Milwaukee Theaters Move Forward After a Year of Ups and Downs

For the first time in thirteen months, audience members took the elevator – two at a time – to the second level of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater that houses the Quadracci Powerhouse stage. There to see First Lady of Song: Alexis J. Roston Sings Ella Fitzgerald, they were greeted with Plexi glass aisles, scurrying one-by-one through the makeshift tunnels to maintain social distancing. At the end, they were met with a thermometer on a stick and an enthusiastic employee wearing a mask and gloves, who encouraged them to lean forward toward the floating thermometer. “Pause a moment. Wait. Okay, green light. Looks like you’re good to go. Enjoy the show!”

A friendly usher scanned their mobile tickets, her mask covering a warm smile. The usually buzzing lobby was instead a gentle hum, pods of friends, family, couples spread out, six feet apart. The bar was humbly closed, but noticeably furnished with Plexi glass, hinting that sharing a drink at the theatre again is, if nothing else, an idea in the minds of the safety team at Milwaukee Rep. Around 100 people filtered into the theatre, past the signs reminding them to wear a mask and past ushers helping them find the digital program on their phones.

The seats in the theater were striped in blue – chairs covered in plastic “Milwaukee Rep” bands, indicating the spacing between parties. Eager audience members were scattered across the sea of blue, deeply engaged in face-to-face interaction. Pre-show chatter is its own genre of conversation – comments about previous shows the actors have been in, friends catching up after a long time, whispered arguments between couples, panicked questions as to how to silence a phone. If you closed your eyes, the room almost felt like the last thirteen months hadn’t nearly (and in some cases, completely) shut down theatres across the country. Almost.

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Milwaukee is known for its arts scene. From its famous Art Museum to the murals across the city to the home of both the oldest and largest professional performing arts groups in the state. The city thrives off the arts and culture so much so that Google celebrated Milwaukee on its Google Arts and Culture platform; it was the second city in the country to be highlighted. The city has over 15 theatres, normally filled with packed schedules of performances of plays, musicals, ballet, the symphony and operas.

So, when theatres across the country lowered their curtain for the last time for an unforeseeable future and shut their doors to the public, a fear settled in. For many, they didn’t know if they’d ever open their doors again. For others, they thanked the universe for the profitable season thus far that would, hopefully, sustain them through the next however many months.

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation, it largely affected the arts sector of the U.S., with the performing arts being hit the hardest. According to an analysis of COVID-19’s impact on the Arts and Culture from the National Endowment of the Arts, around 60% of non-profit arts organizations’ revenue is from earned income such as ticket sales. With the COVID-19 pandemic and stay at home orders in place across the country, theatres have been forced to close their doors, losing their main source of income overnight.

Not only did this plummet in revenue affect the hundreds of thousands of actors, art directors, dancers, choreographers, musicians, singers, stage crews, etc., but it also hit the national economy, as arts and culture contribute to over $1 billion to the U.S. economy, according to Arts Wisconsin. Contributing 4.5% of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), arts and culture have a larger contribution than industries such as construction, agriculture and transportation, according to the National Endowment of the Arts analysis. 

With the stakes high, theatres and performing arts companies searched for ways to continue to bring performances, experiences and content to audiences to stay afloat and to keep the arts alive. Milwaukee longed to bring back their arts scene that once flourished and thrived. With the COVID-19 vaccine being widely available, hope has slowly emerged, raising the question of how Milwaukee’s performing arts will move forward.

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In the fall of 2020, Milwaukee Rep was preparing for their first in-person performance since the pandemic had shut them down and caused them to pivot, sewing and assembling masks for the local hospitals instead of planning shows.  

The show was set to open on Dec. 1. Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol andwas to be a one-man adaptation of the beloved favorite. Director of Marketing at Milwaukee Rep Cara McMullin described that the rehearsals had significantly fewer people in the room at any given time, and costume fittings were adapted to ensure the safety of both the actor and the drapers (costume fitters). The drapers wore full PPE because they were up close to the actor while taking measurements and fitting the costume.

When the City of Milwaukee shut down again, however, the one-man show was quickly moved to the virtual stage. Milwaukee Rep Production Director Jared Clarkin explained that “because we didn’t know until the very last minute whether this was going to be a live, in-person production or a straight video production, we had constructed the show so that we could do a live, in-person production.”

Clarkin described producing a video of a show to be like controlling a box of where the audience has to look. “In a live theatre production,” he said, “you’re in the room with everybody else, and if your attention is not being kept on stage, your eyes can wander, and you can look at all the lights up in the air and what’s over there on the wall.”

Like theatres across the country, Milwaukee Rep had to adapt to the constantly changing climate of COVID-19 restrictions and safety precautions. Balancing budgets and scenarios and safety plans, along with Milwaukee Rep’s virtual programming, “From Our Home to Your Home,” the Milwaukee Rep was not sure what the future had in store, but flexibility never left their vocabulary.

