troon Vineyards in Applegate, Oregon, an estate which converted from conventional to biodynamic viticulture and viniculture.

22 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

After my visit to Troon Vineyards, Craig Camp, the general manager of the vineyards, occurred to me as an ideal authority to answer the question, “Why is there such a thing as the right kind of wine?”

WHY BIODYNAMIC WINE? An Interview with the General Manager of a Biodynamic Vineyard Gaetano Marangelli: Why did Troon Vineyards convert from conventional to biodynamic winegrowing and winemaking?

Craig Camp: When I arrived here in 2016, I felt this site had great potential but had been aggressively farmed for too many years. The life had been stolen from the soil and needed to be reborn.

I felt biodynamics, which I see as a natural probiotic strategy for soil health, was the solution that would reinvigorate the farm. It has been exciting to see that we have accomplished that goal.

GM: What is the history of the estate's conversion?

CC: When I arrived in 2016, I began the process of eliminating all non-organic practices.

By 2017 we were exclusively biodynamic and organic in practice.

We were certified organic in 2019, Demeter Biodynamic in 2020 and Regenerative Organic Certified® in 2022, achieving Regenerative Organic Gold Certified® in 2024.

(Certified organic tells you what you can’t do, biodynamics teaches you how to think and understand your farm as a living organism, Regenerative Organic Gold Certified measures your results and makes sure you are actually making things better.)

GM: Troon Vineyards practices natural viticulture, as well as natural viticulture.

Why are both integral to the wine you're making?

CC: To me, natural viticulture and minimalist winemaking (a term I prefer to natural winemaking) are part of a continuum. They are one and the same.

The goal of both is to express the unique personality of your farm.

You work hard to produce distinctive fruit, then the goal in the cellar is to amplify that personality, not to change it.

GM: Advocates of natural and biodynamic wine—like me—say that those wines taste better than wines made conventionally.

Photos courtesy of Troon Vineyards.

What differences can those advocates—and you—taste between the wines Troon Vineyards made before converting to biodynamics and those Troon Vineyards makes now?

CC: What always stands out to me about biodynamic wines is that they just taste alive. Vivacious and full of energy. That is what nature gives us and it is our mission to express that energy in our wines.

GM: How would you illustrate for readers the differences between wines classified as organic, biodynamic, and natural?

CC: Organic tells you what you can’t use, while biodynamics is a proactive practice to improve the life of your farm. It is a discipline that gives you a foundation to build on while you discover what works on your farm as each farm is an individual, living organism. Biodiversity is the way nature evolved and we only seek to cooperate with nature’s plan.

Natural wine is a term that is without meaning or real definition.

While our wines certainly qualify as natural, we believe in certification. We produce only certified biodynamic wine so that consumers can know exactly what they are drinking. We express that transparency with the QR codes on our back labels that lead to webpages that tell everything about our wines. That includes nutritional information and all winemaking dates.

GM: How can readers order wines from Troon Vineyards?

CC: Please visit our website at www.troonvineyard.com

Gaetano Marangelli is a sommelier and playwright. He was the managing director of a wine import and distribution company in New York and beverage director for restaurants and retailers in New York and Chicago before moving to Wauwatosa.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 23

SPECIAL OUTDOOR DINING GUIDE

Outdoor Dining Guide

SEE SOME OF THE BEST PATIOS IN WISCONSIN

Photo courtesy of Boone & Crockett.

Photo courtesy of Botanas Restaurant.

Photo courtesy of Café Corazon.

BOONE & CROCKETT

BOTANAS RESTAURANT

CAFÉ CORAZON

818 S. Water St. Milwaukee (414) 212-8115

816 S. Fifth St., Milwaukee (414) 672-3755 Botanasrestaurant.com

Brown Deer, 4102 W. Bradley Road Bay View, 2394 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. Riverwest, 3129 N. Bremen St. Corazonmilwaukee.com

Boonemilwaukee.com There’s a reason Boone & Crockett has won BEST PATIO more than once!

There’s always a good time to be had when you’re sitting on the river.

Amazing drinks, food trucks, live music, great company, just to name a few.

Find them under the lights of the Hoan!

24 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

In the summer, sip margaritas and munch on chips and guacamole on Botana’s open-air patio. It’s spacious enough for large groups and also perfect for a table of two. If the outdoor seating is full, request a table under the covered patio to still take advantage of a summer evening. Both options are a great way to enjoy this casual cantina that offers authentic Mexican dishes.

Decorated with flower boxes and serving all of Café Corazón’s housemade Mexican food favorites, Corazon’s three patios come alive for outdoor dining and drinking season.

The Riverwest patio sits along the Beerline Trail; in Bay View, you'll find a quiet, artsy outdoor space away from the bustle of Kinnickinnic Avenue; and the Brown Deer patio, with its own outdoor bar, is the largest Corazon patio with seating for 50+.

Header photo by GettyImages/Kar-Tr.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 25

SPECIAL OUTDOOR DINING GUIDE

Photo courtesy of Camino.

Photo courtesy of DIA Café.

Photo courtesy of Five O'Clock Steakhouse.

CAMINO

DIA CAFÉ

FIVE O’CLOCK STEAKHOUSE

434 S. Second St., Milwaukee (414) 763-0232 Caminomke.com

6601 Northway, Greendale (414) 246-2002 diaynochewi.com

2416 W. State St., Milwaukee (414) 342-3553 Fiveoclocksteakhouse.com

Tucked away in a narrow alley, you’ll find a lush green landscape at Camino in Walker’s Point. It’s truly a hidden gem amongst downtown patios. Summer is short—come imbibe and get down with some killer bar food in this outdoor oasis while you can. Kitchen open late.

DIA Cafe’s dual patios effortlessly transition from day to night. The bustling front patio is perfect for daytime coffee, while the intimate back courtyard is built for evening lounge vibes—complete with a striking 18-foot fire feature and several patio heaters to keep the outdoor dining experience cozy long after dark.

Relax and enjoy your supper club experience on their intimate patio lined with beautiful flowers and firepit.

Five O’Clock Steakhouse specializes in serving award winning steaks and seafood paired with a notable wine list, classic cocktails and outstanding personalized service.

26 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 27

SPECIAL OUTDOOR DINING GUIDE

Photo courtesy of MOTOR Restaurant.

Photo courtesy of Ope! Brewing Co.

Photo courtesy of Transfer Pizzaria Cafe.

MOTOR RESTAURANT

OPE! BREWING CO.

TRANSFER PIZZERIA CAFÉ

401 W. Canal St., Milwaukee (414) 287-2778 Motorrestaurant.com

6751 W. National Ave., West Allis (414) 509-6700 Opebrewingco.com

101 W. Mitchell St., Milwaukee (414) 763-0438 Transfermke.com

Mil-town’s best patio is found at MOTOR Restaurant on the campus of the Harley-Davidson Museum.

Enjoy waterfront views while hanging out with friends on the patio, playing lawn games, and soaking up summer in Milwaukee. Don’t forget to bring your dog—there’s space for them, too. With iconic campus views, a scratch kitchen, and smoked meats, MOTOR has what you’re looking for.

Make some memories this summer at MOTOR Restaurant.

Ope! Brewing Co. has one of the best patios in the MKE area, featuring a fullservice outdoor bar, volleyball leagues six nights a week, cornhole lanes, live outdoor music, pet-friendly spaces, shaded seating options, Chucho’s Tacos and a rotating lineup of curated food trucks to satisfy all outdoor dining needs.

Transfer invites guests to their unique outdoor patio this summer, including tables inside a restored 1950s era Milwaukee city bus. Open for more than 18 years, Transfer is a full-service, independent pizzeria with a wide menu of unique hand-tossed pizzas.

Visit for lunch and dinner, Tuesday through Sunday.

28 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 29

SPECIAL OKTOBERFEST GUIDE

Oktoberfest Guide 2026

BY ANDREAS SCOCOS

BARABOO OKTOBERFEST

CEDARBURG OKTOBERFEST

September 19

BARKTOBERFEST RUN/WALK FOR MADACC

Oktoberfestbaraboo.com

Estabrook Park

W63 N645 Washington Ave, Cedarburg

4600 Estabrook Pkwy., Milwaukee

October 3-4

Celebrate Oktoberfest at Circus World in Baraboo from 3-9 p.m. on Saturday, September 19. This authentic Bavarian festival will feature a brat stand, pretzel truck, two polka bands and traditional Oktoberfest contests. Visit oktoberfestbaraboo.com for more information.

Saturday Sept. 26.

http://cedarburgfestivals.org/ oktoberfest

https://www.friendsofmadacc.org/ barktoberfest

The Bavarian Bierhaus

DUESTERBECK'S BREWING COMPANY OKTOBERFEST

700 W Lexington Blvd, Glendale

N 5543 County Road O, Elkhorn

Performances run from September 4 - October 4 on weekends

Saturday, October 3

THE BAVARIAN BIERHAUS

https://www.thebavarianbierhaus. com/oktoberfest

30 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

City Hall Lawn

https://www.facebook.com/ events/n5543-county-roado-elkhorn-wi-united-stateswisconsin-53121/7th-annualoktoberfest/2206670160154596/

Header illustration by GettyImages/mihmihmal.

Hand drawn bavarian illustrations by GettyImages/Kateryna Firsova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 31

SPECIAL OKTOBERFEST GUIDE

Elm Grove Village Park

GREATER RACINE OKTOBERFEST

13600 Juneau Blvd, Elm Grove

Franksville Craft Beer Garden

September 17-19

9614 Northwestern Ave, Franksville

https://www.elkhartlake. com/event/elktoberfest/

https://www.elmgrovefoundation.org/ oktoberfest

September 24-27

ERVTOBERFEST OKTOBERFEST (OAK CREEK)

GERMAN HUNSRUCKER OKTOBERFEST

ELKTOBERFEST (ELKHART LAKE) Elkhart Lake Saturday, September 19

Erv’s Mug 130 W Ryan Road, Oak Creek Saturday, September 12 http://ervsmug.com/ervtoberfest/

ELM GROVE OKTOBERFEST

Dheinsville Historic Park N128W18780 Holy Hill Rd, Germantown September 26-27 https://www.germantownchamber. org/events/details/oktoberfestgermantown-historical-society-11202

https://visitracinecounty.com/ events/9th-annual-oktoberfest-ofgreater-racine/

INVENTORS BREW PUB OKTOBERFEST (PORT WASHINGTON) Inventors Brew Pub 305 E Washington St, Port Washington Saturday, October 3 https://inventorsbrewpub.com/events

32 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Photo of food by GettyImages/Rimma_Bondarenko.

Hand drawn bavarian illustrations by GettyImages/Kateryna Firsova.

200 N Harbor Dr, Milwaukee

OUR LADY OF LOURDES - MILWAUKEE OKTOBERFEST

October 2-4

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church

MILWAUKEE OKTOBERFEST Henry Maier Festival Park

https://milwaukeeoktoberfest.com/

NEW GLARUS OKTOBERFEST Downtown New Glarus September 24-27 https://www.swisstown.com/ oktoberfest

OPE! BREWING CO. 6751 W. National Ave. Friday-Sunday, September 18-20 Opebrewingco.com Celebrate Ope!toberfest in West Allis with brats, sausage, pretzels, stein hoisting competitions, polka bands and more.

