The donor newsletter of Milwaukee Repertory Theater
Issue 6 • Fall 2017
New Plays
“I don’t think it matters if it’s a new play versus a classic or a well known play, but it’s important that theaters produce new scripts with enough regularity that audiences are accustomed to the idea of seeing a play about which they know absolutely nothing.” These words from playwright Jeffrey Hatcher ring true within the walls of The Rep. We share his philosophy — that new plays for the American theater are just as important as keeping alive the classics we have come to know and love. “Because The Rep nurtures new plays from inception all the way through development to production, we get to know playwrights on a deeply personal level. In addition to Hatcher, they include Pulitzer Prize-winner and Milwaukee native Ayad Akhtar, Rick Cleveland, Eric Simonson, and Catherine Trieschmann,” says Artistic Director Mark Clements.
Linda Stephens and Grant Goodman in the 2011/12 Quadracci Powerhouse production of Ten Chimneys. Photo by Michael Brosilow.
Over the years, The Rep has developed a strong relationship with Hatcher, producing five of his plays in the last two decades: The Turn of the Screw (1997/98); Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright (world premiere cowritten by Eric Simonson, 2000/01); Armadale (world premiere, 2007/08); The Government Inspector (2009/10); and Ten Chimneys (2011/12). This season, The Rep will produce Hatcher’s Holmes and Watson, a new play which recently made its world premiere at the Arizona Theatre Company with productions in Tucson and Phoenix. Hatcher’s return to The Rep provides an exciting opportunity to catch up with the playwright and ask him about his personal approach to new play development. continued on page 4
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DIRECTLY SPEAKING
Mark Clements
Chad Bauman
Dear Friends, Summer has flown by! While there isn’t much action on our stages in the summer months, there is still so much hustle and bustle around the theater as we close one season and eagerly prepare for the next. On September 23, our blockbuster musical Guys and Dolls opens with familiar faces like Kelley Faulkner (Cabaret) as Miss Adelaide, Michael J. Farina (Man of La Mancha) as Nicely Nicely, Matt Daniels (Man of La Mancha) as Lt. Brannigan, local actor Andrew Varela as Big Jule and Di’Monte Henning, a former EPR, as Harry the Horse. You’ll also see some new faces making their Rep debut, including Richard R. Henry as Nathan Detroit and Broadway veteran Nicholas Rodriguez as Sky Masterson. We are also thrilled to be producing Milwaukeenative Ayad Akhtar’s The Who & The What, the third in our four-year partnership with Ayad. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Rep season without a world premiere or two. In keeping with our goal of producing 20 new works over the next five years, we are excited to produce one world-premiere production this season: One House Over by Catherine Trieschmann. You might also see a few new faces around The Rep this year. Please join us in welcoming eight new members of the Board of Trustees who will help guide The Rep as we continue to forge our way into the future: Joaquin Altoro of Town Bank; Ivor Benjamin of the Medical College of Wisconsin; Marybeth Cottrill of BMO Wealth Management; Amy Croen of Geneva Capital Management; Sean Cummings of Harley-Davidson; Brad Kalscheur of Michael Best & Friedrich; Phoebe Lewis, a community volunteer; and Gina Peter of Wells Fargo.
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While not new to the board, we would also like to welcome Greg Oberland, President of Northwestern Mutual, as our next President-elect. We bid a fond farewell and extend tremendous thanks to our departing Trustees: Marc Campbell, Steve Gigot, Cecilia Gilbert, Kris Lueders, Randall McKennie, Leslie Meisner, Dwight Morgan, Shelley Paxton, Patrick Smith, Marvin Spears and Howard Williams. For a complete 2017/18 Board listing, visit our website at www.MilwaukeeRep.com. In other exciting news, we are in the midst of a $10 million capital campaign. Announced to the public on June 21, this campaign is raising funds to support The Rep’s strategic priorities. We have already raised $7 million and need your help to raise the rest. Learn how you can help on the next page. As always, thank you for your generous support of our work as we kick of the 2017/18 Season. We can’t wait to see you in the audience!
Sincerely,
Mark Clements Artistic Director
Chad Bauman Managing Director
COMMUNITY CHALLENGE ANNOUNCED
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN ENTERS THE FINAL STRETCH As mentioned in Directly Speaking, we have publicly announced our Created in Milwaukee capital campaign, our first in 20 years. Our leadership team, led by Trustees Judy Hansen and Catherine Robinson, has succeeded in raising more than $7 million toward our $10 million goal.
