Doors opened at 10 a.m. Sept. 22 and 23 for museums and centers to participate in Doors Open Milwaukee. Doors Open is an event that opens the doors of historic Milwaukee attractions to the public for one weekend. Historic Milwaukee Inc. started Doors Open in 2011, and the program has continued to this day so people can explore the behind-the-scenes history of Milwaukee all for free admission.
One of the many participants of Doors Open is the Marcus Performing Arts Center. For Doors Open the MPAC gives free backstage tours open to the public — usually, backstage tours are given upon request, but MPAC makes an exception for Doors Open weekend.
Lory Bowman, the vice president of marketing and communications at the MPAC, said they have done this event for many years.
“We’ve done it for a number of years,” Bowman said.
MPAC would usually participate in the Doors Open start time 10 a.m. but this year they were hosting a wedding, so they changed the time for both days from1-5 p.m.
Beginning the tour was a look into the Donors Lounge, which is the “green room.” Following the Donors Lounge was a backstage peek of the MPAC’s three different stages: Uihlein Hall, Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall and Todd Wehr Theater.
In between the looks at the theaters, the tour guide took a stop to show the different performances that have been put on at the MPAC. The final look of the theater’s backstage were the dressing rooms, where the tour guide let everyone take a selfie. The backstage tour for the MPAC ended with the Bradley Pavilion and Fitch Memorial Garden.
Also participating in Doors Open, is the Haggerty Museum of Art. Maxwell Meyer, a worker at the museum, greeted everyone who entered.
“We’ve had 150 people so far, majority are from the Milwaukee public,” Meyer said.
Just in time for Doors Open weekend, Haggerty Museum of Art introduced its new exhibitions at the end of August. On the first floor is a new collection “Image in Dispute: Dutch & Flemish Art from Haggerty Museum of Art Collection.” In this collection are paintings such as “Virgin and Child” and “The Birth of John the Baptist.”
Another new exhibition can be found on the second floor of the Haggerty Museum of Art called “Love You To Death: Discontented Desire.“ This exhibition included art of “Song of Songs” and art from Richard Linder. The “Song of Songs” shows the words that go with the art of the paintings, while there was colorfulness from the painting of Richard Linder.
This story was written by Reyna Galvez. She can be reached at [email protected].