3722 South 58th St, Milwaukee October 9-11 https://www.ololmke.org/oktoberfest/

ST. AUGUSTINE OKTOBERFEST St. Augustine 2530 S Howell Ave, Milwaukee Sunday, September 27 https://www.facebook.com/ events/2530-s-howell-ave-milwaukeewi-united-states-wisconsin-53207/ oktoberfest-2026/1561393162117897/

SCHOOL SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS OKTOBERFEST

WAUKESHA OKTOBERFEST

St. Joseph Garden Center

1200 Frame Park Drive, Waukesha

1507 S 29th St, Milwaukee

September 25-26

Saturday, September 12 Make a "wunderbar" difference when you support the School Sisters of St. Francis’ fall fundraising event!

Featuring live music, fun and games, homemade bakery, craft sale, delicious food and more. Saturday, Sept. 12, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Frame Park

https://www.waukesha-wi.gov/ residents/oktoberfest.php

https://www.sssf.org/SSSF/MediaRoom/Oktoberfest-2026.htm

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 33

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE

Fall Arts

Guide SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s New Notes

BY DAVE LUHRSSEN

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra enters a new phase for its 2026-27 season, the first since 2018 without Ken-David Masur as music director.

The music won’t stop during the search for his replacement. “Artistic partner” David Robertson will conduct for three weeks and handle some of the MSO’s special projects, including a guitar festival in 2027.

“It can be challenging for an orchestra to have a different guest conductor every week for several seasons, so by having David a few weeks each season, it’s a chance for the orchestra to have a little bit of a home base, so to speak, and reset before the next round of guest conductors,” says Bret Dorhout, the MSO’s vice president of artistic planning. “So, I would view David Robertson not as a stopgap, but as someone who can put us in a better position to make our choice for music director.”

34 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

The programming for 2026-27, as in all seasons, is a collaborative process.

“Lots of constituents give ideas or recommendations,” Dorhout continues.

“Our executive director and marketing department often cite priorities or initiatives for the upcoming season, and then conductors and soloists say what they would like to do. It’s my job to try to make sure everyone is as happy as possible.”

The MSO’s “Season Opening Fanfare” (Sept. 18-19) features Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. “There is a lot of great music next season, so I tend to look forward to concerts that I think will be a nice journey. David Robertson’s first program celebrates music of Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes,” Dorhout says. “He does that music so well, and Ravel’s Daphnis & Chloe is so sumptuous. I’ve been trying to get Prokofiev 5 in a season for years and am thrilled that the exciting young conductor Delyana Lazarova will give it its debut at the Bradley Symphony Center. Similarly, I’m excited that Night on Bald Mountain is finally on a subscription concert program

with Kirill Karabits, as I don’t know why people shy away from this great music because it’s done so often on education concerts. Adults want to hear it too!”

What is the role of a symphony orchestra in today’s society? Dorhout answers that it serves many different functions. “While classical concerts are at the core of what we do, that is only one aspect of the organization,” he explains. “We also present Pops concerts, film-with-orchestra programs, family performances, educational concerts for students and community events. Through our Arts in Community Education program, we not only welcome students to the Bradley Symphony Center, but also bring musicians, dancers, actors, and other artists directly into schools throughout the community.”

Photo of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra by Jonathan Kirn.

Illustration of music notes by GettyImages/agrus. Photo of gold leaf by GettyImages/detshana.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 35

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE

5 POINTS ART GALLERY

ART 64

CAPITAL CITY THEATRE, MADISON

5ptsartgallery.com

discoverart64.com

capitalcitytheatre.org

ACACIA THEATRE COMPANY

ARTS @ LARGE

We Are Here, Sept. 17-20

acaciatheatre.com

artsatlargeinc.org

CARROLL PLAYERS

ADDENDUM

BACH CHAMBER CHOIR

carroll-players.com

addendum.gallery

bachchoirmilwaukee.com

CARTHAGE COLLEGE THEATRE

ALL IN PRODUCTIONS

BAYVIEW GALLERY NIGHT, SEPT. 25

allin-mke.com

bvgn.org

carthage.edu/arts/experience-the-arts/theatre-dance-performances

Red Days, Sept. 11-13, Sept. 16-19 (Pink’s Accessible Theater House,1104 W. Historic Mitchell St.) ALVERNO ART & CULTURES GALLERY alverno.edu/gallery AMERICA’S BLACK HOLOCAUST MUSEUM abhmuseum.org AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS 25th Anniversary of 911: Songs of Remembrance, Sept. 11 (All Saints Cathedral) AMERICAN PLAYERS THEATRE americanplayers.org Uncle Vanya, through Sept. 5 Casey and Diana, through Sept. 24 Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea, through Sept. 25 Sueño, through Sept. 26 The Chairs, through Sept. 27

BEL CANTO CHORUS belcanto.org From Darkness, Light, Oct. 18 (St. Sebastien Church) BLACK ARTS MKE blackartsmke.org BOERNER BOTANICAL GARDENS boernerbotanicalgardens.org BOMBSHELL THEATRE CO. bombshelltheatre.org Totally ‘80s Musical Revue, Sept., 25-30 Addams Family, Oct. 8-11, Oct. 15-18, Oct. 22-25 BOULEVARD THEATER milwaukeeboulevardtheatre.com THE BOX THEATRE CO. boxtheatreco.org

CATEY OTT DANCE COLLECTIVE cateyott.com CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST stjohncathedral.corg Wednesday concert series CEDARBURG ART MUSEUM cedarburgartmuseum.org Dan Grunst: Outdoor Sculpture, through Oct. 4 Forward: WI Artists on America’s Pursuit of Happiness, through Nov. 8 CEDARBURG ARTISTS GUILD cedarburgartistsguild.com Covered Bridge Art Studio Tour, Oct. 9-11 CEDARBURG CULTURAL CENTER cedarburgculturalcenter.org

BRONZEVILLE ARTS ENSEMBLE CEDARBURG PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

The Matchmaker, through Oct. 2

facebook.com/BronzevilleArtsEnsemble

The Two “Gentlemen” of Verona, through Oct. 3

BRONZEVILLE CENTER FOR THE ARTS

As You Like It, through Oct. 4

Bcamke.org

CHANT CLAIRE CHAMBER CHOIR

Building Bronzeville: Milwaukee’s Black Arts Movement, Sept. 24-Feb. 26, 2027

chantclaire.org

Witch, Oct. 22-Nov. 22 Hitting the Touchstone Theatre just in time for spooky season, the Devil is making the rounds in Edmonton when he encounters a woman living on the outskirts of town. She has witchy powers and gives the Devil a run for his money (or a run for her soul, as it were).

Contains adult themes and language.

Directed by Keira Fromm. (Anne Siegel) APERI ANIMAM aperianimam.com

cedarburgpac.com Dek of Hearts, Oct. 17

If You Put Your Ear to It, You Can Hear the Waves (installation, through June 13, 2027) BROOM STREET THEATRE, MADISON bstonline.org Do It to Julia!, Sept. 11-20, Sept. 24-27 CABARET MILWAUKEE facebook.com/cabmke

36 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 37

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE

DAVID BARNETT GALLERY

DAVID BARNETT GALLERY

davidbarnettgallery.com Sounds: Gershwin, Kandinsky, and Barnett, through Oct. 13

Artwork by by Wassily Kandinsky.

CHARLES ALLIS ART MUSEUM

COALITION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS

charlesallis.org

copamilwaukee.com

Strike at Allis Chalmers and Other Wisconsin Stories, through Oct. 24

Rotating Exhibition, through Sept. 26 (Ronald McDonald House)

While the focal point of the exhibition is a series of labor strikes at industrial giant Allis-Chalmers during the 1940s, the Allis’s artist-in-residence, John Fleissner, is adroit at connecting those historical moments to the political movements of today. Through a series of woodcuts, historic photos, sound recordings, and other ephemera, Fleissner uncovers the overlooked histories of both union and political radicalism in the metropolitan Milwaukee region.

(Michael Carriere) CHAZEN MUSEUM OF ART (UW-MADISON) chazen.wisc.edu Recollection: Exhibiting the Collection, through Dec. 23 CHORAL ARTS SOCIETY OF SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN choralartsonline.org Honoring 250 Years of America, Oct. 17 CIVIC MUSIC MKE

THE CONSTRUCTIVISTS theconstructivists.org

DAWN SPRINGER DANCE PROJECT dawnspringer.com DEAD MAN’S CARNIVAL facebook.com/Dead-Mans-Carnival-338362982860387 DOOR COUNTY CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR

5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche, Oct. 8-24 (Pink’s Accessible Theater House)

doorcountycontemporary.com

Founder Jaimelyn Gray recognizes that the dark comedy world is dominated by male playwrights, so she and The Constructivists are determined to ensure plentiful female and non-binary representation within the company’s future shows. Season nine will balance out the previous season’s male-heavy character with what Gray describes as a “very feminine energy” while focusing on local playwrights, starting with 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche by Evan Linder and Andrew Hobgood.

(Ben Slowey)

DOOR KINETIC ARTS FESTIVAL SEPT. 20-26

CONCORD CHAMBER ORCHESTRA concordorchestra.org Concert, Oct. 17 (Mount Carmel Lutheran Church)

doorkinetic.com DOOR SHAKESPEARE doorshakespeare.com EARLY MUSIC NOW earlymusicnow.org Relic Ensemble: The Blood of the Rose, Oct. 24 (St. Paul’s Episcopal Church) The youthful Relic Ensemble are rising exponents of early music in New York City, a chamber group known for innovative programming that explores unread pages from music history. For “The Blood of the Rose” program, they will perform Baroque music composed in 18th century Peru. (David Luhrssen)

DANCECIRCUS

EX FABULA

dancecircus.org

exfabula.org

civicmusicmilwaukee.org

DANCEWORKS PERFORMANCE MKE

Live at the Ivy, Sept. 23

danceworksmke.org

38 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

At the center of “Sounds: Gershwin, Kandinsky, and Barnett,” are 24 woodcuts from Kandinsky’s 1912 “Klänge” portfolio. Klänge is German for “sound,” and George Gershwin, it’s said, heard music as color (or did he see color as music?). Before his death in 1937, Gershwin amassed an impressive collection of modern art. Although none of those pieces are included in the “Sounds” exhibit, Barnett brought together pieces by some of the artists Gershwin collected. Barnett, an artist as well as a gallery owner, is the third tier of the exhibit with painted interpretations of Gershwin songs.

