Mark Metcalf directs “A Wrinkle in Time”

We know Mark Metcalf mainly as a television and movie actor and, of course, as the producer and host of TCD’s podcast series. But he’s a stage actor, too, with a special fondness for First Stage, Milwaukee’s exceptional children’s theater and academy. Metcalf has performed there many times, and now he’s making his debut as a directorin A Wrinkle in Time, which opens Friday (Jan. 27) at the Todd Wehr Theater in the Marcus Center.

Metcalf has lived in Milwaukee since 2000, when he and his former wife opened a restaurant in Mequon. He’s out of the restaurant business and back in show business, in part because of First Stage.

“I had given it all up,” Metcalf said. “Then [managing director] Rob Goodman, who more or less created First Stage, had seen me in a Broadway show and asked me to act in Einstein Hero of the Mind in 2000. It was 42 puppets, a 14-year-old girl and me. I thought it was great. It didn’t feel like children’s theater. That re-awakened my thinking about the theater, and I’ve acted here a lot.”

Wrinkle in Time, a science fiction fantasy based on the 1962 novel by Madeleine L’Engle, is his first directing gig at First Stage.

“You don’t know me as a director because I haven’t directed a lot,” Metcalf said. “I asked Jeff [Frank, the artistic director] to direct, because I’m getting to the age [a youthful 65] where I only get old parts. Last year, they wanted to cast me as a character named ‘The Ancient.'”

Frank was considering Wrinkle in Time, as adapted for the stage by John Glore, but wasn’t quite sure about the show and wanted to test it before committing to it for the season. He asked Metcalf to direct a workshop production about a year ago.

“It was very successful,” Metcalf said. “I wanted to do it and pitched my concept. It’s a little radical, but Jeff  went for it.”

The show centers on Meg Murry and her siblings, who search for their missing scientist father. Their quest involves travel via tesseracts, wrinkles in the space-time continuum. They encounter aliens and strange phenomena on distant planets on their adventures.

“Instead of using lights to do the space and time travel, I’m using sound,” Metcalf said. “Charles Sommers designed sound effects, and Marcella Kearns will do them live on stage.”

Metcalf set the play in a warehouse filled with old playground equipment. A domed jungle gym is its centerpiece.

“The idea is that this junked playground equipment has gone through a tesseract,” he said. “The adults are putting on a play in this setting, and the play gets out of hand. The jungle gym can be a house or mountain. It can be anything. Before we even started, I told the adults to get in shape, because they’d be climbing a lot.”

Metcalf has been back and forth to Hollywood a lot, but he continues to live in Milwaukee and remains devoted to First Stage.

“This is a great institution,” he said. “They train these children to be solid professional actors. They’re on time, they know their lines, they have real craft.”

Cast and Credits for A Wrinkle in Time: (Adults) Aaron Christensen, Matt Daniels, Erica Elam, Marcella Kearns; (Children, Time Cast) Katherine Pallnow, John Fernandez, Lizzie Borg, Emily Harris, Maxwell Mainwood, Meghan Schaefer, Luke Czerwinski; (Children, Space Cast) Erin Stapleton, James Mullolly, Nathan Kluge, Spencer Tomich, Abby Hanna, Meguire Hennes, Ella Frank. Director: Mark Metcalf. Scenic designer: Sarah Hunt-Frank. Costume designer: Holly Payne. Choreographer: Kelly Anderson. Lighting designer: Charlie Cooper; Sound designers: Charles Sommers and Seth Warren-Crow. Stage manager and assistant: Melissa Wanke and Christine Czerwinski.

The show opens at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, and runs through Feb. 19 at Marcus Center Todd Wehr Theater. Tickets start at $13. To purchase and for a full schedule visit the First Stage website or call the Marcus Center box office, 414 273-7206.