Milwaukee Repertory Theater proudly announces the completion of the Associated Bank Theater Center Phase II construction with the grand opening of the reimagined Herro‑Franke Studio Theater featuring the Midwest premiere of Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Ayad Akhtar’s newest work, McNeal, running February 10 – March 22, 2026.
The newly transformed Herro‑Franke Studio Theater—Milwaukee Rep’s home for intimate, innovative storytelling—now features modular platforms, flexible seating for 182 to 224 patrons, and expanded production capabilities, allowing for larger casts and bold new staging possibilities.
The first production in the Herro-Franke Studio Theater is the Midwest premiere of McNeal by Ayad Akhtar, making this his 5th play produced by Milwaukee Rep in the past 10 years. McNeal is a darkly comic, razor‑sharp exploration of art and ambition in the age of artificial intelligence. Hailed by The Atlantic as “a brilliant and transfixing new play... Akhtar goes to a place that few writers have visited so effectively,” Milwaukee Rep’s production is directed by Artistic Director Mark Clements, and follows Jacob McNeal, a brilliant and dangerously charismatic novelist consumed by his own genius. As McNeal pushes the boundaries of creativity, the play probes urgent questions about authorship, truth, and originality in a rapidly shifting technological landscape. With jaw-dropping projections and special effects never before seen in the studio, McNeal breaks new ground of theatrical storytelling possibilities.
The cast of McNeal includes Peter Bradbury as Jacob McNeal, who has performed in nearly 30 Broadway productions and understudied Robert Downey Jr. in the sold-out World Premiere run at Lincoln Center, Jessica Ko (Much Ado About Nothing, American Players Theater) as Sahra, Tony Nominee Jeanne Paulsen (One House Over, Milwaukee Rep) as Stephie Banic, Ty Fanning (Othello with Denzel Washington, Broadway) as Harlan, N’Jameh Carama (Junk, Milwaukee Rep) as Natasha Braitwaite, Bridget Ann White (Will Roger’s Follies, Broadway) as Francine Blake, and Milwaukee Rep EPR Sara Sadjadi as Dipti.
McNeal is directed by Mark Clements with set design by Emily Lotz (Princess & the Pauper - A Bollywood Tale at Imagination Stage), costume design by Mieka van der Ploeg (Romeo and Juliet, Milwaukee Rep), lighting design by Jason Fassl (Come From Away, Milwaukee Rep), sound design and original music by Dan Kazemi (Romeo and Juliet, Milwaukee Rep), projection design by Timothy Kelly, stage manager Terence Orleans Alexander.
Ayad Akhtar, a Brookfield native, is a novelist, playwright, and Milwaukee Rep Board of Trustee. He is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for Fiction, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His acclaimed novel Homeland Elegies was hailed by The Washington Post as “a tour de force” and by The New York Times as “a beautiful novel…that circles, with pointed intellect, the possibilities and limitations of American life.” His debut novel American Dervish has been translated into over 20 languages. As a playwright, his works include McNeal (Lincoln Center, Broadway), Junk (Lincoln Center, Broadway; Kennedy Prize for American Drama, Tony nomination), Disgraced (Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony nomination), The Who & The What (Lincoln Center), and The Invisible Hand (NYTW; Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award, Olivier and Evening Standard nominations). His honors also include the Steinberg Playwriting Award, the Nestroy Award, the Erwin Piscator Award, and fellowships from the American Academy in Rome, MacDowell, Sundance, and Yaddo, where he serves as a Board Director. In 2021, he was named New York State Author by the New York State Writers Institute.
McNeal is presented by Christine Symchych and James McNulty with Executive Producers Abbie and David Nash and Mara and Craig Swan, Associate Producers Dr. Eric A. Durant and Scott A. Swickard, Marybeth and Harry Van Groll, and Greg and Rhonda Oberland. McNeal is a John (Jack) D. Lewis New Play Development Program production and part of the Four-Four Foundation Herro-Franke Studio Season.
To purchase tickets to McNeal go to www.MilwaukeeRep.com, call the Ticket Office at 414-224-9490 or visit in-person at 108 E Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee.