(David Luhrssen)

Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 39

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE FALLS PATIO PLAYERS

FIRST STAGE

FRANKLY MUSIC

fallspatioplayers.com

firststage.org

franklymusic.org

School of Rock, Sept. 18-20

Go Dog Go! Oct. 3-Nov. 1

Americana Program, Sept. 28

The musical production is based on the 2003 film with new music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. For those unfamiliar with this “school,” Dewey Finn is a down and out rock star wannabe who’s been kicked out of his own band, loses his day job, owes his best friend months of rent ... you get the picture.

He’s determined—and desperate-to win the battle of the bands competition featuring his now rival ex-bandmates and a large cash prize.

(Harry Cherkinian)

Based on P.D. Eastman’s beloved children’s book, the kinetic play features music, color and comedy in a world where dogs are king. First Stage presents it in a bilingual English/Spanish version. (Morton Shlabotnik)

An Aria Extravaganza, Sept. 15

Victoria Bond has enjoyed a busy career as a conductor, but she’s also a prolific composer of operas and other work. Her Soul of a Nation is a violin concerto based on writings of Thomas Jefferson. Frankly Music will present its Milwaukee premiere along with a chamber version of Aaron Copland’s folkloric Appalachian Spring.

(David Luhrssen)

La Traviata, Oct. 16-18

FRESCO OPERA THEATRE, MADISON

The heroine of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata is consumptive, bewitching and challenging. The tender lyricism of the music signals the composer’s sympathy for the character, played-sung in the Florentine Opera’s production

by Amanda Woodbury. La Traviata remains one of the most popular operas in the canon, 170 years after its debut.

(David Luhrssen)

frescoopera.com

The Addams Family Musical, Oct. 9-18 FESTIVAL CITY SYMPHONY festivalcitysymphony.org River, Sea, and Symphony, Oct. 24 (Bradley Symphony Center) Milwaukee’s oldest symphony orchestra opens its season with late Romantic music that echoes and celebrates the natural world, including Bedřich Smetana’s The Moldau, Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from the opera Peter Grimes, and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1. (David Luhrssen)

FLORENTINE OPERA florentineopera.org

FORTE THEATRE COMPANY

GALLERY 224 Gallery224.org GALLERY 2622 gallery2622.com

fortetheatrecompany.org

GALLERY NIGHT AND DAY, OCT. 16-17

Annie, Oct. 3-11

gallerynightmke.com

FORWARD THEATER, MADISON

GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

FINE ARTS QUARTET

forwardtheater.com

fineartsquartet.com

Steady She Goes, Sept. 10-27 Gaslight, Oct. 29-Nov. 15 FOUR SEASONS THEATRE, MADISON fourseasonstheatre.com

40 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

GALLERY 218 gallery218.com

gsdwi.org GREEN GALLERY Thegreengallery.biz Many Years/Milwaukee Nights, through Sept. 5

Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 41

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE GREENDALE COMMUNITY THEATRE

HARLEY-DAVIDSON MUSEUM

H. F. JOHNSON GALLERY OF ART

greendaletheatre.org

harley-davidson.com

carthage.edu/art-gallery

GROHMANN MUSEUM

“Survivors: WWII -Era Collection” Motorcycle Display at Harley-Davidson Museum

msoe.edu/grohmann-museum Lina Bertucci: Railroad Voices— The Milwaukee Road 1974-1977, Oct. 16-Dec. 20 Lina Bertucci was one of the first women at the Milwaukee-based railroad when she was hired as a brakeman in 1974. She was also an aspiring photographer and brought her camera to work. “These photographs were never simply creative memories of a personal experience, but a record of a social and historical moment—a communal cultural and industrial transformation that intersected with my own identity as I stood witness to its passing,” she said. (David Luhrssen) GROVE GALLERY gallerygrove.com HAGGERTY MUSEUM OF ART marquette.edu/haggerty-museum The Otherworld is Home, Aug. 28-Dec. 19

42 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

This group of six cycles on loan from actor/filmmaker Jason Momoa and used in HBO Max's “On the Roam” series distinguish themselves by not being in collectors' shape. They are displayed in the same condition in which they made it through World War II. This exhibition, on view through June 2027, comes with regular museum admission.

“Creating a Legend: Art & Engineering at Harley-Davidson,” through spring 2027 (Jamie Lee Rake) “Ezy Ryders: History & Tradition, Heart & Soul,” through 2026 Photographer Cate Dingley’s book Ezy Ryders focuses on New York City’s Black riding culture today. Images and text from her book have been chosen for the new exhibition at the Harley-Davidson Museum. All of Dingley’s photographs are in black and white.

“There’s a sense of timelessness to them, black and white can be a very expressive medium,” curator Ann Sinfield says. (David Luhrssen)

HOVER CRAFT hovercraftmke.com HYPERLOCAL MKE hyperlocalmke.com IMPRESSIONS FINE ARTS GALLERY blueharboaresort.com INSPIRATION STUDIOS ART GALLERY inspirationstudiosgallery.com A Miscast Cabaret of Heroes & Villains, Sept. 23-24 (Theatrical Tendencies) The Vagina Monologues, Oct. 16-18 (Theatrical Tendencies) JAMES MAY GALLERY jamesmaygallery.com

Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 43

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE JAZZ GALLERY CENTER FOR THE ARTS

JOY ENGINE joyengine.org

jazzgallerycenterforarts.org Free Improvisation, Saturdays

KETTLE MORAINE PLAYHOUSE, SLINGER

Milwaukee Jazz Institute, Sundays

kmplayhouse.com

Annual Members Show, Sept. 12-Oct. 21

Night Sky, Sept. 11-13, Sept. 16-20

JEWISH MUSEUM MILWAUKEE jewishmuseummilwaukee.org 48 Jews: Layers of Identity, through Sept. 6 “The plurality and complexity of modern Jewish identity is explored in this vivid portrait series by artist Abshalom Jac Lahav. Public images of Jewish cultural icons, ranging from historical to contemporary, are translated into paintings with shifting styles of representation. Considering the individual and cultural narratives they carry, identity is portrayed as evolving and layered,” says curator Molly Dubin.

(David Luhrssen)

Confluence, Oct. 16-18, Oct. 21-25 KETTLE MORAINE SYMPHONY kmsymphony.org America at 250: Its Story in Music, Sept. 19 KIM STORAGE GALLERY kimstoragegallery.com Tim Anderson: Mythologies, through Sept. 26 Hector Acuna and Andy Paczos, Oct. 2-Nov. 7 KITH AND KIN THEATRE COLLECTIVE kithandkintheatre.com

Chosen Heroes: The Jewish Comics Experience, Oct. 16, 2026–Feb.14, 2027.

K&K Composition: A Competition and Exposition of New Works, Oct. 2-4 (Inspiration Studios)

JOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER

KNEELAND-WALKER HOUSE

jmkac.org/home.html

wauwatosahistoricalsociety.org

2.7 Miles of Imagination: A Rock’s Walk, through Sept. 20

KNIGHTWIND ENSEMBLE

How Do You Throw a Brick Through the Window…, through Oct. 4 The star exploding in the body, through Dec. 6 “The star exploding in the body,” on display at JMKAC and the museum’s Art Preserve, examines the work of the Guadalupe Maravilla and the late Emery Blagdon, each of whom suffered from cancer and both of whom sought alternative ways to combat their diseases and promote wellness utilizing elements from the Earth and vibrations from the universe to drive the cancers from their bodies. (Michael Muckian) When Threads Meet, They Speak, through Jan. 24, 2027.

knightwind.org KOHLER MEMORIAL THEATER kohlerfoundation.org The War and Treaty, Oct. 10 KO-THI DANCE COMPANY ko-thi.org LAKE ARTS PROJECT lakeartsproject.com LAKE COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE lakecountryplayhousewi.org LAKEFRONT FESTIVAL OF ART mam.org

Coexisting within parallel traditions, the pieces share common threads: fibers, colors, and processes that converge to create patterns between varying tattered and pristine patchwork and lines. They illustrate moments of everyday life embedded in communal fiber arts that reflect systems of creativity, wholeness and care.

(Michael Muckian) 44 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 45

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE LATINO ARTS, INC.

LYNDEN SCULPTURE GARDEN

latinoartsinc.org

lyndensculpturegarden.org

Café con Arte, Sept. 11

Warren King: Homecoming, through Nov. 15

Tierra Mojada: Scent of My Memories, through Oct. 9

MADISON BALLET

Beats & Baile: A Salsa Social ft. DJ Saffiro, Oct. 9

madisonballet.org

Day of the Dead Ofrendas, Oct. 9-Nov. 18

MADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

Dia de los Muertos celebrates the lives of those who have passed on. In their memory, people set up special ofrendas, which are “traditional altars commemorating family members that are no longer physically with us but forever present in our hearts.” Latino Arts will have a display of ofrendas, showing how the tradition is celebrated in different regions of Mexico and Central America. (Tea Krulos) LION PERFORMANCE HALL, RICHFIELD lionperformancehall.com

mmoca.org Gelsy Verna: Mother, Father, Please Help Me, through Sept. 27 Extended Play: A Side, through Sept. 27

Girls Night: The Musical, Oct. 2 The Carpenters Songbook: A Live Celebration, Oct. 4 Ghostbusters in Concert, Oct. 9

Slick, Sept. 23-Jan. 31, 2027

La Traviata, Oct. 16-18 (Florentine Opera)

MADISON THEATRE GUILD

Jersey Boys, Oct. 20-25

madisontheatreguild.org Eurydice, Oct. 2-17 MAKING MUSIC VOCAL ARTS

lilypadgallery.com

mmvocalarts.com

LUTHERAN A CAPELLA CHOIR OF MILWAUKEE

MARCUS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER marcuscenter.org

Sugar Skull, Oct. 30 MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY PLAYERS SOCIETY marquette.presence.io/organization/ Marquette-players-society MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY THEATRE

Happy Together Tour 2026, Sept. 3

marquette.edu/communication/theatre-arts.php

Madeleine Peyroux, Sept. 13

The Seagull, Oct. 2-11

Native Heritage Celebration, Sept. 18 Mamma Mia!, Sept. 22-27

46 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Churchill starring David Payne, Oct. 1

Diffuse Control by Beeple, Sept. 19-Jan. 10, 2027

LILY PAD GALLERY WEST

lutheranacapella.org

Here’s a blockbuster jukebox musical with a more recent source than most— the songs of Sweden’s pop sensation Abba woven into a charming romantic comedy set on a Greek island. The Broadway production was nominated for five Tony Awards in 2002 and inspired a popular movie plus a sequel.

Mamma Mia! is edging out Oklahoma! as one of America’s most popular (and oft-produced) musicals.

(David Luhrssen)

MASTER SINGERS OF MILWAUKEE mastersingersofmilwaukee.org

Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 47

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE MATERIAL STUDIOS + GALLERY

MILWAUKEE CHAMBER THEATRE

MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE

materialstudiosandgallery.com

milwaukeechambertheatre.org

milwaukeeoperatheatre.org

MEMORIES DINNER THEATRE

Maybe We’ll Fly, Sept. 18-Oct. 11

memoriesballroom.com

The world premiere by Milwaukee playwright Marie Kohler is “a play with music, for starters, and I love working with Josh Schmidt,” she explains. “Together we've explored one artist's sense of her accomplishments through time.

