directly speaking
Dear Friends,
We recently passed the one-year anniversary of the groundbreaking for our new Associated Bank Theater Center, so it seemed like a great opportunity to tour the construction site and take in the remarkable progress that's been made.
Despite the complexity of this project, in that it combines historic preservation with new construction, there was also a simplicity to it. The first nine months — three-quarters of the timeline to date — involved tearing things down. During this period, at least for me, it was difficult to see much progress. All activity was focused on clearing out much of the old, giving us the space to build the new complex we’ve been dreaming of for the past six years.
In the past few months the progress has become much more noticeable. Every week, more and more is changing. Historic preservation has allowed us to restore certain elements of the former Wisconsin Electric Powerhouse building, while integrating into it state-of-the-art production technology and new amenities for our audiences.
As the space evolves it’s easy for me to imagine welcoming our first audiences into our amazing facility in less than 18 weeks.
While there’s been a great deal of emphasis on the building side of this project, something equally significant was creating a new production center and relocating our scene shop to a larger space off-site. This gave us the additional space to create the exceptional Herzfeld Foundation Education & Engagement Center in its place. This new space allows us to fulfill our mission to better connect with students and the diverse, underserved Milwaukee community at large.
As arts education in schools lost much of its funding over the past several years, we realized it was necessary for Milwaukee Rep to step in, leading us to be one of the largest providers of arts education in the Midwest. The repurposed production facility space will provide us with performance spaces that can accommodate up to 100 people, workshops, classrooms, and rehearsal spaces. Over the next five years our goal is to serve as many as 30,000 students each year in our new complex.
The creation of our new and revitalized theater center, with all its complexities, could only happen with a dedicated staff and a committed board of directors. Judy Hansen, who had served as board president two times before, stepped in to
lead the board for a third time. It was post-pandemic, with tremendous challenges for not only our company, but theater companies around the world. Yet her leadership and passion for Milwaukee Rep inspired us to not only persevere, but to flourish in ways that led us to where we are today.
We are looking forward to welcoming Adam Peck as our new board president. Adam is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Riverwater Partners and has been on the Milwaukee Rep board for a number of years, having served as the chair of the Investment Committee and as a member of the Executive Committee. He is passionate about the arts and looking forward to leading Milwaukee Rep through the opening of our new theater center.
Taking this project from a dream to a reality took imagination, perseverance and the generosity of our donors. I look forward to seeing you this fall as we celebrate the grand opening of the Associated Bank Theater Center!
Chad Bauman
Ellen & Joe Checota Executive Director
Cover: The cast of Million Dollar Quartet. Photo by Michael Brosilow.
Our new grand staircase will be set against a backdrop of the freshly restored historic Oneida Street Powerhouse brick.
on the mark
Dear Friends,
As Artistic Director of Milwaukee Repertory Theater, I’ve long believed that theater is, at its heart, a collaborative art form. Behind every performance that moves us, every set that transports us, and every story that lingers in our hearts, there is a network of artists—actors, directors, designers, playwrights— whose collective brilliance brings it all to life.
One of the great privileges of my role is cultivating and deepening relationships with extraordinary artists from across the country and around the world. These connections have been built over years, across productions and continents, and they play a vital role in shaping the work we create on our stages here in Milwaukee.
Perhaps the artist I’ve worked the most with over the years is Dan Kazemi. Milwaukee Rep audiences will know him as the Music Director on every musical since I began my tenure here in 2010, and I was first connected with him through people I knew from my time at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. You may also recognize names such as Scenic Designer Todd Ivins, who designed the current version of A Christmas Carol; or Choreographer Jenn Rose, who worked
with us on Titanic The Musical, The Coast Starlight , and Romeo and Juliet. These artists are not just colleagues – they are trusted partners whose understanding of storytelling, collaboration, and theatrical risk allows us to create work that is both ambitious and deeply human.
