New Play Development
Since 1958, Milwaukee Rep has premiered over 150 plays and musicals. In 2016, Milwaukee Rep rededicated and increased our commitment to New Plays with the creation of the John (Jack) D. Lewis New Play Development Program.
Our Ethos
We believe theater is the most immediate and intimate public forum for society to imagine its future through storytelling. Playwrights have the unique position to translate, challenge, and examine the most pressing and urgent societal and political changes of our epoch.
Milwaukee Rep is dedicated to meaningfully supporting new work that Entertains, Provokes, and Inspires. We work with new and established artists to cultivate theatrical works that we believe are vital to introduce to the American Theatre repertoire.
New Play Development projects range in scope, size, and genre, but they all exhibit the following criteria:
- Skillfully wrought theatrical works, plays, or musicals that demonstrate a high level of craftsmanship in story, structure, dialogue, and character development.
- Works that contain universal themes which appeal to a broad section of our community and contribute to the health and vitality of the American Theatre.
- Theatrical works that offer a rarely seen perspective and expand the representation of people, class, culture, ethnicity, abilities, and stories on the American stage.
- Theatrical works that address significant and urgent issues of our time and have the capacity to make an impact and initiate conversation with audiences and the community at large.
- Innovative and ambitious works that have a strong point of view, push the theatrical form in either content or aesthetic or both, or deal with unusual subject matter or handle subject matter in an unusual and unique way.
How We Work
Through the title of “New Play Development,” we support World Premieres, American Premieres, and second productions with writers in residence. We invest fully in living playwrights by producing new work in each of our three spaces – the Herro-Franke Studio Theater, a flexible black box seating up to 220, the Stackner Cabaret, a 182-seat cabaret space, and our flagship venue the Ellen & Joe Checota Powerhouse Theater, a transformable stage configuration and cutting-edge technology to create productions that can easily transfer to any stage in the country, including Broadway seating up to 671.
Our New Play Development model is producing-forward: we aim to develop projects that will benefit from Milwaukee Rep’s guidance and involvement, and for each piece that we commission to be on a clear path from idea to potential production.
We support each playwright’s full creative development and nurture their unique voice. We offer a customized, fully-resourced, and flexible process, tailored to each individual artist’s needs. We are deeply involved in every stage of a New Play Development process and work jointly with the artist to develop the script, build a creative team, and make sure the play is optimized for successful launch into the American Theatre landscape. We actively seek co-productions and co-commissions, and promote subsequent productions with other regional theaters.
In the News
Milwaukee Repertory Theater Expands New Play Development Program with New Commissions, Upcoming World and American Premieres, and a $1M Gift.