Inspired by, but not ‘about’ Mary Nohl, there's also a lot of me in this piece.

Elizabeth Margolius, brilliant Chicago-based director, will help embody this reflection on life's work and life's end—quite a journey.” (David Luhrssen)

Nina/Violetta, Sept/ 17-19 (Lueders Opera Center)

MENOMONEE FALLS SYMPHONY www.mfso.net Chills, Thrills and Reels, Oct. 24 (Hamilton Fine Arts Center) MIAD miad.edu Really Big Prints! A Decade of Street Roller Printmaking, through Sept. 5 (Brooks Stevens Gallery) Groundwork: Select Works from FirstYear Experience, through Sept. 19 (River Level Gallery) In a State of If, through Nov. 21 (Frederick Layton Gallery)

MILWAUKEE CHILDREN'S CHOIR milwaukeechildrenschoir.org MILWAUKEE COMEDY milwaukeecomedy.com MILWAUKEE COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA

Through the Plastic Lens: A Toy Camera Exhibition, through Nov. 21 (160 Gallery)

mkeorch.org

MIAD GALLERY AT THE AVE

mfbrass.org

galleryattheave.miad.edu

MILWAUKEE FESTIVAL BRASS

MILWAUKEE FILM

MILLER ART MUSEUM (STURGEON BAY)

mkefilm.org

Margaret Lockwood: Awakening Space, through Sept. 12

Dialogues Documentary Festival, Sept. 24-27 (Downer and Oriental theaters)

51stst Juried Annual, Sept. 19-Nov. 7 Emmett Johns: Transcending Time, Sept. 19-Nov. 7 MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM mam.org The Shakers: A World in the Making, Sept. 25-Jan. 31, 2027 Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography, Oct. 23-Jan. 18, 2027

MILWAUKEE IRISH ARTS milirisharts.wordpres.com MILWAUKEE JAZZ INSTITUTE milwaukeejazzinstitute.org MJI Jazz Jam, second Tuesday each month (Jazz Gallery) MJI Night, third Sunday each month (bar centro) MILWAUKEE JAZZ ORCHESTRA

MILWAUKEE BALLET

mjojazz.com

milwaukeeballet.org

MILWAUKEE MAKERS MARKET https://www.milwaukeemakersmarket. com/ MILWAUKEE MANDOLIN ORCHESTRA milwaukeemandolinorchestra.org MILWAUKEE MUSAIK milwaukeemusaik.org

48 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Director Jill-Anna Ponasik describes the staged reading of Chicago playwright Monica West’s Nina/Violetta as “a dark fantasy about motherhood and opera that features arias from La Traviata as well as original music by Sheela Ramesh.” (David Luhrssen) MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER milwaukeerep.com The World Goes Round: The Songs of Kander & Ebb, Sept.11-Nov. 1 (Stackner Cabaret) The duo of John Kander (music) and Fred Ebb (lyrics) were responsible for several of the most popular musicals from the last decades of the previous century, including Cabaret, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman. Kelly Faulkner will direct and choreograph the razzle-dazzle presentation of the Kander-Ebb songbook.

(David Luhrssen) Footloose, Sept. 22-Nov. 1(Ellen & Joe Checota Powerhouse Theater) Instructions for a Séance, Oct. 6Nov. 8 (Herro-Franke Studio Theater) MILWAUKEE SHORT FILM FESTIVAL SEPT. 11-12 rbigleywixsite.com MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA mso.org Season Opening Fanfare, Sept. 18-19 Kings of Soul, Sept. 26-27 Pirates of the Caribbean, Oct. 2-3 Made in America: Korngold & Rachmaninoff, Oct. 9-10 Erich Wolfgang Korngold was an outstanding opera composer. He was also Jewish and fled Vienna for Hollywood with the rise of Hitler. Korngold won some Oscars but continued to compose in late Romantic style. The MSO with violinist Julian Rhee will perform his Violin Concerto along with the Symphonic Dance by another political refugee, Sergei Rachmaninoff, who left Russia with the onset of Bolshevism.

The night’s third composer, Samuel Barber, was born in America. Ryan Tani conducts. (David Luhrssen) Movement & Melody, Oct. 23-25 Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1, Oct. 30-31

Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 49

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE MILWAUKEE YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA myso.org MILWAUKEE YOUTH THEATRE milwaukeeyouththeatre.org

NŌ STUDIOS

PENINSULA SCHOOL OF ART

nostudios.com

peninsulaschoolofart.org

Dance Fest, Oct. 3 (Marcus Performing Arts Center Peck Pavilion)

PHILOMUSICA QUARTET

NO INSTRUCTIONS GALLERY

MKE BLACK THEATRE FESTIVAL

moinstructs.com

blackartsmke.org

Fred Smith: Life of a Luddite, through Sept. 25

MKE STUDIO TOUR, OCT. 3-4 mkestudiotour.com MORNING STAR PRODUCTIONS morningstarproductions.org The Story of the Wild West, September-October MUSEUM OF WISCONSIN ART wisconsinart.org

Craig Clements: Recent Paintings, Oct. 2-Nov. 6 NORTH SHORE ACADEMY OF THE ARTS facebook.com/northshoreacademyofthearts NORTHERN SKY THEATER northernskytheater.com

Tom Uttech, through Sept. 6 Frank Lloyd Wright: Laylight, through Oct. 4 What better architect to feature at the Museum of Wisconsin Art than Spring Green’s Frank Lloyd Wright? Unlike many of his European contemporaries, Wright was acutely aware of natural surroundings and interested in employing local materials for compelling structures designed according to his idiosyncratic (but often spot-on) concepts for living. (David Luhrssen) Vanessa German, through Dec. 31 Georgia O’Keefe, through June 30, 2027 MOWA | DTN (Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel)

OAK CREEK PERFORMING ARTS AND EDUCATION CENTER oakcreepaec.com OCONOMOWOC ARTS CENTER oasd.k12.wi.us/artscenter

PINK UMBRELLA THEATER Pinkumbrellatheater.org PORTRAIT SOCIETY GALLERY portraitsocietygallery.com Bernard Gilradi: Renew, Oct. 2-Nov. 13 After 17 years in the Third Ward’s Marshall Building, Portrait Society will move to a new location in Walker’s Point at 900 S. 5th St. The grand opening will also mark the opening of an exhibit by Bernard Gilradi (1920-2008), “a self-taught artist in Milwaukee who made paintings in his basement studio during his free time for more than 40 years.” (David Luhrssen) PRESENT MUSIC

optimisttheatre.org

Composed for the WCW: 150thth Anniversary Celebration, Sept. 17 (Women’s Club of Wisconsin)

OUTSKIRTS THEATRE outskirtstheatre.org OVER OUR HEAD PLAYERS overourheadplayers.org Firebringer, Sept.25-27, Oct. 2-4, Oct. 9-11, Oct. 15-18 (Sixth Street Theatre, Racine)

NEXT ACT THEATRE

cedarburgartistsguild.com/paint-cedarburg

Playwright Lindsay Joelle describes her comedies as “the collision of different worldviews,” throwing together “people from different cultures, classes, and faiths into tight spaces to watch them collide and connect.” In Trayf, the protagonists are two teens from an Orthodox Jewish enclave of New York learning to navigate between tradition and the world around them.

(David Luhrssen)

pianoarts.org

presentmusic.org

PAINT CEDARBURG: A PLEIN AIR PAINTING EVENT

Trayf, Sept. 16-Oct. 4

PIANOARTS OF WISCONSIN

OPTIMIST THEATRE

MOWA on the Lake (St. John’s on the Lake)

nextact.org

philomusicaquartet.com

Forty Something!, Oct. 30 (Zalazo Center Bader Concert Hall) “To me, celebrating 45 years of Present Music means honoring the group’s mischievous roots and pushing the envelope ever further,” says PM’s artistic director, Eric Segnitz. “We’re out to prove that a new music concert can be the best party in town.”

(David Luhrssen) PROMETHEUS TRIO

PENINSULA PLAYERS

wcmusic.org

peninsulaplayers.com

QUASIMONDO PHYSICAL THEATRE

Moon Over Buffalo, through Sept. 6 Ken Ludwig’s comedy Moon Over Buffalo concerns an old married couple who find themselves performing repertory theater in a small town. They are a couple who have been together forever and deliver a fair amount of familiarity to the stage. The sophisticated personalities of two people who have led lives in pursuit of dramatic arts are given impressive nuance and detail in Ludwig’s lightly comic script.

(Russ Bickerstaff)

quasimondo.org RACINE ART GUILD racineartguild.com

Murder Girl, Sept. 9-Oct. 18 50 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 51

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE RACINE ART MUSEUM

RIVER PRESS

SCULPTURE MILWAUKEE

ramart.org

riverpressmke.com

sculpturemilwaukee.com

Handmade Up North: Jewelry and Small Metals by Wisconsin Artists, through Oct. 3

Community Mending Night, Sept. 10, Oct. 8

Sculpture Milwaukee was founded in 2017 from an idea by local entrepreneur Steve Marcus and became an independent nonprofit in 2020. Sculpture Milwaukee has commissioned work to line Wisconsin Avenue from living artists, some with ties to our state. As much as possible, the sculptures are fabricated in Wisconsin in keeping with the Badger State’s machine-shop history. (David Luhrssen)

Amanda Browder: Zig and Zag, Sept. 18-Mid-Fall Stitched Stories: Narrative Quilts and Textiles, through Nov. 21

Printers Hang, Oct. 2 SACRA NOVA CHORALE sacranovacathedrale.com SAINT KATE - THE ARTS HOTEL GALLERY

Handcrafted: RAM Community Art Show, through Nov. 21

saintkatearts.com

RAM Showcase: Cynthia Toops, through Nov. 21

American Art Stories: Sean Abrahams, through Oct. 11 (The Vitrine)

Tanya Crane: Embodied Histories, Exploring the Legacy of African Jewelry, through Jan. 9, 2027

American Art Stories: Olivia Brusky, through Oct. 11 (The Space)

RACINE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA racinesymphony.org RACINE THEATRE GUILD racinetheatre.org The Play that Goes Wrong, Sept. 11-27 Angel Street (Gaslight), Oct. 30-Nov. 15 There’s no doubt that the term “gaslight” has risen in popularity over the last few years, weaseling its way into conversations and accusations and even taking on a “boy who cried wolf” quality due to its overuse. The play which gave the word its double meaning, however, dates back to 1938: Angel Street (Gaslight) by Patrick Hamilton.

