Arts News

The holiday season is just around the corner so there is no better time to make the performing arts a part of your holiday plans. From cherished classics to fresh, innovative entertainment, holiday fun awaits at every turn with UPAF Members & Affiliates!

UPAF Members are ready to present the best of music, dance and theater in the 2024-25 season.

The UPAF Members are ready to kick off an exciting 2023-24 season filled with the best in music, dance, song and theater!

Get ready for a fall filled with music, dance and theater with 2022-23 season announcements.

Choose from many great performances this December.

Get ready for a fall filled with music, dance and theater with the season announcements from the following UPAF Member (and secure your spot with a subscription at one or more of your favorite groups!).

Enjoy the summer sunshine with live performances from UPAF Member Groups!

Black Arts MKE has been awarded a generous grant from The Black Seed, a national strategic initiative focused on creating impact and “thrivability” for Black theater institutions. Awarding close to 100 one- or two-year grants up to $150,000, this is the first iteration in a long-term strategy for The Black Seed.

Learn more about how UPAF Member Groups are celebrating Black History Month and further amplifying the voices and stories of African American individuals throughout February.

While in-person performances may not be taking place this holiday season, the UPAF Member Groups are still ready to be a part of your family's holiday tradition in new and inventive ways.

Skylight Music Theatre announced two special events to launch Skylight’s first online/virtual, full-length musical, Being Earnest by Paul Gordon and Jay Gruska, which will be available for streaming Oct. 16 — Nov. 12, 2020.

Next Act Theatre opens its 31st season with the Wisconsin premiere of THE CHRISTIANS by Tony Award nominee Lucas Hnath, running virtually from November 23 - December 13, 2020.

Renaissance Theaterworks (RTW) & Adirondack Theatre Festival (ATF) are excited to announce the co-production of IN THE BOX ENTERTAINMENT, a series of live, interactive virtual experiences that entertain audiences from the comfort of their homes. All shows will include a box mailed to the ticket holder prior to the show, which will fuel their at-home, interactive experience.

Skylight Music Theatre announced a new Early Career Professional Internship Program (ECP). The company is seeking four, Milwaukee-area, early-career music theatre performers for the program; they will serve as standbys for mainstage productions during the current 2020-21 season.

With a full slate of online and in-person happenings, Present Music’s 2020-2021 season transcends the limitations imposed upon artists and audiences, creating a bold, new paradigm of live performance. The four headline performances, three "In the Key of Now" piano concerts, and two free events in the new Community Series make this PM’s most ambitious season to date.

Skylight Music Theatre unveiled their revised 2020-21 season, with a new line-up of outstanding music theatre addressing the realities of presenting live performances in the time of Covid-19. The season will open on Nov. 13 with LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS.

Br!NK 2020 will present two World Premiere plays by Rachel Bykowski and Jordan Ramirez Puckett, up-and-coming Midwestern women playwrights.

Michael Unger, Skylight Music Theatre Artistic Director, announced “MKE MaKEs” – a series to develop and present world premiere music theatre works. The program will encompass a wide range of new musical works from never-before-produced readings to fully produced world premieres. The 2020-21 Series will launch with focus on BIPOC authors.

Skylight Music Theatre Artistic Director Michael Unger announced today the upcoming concert From Skylight with Love: A Concert for Unity to open the first-annual Milwaukee Black Theatre Festival. The virtual production is free and available for streaming beginning Sunday, August 23 at 7 p.m. (CDT) through September 12, 2020.

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) MCT has continued to diligently explore how best to fulfill our 45-year mission of supporting local artists and deliver to you an inspirational and entertaining 20/21 season as safely as possible amidst the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 public health crisis. MCT has concluded that the current conditions will not allow a production of the previously announced season-opening production of PASSING STRANGE without unduly jeopardizing the health and safety of our artists, audience, staff, and neighbors. In place of PASSING STRANGE MCT it thrilled to announce the first annual Milwaukee Black Theater Festival.

Out of concern for the health and safety of our community, Renaissance Theaterworks made the difficult decision to suspend their production of ACTUALLY, by Anna Ziegler, scheduled to run March 27 – April 19, 2020. Because this show should not be missed, they are thrilled to offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stream a video of a fully-staged rehearsal performance.

For the health and safety of the community, families and artists, and the audiences served, First Stage’s current live performances and traditional, in-person Theater Academy classes and in-school curriculum are postponed as mandated through the COVID-19 pandemic and its necessary restrictions. In the meantime, First Stage has created a number of virtual resources to keep young people engaged from the safety of their homes.​​​​​​​

Skylight Music Theatre shares how they as an organization are working to combat the impact of COVID-19.

GRETEL!, a live folk rock musical comes to the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center with First Stage.

Next Act wraps up its 30th season with 9 CIRCLES by Bill Cain, running from April 2-26, 2020.

The Florentine Opera’s top executive Maggey Oplinger holds a major connection with the many opera singers who both perform on stage and try out for roles. She knows how hard it can be to pursue a career as a professional opera singer, having done it herself for nearly a decade, including some years on the European stage.