New theater to offer avant-garde productions

Improv group also will call the 60-seat Bubbler Theatre home

By Charlie Mathews, Herald Times Reporter

MANITOWOC —With a lot of help from friends, "The Lisas" are pursuing their business dream on the cheap … at least, when it comes to furnishings for their new performance venue.

"The chairs were our best purchase," Lisa Heili said of the 119 they purchased for $35 from a Green Bay seller on Craigslist. Their sound system includes speakers permanently borrowed from Lisa Callsen's home stereo set-up.

Heili is the artistic and technical director while Callsen is the operations and marketing director for The Bubbler Theatre, 421 N. Eighth St.

After hundreds of hours of renovation, aided by their husbands and other volunteers, the Lisas opened their theater — seating capacity 60 — with a multi-weekend run of "The Eight: Reindeer Monologues" that ended Saturday night.

Next up to help pay for their rent and renovations to the former space occupied by Lakeshore Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship is a New Year's Eve party.

Damian Schmitt will do stand-up comedy with an intermission featuring hors d'oeuvres. The $30 per person tab also includes party favors and comedy skits by The Babbling Bubblers Improv.

The idea for the troupe and theater began in spring when Callsen and Heili met while working on The Masquers' show, "Lost in Yonkers."

Callsen said she wanted to develop a "black-box" theater like those in her native Chicago so the Lakeshore area could have a small, intimate venue for actors and musicians who likely couldn't fill a venue like the Capitol Civic Centre with its 1,100 seats.

The businesswomen are grateful to Manitowoc Coffee, 836 S. Eighth St., where The Babbling Bubblers improv group performed on three October Saturday evenings.

That gave them the opportunity to build equity and a local following before taking on their theater creation project a few blocks north.

The model for the Lisas' new business venture is Gorilla Tango Theater in the Bucktown neighborhood of Callsen's native Chicago.

Heili and Callsen said its owner and fellow entrepreneur, Dan Abbate, has been free with his advice, including having The Bubbler Theatre operate as a for-profit business. Without a community board of directors, the Lisas can make quick decisions.

"We have the freedom to be edgy," said Heili.

Or quirky. "Samantha's Amazing Acro-Cats" will be doing circus tricks not normally associated with felines at noon and 3 p.m. performances on Jan. 23-24.

Both women will perform in "The Vagina Monologues" in February, as part of what they hope will be a variety of performances year-round.

Callsen said their minimal costs translate into a potentially profitable venue if the theater is at least half-full.

She's encouraged by attendance for the reindeer shows and on Tuesday afternoon took four phone calls in three minutes from individuals ordering tickets to the final weekend's performances.

"We got into the business to sell an experience in a warm, urban chic place which is very cool in the Manitowoc area … that is our product," said Heili.

They said two Lakeshore area residents have been inspired to write shows knowing there will be a venue for bringing them to audiences.

Callsen said the duo would like to offer workshops in writing, acting and stage makeup for adults, acknowledging Dare to Dream already offers instruction for children.

They'll rent out their space to businesses seeking an interesting, get-away setting for employee training or meetings, or strengthening relationships with clients.

The two Lisas will get the word out via their Web site and social network venues. "Facebook rocks for us," Callsen said.

"This is an exciting for both us," she said. "There are so many ideas to be explored."

top of page