The hunt for the truth is a winding one with multiple stops and restarts and reverses. (Natalie Murray) RE:CRAFT AND RELIC craftandrelic.com Fall at the Fairgrounds, Oct.4 (Jefferson County Fair Park) REAL TINSEL GALLERY realtinsel.com Ari Norris: Really, Really, New Sculpture, Sept. 17-Oct. 25

American Art Stories: Byrd Bettis, through Oct. 11 (The Gallery) American Art Stories: Leonard Beck, through Oct. 11 (The Space) American Art Stories: Paul Yank, through Oct.11 (The Gallery) SCHAUER ARTS CENTER, HARTFORD schauercenter.org MJ the Illusion: A Tribute to Michael Jackson, Sept. 17 That Arena Rock Show, Sept. 18 Napoleon Dynamite Live!, Sept. 24 The Seven Wonders: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac, Sept. 25 Bad Momz of Comedy, Sept. 26 Night Fever: The Bee Gees Tribute, Oct. 2 ‘80s Kids, Oct. 3 Haunted Illusions starring David Caserta, Oct. 4 Fantasy: The Earth, Wind & Fire Experience, Oct. 8 The Ultimate Tribute to The Doors, Oct. 9 Mutts Gone Nuts Unleashed!, Oct. 11

SEAT OF OUR PANTS READER THEATRE mkereaderstheatre.com SHARON LYNNE WILSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS wilson-center.com Paul Cornish Trio, Sept. 18 Christian Sands, Oct. 2 Live From Laurel Canyon: Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Oct. 3 Sincerely, Sondheim, Oct. 7 Miriam Vieux artist talk, Oct. 8 America 250: One-Woman Performance of Abigail Adams, Oct. 14 John Scofield’s Electrospective, Oct. 17 Guitarist John Scofield deserves a page in jazz history for his work as sideman for Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Charles Mingus, Gary Burton and many others. Somehow, he found time to become a three-time Grammy-winning recording artist under his own name. Although sometimes filed under fusion, Scofield’s music is too wide in scope for narrow labels.

(David Luhrssen) Simply Three, Oct. 30 SHEBOYGAN THEATRE COMPANY

Stray Cats' Lee Rocker & His All-Star Band, Oct. 15

stcshows.org

r-t-w.com

Pam Tillis, Oct. 16

Come From Away, Sept. 25-Oct. 3

Great White Throne, Oct. 18-Nov. 8

Plain White T's, Oct. 17

Cara Johnston’s work has been seen on PBS and performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She is known for crafting complex female characters.

Her dark comedy, Great White Throne, was a finalist in the Tennessee Williams One-Act Play Contest.

(David Luhrssen)

Adam Berry: Paranormal Investigator, Oct. 22

3-Legged Stool, Oct. 30-Jan. 11 RENAISSANCE THEATERWORKS

52 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

A Brother's Revival: A Tribute to The Allman Brothers, Oct. 23 The Everly Set: A Celebration of The Everly Brothers, Oct. 25

Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 53

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE

UW-MILWAUKEE PECK SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

skylightmusictheatre.org Gypsy, Sept. 25-Oct. 18 Stephen Sondheim wrote the words, Jule Styne the music and Arthur Laurents the book for this evergreen musical, loosely based on the life of striptease performer Gypsy Rose Lee. “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” is among the Gypsy numbers that became a standard. Michael Unger will direct. (David Luhrssen)

UW-MILWAUKEE PECK SCHOOL OF THE ARTS uwm.edu/arts/events Continuum 2026, Sept. 4-26 (Kenilworth Square East Gallery) ChemLight 2026, Sept. 11-26 (Kenilworth Square East, 4th Floor Gallery) Photo courtesy of UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts

SOUTH MILWAUKEE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

THEATRICAL TENDENCIES

southmilwaukeepac.org

theatricaltendencies.com

512: The Selena Experience, Sept. 26

A Miscast Cabaret of Heroes & Villains, Sept. 23-24 (Inspiration Studios)

Grand Kyiv Ballet, Sept. 30 For all the conflict that has occurred over time between Ukraine and Russia, there were many periods when their cultures were positively intertwined.

Hence the repertoire by the Grand Kyiv Ballet, featuring Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake with “illuminated costumes and wearable light technology, making the dancers an integral part of the visual design.” (David Luhrssen) Legends Cabaret Dinner & Show, Oct. 8 SUNSET PLAYHOUSE sunsetplayhouse.com Lend Me a Tenor, Sept. 10-27 Ken Ludwig’s comedy debuted on London’s West End and came to Broadway in 1989, receiving nine Tony nominations and two wins. Although the Marx Brothers visited similar places decades earlier, Lend Me a Tenor proved there is still comedy to be mined from the highly-strung genre of opera.

(David Luhrssen)

The Vagina Monologues, Oct. 16-18 (Inspiration Studios) THIRD AVENUE PLAYWORKS, STURGEON BAY thirdavenueplayworks.org The Call List, Sept. 23-Oct. 11 THREE POINT PROJECT Threepointprojectwi.com Nō Studios Dance Fest, Oct. 3 (Marcus Performing Arts Center Peck Pavilion) TOOTH-AND-NAIL GALLERY toothandnailmke.com TORY FOLLIARD GALLERY toryfolliard.com Summer in Wisconsin, through-Sept. 5 Paula Swaydan Grebel: Interior View, Sept. 11-Oct. 10 Fred Stonehouse: New Work, Sept. 11-Oct. 10

Oh, Brother!: Bee Gees, Everlys & Jacksons, Oct. 26-27

Fred Stonehouse grew up in a working-class Milwaukee neighborhood near 35th and Fond du Lac, crafting imagery based on the combined influence of his tattooed working-class neighbors and the Roman Catholic Church with its rites, rituals and imagery. Together, the influences were internally processed, resulting in the artist’s unique style and content.

(Michael Muckian)

THEATRE GIGANTE

UNDERSCORE (INSIDE REAL TINSEL)

The Best of the Brits: Beatles to Zeppelin, Sept. 21-22 Legendary Nashville Cats, Oct. 8-11 David Seebach’s Illusions in the Night, Oct. 16-18 Annie, Oct. 22-Nov. 8

theatregigante.org 54 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

UW-PARKSIDE THEATRE uwp.edu/the rita/theatreperformances.cfm

underscoreprojects.info

Printers Sin Fronteras, Sept. 11-Oct. 2 (Arts Center Gallery Theatre Building 2nd Floor) Woven Images, Sept. 11-26 (Kenilworth Square East, 3rd Floor Gallery) Sing Out! Tenor-Bass Festival, Sept. 18 (Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, Bader Hall) Shadds Tone Orchestra, Sept. 19 (UWM Music Building Recital Hall) Fall Choral Showcase, Oct. 3 (Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, Bader Hall) Fall Choral Invitational, Oct. 4 (Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, Bader Hall) Making Your Mask: A Day in the Life of an Art & Design Major, Oct. 5 (Art Building) Company, Oct. 7-11 (Theatre Building; Mainstage Theatre) Written by Stephen Sondheim and frequent collaborator George Furth, Company (1970) is a musical based on the changing roles of modern adult relationships. Nominated for 14 Tony Awards, it won six (Best Musical, Score, Lyrics and Book) and includes one of Sondheim's best-known songs, “The Ladies Who Lunch.”

Korea Day Celebration & Symphony Orchestra Concert, Oct. 9 (Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, Bader Hall) Wind Ensemble & Symphony Band Concert, Oct. 16 (Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, Bader Hall) Youth Wind Ensemble, Oct. 18 (Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, Bader Hall) Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 55

SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE VANGUARD MILWAUKEE

WAUKESHA CIVIC THEATRE

vanguardmke.com

waukeshacivictheatre.org

On the Exhale, Oct. 9-12 (The Drawing Room)

Moon Over Buffalo, Sept. 11-27

VAR GALLERY & STUDIOS

Susan Falkman: From Italy to Milwaukee, through Jan. 3, 2027

For more than 20 years, the Neverly Brothers have taken rock and roll fans on a magical history tour. The northern Illinois trio could be called a tribute act, but the tribute they pay is toward a 12year period, roughly 1957 through 1965 from the rise of Elvis through the British Invasion and Motown. (David Luhrssen)

VILLAGE PLAYHOUSE

Clyde’s, Oct. 16-Nov. 1

villageplayhouse.org

Hits of the ‘90s: A High Voltage Musical Revue featuring The Adequate Band, Oct. 29

vargallery.com VILLA TERRACE DECORATIVE ARTS MUSEUM villaterrace.org

UWM UNION ART GALLERY uwm.edu/studentinvolvement/ arts-and-entertainment/union-artgallery A Tending, Sept. 2 Common Ground, Oct. 9 UW-WHITEWATER CROSSMAN GALLERY uww.edu/coac/crossman UW-WHITEWATER YOUNG AUDITORIUM

The Neverly Brothers Rock’n’Roll Tribute, Sept. 24

VOICES FOUND voicesfoundrep.com

WEST ALLIS PLAYERS WALKER'S POINT CENTER FOR THE ARTS wpca-milwaukee.org WATER STREET DANCE MILWAUKEE waterstreetdancemke.com

westallisplayers.org WEST BEND THEATRE COMPANY westbendtheatreco.com WEST PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

uww.edu/youngauditorium

nbexcellence.org/community/westpac. cfm

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Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

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SPECIAL FALL ARTS GUIDE

WHITEWATER ARTS ALLIANCE whitewaterarts.org WILD SPACE DANCE COMPANY wildspacedance.org WISCONSIN CLASSIC STAGE joshpohja.com WISCONSIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC wcmusic.org WISCONSIN CRAFT

WISCONSIN MUSEUM OF QUILTS & FIBER ART wiquiltmuseum.com Liz Alpert Fay: Ordinary/Extraordinary Women, through Nov.15 WISCONSIN PHILHARMONIC wisphil.org Cinematic Gold: John Williams, Oct. 4 (Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts)

wisconsincraft.org

WOODLAND PATTERN BOOK CENTER

MKE Studio Tour, Oct. 3

woodlandpattern.org

WISCONSIN DANCE THEATRE

WUSTUM MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

wisconsindancetheatre.com

ramart.org

WISCONSIN LUTHERAN COLLEGE CENTER FOR ARTS AND PERFORMANCE wlc.edu

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Fall themed illustrations by GettyImages/Anastasia Anferova.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 59

CULTURE

The Return of Indian Summer A HISTORY INTO FUTURE

BY MARCELLA JONES

T

he swirl and flash of dancers’ eagle feathers, beaded regalia and moccasined feet interwoven with the pulsing sounds of singers and drummers. Tantalizing smells of fry bread, bison burgers and corn soup.

Education Day, traditional Indian villages and powwow, dance competitions, lacrosse games, three mu-sic stages featuring local and national Native acts, vendors of Native wares. Welcome to Indian Summer.

But after 32 years, the beloved Indian Summer Festival (ISF) at Milwaukee’s Henry Maier Festival Pard came to an end in 2018, mostly due to rising costs.

The popular annual festival came into being thanks to Lawrence “Butch” Roberts, an Oneida Nation tribal member. Roberts was a counselor for Native American students at MATC before he was recruited by Milwaukee Police Detective Russell DeNomie (Oneida/Ojibwe) to help bring more Natives into the department. So Roberts became a police officer. He always looked to make best use of his cultural activism.

