Milwaukee Rep Reaches $78 Million Goal For Massive Theater Overhaul
Previously cut project components restored, fall 2025 completion planned.
Rendering courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
Take a bow, Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
The theater organization announced Tuesday it reached its $78 million fundraising goal in its “Powering Milwaukee” project to overhaul its multi-theater complex, 108 E. Wells St., into the Associated Bank Theater Center.
“For more than 70 years, Milwaukee Rep supporters have demonstrated time and again that having world-class theater in Wisconsin makes our community a better place to live, work and play,” said Chad Bauman, Milwaukee Repertory Theater executive director in a statement. “With this extraordinary campaign, nearly 600 donors have given an incredible gift to future generations. When opened next year, the Associated Bank Theater Center will be one of the leading theater centers in the world with an innovative, downtown arts education center, three flagship theaters, welcoming and inspirational public spaces, and beautiful artist shops and rehearsal halls. We are so grateful for their vision and support.”
Construction work is already underway on the project, which must be carefully timed to avoid more disruption than necessary to the organization’s theater schedule. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in May and those traversing E. Wells Street near the Milwaukee River have likely noticed, as a sizable crane and other equipment fill part of the street.
For the 2024-2025 season, Milwaukee Rep shows are taking place in the previously-renovated Stackner Cabaret, the awaiting-overhaul Stiemke Studio and off-site venues. A 2025-2026 schedule, the first in the renovated complex, will be released in the spring, said the organization.
Reaching the campaign funding milestone means the organization can now add a series of previously-cut items back to the project. Restored project components include renovating the fifth floor administrative offices and restrooms where 75 Milwaukee Rep employees are based, renovating the fourth floor common area and kitchen, building new, accessible dressing rooms for the Herro-Franke Studio Theater and adding exterior signage along the Milwaukee RiverWalk.
In August 2023, the Rep previously reported it had raised 90% of its then-$75 million goal.
The new mainstage Ellen & Joe Checota Powerhouse Theater, to replace the 720-seat Quadracci Powerhouse theater, will have a flexible configuration, a fly loft to move scenery, accessibility improvements and new production technology. The number of seats would be reduced to 650, in part because the new seats would be wider. The organization says it will be the only theater with fixed seats in the world that can convert from a thrust to proscenium configuration, making it “compatible with every theater in the world.”
The black-box-style, 205-seat Stiemke Studio will be modernized to increase the capacity and provide for easier theater reconfigurations. A new lobby and sound barrier will also be created. Last November, it was announced that David Herro and Jay Franke made a $5 million gift, with $4 million going to the Powering Milwaukee campaign and $1 million to a new plays fund, that will see the new studio theater named the Herro-Franke Studio Theater. Work on it won’t begin until May 2025, allowing the Powerhouse Series shows to use the theater during the current season.
The 186-seat Stackner Cabaret, which was overhauled in 2018, will see minor changes.
The Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation and Milwaukee Rep announced a $5 million gift in January 2023 to fund the Herzfeld Foundation Education & Engagement Center. The new center will include a performance venue with seating for up to 125 patrons, multiple classrooms, accessible restrooms, a prep kitchen, a direct entrance from the Milwaukee RiverWalk and an event space that can also be used by community partners.
A new large lobby, named for Sandra and William Haack, will face E. Wells Street and is intended in part to better connect the theater complex with the attached buildings. A riverwalk gathering space will be named for Northwestern Mutual and allow for pre and post-show events. A 35,000-square-foot production center is planned within the complex. The Lubar Family donated $2.55 million to have a new premier lounge named The Lubar Family Donor Lounge.
Associated Bank, which owns the attached Associated Bank River Center tower, is the naming rights partner. The Pabst Theater and Saint Kate The Arts Hotel are also attached to the complex.
Milwaukee Rep is working with Eppstein Uhen Architects, Hunzinger Construction and construction management and advisory firm Chamberlin LLC on the complex’s development.
The theater portion of the development was most recently known as The Patty & Jay Baker Theater Complex and completed in the 1980s. The central building in the theater dates back to 1898 and was built for the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company as the Oneida Street Station. Designed by Herman Esser, it bears the notable engineering distinction of being the first power plant in the country to burn pulverized coal. Renderings depict the glassy lobby and common spaces enclosing a portion of the structure, but not hiding its distinctive design.
2023 Renderings
Complex Photos
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