This first-of-its-kind festival is a big, bold idea not just for Wisconsin but for all theaters. I see the same opportunity to crack open our capacity for wonder, now for the entire state. If this strange production is popping up in this forgotten and dilapidated corner of Milwaukee, what kind of infinite possibilities exists in the places we pass by every day, just waiting for someone to come along and activate them in a way that cracks open our capacity for wonder?įast forward over a decade since Youngblood to World Premiere Wisconsin, an inaugural statewide festival of new plays and musicals that I’m the festival producer of, and nearly 50 theater companies are participating in. Staging our plays everywhere but in the theater seemed to inject a little mystery into people’s lives. Doing shows in found spaces soon became a hallmark of Youngblood.

We did shows in warehouses and other found spaces partially because we didn’t know we probably shouldn’t and mostly because it was way cheaper than renting a theater space. Though it didn’t feel lucky at the time, it led to a group of us co-founding our own theater company, Youngblood, which remains one of the most formative periods of my life. When I graduated from UW-Milwaukee with a BFA in acting, my cohort and I were confronted with a lack of opportunities for young actors in Milwaukee.

Premiere 2021 crack