MILWAUKEE: Milwaukee Repertory Theater, in partnership with the Milwaukee Black Theater Festival, will present a free virtual conference on Sept. 9, 1-4 p.m. CT. The one-day event will feature industry and community speakers, a panel discussion, and the debut of an original commission by Milwaukee Rep. The conference is open to the public and can be accessed with this Zoom link.

Participants will include playwright and new director of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, Idris Goodwin, who will give a keynote address titled “Be A Citizen Artist.”  Playwright Cori Thomas will introduce her play, Welcome Home, an online commission for Milwaukee Rep’s “From Our Home to Your Home” series.  Milwaukee Chamber Theatre artistic director Brent Hazelton, Bronzeville Arts Ensemble artistic director Sheri Williams Pannell, UPAF President and CEO Deanna Tillisch, and Skylight Music Theatre artistic director Michael Unger will take part in a panel discussion around “Building and Sustaining a Diverse and Inclusive Arts in Milwaukee.” The panel will be moderated by Morgan Phelps, founder of Colorful Connections.

Additional speakers include the founder of Milwaukee’s first annual Black Theater Festival, Malkia Stampley; Catina Cole, founder of MPower Theater Group; DiMonte Henning, founder of Lights! Camera! Soul!; Milwaukee playwright Malaina Moore; and actor and costume designer Austin Winter, among others.

The Milwaukee Black Theater Festival is a multigenerational collaborative endeavor between Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Lights! Camera! Soul!, Bronzeville Arts Ensemble, Black Arts MKE, MPower Theater Group, as well as other notable Black Milwaukee independent artists and arts leaders. The festival aims to center Black narratives and better the Milwaukee theatre community for Black artists. The Festival runs now through Sept. 12.