For more information, please visit www.MilwaukeeRep.com
::Fact Sheet::
McNeal
By Ayad Akhtar
Directed by Mark Clements
February 10 – March 22, 2026
Running time: Approximately 1 hour 45 minutes with no intermission
Opening Night is Friday, February 13 at 8pm
Community Nights:
Pride Night: Thursday, February 12 – For only $50 enjoy the show and a pre-show cocktails reception with your favorite Drag Queens and members of the LGTB Chamber of Commerce.
Teen Night: Wednesday, February 25 - For only $15 enjoy the show and a pre-show dinner with the Teen Council
Post-Show Experiences:
Afterwards: An Interactive AI Design Experience – Following the Thursday performances get a hands-on look at the AI tech behind McNeal. Design your own AI projection as an audience and discover how theater artists blend tech and storytelling.
Panel: Artificial Intelligence and Everyday Life – Wednesday, February 25. Join us post show with speakers Dr. Jeremy Kedziora, Ph.D Associate Professor MSOE; Gwen Miner, Educator Dr of Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy; Dr. Melissa Shew, Ph.D. Educator, Author, Editor, TEDex Speaker
Dinner Dialogue: Sunday, March 8, 4:30pm in the Herzfeld Foundation Education & Engagement Center. Join fellow community members for a shared meal and a guided conversation exploring the themes of current productions. Enjoy meaningful dialogue over delicious food and drink in a welcoming setting.
TalkBacks: Following the Tuesday Feb 17 and March 10 performances
Workshops:
Understanding AI: Promise, Peril, and Possibility Workshop: Wednesday, February 11, 6pm – 7:30pm in the Herzfeld Foundation Education & Engagement Center Classrooms.
Access Services
Audio-Described Performance: Tuesday, February 17 at 6:30pm – the show will be described for patrons who are blind or have low vision.
ASL Performance: Friday, March 20 at 7:30pm – the show will be signed for the deaf or hard of hearing.
Open-Captioned Performances with GalaPro, a real-time closed caption app
Thursday, February 19, 7:30pm
Wednesday, February 25, 1:30pm
Wednesday, March 4, 7:30pm
Sunday, March 15, 2pm
Saturday, March 21, 3pm
Ticket Information
Tickets: www.MilwaukeeRep.com, by phone at 414-224-9490, or Ticket Office at 108 E Wells Street, Milwaukee.
Hours: 12noon – 6pm; on performance days the Ticket Office remains open until 15 minutes past curtain.
Student Discounts: Students 18 and under can purchase $20 tickets for select seating areas.
25 & Under: Select $20 tickets available for patrons 25 & Under. (Select 25 & Under price at checkout online)
Group Sales: Discounted tickets for parties of 10+. Call 414-290-5340.
The Associated Bank Theater Center
Designed by EUA and theater consultants Fisher Dachs Associates (FDA), the $80.1 million complex connects Milwaukee Rep’s historic, completely renovated building with a newly built 30,000-square-foot glass structure that creates a welcoming main entrance to the Center. The transformed space allows Milwaukee Rep to push artistic boundaries with three flexible performance spaces; a 220-seat flexible black box, a 186-seat cabaret space, and a 671-seat theater with a transformable stage configuration and cutting-edge technology to create productions that can easily transfer to any stage in the country, including Broadway. The updated Center also includes the new Herzfeld Foundation Education & Engagement Center; 100-person donor lounge and event space, three revamped rehearsal halls, prop and costume shops, and administrative spaces; and the cascading Sandra & William Haack Galleria, unifying and creating streamlined circulation across the building’s theaters and public spaces.
Milwaukee Rep’s enlarged downtown footprint encompasses the completely gutted and reimagined 1898 Oneida Street Station, a national historic landmark former powerplant that has been home to the theater since 1987, and a newly constructed glass building situated between the former powerplant and the historic Pabst Theater, another historic building constructed in 1895. The elegant glass volume, which sits above a newly enhanced main entrance on Wells Street, connects—for the first time—all public spaces in the complex to the shared multi-level lobby. Engaging and activating the street, the transparent façade offers passersby a glimpse into the activity taking place inside the Center as patrons make their way to performances in the three theaters.