These relationships are central to our artistic identity. They allow us to develop a shared language over time, to take bigger creative leaps, and to craft productions that are as emotionally nuanced as they are visually stunning. Moreover, the reputation we’ve built through this network of collaborators has helped position Milwaukee Rep on the national—and even international—stage. When artists know that Milwaukee is a place where bold work is supported, where craft is honored, and where audiences are eager for daring, meaningful stories, they want to be a part of it.
Our commitment to artistic excellence means continually raising the bar—and that requires access to the most exciting voices in the field. Because of your generosity and belief in our mission, we’re able to forge these invaluable partnerships, bringing world-class theater to our city while nurturing emerging talent within our own community.
Thank you for being an essential part of this journey. Your support fuels our ambition and empowers us to remain a vibrant home for bold, resonant, and boundary-pushing art.
With deepest gratitude,
Mark Clements
Artistic Director
The cast of The Craic, directed by Mark Clements with music direction by Dan Kazemi. Photo by Michael Brosilow.
Education & Engagement spotlight on
One of the most exciting new features of our Associated Bank Theater Center will be the Herzfeld Foundation Education & Engagement Center. Despite having offered arts education programming for over 30 years, our 2025/26 Season will mark the first time Milwaukee Rep will have dedicated space for Education and Engagement programming. Previously, when students from across southeast Wisconsin visited our facility, we were limited in our ability to host and engage with them in a meaningful way. For example, during our Rep Immersion Days—a program that brings students to the theater to watch a matinee performance and experience technical demonstrations with Rep Artists—we will be able to rotate students through the demonstrations in significantly smaller groups. This means more students will be able to participate in hands-on demonstrations and ask questions of Rep Artists.
Triumph at the Next Narrative™ Monologue Competition
For the second consecutive year, a Milwaukee student has taken home the gold at the National Next Narrative™ Monologue Competition in New York City. Silver Anderson of Golda Meir High School won the coveted first prize and a $3,000 scholarship at the competition. Two students were chosen to represent Milwaukee at nationals from a group of 10 at the Milwaukee regional competition hosted by Milwaukee Rep last March. As part of the program, students received individualized coaching and workshops with Milwaukee Rep Teaching Artists leading up to the competition. The two regional winners, Thatcher Jacobs (Kettle Moraine School for the Arts & Performance) and Silver Anderson, both received additional coaching and an all expense paid trip to New York City for nationals.
Silver Anderson surrounded by their mother and members of Milwaukee Rep’s Education & Engagement team after winning first place at the Next Narrative™ Monologue Competition.
Innovation setting the stage for an exclusive sneak-peek at the new technology in
the Associated Bank Theater Center
In just a few short months, Milwaukee Rep will welcome audiences into the new Associated Bank Theater Center and our brand-new state-of-the-art performance spaces. Let’s take a look at the industry-leading technology in the Ellen & Joe Checota Powerhouse and the Herro-Franke Studio Theater that will allow Milwaukee Rep to produce art of the highest caliber.
Perhaps the biggest and most exciting change in the Powerhouse Theater is the convertible stage that can transform between the standard proscenium style and a thrust configuration (see photos). Milwaukee Rep will be the only theater in the country with this capability. The stage can also be set up in other unique ways depending on each production, such as a runway into the center orchestra.
Additionally, the Powerhouse will be equipped with a fully automated fly system with 15 motorized line sets that can fly scenery in and out of the stage. While this is industry-standard, the ceiling above the stage was previously too low for a fly system. Now, technicians will be able to fly scenery as low as three feet from the stage, and as high as 29 feet from the stage with the press of a button. This creates significantly more flexibility for larger set pieces and special effects.
Audiences can also expect better sound quality in the new Checota Powerhouse Theater. Previously, the sound operator sat off to the side in the back of the orchestra level of seating, which didn’t provide a good vantage point to mix wellbalanced sound throughout the space. Now, there will be a dedicated sound booth in the back center of the theater where technicians are able to better hear every sound and adjust levels accordingly. This is especially important for musicals, as the sound will have better coverage throughout the entirety of the space so that every seat will experience well-mixed sound.
