A NEW SPACE the case for

Theater has changed since we moved into our current home in 1987 — and so has our community. While our facility has served us well for nearly four decades, our aging and increasingly inefficient theater now limits the kinds of community experiences we can create. After nearly 40 years in the former Wisconsin Electric Powerhouse building with no significant upgrades, our building may soon jeopardize our ability to fulfill our mission.

Through our work in youth education and community engagement, we create positive change in our city through our unique position as a cultural organization that has the capacity to bring people together. We use theater as an agent of cultural and positive change in our communities and in our schools by eliminating barriers and dismantling assumptions about what our art form can do. Like our audiences, we are citizens who care about making our region meet its full potential.

Each year, Rep Education serves approximately 20,000 students in 150 middle schools and high schools throughout southeastern Wisconsin through a combination of in- and after-school programs designed to improve literacy, increase social-emotional skills, and increase theater participation. These programs include in-school Reading Residencies, a unique School Subscription, onsite Rep Immersion Days, and the prestigious national Next NarrativeTM Monologue Competition. Our programs use the art of theater to its fullest potential — as an area of study, an integrated approach to non-theatrical subjects, and as a tool for developing key life skills such as reading comprehension, self-confidence, and empathy.

Rep Engagement programming shapes, builds, and reinforces our mission in our community, providing a high-quality way to form relationships through the arts. It is an access point for community healing, empowerment, and sharing resources. All programming is built on authentic, robust, mutually beneficial relationships with more than 100 community partners and individuals throughout our city. Our Community Conversations use the work on our stages to engage audiences in thoughtful dialogue about Milwaukee’s most pressing issues and bring together audience members from disparate communities through shared experiences.

Milwaukee Rep collaborates with community organizations in the Amani, Muskego Way, Metcalfe Park and Thurston Woods neighborhoods to support existing neighborhood revitalization plans, using the arts as a tool to help achieve neighborhood goals and inspire civic pride.

We will reimagine our theatrical home for the needs of today and the possibilities of tomorrow—and help power a more creative and connected Milwaukee region. Our new home will enable us to both broaden and deepen these essential programs, serving even more community members with a state-of-the-art education and engagement center that opens onto the Riverwalk and features multiple classrooms, an event space, and a dedicated rehearsal and performance venue. We will be able to bring the full power of theater to life for our community.

700 performances of 300,000 patrons served 20,000 students $30M in local economic impact

12 productions of all UPAF performances

33 % employees

564

60 % of students in Milwaukee Public Schools