He says, “My goal, and that of many Native Americans I knew, was to eliminate stereotypes and to be treated as basic Ameri-cans that have a unique cultural background.”

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In 1985, one of his assigned beats was at the Summerfest grounds during summer festivals. It was inspiring seeing groups presenting themselves and their cultures in a positive way through entertainment, food and cultural activities. Roberts knew the Indian community needed representation there, too.

He reached out to Bo Black, Summerfest director at the time, about starting a Native American festival. To learn the ropes, Black put him in touch with United Festivals, the umbrella group for all the ethnic fests. Black was very supportive and al-so donated money to initial fundraising.

Mayor Henry Maier himself wel-comed ISF to the festival lineup, predicting it would become “one of the most vibrant of all our festivals”.

NATIVE HISTVY In 1989, Wisconsin passed Act 31, requiring all public school districts to provide instruction on the history, culture and tribal sovereignty of Wisconsin’s 11 federally recognized Native na-tions. Education Day was an important aspect of the fest, occur-ring on Thursday leading into the festival weekend. So classes of students from all over the metro area came every year and learned accurate and authentic Native history and ways.

Roberts says he still has Indians and non-Indians alike say they attended as kids, sharing what a difference it’s made in their lives.

So Roberts and a few others recruited family and friends and got to work.

Ideas and help came in from all around.

Roberts laughingly recalls, “Indian Summer is where I and my family “Something that size takes a long learned about the true significance of time to or-ganize when you have no the powwow. We learned about the money and you don’t know what you’re differ-ent rhythms of the drum beats, doing.” But he adds, “It’s almost like that if an eagle feather falls from tribal some other force was pushing. And the regalia, everything stops and there’s community itself was pushing to see a ceremony in its honor”, recalls Kat this happen.”

Siudzinski, now a deaf sign language In initial talks about how to present inter-preter. “But besides the fun, themselves, environmental and cultural our parents always made us go education were important focuses. through the environmental tent to learn Indian Summer Festival debuted more about our environmental issues.” in 1986.

Photo courtesy of Indian Summer Festival.

Every year, local and national entertainers performed on the Miller, Harley, and Potawatomi stages.

Then in 2004 the fest debuted the Indian Summer Music Awards (ISMA), modeled on New York’s Native American Music Awards (NAMA) and the Grammy’s. Over the years ISMA attracted submissions of Indian musicians from Wisconsin and across the country, as well as major names like R. Carlos Nakai and Joanne Shenan-doah.

BRINGING BACK THE FESTIVAL It had been seven years since the culture and sounds of the orig-inal Indian Summer Festival died out.

Then a year ago, a new group began organizing to bring the beloved festival back into being.

The new ISF’s leadership are about the age that Butch Roberts was when the fest started 40 years ago. “It’s inspiring to see these young people want this so badly. The staff now are all very talented and hard-working, but they haven’t done this be-fore”, he says.

He’d had no intention to take a leadership role,

but the festival director position wasn’t filled yet.

So Roberts will once again be festival director of the newly conceived Indian Summer, working to produce a full festival in 2027, bringing him and the fest’s history full circle. Numerous people from the original ISF are still here, whether helping or giving advice.

To test the waters, the new ISF started with a two-day Spring Powwow and Native Art Market in March at the Waukesha Ex-po Center. They hit capacity in the first few hours, verifying how much the community wanted the festival to return.

So a Fall Fundraiser to help finance a full festival return takes place Sept. 26 27, again at the Waukesha Expo Center.

It will feature a Native Art Market (all Artisans are vetted Natives), dance exhibitions, cultural demonstrations, lacrosse games, the inaugural Miss Indigenous Wisconsin Pageant, and Indigenous food vendors. It will be alcohol and smoke-free, though there will be designated smoking areas.

By attending, you can help bring Indian Summer Festival back. Can't attend?

Please donate and help fund the return of Indian Summer for our Milwaukee community. Every dollar matters!

More details are available at indiansummerfestivalinc.org or the ISF Facebook & Instagram pages: @indiansummerfestivalinc. Look for more of Marcella Jones’ reporting on the return of In-dian Summer at shepherd express.com.

For 30 years Marcella Jones (Choctaw) has owned Native Voices Booking & Management, representing both Native and non-Native entertainers, as well as holding positions at organizations both in and out of the Native American community. Her writing and photography focus mostly on profiles of people and place.

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CULTURE

Buckle Up FELLOW TRAVELERS’ DEBUT SHOWCASES THE CULMINATION OF A CREATIVE DETOUR

BY JOSHUA M. MILLER

F

ellow Travelers’ debut album Don’t Fail Me Now represents the culmination of a creative detour. A few years ago, songwriter Max Niemann was drowning in country songs that his rock band simply couldn't play. For eight years, the Milwaukee musician poured his creative energy into the raucous garage-rock trio Diet Lite. Privately, however, he was writing a completely different style of music—mellow, delicate alt-country folk.

“I tried to bring a couple of those songs to Diet Lite, and it didn't really work out,” Niemann says. “This kind of altcountry/folk/rock and roll is really what I listen to in my dayto-day.”

Realizing these songs needed a separate home, Niemann launched a solo project with Isabel Schmenk and his younger brother Alex Niemann, building a foundational lineup of fiddle, guitar and bass. But they soon felt the music demanded more. The lineup expanded gradually, pulling in local “free-agent musicians” like Evan Ceman—dubbed by Max as the band’s multi-instrumental Swiss army knife—to layer in pedal steel, keys and banjo.

Finding quick momentum, the group—also featuring Miller Matthews and Maxiamiano Janairo (the later also serving as producer)—settled on the name Max Niemann and the Fellow Travelers and began work on what would become their debut self-titled EP.

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They boosted their lineup midway through the EP recording sessions with guitarist Gunnar Schmitz, who replaced Maxiamiano. Now, anchored by their newest addition—a powerhouse drummer named Preston Carr behind the kit— the group is really hitting its stride.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHERE THEY’LL GO “From the get-go, we had an idea that the project would be sort of nebulous, and it has stayed like that even with a somewhat fixed lineup,” says Alex. “I think it's pretty fun that way. It keeps things fresh.”

“It's modular,” Max adds. “You never really know which Travelers you're going to get. Depending on who's playing that day, what mood we're in, or where the stars are in the sky, it might be heavier. It might be a little more jammy, or it might be right to the point.”

The release of Don’t Fail Me Now marks the next chapter for the group, complete with a streamlined identity: they have officially shortened their moniker to the punchier Fellow Travelers. Max initially kept his own name out front to reflect his role as the primary songwriter, but as the project developed, it transformed into a deeply collaborative effort.

“I come with the bare-bones songs and maybe a loose idea for an arrangement, but I'm really not telling anyone what to play,” he says.

Photo by By Anya Belomoina.

“These guys are all writing their own parts and adding their own personality. This is not just a solo project anymore. This is a proper band, so let’s lop the frontman name off and just be Fellow Travelers.”

FELLOW TRAVELERS ALBUM COVER

The band will celebrate the release with a show at Cactus Club on September 25. Maximiano and Madison’s The Spine Stealers will open. They also will also tour around the Midwest in September and October.

SANCTUARY FROM THE STORM The band recorded the new album with producer Maximiano Janairo, who also helmed the EP, at Wauwatosa’s Wire & Vice Studios. “For both our recordings now we've had Maximiano as our producer, and I think it's great to have them as a producer because they're also a phenomenal songwriter,” says Alex Niemann. “So, you can really trust their intuition in putting a song in the right direction.”

The band went into the studio shortly after southeastern Wisconsin got inundated with damaging floods. “I remember we were there before the news crews showed up, just watching the whole downtown flood,” says Max. “We were all just standing there watching this natural disaster happen. And then were like, ‘OK, got to get to work.'”

As they compiled their songs together, Max realized common themes were starting to emerge, specifically relationships with people that one is “really trying to hold onto … even if it's just asking for something out of someone, whether or not they have the capacity to give it to you.”

“I think a lot of the themes that pop up in the album are themes of just struggling towards something more and knowing that maybe there's something across the horizon or on the other side of that hill,” he says. “But how do you get there? It’s leaning on people. Even the band name is kind of reflective of that. It's like we're the fellow travelers. It's like you’ve got something to add.”

For example, the song “Fine Line” came from hard personal events for Max, like a broken-down car and a family funeral.

Meanwhile, “On the Mountainside” tells the story of getting lost with his partner on a trail in the Wyoming wilderness.

“She was just following my lead and counting on me to get us back home and get us back to safety,” Max recalls. “And I led us into the literal wilderness. I think that name and that theme just kind of resonates. It's like, all right, we're in this now. We got to get out of this. And how are we going to do that?”

FINDING A DYNAMIC SOUND While the band’s EP had a rustic country sound due to its acoustic nature, their debut album is much more dynamic thanks to the addition of electric instruments. As they grew comfortable playing together, the band found their collective sound getting looser and more expansive.

“The moment you record, you have all these light bulbs go off where you’re like, Oh, I could do this differently,” says Max. “By the time you put it down to tape and go, ‘Play it again,’ the songs have already transmutated. We were like, ‘Okay, we got to work on the full album now. We sound different as a band. Let’s try and capture that.’”

Fellow Travelers Album Cover by Alex Niemann.

As the band experimented with jamming and song structures, the material stopped being just Max’s and truly belonged to the collective. “We all bring different tastes and musical inclinations,” he says. “That diversity of influences is coming through a bit more. These new songs are a really good cross-section of the range we’ve developed.”

“On The Mountainside” showed Max just how expansive his songwriting could get, shattering his old perception of what a Fellow Travelers song could be. “I think someone outside the band heard it and said, ‘That’s almost a Diet Lite song,’” he recalls. “But I didn't think it was. There’s so much space for the guitars, the fiddle, and the pedal steel. It starts off really sparse and spacey, then gets really heavy—like Neil Young and Crazy Horse rocking towards the middle. It freed us up from thinking we needed to be just this one kind of Americana, alt-country sound. If we want to put a crazy distorted guitar solo or feedback on a song, we can.”

Schmitz agrees that the album balances tight songwriting with sonic exploration. “Sometimes it’s about the lyrics and a tight arrangement,” he adds. “And then there are songs where the lyrics are still very important, but the big point is this broad, overall musical experience. “Mountainside” was our entry point into developing compositions in that lane. It can be 15 minutes, or really weird, or really dynamic, and it can just coexist alongside tighter ideas.”

Ultimately, says Max, debuting these songs in front of a live crowd provided the vital spark needed to fully realize them.

“There’s a certain point where you got to kick the baby out of the nest and see if it flies,” he says. “Once you do, you see what you can do with it. It pushes everyone to make decisions and commit to what they’re going to play. The EP was a little more of a bedroom project, and the album is definitely a little more of our road-tested material.”

Joshua M. Miller is a Wisconsin writer who has contributed to Rolling Stone, Spin, Guitar World and MTV News.

