MILWAUKEE: Due to the ongoing pandemic, Milwaukee Repertory Theater has canceled live performances until April, having previously planned to begin in-person programming this month.

“To ensure artistic and production quality, we must make decisions weeks in advance, and conditions were not conducive to allow a reopening as planned in February,” said executive director Chad Bauman in a statement. “We have collaborated with the City of Milwaukee’s health department and our partner unions to develop a robust safety plan that we hope will allow us to reopen very soon.”

Artists Lounge’s production of Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady of Song will now begin performances April 27 and run through May 23. In-person and online performances of Nina Simone: Four Women have been canceled. Additionally, Dick Enberg’s McGuire has been postponed indefinitely, and the premiere of Dael Orlandersmith and Antonio Edwards Suarez’s Antonio’s Song/I Was Dreaming of a Son has been moved to the 2021-22 season.

Milwaukee Rep will continue to offer virtual programming throughout the season, including We Rise, a Black History Month celebration airing every Monday night in February. They will also hold virtual auditions for the August Wilson Monologue Competition at the end of the month.