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In October 2020, Skylight Music Theatre’s Artistic Director Michael Unger sat down on a Zoom call with the full cast of Little Shop of Horrors staring back at him through the screen as they began their first rehearsal for the upcoming performance opening Nov. 13. He pulled up StageWrite, a software created by Broadway director and choreographer Jeff Whiting to stage dance numbers and create “Bibles” for Broadway shows, where they notate every kick, shake, leap and hand gesture a dancer makes. Unger had spent the weeks prior sketching out the floor plan of the stage, the entrances, the props and the set pieces into this program, mapping out not the dance moves but each of the actors moves and “blocking” for the entire show.

“You literally have pictures of your actors and you move them around like chess pieces on a board,” he said. “I can literally watch the whole show, in terms of movement, in this app by going click, click, click, click through the images.”

Unger clicked through the images, through the show, talking through his vision – which he had dreamed up after figuring out why he loves the show, what he wants to say about the show and what lesson it can teach audiences – to the actors as they notated in their scripts where they would move on the stage, all without having to get up from their respective computer screens.

He knew he’d have to adapt Little Shop of Horrors to the pandemic-stricken world around him, but he started his creative process of re-imagining this show with the mentality he has for every show he directs. “My creative process to any show is tell a great story that the authors intended, with the resources we have, celebrating the talent we have and making sure that the story has something to say to the current world.” He started designing by imagining what he would want if we weren’t in a pandemic. Then, he thought of adaptations that would be necessary: more space, no actors crossing each other, no slaps, no kiss. The big kiss in the show would happen across the stage; the actors wouldn’t actually kiss, but the audience would understand that it was supposed to be the kiss.

“You always start with everything you want – which is true in producing anything whether it be a widget or a school or a bell, bowling ball or theatre – and you can’t have everything all the time because budgets are real, and money is real. Theatre is a constant balance of collaboration and compromise… but it’s a way to dream big and then stretch as much as you can to fit as much as you want into whatever size box you’re given. The box is the money,” he explains.

When the day finally came where Unger and the cast of Little Shop of Horrors could get on stage at the Skylight Music Theatre, they ran the show nonstop perfectly despite the fact that many of the actors had never met each other save the two weeks of Zoom rehearsals prior. But excitement in the air was met with huge disappointment when the City of Milwaukee shut down again, leaving the future of this show uncertain.  

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In March 2021, Unger sat down at his computer again, but this time to write what felt like the 47^th budget of the past year, planning the Skylight Music Theatre’s season set to start in fall 2021. With a to-be-announced list of titles, many of which aspire to bring in younger audiences like college students, he sees his goal to inspire a new generation of theatregoers with new and diverse work.

“It will be a huge year for all the arts organizations because people are restless and raring to get back to see shows and symphonies and ballets and operas,” he says as he reflects on the year. “I think we’re gonna have a good season. I sure hope so. But it’s definitely hopeful. A year ago… six months ago… a few months ago, I couldn’t have said that.”

Milwaukee Rep spent March preparing for their first in-person performance in over thirteen months, “First Lady of Song: Alexis J. Roston sings Ella Fitzgerald.” The to-do list kept everyone busy: working on maintenance that hasn’t been done in over ten years, putting safety protocols into place, ensuring the systems were still running smoothly. After a year of sitting and wondering when people would walk through the doors, when audiences would fill the seats and when songs would ring through the Quadracci Powerhouse again, the theatre was filled with excitement and anticipation.

Milwaukee Rep also announced their 2021/22 season to begin in the fall. The season includes two world premieres by Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith, Antonio’s Song / I Was Dreaming of a Son and New Age, Tony Award-winning musical Titanic the Musical, Green Bay Packer-themed musical comedy Dad’s Season Tickets, the holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol and more.

“We’ve all been stuck staring at screens and experiencing things virtually for such a long time, the idea of – and it’s both exciting and terrifying at the same time – being in a room with that many people at once, hearing and experiencing live entertainment with other people is going to be incredibly exciting,” said Clarkin. “We know we’ve only got one shot to get this started and get it right on the first time out.”

Both theatres see the vaccine as a means to be cautiously optimistic for the seasons in the fall – a promising step toward a stable future for the performing arts across the country. And in the meantime, Skylight Music Theatre plans to celebrate music and live performance on May 22 in Catalano Square with a live fundraiser concert, entitled “Don’t Rána on My Parade.” Milwaukee Rep announced a summer concert series with three concerts on the schedule, on June 26, July 31 and Aug. 13. 

There’s a new feeling in the air among the Milwaukee arts scene that Clarkin describes as “all of a sudden, the clouds parted, the sun is shining, things are getting a little bit better.”

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On the night of April 27, 2021, the Quadracci Powerhouse was alive again. The lights dimmed, the pre-show chatter of the socially distanced audience immediately fell silent; the anticipation for the moment so many have waited for and dreamed about for thirteen long months was finally within reach. Onto the stage stepped Alexis J. Roston to sing Ella Fitzgerald in First Lady of Song. Glowing and wearing a white sparkly dress that twinkled in the stage light, she was an actress on a stage, not in a screen. The four-piece band started playing the famous Fitzgerald song “I Got Rhythm.” The room felt electric, dimensional, real. The song came to an end but the hope for the future of performing arts was just beginning, as she sang out, “Who could ask for anything more?”