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CULTURE

This Month in8 THINGSMilwaukee TO DO IN SEPTEMBER

BY SOPHIA HAMDAN, MICHAEL PFLUGHOEFT, JAMIE LEE RAKE, BLAINE SCHULTZ, AND BEN SLOWEY

SEPTEMBER 3

SEPTEMBER 12

Happy Together Tour Marcus Performing Arts Center’s Uihlein Hall Offering both a cozy escape to a romanticized past for long-time fans as well as an opportunity for new generations to see artists that were on the charts decades before they were born, tours featuring ‘60s-‘80s bands put butts in seats more consistently than many newer artists. The undeniable king of the nostalgia tour is the annual “Happy Together Tour.” The 2026 edition marks 17 consecutive years of Happy Together and features an interesting roster of returning favorites and guest acts, including The Association, The Troggs, Gary Puckett, The Cowsills and more.

Pagan Pride Moose Lodge “Join the Milwaukee pagan community on September 12 for a free metaphysical fall festival at Moose Lodge” (5476 S. 13th St.) from noon to 7 p.m., featuring vendors, food, music, workshops, tarot readings, family-friendly activities and more. Presented by the Fellowship for Alternative Beliefs, Pagan Pride will be collecting food donations for Hunger Task Force.

SEPTEMBER 12 Jon Burks and The Donkey King w/ Mostly Linneman's Riverwest Inn It’s been a while since prolific, observational Milwaukee songwriter Jon Burks made an appearance; his Bandcamp page shows 16 releases sturdily crafted with genuine DIY momentum. At a 2019 show at Circle A, Burks’ set was described as tunes that “could be songs he made up walking through the park on his way to work in the morning—if that walk had the occasional chorus, sing-speaking in a Midwestern drawl that is a cousin to Coney Island Lou Reed.”

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SEPTEMBER 12 Puerto Rican Festival of Wisconsin Henry Maier Festival Park Get into the spirit of Hispanic Heritage Month with Puerto Rican music, food and culture along with family activities. This year’s lineup is headlined by New Yorkbased merengue band Oro Sólido, Puerto Rican salsa group BLB, reggaeton’s Sir Speedy and more.

SEPTEMBER 16 Joe Jordan Shank Hall Singer-songwriter Joe Jordan has an eclectic musical background, playing any bar or honky-tonk that would let him plug in his guitar. His honest unfiltered lyrics led Jordan to write one of the biggest country hits by an indie artist in decades, Rayne Johnson’s “Front Seat.”

Header image - Hindole Majumdar School of Music and Dance Presents Music of India Photo by Sayandeb Chaudhuri.

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CULTURE PUERTO RICAN FESTIVAL OF MILWAUKEE

Photo courtesy of the VISIT Milwaukee Media Library.

SEPTEMBER 23

SEPTEMBER 27

An Evening of Songs and Stories with Legendary Artist Patti Smith The Riverside Theater Patti Smith could have retired after her groundbreaking album Horses was released in 1975. But the core principle of her creative arc has always been the work—her website refers to concert dates as “jobs.” With over a dozen music releases it sometimes gets lost that she began as a writer, setting her poetic incantations to music. Her string of memoirs offer insights and observations, blurring personal history and creativity.

This evening of songs and stories focuses on the book Bread of Angels, an overarching chronicle of Smith’s life.

Hindole Majumdar School of Music and Dance Presents Music of India q Crown Plaza South Hotel Southeastern Wisconsin's East Indian population may not be quite large enough to support many shows by touring artists from South Asia. But Milwaukee’s Majumdar's School fills the gap with occasional concerts of the subcontinent's art music. The 5:30 p.m. concert features Pandit Rupak Kulkarni (flute), Ratish Tagde (violin), Pandit Lokesh Anand (shehnai), Pandit Hindole Majumdar (tabla) and Sri Ayushman Majumdar (tabla).

SEPTEMBER 26 Unsane w/ The Crosses X-Ray Arcade NYC’s Unsane has been at it since 1988; led by vocalist-guitarist Chris Spencer the trio blurs the lines between punk, metal, and noise. Which makes perfect sense to pair the evening with The Crosses, the Milwaukee punk outfit that features Die Kreuzen vocalist Dan Kubinski.

Photo by Sayandeb Chaudhuri.

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SEPTEMBER 2026 | 67

LIFESTYLE OUT OF MY MIND

Who Owned Your Childhood?

BY PHILIP CHARD

I

f you grew up in the 1970s or earlier, you were among the last generations to fully own their childhoods.

In America today, most children are heavily supervised, scheduled and monitored by their hovering parents. Many others receive similar treatment at the hands of e-devices, so called “electronic babysitters.” Either way, many kids are missing the essential experience that allows them to truly possess their childhood years.

That experience is unstructured play, or what some researchers call “free play,” with an emphasis on free.

Like many from that era, my summer and weekend days, as well as after school time, were largely mine to do with as I pleased. In summer, I usually left the house after breakfast and returned only for lunch, supper and bathroom breaks, frequently calling it a day well after dark. Sure, I was assigned chores but would quickly blast through them so I could return to playing.

Our home bordered a small, pristine lake with a forest on the far side, easily accessible by boat or a swim or ice skate, depending on the season. This natural realm was our playground.

FREE TO ROAM We weren’t supervised. There were no smartphones or trackers to pinpoint our locations. Calling for help required screaming. Outside of school, organized sports and similar activities were pretty much non-existent or very limited.

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We played football, baseball, badminton and, in winter, ice hockey, but these contests were entirely managed by us. No adult organizers, coaches, referees or the like.

We had toys but, by today’s standards, they were nerdy and crude. Often, we invented our own by harvesting materials from our basements and garages or using what the natural world provided. I recall venturing with a couple of buddies to the railway tracks outside town to harvest empty beer cans left by the litterbugs, stringing them together in bunches to create noisemakers.

Basically, toys, play and games were extemporaneous. So what? So, think creativity and imagination. That’s what we drew on repeatedly to populate our days and evenings with free play.

When everything is presented to a child more or less effortlessly, like games on a smartphone or videos on an iPad, and when toys are sophisticated and polished, little is required of their brain except to observe and react.

One becomes less a creative participant and more a programmed follower.

UNSTRUCTURED PLAY I’m not knocking technology. Have at it all you want. I’m lamenting that so many children don’t have the opportunity to learn about themselves and the world around them through the lens of free play.

Photo by GettyImages/yotrak.

The impressive mental health and social benefits of unstructured play have been well researched. This form of unscripted activity helps children learn to regulate their emotions, make decisions, collaborate and build an internal locus of control, which is the belief they can influence the world through their actions.

In a mentally organic way, we learned how to manage conflicts without some adult umpire, and if we got bored, it was our problem to solve. You can’t teach those skills in a classroom. They have to be lived to be fully learned.

Taken together, these benefits bolster emotional intelligence, the kind most highly correlated with improved life satisfaction, more positive social interactions and greater occupational success.

Granted, some kids were harmed by this freedom through abuse, neglect or tragedy. There were casualties, missteps and other messiness. But when free play all but disappeared, something vital was lost, and it can’t be replaced by structured activities.

When the 1980s dawned, many parents began organizing and supervising their kids’ activities, often out of safety concerns. The result? Ownership of childhood shifted from the children to their parents, as did their sense of autonomy, personal power and self-reliance.

Heraclitus said, “Time is a game played beautifully by children.”

But only if we let them.

CREATIVITY FACTOR Then there is the creativity factor. When you’re making many of your toys, inventing games, playing make believe and generally experimenting with the world around you, there’s plenty of imagination and resourcefulness involved.

Philip Chard is a psychotherapist and author with a focus on lasting behavior change, emotional healing and adaptation to health challenges. For more, visit philipchard.com.

What’s more, being in nature most of the day and sometimes evening, which was the norm in my childhood, greatly benefits emotional well-being, and fosters a sense of awe and wonder toward the creation. Voluminous research heralds the immense value of green time in healthy child development.

Graphic of blocks by GettyImages/superpopov.

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HEAR ME OUT DEAR RUTHIE | SPONSORED BY UW CREDIT UNION

KISS YOUR WORRIES BI-BI DEAR RUTHIE, I'm a bisexual woman married to a man. People say I'm not queer enough anymore. I hate that but I’m not sure what to do.

I don’t want to change anything about myself but I’m being made to feel like I’m supposed to. Am I?

SIGNED,

S t ill Bi DEAR FRIEND, If a Packer fan moves to Arizona, they're still a Packer fan, right? Granted, they’re a bit more sweaty, but they still love the green and gold. Similarly, your identity didn't disappear because of who you married.

Some folks see relationships like a coloring book. They think everything has to stay inside the lines. Life is messier than that.

You belong in LGBTQ+ spaces. Anybody who says otherwise can take a long walk down a short pier.

XXOO

Ruthie Have a question for Ruthie? Want to share an event with her? Contact Ruthie at dearruthie@shepex.com.

Follow her on social media, too!

Facebook: Dear Ruthie | Instagram: RuthieKeester | Twitter: @DearRuthie

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DEAR RUTHIE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

Ruthie's Social Calendar SEPTEMBER 3 OLDER ADULT DROP-IN DAY AT MKE LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER (161 S. FIRST ST.): Calling all older adults looking to make connections! Stop by this 12:30-3:30 p.m. open house, and you’ll find plenty of friendly faces within the local community. In addition to great conversation, you’ll enjoy games, snacks, mixing and mingling, and more. Email aging@mkelgbt.org for details on the free afternoon.

SEPTEMBER 7 ANNUAL LABOR DAY PARTY AT HARBOR ROOM (117 E. GREENFIELD AVE.): Bid summer adieu with this bash at an LGBTQ+ hot spot. Free with purchase of a beverage, the barbecue buffet opens at 1 p.m., followed by two-for-one drinks at 3 p.m.

SEPTEMBER 12 PALE HORSE PRIDE RIDE AT HARLEY-DAVIDSON MUSEUM (400 W. CANAL ST.): Check out this motorcycle run that raises awareness for mental wellness and suicide prevention. Not only does the ride support related causes in Milwaukee, but it features alcohol-free stops. Registration begins at 10 a.m. with the ride at 11 a.m. Don’t have a motorcycle?

Follow along in your car! See www.priderides.org for more.

SEPTEMBER 14 EMMY AWARDS VIEWING PARTY AT POP (124 W. NATIONAL AVE.): Join me for a night of fun as we walk the red carpet. Let’s raise a toast to our favorite shows alongside games, prizes, cocktails, and Pop’s popular menu of pizza, mac & cheese, finger foods and more. The fun starts at 6 p.m. with showtime at 7 p.m. See you there!

SEPTEMBER 19-20 FRESHWATER FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL AT HENRY W. MAIER FESTIVAL PARK (200 N. HARBOR DRIVE): There’s a new fest in town, and you don’t want to miss it. Enjoy world-class wines, craft beverages and top-rated culinary greats at this two-day fest. Celebrity chefs, live entertainment, tasting events and more make this a must for wine lovers across the state.

See www.fwfoodandwine.com for tickets, schedules and more.