In 1954
Milwaukee Repertory Theater was founded with a single purpose — to create exceptional theater in Milwaukee for Milwaukee. The most recognized civic leaders of the time realized that a world-class city capable of attracting the best and brightest needed a world-class theater. Fresh off his success to bring professional sports to Milwaukee, Miller Brewing President Fred Miller joined forces with Rep founder, Mary Widrig John, to chair our first capital campaign, raising needed funds to build our first theater on Oakland Avenue.
In 2015
Our 2015 Strategic Plan propelled The Rep to raise $10 million to support four priorities: fortify our building structure; create a new production of A Christmas Carol; develop and implement a new community engagement and education initiative, Mpact; and formally establish the John (Jack) D. Lewis New Play Development Program. The $10 million will support these priorities through both current use and endowment funds: $4.5 million will be put to immediate use, and $5.5 million will be placed in The Rep’s endowment, ensuring the success and sustainability of these priorities for decades to come.
Today
We have concluded a highly successful “quiet phase” of the campaign. We have raised 70% of our goal thanks to Milwaukee Rep friends old and new, who have demonstrated how important our work is to them, to our community, and to reinforcing our region’s brand as a hub of creativity and innovation. Now, the Created in Milwaukee campaign calls on our community for support. We are thrilled to share some exciting news and announce our $1.5 million challenge grant from The Herzfeld Foundation, Camille and David Kundert, and The Lubar Family. They challenge The Rep community to match the additional $1.5 million to round out the campaign. Each dollar given from this moment on will help us reach the outstanding $3 million and finish the campaign by December 31, 2017, a full 18 months ahead of schedule. To learn more, visit www.MilwaukeeRep.com or contact Marina S. Krejci, Chief Development Officer, at mkrejci@milwaukeerep.com or 414-290-5366.n
$7 MILLION
$1.5 MILLION
$1.5 MILLION
ALREADY RAISED
CHALLENGE
TO BE RAISED
= $10 MILLION
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NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT continued from front page A playwright’s perspective Like many others who work in the theater, Hatcher started out as an actor, although he had always written skits and short stories. Now several decades later, he has written more than two dozen plays, as well as several screenplays, including for the 2015 film Mr. Holmes, which starred Ian McKellen as the sleuth. It takes Hatcher about three months to finish a first draft. After that, “work continues on a play until opening night,” Hatcher says. “So it can take another six months to a year or more depending on the theater schedule, the production schedule, and the difficulties of the individual play in wrestling it to the stage.” Finding inspiration While people often ask writers where they find inspiration, for Hatcher, “ideas come unbidden all the time. Our antennae are tuned to ideas. You overhear a conversation in a restaurant. You think to yourself could that conversation be the start of a play? You read a news item, find a faded photograph, or overhear an anecdote at a dinner party. “To me the real question isn’t where or how we get our ideas, rather it’s how we test those ideas to determine which are stage worthy. What overheard snippet of conversation can be teased out into a scene and that scene be teased out into a full two hours? What tasty anecdote can develop into the structure of a drama as opposed to a oneliner you use over and over to dine out on. Getting ideas is easy; sorting them out and winnowing them down to the useable idea is what’s tricky.”
The John (Jack) D. Lewis New Play Development Program The Rep has produced more than 150 world premieres since 1958. We believe that regional theaters have a responsibility to advance the art form of American theater through the development and production of new plays. We intentionally develop projects that respond to our community’s interests, reflect its remarkable diversity, and launch those plays into the national conversation. Ultimately, we want to be recognized nationally as a leader in new play development. The John (Jack) D. Lewis New Play Development Program supports the multi-stage process of commissioning and developing a new play, which can take up to four years from conception to production. Within this timeframe, the process includes commission, travel and topic research, workshops with playwrights and actors, script rewrites with literary/dramaturgical feedback, and additional rehearsal time to refine the work. The Rep seeks to produce 20 new plays over the next five years across our three performance spaces.
The Rep’s audiences Hatcher is delighted to be returning to The Rep. “I’ve worked on a lot of plays in Milwaukee, new ones and older scripts. I know the Milwaukee acting community well, and it is terrific. But what I love most is the Milwaukee audience. It’s the audience a writer hopes for: engaged, enthusiastic, adventurous, and,” he adds, “good laughers.” n
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Model of the set, designed by Bill Clarke, for Milwaukee Rep’s upcoming production of Hatcher’s Holmes and Watson.
DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR MARK? Submit your questions to onthemark@milwaukeerep.com and see his answers in an upcoming issue!
