'Come From Away': First musical to debut in Milwaukee Repertory Theater's new $80M building

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — The stage is set for a successful start to Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s 2025-2026 season in an $80 million new building.

The complex connects Milwaukee Rep’s historic, completely renovated building with a newly built 30,000-square-foot glass structure. There will be three flexible performance spaces, a 220-seat flexible black box, a 186-seat cabaret space, and a 671-seat theater.   

The mainstage performance space, the Ellen & Joe Checota Powerhouse Theater, is reconfigured to improve sightlines and seating. 

The executive director of the Ellen & Joe Checota Powerhouse Theater, Chad Bauman, said the new building is opening after 17 months of construction despite overwhelming odds, including a 1,000-year flood that decimated the organization’s production center.

“Seventy-one years ago, Mary John Widrig believed Milwaukee deserved a world-class theater. With the support of this community, Milwaukee Repertory Theater was born. From those early dreams, it has grown into one of the largest nonprofit theaters in the nation, serving 300,000 people annually. Her vision lives on in us today,” Bauman said.

“The Associated Bank Theater Center redefines the standard for theater across the region, allowing Milwaukee Rep to expand the boundaries of storytelling and advance the art of theater,” said Mark Clements, Artistic Director at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater .“The Associated Bank Theater Center opens up a new world of artistic possibilities to innovatively stage a surprising variety of works that explore our shared humanity, inspire meaningful dialogue, and offer audiences hope.”

"Come From Away," which opens Nov. 4, tells the true story of nearly 7,000 airline passengers from all over the world who were grounded in the small Canadian town of Gander during the wake of 9/11. Kelley Faulkner plays the role of Beverley Bass, the real-life pilot portrayed in the show.

“This is the story of how that community came together and took care of thousands of strangers, but then became friends and family,” Faulkner said. “I think that audiences will be reminded about compassion and about community and what those things mean to us today in 2025.”

You can find tickets for the production here.

Ellen & Joe Checota Powerhouse Theater