SEPTEMBER 26 PRIDE NIGHT FOR GYPSY AT SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE (158 N. BROADWAY): Often considered one of the greatest musicals of all time, Gypsy kicks off a season of Pride Nights at the well-loved Third Ward theater. Nab your special Pride-Night ticket, and you’ll have access to my “Ruthie’s House of Burlesque” revue before the big show, in addition to premium seating for the musical, food, beverages and more. See www.skylightmusictheatre.org for tickets.

SEPTEMBER 28 BOI BINGO AT THE DEN/LACAGE NITE CLUB (801 S. 2ND ST.): Join ultra-sexy Easton Boyd for this alternative to drag queen bingo. Enjoy numerous free games in addition to prizes and plenty of drink specials when try your luck during the 7 p.m. night.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 71

HEAR ME OUT | SPONSORED BY UW CREDIT UNION

The Odesa ‘Macbeth’ DALE GUTZMAN & COMPANY’S MOMENT IN MILWAUKEE’S QUEER ART HISTORY

BY PAUL MASTERSON

I

n this year of LGBTQ anniversaries, yet another 30th needs to be recognized. It was in July of 1996 that Dale Gutzman Productions performed Shakespeare’s Macbeth in the Russian Academic Dramatic Theater in Odesa, Ukraine.

Speaking with Gutzman about this monumental undertaking, the first question posed was, logically enough, how did it come about? One can safely say it is not every day that a small Milwaukee theater group manages to perform in an illustrious old venue in Ukraine, of all places. The back-story is as unlikely as the story itself.

As it turns out, back in the 1990s, Gutzman was a regular at Milwaukee’s only Russian restaurant. One evening, the owner approached him and insisted he meet a visiting Russian theater director who happened to be dining alone as well. The ensuing introduction begat a conversation that, in turn, begat a collaboration that set a grand plan for a reciprocal artistic exchange in motion.

UKRAINIAN ADVENTURE Gutzman’s artistic foray into the post-Soviet world of Ukraine was actually in two parts. The first took place two years after the December 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. It was an adventure unto itself with Gutzman leading a company of 15 actors to perform in Kyiv and Odesa.

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The program included Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a Gershwin review (Gershwin’s family hailed from Odesa). Now newly independent, Ukraine did not yet have its own currency. The actors were paid in “coupons,” an emergency alternative to allow a semblance of viable commerce. Since there was practically nothing available to buy and the coupons could not be taken out of the country, the whole effort was essentially pro bono. The Ukrainian actors then came to Milwaukee and performed works by Anton Chekov.

Exceptional enough as the first trip was, it was the second that was by far the most historic and ambitious.

Gutzman’s motive, he explained, was his vision of directing a bilingual performance with a combined cast of Ukrainian and American actors speaking Russian and English with simultaneous translation. “I knew our hosts loved Shakespeare. What struck me was how literate they were. They love culture and art. Given the political situation and history, Macbeth was the logical choice.”

A year of correspondence with the Ukrainian partners followed. There was much to prepare—from the nuances of the play to the set concept (simple, with suspended wheels symbolic of the passage of the cycle of life), costumes (Soviet era military themed) and props (including bayonets for the death scenes).

Then came the trip to Ukraine. There would be three weeks of rehearsal culminating in four performances in the last week of their stay. The trio of actors, Jim Strange as Macbeth, director Gutzman as MacDuff and others, Roy Hobbes in multiple roles, and a tech manager/assistant director, Fred Ollerman, set off for what would be an adventure of a lifetime.

DRAMA AT THE BORDER In fact, the drama began moments after landing in Kyiv when customs agents found the bayonets Strange had packed. Border guards promptly detained him for importing illegal weapons. After some convincing, the authorities accepted the artistic nature of the contraband and released the shaken actor. The troupe then arrived in Odesa and moved into an old mansion converted into apartments.

Romantic as it sounds, the building was without hot water. Gutzman also recalled the big cockroaches they fought off with their shoes. But the show went on.

Strange, then 26, summed up his personal impressions of the trip saying, “30 years ago was the culmination of the most frightening, exhilarating, exhausting, fulfilling, and singular experience in my life. I opened Macbeth at the Odesa Academic Russian Drama Theater (built in 1876, it is the oldest theater in southern Ukraine). Three Americans and the rest of the cast from Ukraine.

Photo of Macbeth production by Dale Gutzman.

We spoke English. They did not. For the big speeches, I would pause and our brilliant, beautiful translator would give a short synopsis. I have some specific memories, arriving in Odesa, not being able to work the keys to our apartment half the time, going to an Air Vienna office and unsuccessfully trying to get a flight home two weeks in and waiting in the wings trying to breathe while the weird sisters finished up their babbling, among many others.

But mostly, I remember feelings: love, fear, frustration, joy, sorrow,” adding, “I couldn’t have done it without Dale and will be forever grateful for his trust.

Odesa and her people are burned into my soul. I will never forget their kindness.”

TRANSNATIONAL EXCHANGE That kindness was expressed in sold-out houses with audiences, in typical local fashion, applauding in unison and showering Strange with floral bouquets. Some, Gutzman recalled, were moved to tears reliving their Soviet experiences through the Shakespearean tale.

About a year later, over a dozen Ukrainian actors and crew took Photo of brick background by GettyImages/SimoneN. Photo of weathered picture frame by GettyImages/PrasongTakham.

part in Carroll College and Madison performances. Their planned return for a possible off-Broadway run was thwarted unexpectedly; the U.S. State Department cancelled the visas of the Ukrainian cast claiming they would be taking jobs from Americans. The project then ground to a halt. In an understatement Gutzman merely said, “It was a difficult effort that worked out.” Strange was more reflective.

Referring to the Odesa Steps (yes, those steps made famous in Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 film Battleship Potemkin), Strange reminisced, “my favorite spot in the world is a bench on an acacia lined lane just off the steps. I would go back in a heartbeat.”

Five years later, Gutzman opened the black box company, Off the Wall Theatre (OTW). For 20 years it presented quirky and queer tinged stage productions spanning the full gamut of classical and modern plays, some authored by Gutzman himself. Forced to close his OTW under the strain of the Covid pandemic, today Gutzman continues his artistic contribution to Milwaukee’s cultural scene as a novelist,

writing and self-publishing well over a dozen works of queer historical fiction that are available through Amazon.

Jim Strange continued his stage career with OTW to glowing reviews.

Eventually, he created his drag persona, Maple Veneer. Earlier this year he celebrated another anniversary, his seventh as half of the duo Bosom Buddies with local drag icon Karen Valentine.

The theater, meanwhile, has been renamed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It is now officially called the Odesa Regional Academic Drama Theater. Thus far it has survived the war relatively unscathed.

The Odesa Macbeth marked a moment in Milwaukee queer history that few may be aware of. It was, however, an extraordinary cultural exchange that touched and enriched many across continents.

Paul Masterson is an LGBTQ activist and writer and has served on the boards of the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, Milwaukee Pride, GAMMA and other organizations.

SEPTEMBER 2026 | 73

ART FOR ART'S SAKE

From The City That Always Sweeps

BY ART KUMBALEK

I

’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So listen, it’s now September I hear, and what a melodic song of a month it should be, you think?

For starters, the predicted autumn leaves are about to fall, and as I’ve said before, for a guy like me that can only mean that the summertime is finally soon to dwindle and crumble and about time for crying out loud, what with the heat, humidity/dewpoint, noisy racket and outdoor insects that seem to find their way inside. Can’t use it, I kid you not.

September, already? Seems to me like it was just August, and now out of nowhere we’re into the ninth month of the year? (Although, through a tad of research, I found this: As to the “Old English from Latin: the seventh (month) according to the original calendar of ancient Rome, from septem seven.” That means that September, technically, ought to be the seventh month of the year and not the ninth. Jesus H. Christ, my head spinneth, I was never good at math, forsooth.

September, “harvest month,” according to 8th-9th century “King of the Franks” and elephant aficionado Charlemagne’s calendar, so I’ve heard.

Calendars. Seems like every Tom, Dick and Dickless had some kind of calendar amongst the mighty powerful back in those olden days, ain’a?

Cripes, you had your Julian calendar, your Gregorian calendar and who-knows-what-the-fock calendar, many perhaps to figure which day of which month is the one saintly designated to toss a virgin (female, I’m guessing) into the mouth of a volcano or what-not, so’s to assist the success of some kind of harvest of this crop or that.

But good lord, I hear “the days grow short when you reach September.” Indeed they do, especially if you use a year as a metaphor for the entirety of one’s time allowed on this socalled earthly mortal coil (seems I’m in my late November), what the fock.

SEPTEMBER’S UPSIDES? LET ME TELL YOU’S. You got your Labor Day, a Monday holiday when we honor the workingman by pissing the day away drinking somebody else’s beer in some in-law’s backyard or a picnic park somewheres. Hey, how ’bout next year instead we pay tribute to our blue-collar people by working twice as hard and twice as long that day? Huh? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

74 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Yes sir, the last extended weekend of the summer; and just so’s you know, I happen to believe that if your free-will choice involves the secluded spectacle of outdoor camping out in the boon-focking-docks to celebrate summertime’s denouement, that is a notion that not only flies to the face of the natural course of human evolution but may also be some kind of unnamed perversion to boot, just so you know.

Another upside, perhaps? Lord Football kicks-off another interminable pigskin season that will grind its way into February 2027, we should live so long. Our beloved Green & Gold begins their slog by kicking Viking ass up in Minnesota “Land of Way More than 10,000 Candy-ass Leakers” on September 13.

But do you’s remember regarding this ba-dee-ya month that’s certain to be full of earth, wind and fire, that there is one downside to September, at least for me?

A SEPTEMBER DOWNSIDE? As you may recall, perennially, there is a downside for me, and that is when I hear the words “back to school.” To this ever-loving day I still get the heebie-jeebies from way back in time when I was to be sentenced to another stint to be served at Our Lady In Pain Because You Kids Are Going Straight To Hell But Not Soon Enough. I believe it’s called Back-To-School-Syndrome, and it’s not uncommon amongst us veteran survivors of the old-school parochial school system, I kid you not.

I’ve heard that a symptom of the syndrome is an overwhelming urge to skip out of doing something you don’t feel like doing. I brought this up to my buddy Little Jimmy Iodine over a couple, three Lakefront Riverwest Steins the other night who set me straight and eased my mind. He said, “Artie, I’ll bet you a buck two-eighty that this need to skip out of stuff is some kind of misguided attempt to recapture the temporary joy you experienced as a lad whenever you skipped goddamn school. Yes, you were partaking in at-risk behavior, in that you could’ve been run over by a school bus while attempting to duck the truant officer. But big focking deal. Life is temporary. At least you would’ve died doing what you loved best—focking off.” Thank you, Jimmy.

What else to say? This: Go Brewers! Go Pack! Go your constitutional ability to vote!

Okey-doke, Genug ist genug, and as the song says, “When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame,” I hope these precious days serve you well, today, tomorrow and forward, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.

Photo by GettyImages/Marjan_Apostolovic.