Milwaukee Rep’s capital project provides critical infrastructure updates to the theater’s more than a century old space, as well as updates to back-of-house and production technology to support increased performance capacity. The mainstage performance space, the Ellen & Joe Checota Powerhouse Theater, is reconfigured for improved sightlines with a new flexible stage that converts from a thrust to a proscenium, seating 568-671 patrons depending on the production’s configuration. The facility also accommodates increased accessibility within the space, including bariatric seating, quiet rooms, audio description, wheelchair accessibility in all seating zones, and hearing loop technology in order to welcome and inspire the many diverse populations of the region. Finally, the mainstage theater also includes updated, cutting-edge technology with an advanced digital sound system, a laser projection system, scenic automation systems for the newly created fly loft, programmable intelligent lighting, and livestreaming capabilities.
The Herro-Franke Studio Theater, Milwaukee Rep’s black box space for intimate productions, is reimagined with new modular platforms and seating that allows for audiences of 182 to 224 patrons, staging plays with larger casts, and greater production flexibility. The Stackner Cabaret, which was renovated in 2018 by Uihlein-Wilson Architects in advance of the larger transformation project, also has state-of-the-art production capabilities, updated front- and back-of-house amenities including a full bar and kitchen for a pre-show dining experience, and increased seating capacity for audiences of up to 186 patrons.
The theaters can be accessed via the skylit three-floor Sandra & William Haack Galleria that occupies the space in the glass building. The open lobby includes inviting pre- and post-show gathering spaces, The Lubar Lounge, which can hold up to 100 people, restrooms, a gift shop, coat check, and bars with food and beverage offerings. It also offers access to the new 2,700-square-foot Herzfeld Foundation Education & Engagement Center, which includes classroom, rehearsal, and performance spaces, as well as an outdoor patio lounge. The dedicated education facility allows Milwaukee Rep to grow programming that deepens audience engagement; increases accessibility; and improves literacy, supports social-emotional growth, and creates school-to-career pipelines for more than 30,000 students each year. New programming enabled by the Center includes Connections, an audience engagement series with post-show TalkBacks and community nights, and the launch of a School of Theater that offers classes, workshops, seminars, and camps. Milwaukee Rep will also continue its successful student programs such as in-school workshops, the national Next Narrative Monologue Competition, and apprenticeships for the next generation of artists.
As part of the capital project, the theater’s production shop was relocated off-site and expanded to a 35,000-square-foot facility that employs nearly 100 local artisans, advancing Milwaukee Rep’s role in supporting the region’s arts economy. Following the flooding earlier this year, the shop has to be completely rebuilt. The new Herzfeld Foundation Education & Engagement Center is housed in the space previously occupied by the shop.
The expansion of Milwaukee Rep reflects the theater’s tremendous growth over the past five years, at a time when the industry at large has been impacted by financial challenges due to declining audience attendance and increased production costs. Since 2020, Milwaukee Rep’s operating budget has increased more than 85% from roughly $9 million to $17 million, driven in part by a 40% increase in ticket sales and 41% Subscription revenue increase, with operating surpluses annually. In addition, over the last decade, Milwaukee Rep’s net assets have increased from $16 million to $108 million including multi-million dollar funds for new play development, education, engagement and artistic enhancement, making Milwaukee Rep one of the best capitalized theaters in the United States presenting exciting work including recent world and American premieres by Lloyd Suh, Dael Orlandersmith, Idris Goodwin, Andrew Bovell, Craig Lucas, Rick Cleveland, and Joanna Murray-Smith.
The fundraising campaign to expand and renovate Milwaukee Rep’s Associated Bank Theater Center has raised $80.1 million to date. Lead campaign funders include the Associated Bank, an anonymous donor, Ellen and Joe Checota, David & Julia Uihlein, The Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, and David Herro and Jay Franke.
About Milwaukee Repertory Theater
Milwaukee Rep is the largest performing arts organization in Wisconsin with its new artistic home in the Associated Bank Theater Center opening Fall 2025 with three unique performance venues—the Ellen & Joe Checota Powerhouse Theater, Herro-Franke Studio Theater, and Stackner Cabaret. For over seven decades, Milwaukee Rep has been a centerpiece of Milwaukee’s vibrant arts and cultural scene with productions ranging from Broadway musicals to Shakespeare to American Classics and New Works that are entertaining, inclusive and impactful. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mark Clements and Executive Director Chad Bauman, Milwaukee Repertory Theater ignites positive change in the cultural, social and economic vitality of its community by creating world-class theater experiences that entertain, provoke and inspire meaningful dialogue among an audience representative of Milwaukee’s rich diversity. More information visit www.MilwaukeeRep.com