There is also new audio-visual equipment being implemented throughout our theaters. New fiberoptic infrastructure will send faster, enhanced video signals to projection equipment, which will allow for improved projections and effects onstage. This will be especially exciting for our production of McNeal, which will prominently feature projections as a key element of the design.
Paired with updated lighting inventory, including 25 new LED moving lights (also known as “movers”), there will be greater capacity for more complex lighting designs, as well as the ability to use movers in the Studio Theater, which has never been done before. Previously, Milwaukee Rep did not own any movers and would rent them from a third party.
“I think the audience is just going to be kind of taken aback by the new room itself,” said Director of Production Jared Clarkin. “We’re going to offer a lot of new lighting positions, and the architecture of the room, while similar to what we’ve done before, is going to look like a brand-new theater.”
The Powerhouse stage in its thrust and proscenium configurations.
2025/26 Season meet the artists behind the
As the 2025/26 Season quickly approaches and we prepare for the inaugural season of the Associated Bank Theater Center, let’s get to know some of the talented artists that will be working on upcoming Milwaukee Rep productions.
Ayad Akhtar
Playwright, McNeal
Another work from Milwaukee’s own Ayad Akhtar will be the very first show to play in the Herro-Franke Studio Theater next winter. Akhtar is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and novelist, as well as a Milwaukee Rep Trustee. His plays Junk, Disgraced, The Who & The What and most recently, McNeal (starring Robert Downey Jr.), all premiered on Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater to critical acclaim. Milwaukee Rep’s upcoming production of McNeal will be the first production of the show following its Broadway run in fall of 2024. Currently, Akhtar and Milwaukee Rep Artistic Director Mark Clements are working on adapting Akhtar’s novel, American Dervish, for the stage.
Heidi Armbruster
Playwright, Mrs. Christie
Heidi Armbruster is a multitalented playwright and film, television and theater actress who splits her time between Brooklyn and Milwaukee. She has appeared on stage on Broadway as well as numerous regional theaters in New York and across the country, including Milwaukee Rep’s production of God of Carnage in our 2022/23 Season. An accomplished playwright, Armbruster’s works have been workshopped and produced at many professional theaters nationwide, including her play Scarecrow at Next Act Theatre in Milwaukee. Her new play, Mrs. Christie, a show inspired by the true events of Agatha Christie’s 11-day disappearance in 1926, will be the fourth show in the new Checota Powerhouse Theater next season.
Lou Bellamy
Director, The Piano Lesson
Lou Bellamy is a director with a background in producing works exploring the African American experience. He is the founder of Penumbra Theatre, a professional Black theater company in Minneapolis that has produced 40 world premieres and more August Wilson plays than any other theater in the nation, including Wilson’s very first professional production. Bellamy has directed works at Arizona Theatre Company, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Guthrie Theater, The Kennedy Center, The Cleveland Play House and more. After directing the 2015/16 Season production of Fences, Bellamy will return to Milwaukee Rep to direct The Piano Lesson, marking Milwaukee Rep’s ninth production out of ten from August Wilson’s American Century Cycle.
E. Faye Butler
Director, Ain’t Misbehavin: The Fats Waller Musical Show
E. Faye Butler is a Chicago-based actress, singer, and director with a celebrated career in American theatre. Renowned for her commanding stage presence and vocal power, she has earned many accolades throughout her career, including multiple Joseph Jefferson Awards and a Barrymore Award. In addition to her acclaimed performances in productions like Fannie, Caroline, or Change, and Crowns, Butler has made a significant impact as a director, bringing a sharp, insightful vision to both new works and classic plays. Recently, she directed Marie and Rosetta during Milwaukee Rep’s 2024/25 Season, showcasing her talent for illuminating stories with depth and humanity.
