Just weeks before their seasons begin, the Milwaukee Rep and Next Act Theatre were hit with last weekend’s record rainfall and historic flooding.
The Rep sustained the most damage. Its 30,000-square-foot production center in Wauwatosa (1300 Glenview Pl.) saw about 3 feet of water, damaging “more than 75,000 unique props, costumes and set pieces, along with thousands of pieces of sound, lighting, rigging, welding, automation, projection and paint equipment,” according to a Thursday press release from executive director Chad Bauman. “Unfortunately, it appears that the majority of the building’s contents are a total loss.”
The production center opened in 2024 in conjunction with the Rep’s $80.1 million overhaul of the Associated Bank Theater Center, which is scheduled to have its grand opening in October. Before, the company’s production space was located in the theater complex. “We needed a larger space because we were doing more and more productions, more performances, had larger sets, and larger physical productions than we ever had before,” Bauman told Milwaukee Magazine in 2024.
In the Rep’s statement, Bauman said the damage “will likely exceed $5 million, which is the limit of our flood insurance policy.” The current set for A Christmas Carol was destroyed, as well as equipment from the theater complex being stored in the center during renovations.
“To ensure that we stay on track for the scheduled opening of the Associated Bank Theater Center and can still produce our upcoming fall and winter productions – including A Christmas Carol – we have begun setting up a temporary production shop at another location. We are also partnering with commercial production shops in the U.S. and Canada to assist in our recovery efforts.” Bauman estimated the production center will reopen by early 2026. The Rep is encouraging donations and ticket purchases to aid with recovery costs.
Next Act Theatre’s venue in Walker’s Point (255 S. Water St.) was also impacted by the flooding, but less significantly.
“Our performance area is untouched,” said marketing director A.J. Magoon via email. “We faced seepage in all our bathrooms (two in the lobby and two backstage), our dressing rooms, our backstage laundry room and the ticket office. … The carpet was saturated basically throughout the entire backstage.”
This forced Bombshell Theatre to cancel its closing performance of The Wedding Singer on Sunday, but neither it nor Next Act suffered major material losses. “It appears that there was no impact to our drywall,” Magoon said, “which greatly reduces the challenges we could have faced.”
Cleanup is already finished for Next Act. Little standing water remained when theater staff arrived on Sunday, Magoon said. Sid Grinker Restoration sanitized carpets and hard surface three times over the last week, and staff assisted with spot cleaning and putting things back in order. Next Act could not specify costs or insurance coverage at this time.
Schmitz ‘n Giggles has already opened their rental production of All My Sons this weekend, and “we will be full prepared to open Sanctuary City in September,” Magoon said. Next Act is also encourage donations and ticket purchase to offset costs.