Why did you decide to become an American citizen? Becoming an American citizen was both a practical and a deeply personal decision. I’ve been a permanent resident of the U.S. for quite some time. With my green card’s upcoming expiration date of December 2017, it just made more practical sense to apply for citizenship instead of renewing it. Personally, my whole life is here now — my family, my home, and my commitment to The Rep — and I wanted to reflect that with permanent citizenship. Given that I just renewed my contract through 2022, I wanted to be very clear that nothing would pull me away from this life. With the company’s values of community and citizenship, it felt nonsensical for me to focus on these values without actually being a citizen, when it was so easy for me to complete the process. There’s something about being able to say ‘we’ when talking about citizenship that was very important to me. As we continue to have these conversations about what it means to be an active, engaged citizen, I wanted to be part of that conversation — as a citizen. The whole process took about 10 months. Because I was already in the system as a permanent resident, there was less paperwork to fill out. Nevertheless, as I went along in the process, I became hyper aware of what citizenship really means and all the things you’re signing up to do as a citizen. It really hit me at my swearing-in ceremony back in February as I was standing with 69 other people representing 26 countries. The judge began talking about how, in this current political climate, we may not feel welcome as immigrants. He assured us that now, as citizens, we were every bit as welcome,
and every bit as important, as any naturalborn citizen. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life, topped only by the birth of my daughter. I do feel a sense of pride knowing that I can now engage fully in a democracy. I have the ability to vote and to question my leaders without fear of retribution. I was disappointed that I couldn’t vote in the presidential election in November, but I made sure to exercise my right to vote in the local elections in April. I read up on all the candidates and did my research. I felt incredibly proud to make my voice heard and be counted.n
Mark, with daughter Amelie, displays his certificate of citizenship.
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SPOTLIGHT ON THE DONOR
JUDY VAN TILL SHARES HER ENTHUSIASM Ask Judy Van Till what she loves about the plays at The Rep and she will tell you, “Some amuse, some educate, others cause reflection, but all entertain. There have been some that haven’t appealed to me, but there’s always some nugget that I remember.” Van Till, a 12-year Rep Subscriber, has lived in Milwaukee for over 50 years but was raised in New Jersey. She is grateful her parents started taking her to plays in New York when she was about 10. She believes, “that could be the reason I’ve always enjoyed the theater.” Now Van Till pays it forward by encouraging her friends to share her enjoyment of The Rep. “I always look forward to attending, which is not always true with volunteering or required appointments,” she says. “The Rep’s [donor] perks such as the behindthe-scenes tours, first rehearsals, etc. are incentives, not only to attend the performances, but also motivate me to recommend to my friends that they join me in supporting The Rep.” Van Till can be persuasive, but oftentimes she lets the performances speak for themselves. She was delighted when a friend, with whom she often attends The Rep, decided to subscribe after seeing The Nerd. In turn, the friend decided to become a donor too.
Judy Van Till (left) and Margie Knitter get an up-close look at a model of a Rep production set at Magic in the Making, a donor benefit experience.
Her commitment extends to all The Rep brings to the community. She says, “The plays presented, some with talkbacks and discussions, allow for conversations between diverse groups.” Van Till is also enthusiastic that The Rep is supporting new plays. She believes, “There could be a risk involved as some people may not want to see something they’re not familiar with, but the ones presented so far have caused discussions that are needed in our society.” She adds, “I attended a dinner presented by the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, which fostered conversations around cultures and religions. This was an eyeopener for me. Without The Rep, I would not have had the opportunity.” n
SECOND ANNUAL LIMELIGHT LEGACY SOCIETY LUNCHEON Featuring Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher Author of Holmes and Watson, Work Song, and Ten Chimneys October 3, 2017 11:30am Stackner Cabaret Members of The Rep’s Limelight Legacy Society and other long-time supporters of The Rep are invited to join us for a discussion with highly regarded contemporary playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, Mark Clements and Associate Artistic Director Brent Hazelton. The Limelight Legacy Society is a group of visionary donors who support The Rep through a planned gift.
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For more information, contact Chuck Rozewicz at crozewicz@milwaukeerep.com or 414-290-0717.
MEET OUR NEWEST SENIOR STAFF MEMBERS With preparations for our 2017/18 Season underway, we welcome new senior staff members: May Adrales, Associate Artistic Director and Associate Artist Starting this season, we have created a second Associate Artistic Director position. Enter nationally renowned award-winning director and teacher May Adrales. In this new role, May will be bringing her fresh global perspective to The Rep, particularly within the John (Jack) D. Lewis New Play Development Program as she has directed more than 20 world premieres over the last decade. Given her interest in future leadership opportunities in theaters, we will provide May with various experiences in administrative areas, such as producing, budgeting, board governance, and fundraising. In her role as an Associate Artist, she will direct The Who & The What and Animal Farm this upcoming season.
