"The Invisible Hand" rehearsal at the Milwaukee Rep

A sneak peek at the Rep's next play

I'd never been to a play rehearsal before, so when the Milwaukee Rep gave the social media club a chance to see a rehearsal for The Invisible Hand, I jumped at the chance. The play opens in the Quadracci Powerhouse on February 24th and right now the cast is just diving into it. The story, as summed up on the Rep website, is "a tale of kidnapping and world financial markets." The cast had done three days of table readings plus one day on their feet for the first several scenes of the play. On the afternoon of our rehearsal visit, they were once again on their feet, tackling a new scene. 

Along with the actors, director, assistant director, dialect coach, and other important folks whose titles escape me, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Ayad Akhtar was also there. Having the man who wrote the words in the room was a very cool experience — watching him react to certain lines with knowing laughter and offering his two cents as director Lucie Tiberghien prodded him for further insight.

I loved observing Lucie and how she phrased direction as "Let's try X, Y, Z" – not pushy, but offering a new point of view that the actors might not have considered. It was fun to hear the same lines spoken over and over again as the actors tried different intonations and motivations on for size. Toward the end of rehearsal, we saw the scene start to take shape as the actors and director mapped out the stage action, like which way each character would stand, walk, and face.

After the hour-long rehearsal (which went by in no-time), the social media club was granted a little talk back with everyone. We sat in a circle while the actors and behind-the-scenes crew told us a little about themselves and how deeply honored they were to be part of this production. One actor (I won't say who — we promised in our Circle of Trust) actually got emotional, telling Ayad "it's a f***ing honor to be here." That got everyone tearing up. It was palpable just how sincerely grateful these actors are to Ayad for writing plays for people of color — something there's not enough of.

When one of my fellow social media clubbers asked Ayad what he hoped theatergoers got out of his play, he said that, for him, theater is another way of connecting with issues in the world. He hopes that The Invisible Hand will move people to a richer vision of the world, and that — ultimately — it raises consciousness for issues and situations that might otherwise remain quite foreign to most of us.

Check out The Invisible Hand at the Milwaukee Rep, February 24th through April 3rd. I plan to be there on opening night.