Seth Freeman
Antonio’s Song/I Was Dreaming of a Son featuring Antonio Edwards Suarez was cancelled in March due to the pandemic. It will now .have its world premiere March 24–May 2, 2021
In the times we live in, “time” is now marked as “Pre-Pandemic” and (we hope) “Post-Pandemic.” But currently, live performance has virtually disappeared, with the hope of its return sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, the Milwaukee Rep will delay its upcoming 2020/21 season to November with a number of changes in an effort to produce a complete schedule of productions.
“We realized pretty quickly that a delay was necessary to provide us the best chance to produce a full season,” explains the Rep’s Artistic Director Mark Clements. “We are very fortunate to have a very engaged board full of business leaders and some medical professionals who have guided us from the beginning, helping us model a series of different scenarios. That said, we are not infectious disease experts, or government officials. We are doing the best we can with the knowledge we have to protect our staff and serve our community safely.”
The delay basically moves the start of the new season to November with a number of changes; the revised season will now officially start on Oct. 30, 2020 and run through June 27, 2021 and includes include three substitutions of previously announced plays, and. three canceled off-subscription plays:
• Steel Magnolias will replace John Proctor is the Villain in the Quadracci Powerhouse and will play June 1–27, 2021.
• Antonio’s Song / I Was Dreaming of a Son, which was cancelled this past March due to the pandemic, will have its world premiere March 24–May 2, 2021 replacing Tender Age in the Stiemke Studio.
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• The world premiere of Piano Men, featuring Milwaukee native piano man Steve Watts, will replace Blues in the Night in the Stackner Cabaret and will play May 14–June 27, 2021.
• The off-subscription offerings of the Rep Lab, Kathleen Turner: Finding My Voice and Lockdown, are cancelled.
But at least the Rep’s holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol, remains intact, celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, again in the Pabst Theater.
What to Keep, What to Cancel?
So, just how to go about deciding what plays to cancel and how to replace them?
“A lot of factors went into the decision to change out three of our productions,” Clements says. “The easiest decision was to bring Antonio’s Song by Dael Orlandersmith [Until the Flood] and Antonio Suarez into the Steimke since its run was canceled this season due to COVID-19. It’s a one-man show, was already built, and ready to go. The other two productions were more due to artist availability and timing. John Proctor is the Villain has a great appeal to younger audiences, particularly school groups, but with the schedule change that slot was in June when most schools are out for the summer.”
When asked what’s all involved in the delay, Clements sums it up succinctly;
“Everything!” Adding, “Chad Bauman [Rep Managing Director] has described the logistics of this as a ‘Rubik’s Cube from Hell.’ Every contract from the top all the way down to the bottom has had to be renegotiated once, sometimes three times.”
And there’s plenty more from where that came from: licensing agreements for each show, creative teams, actors, production teams and stagehands, he points out. “It’s a mine field. But we have to be prudent and responsible in our reopening and that includes all this extra work so that our staff and our audiences remain safe and experience the world class theater they are used to seeing from us.”
Given all the unforeseen challenges of revisions and delays, Clements emphasizes that some things do remain the same during this upheaval.
“I’ve learned what I’ve always known, actually—that theater is a collaborative art form, and we, as artists are extremely resilient, compassionate and nimble,” he says. “Bringing a production, let alone an entire season together is a delicate balance in normal times, let alone under the stress of a global pandemic. I have never been more proud of my staff, our audiences and donors for their trust in our ability to forge a thoughtful path forward so that we can gather again to experience the magic of live theater.”