Cortney McEniry, Director of Community Engagement Cortney McEniry, a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with an M.F.A. in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities, will be sharing her knowledge and experience with The Rep as Director of Community Engagement. In her new role, McEniry will be responsible for leading the Mpact initiative, which seeks to unite Milwaukee by sparking vital community conversations, promoting diversity and inclusion both onstage and off, and nurturing the next generation of theater artists through the Professional Training Institute (PTI). How did you fall in love with theater?
My sisters and I used to put on weekly shows for our most adoring audience — my parents. As a young adult, I wrote a series of outright terrible political dramas, which I also directed. The plays went in a drawer, but the directing lived on.
My mom is a theater professor, and every day after school I watched rehearsals for the productions she directed. More than once, she had to ask me to stop giving her students notes without her! But I was hooked right away and was always coming up with intricate stories, making my brother act them out with a strange assembled cast of Beanie Babies, Pokémon cards, and Barbie dolls.
What drew you to this new opportunity at The Rep?
What drew you to this new opportunity at The Rep?
I directed Dael Orlandersmith’s Yellowman during Artistic Director Mark Clements’ first year at The Rep. He welcomed me into the family. Since then I’ve directed two more shows: a world premiere by A. Rey Pamatmat, after all the terrible things I do, and The Mountaintop. I was impressed with The Rep’s quality of work, craftsmanship, professionalism, and passion. My work as an artist truly expanded here. The community is without parallel, and I’m extremely grateful to call The Rep my artistic home.
I believe very deeply in the power of theater as a tool for equipping and inviting audience members to create positive change in their own communities. Plus, this is a dream job for me — it’s what I went back to school to learn about, and what I’ve been working towards in a variety of capacities and contexts. It really brings all of my disparate selves — artist, organizer, administrator, facilitator — into one extremely interesting and rewarding job.
How did you fall in love with theater?
What is something you look forward to checking off your Milwaukee bucket list? I’m running the Milwaukee Marathon on October 1st! And I’m not a huge beer drinker or meat eater, but I feel I gotta try Mader’s.
What is something you look forward to checking off your Milwaukee bucket list? Frozen custard! I’ve never had it (and I consider myself quite the ice cream connoisseur).
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Masthead Photo: Gia Erichson, Kat Moser, Jesse Bhamrah, and Tanner Medding in Heavy Cream featured in Rep Lab 2017. Photo by Michael Brosilow.
MORE SEATS AT THE STACKNER If you tried unsuccessfully to buy a ticket for the Stacker Cabaret in recent years, you are probably already aware that the immense popularity of the shows in this space has led to serious capacity constraints.
UPCOMING EVENTS September 10, 2017 Souvenir Opening Night
Over the summer, the Stackner underwent some minor renovations to increase its seating capacity from 124 to 132 seats. Adding these extra seats for each performance will allow more than 2,100 additional audience members to enjoy shows over the course of the season. We hope to see you at Souvenir, Murder for Two, Black Pearl Sings!, and Mark Twain’s River of Song.
September 23, 2017 Guys and Dolls Opening Night September 29, 2017 The Who & The What Opening night October 3, 2017 Limelight Legacy Society Luncheon October 16, 2017 Magic in the Making ($250+ Donors) November 9, 2017 Tech Talk (Holmes and Watson) ($500+ Donors) November 12, 2017 Murder for Two Opening Night
With the removal of the columns on either side of the theater, the Stackner Cabaret now has additional seats.
November 17, 2017 Holmes and Watson Opening Night December 1, 2017 A Christmas Carol Opening Night
Issue 6 • Fall 2017
January 12, 2018 Animal Farm Opening Night
Milwaukee Repertory Theater • Development Department 108 E. Wells Street • Milwaukee, WI 53202 • 414-290-5366
January 21, 2018 Black Pearl Sings! Opening Night
Marina S. Krejci Chief Development Officer mkrejci@milwaukeerep.com
Meghan Roesner Associate Director of Annual Giving mroesner@milwaukeerep.com
Chuck Rozewicz Director of Major and Planned Giving crozewicz@milwaukeerep.com
Shannon Theiss Development Events Manager stheiss@milwaukeerep.com
Amy Dorman Director of Annual Giving adorman@milwaukeerep.com
Katie Krueger Development Database Manager kkrueger@milwaukeerep.com
January 22, 2017 Backstage Tour ($100+ Donors) For a full list of events, please visit www.MilwaukeeRep.com
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