MILWAUKEE: Milwaukee Repertory Theater has announced its 2017-18 season, including thirteen productions in the company’s three performing spaces. In addition, artistic director Mark Clements and managing director Chad Bauman will renew their contracts with Milwaukee Rep for an additional four and six years respectively.
“Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s 2017-18 season production choices fully reflect our desire to successfully build on past triumphs, produce, and celebrate the very best of existing world class, classic and contemporary works,” said Clements in a statement. “All the while innovating and attempting to discover the great plays of tomorrow.”
The Quadracci Powerhouse Season will open with Guys and Dolls (Sept. 19-Oct. 29), with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, about a gang of underground gamblers in New York City. Stephen Mear will choreograph, and Mark Clements will direct.
Next up will be Holmes and Watson (Nov. 14-Dec. 17), by Jeffrey Hatcher, about Dr. Watson’s journey to a mental asylum where three men each claim to be the late detective Sherlock Holmes. Former Rep artistic director Joseph Hanreddy will direct.
Following will be George Orwell’s Animal Farm (Jan. 9-Feb. 11, 2018), adapted by Ian Wooldridge, about the animals of Manor Farm that drive out their abusive farmer and take over running the farm themselves. May Adrales will direct.
The season will continue with the world premiere of Catherine Treischmann’s One House Over (Feb. 27-March 25, 2018), about a contentious relationship between a family and a health aide who grows too attached to an aging father. Clements will direct.
The Quadracci season will conclude with Thornton Wilder’s Our Town (April 10-May 13, 2018), about the powerful bonds that hold communities together through everyday life and moments of crisis. Brent Hazelton will direct.
The Stiemke Studio Season will begin with Ayad Akhtar’s The Who & The What (Sept. 27-Nov. 5), about a Muslim woman from Atlanta who meets a man that bridges the gap between the gap between her modern life and traditional heritage. May Adrales will direct.
Next up will be Dael Orlandersmith’s Until the Flood (March 13-April 22, 2018), about the reactions of the St. Louis region to the shooting of Michael Brown. Neel Keller will direct.
The Stackner Cabaret Season will open with Souvenir (Sept. 8-Nov. 5), by Stephen Temperley, about the life of eccentric Manhattan socialite Florence Foster Jenkins, who had an improbable career as a singer despite her inability to sing. Laura Braza will direct.
Next will be Murder for Two (Nov. 10-Jan. 14, 2018), with book and music by Joe Kinosian and book and lyrics by Kellen Blair, a whodunit musical mystery.
Following will be Black Pearl Sings! (Jan. 19-March 18, 2018), by Frank Higgins, about an ambitious song collector for the Library of Congress who visits a Texas prison and meets an African-American woman with a soulful voice.
The season will conclude with a world premiere of Mark Twain’s River of Song (March 23-May 20, 2018), by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman, about the music and culture of America’s first superhighway— the Mississippi River. The cast will feature David Lutken.
The non-subscription programming will include A Christmas Carol (Nov. 28-Dec. 24), adapted and directed by Clements. Jonathan Wainwright will star as Scrooge.
Lastly, the Emerging Professional Residents will present Rep Lab (Feb. 15-19, 2018), a short-play festival.
Milwaukee Repertory Theater, founded in 1954, aims to ignite positive change in the cultural, social, and economic vitality of its community through theatre.