Joanie Schultz
Director, Frida… A Self Portrait & Mrs. Christie
Joanie Schultz is a theater and opera director and teacher who is currently serving as the Associate Artistic Director of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. She has been a professor of acting and directing at Columbia College Chicago and University of Chicago, as well as an opera faculty member at Roosevelt University and Northwestern University. Schultz specializes in new works and creating her own adaptations of classic plays, such as Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and the world premiere of Frida… A Self Portrait, which has now been produced by four (soon to be five) theaters nationally. Her work has appeared at The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre and many more theater and opera companies across the country. Schultz will continue her work on new plays at Milwaukee Rep next season, when she will direct Frida… A Self Portrait and new play by Heidi Armbruster, Mrs. Christie.
Vanessa Severo
Playwright and Actor, Frida... A Self Portrait
Vanessa Severo is an actor, writer, movement director/choreographer, and director known for her dynamic stage presence and interdisciplinary approach to storytelling. She studied at Missouri State University and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. She was a recipient of the prestigious Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship in 2017, and is certified in the Suzuki Method and Viewpoints under SITI Company’s Ellen Lauren. Passionate about blending movement and narrative, she continues to shape bold, emotionally resonant theater. Severo has performed at Kansas City Repertory Theatre for over 13 seasons, with notable credits including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cabaret, and August: Osage County. She will appear on the Herro-Franke Studio stage next season in her onewoman production of Frida… A Self Portrait , which has wowed audiences across the country since its inception in 2014.
Tami Workentin
Playwright and Actor, George & Gracie: A Love Story
A Milwaukee favorite, Tami Workentin has appeared in countless Milwaukee Rep productions over the years. Not only has Workentin appeared onstage at various professional theaters in Milwaukee, she has also worked at many other regional theaters across the country, including The Goodman Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Rochester Civic Theatre, Bailiwick Repertory Theater, Shakespeare in the Park Fort Worth and more. This time around, Workentin will be starring in the world premiere of a show that she wrote herself: George & Gracie: A Love Story. Closing out the Stackner Cabaret Season, George & Gracie: A Love Story tells the story of the Vaudeville power couple George Burns and Gracie Allen. Workentin will appear alongside her real-life husband Jim Pickering.
Sustaining Trustee of the Year
LIMELIGHT LEGACY SOCIETY John Hunzinger
Each year, Milwaukee Rep recognizes former trustees who contribute to our success after their tenure on our Board has ended. This year, we would like to recognize John Hunzinger as our Sustaining Trustee of the Year.
John Hunzinger served on the board from 2013 – 2021, and was integral to several significant moments in Rep history. In 2014, when fluctuations to the water table led to our building sinking into the river, John helped to ensure our building’s foundation would be stable for the next century. John also played a vital role in our 2018 renovation of the Stackner Cabaret, which improved the comfort and accessibility of the space for patrons. During the COVID-19 pandemic, John provided thoughtful guidance about improvements to HVAC systems and sanitation, and lent his expertise toward planning for our Powering Milwaukee campaign to build the new Associated Bank Theater Center.
Since retiring from the board, John has spearheaded an exceptional partnership between Milwaukee Rep and Hunzinger Construction Company that has allowed us to remain on time and on budget throughout construction of our new home. Additionally, Hunzinger Construction Company has served as a proud sponsor of our Curtain Call Ball for the last three years. John’s impact as a board member and as a continued supporter of Milwaukee Repertory Theater has been crucial to our sustained success, and we thank him for his lasting legacy in our community.
Milwaukee Repertory Theater Development Department
Milwaukee Rep’s Limelight Legacy Society was established to recognize those who have made an estate or planned gift of any size or type to Milwaukee Rep and will make a significant contribution to the longterm viability and sustainability of our company.
Designate Milwaukee Rep as a beneficiary of…
• Your Estate: through a specific dollar amount OR a percentage of your estate.
• Your Retirement Account: IRA, 401(k), 403(b), or pension
• Your Life Insurance Policy
Have you included Milwaukee Rep in your estate plans, and/or are you interested in learning more? Contact Cassidy Skorija, Director of Major and Planned Giving, at cskorija@milwaukeerep.com or by phone at 414-290-0718
Amy McGuire Donor Services Manager amcguire@milwaukeerep.com
Lynsey Gallagher
gift