Milwaukee Rep's Mark Clements on the theater's $78 million transformation and bringing musicals to the mainstage

Mark Clements has been shaping Milwaukee's theatrical landscape for over a decade as artistic director of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. The internationally acclaimed director, whose work has graced stages across Europe and the United States, took the helm in 2010 and immediately made his mark by introducing musicals to the mainstage—a decision that has become a signature element of every season. Now, as the Rep embarks on an ambitious $78 million project to build a new theater and renovate its existing Powerhouse Theater complex, Clements is preparing to guide the company into its next chapter with the upcoming Associated Bank Theater Center.

Clements was one of the guests on “Milwaukee Made.” The following Q&A is from her chat with show host David Caruso.

Q: Before you arrived in Milwaukee, what was your impression of the city and why did you take the job?

Clements: “They interviewed me in July and they picked me up from the airport and it was Diane Dalton who was the general manager and she drove me along the lakefront past the Milwaukee Art Museum, stopped at what was North Point Custard at that point and got me some custard. It was a beautiful day. The lake was blue and I was like, ‘this is pretty nice.’ I will say that this was a great organization I was inheriting rather than having it start from scratch. I did end up making quite a lot of change and programming stylistically is very different to what they had done before, but it seemed like an organization that was genuinely ready for change. Often people say they're ready for change, but they aren't necessarily. They want more of the same, but with a new face perhaps. The public had enjoyed what they'd had up to then and it was a very strong base to build upon and felt I could bring my own individual tastes and talents to the organization.”

Q: And now what is your impression of our city?

Clements: “I'm very protective of it. I really don't like people criticizing it at all. I also love people discovering it. A lot of our actors from out of town, they haven't been to Milwaukee, our designers and some of our creative folks and production folks, and when they come here, they're really blown away by the city. I mean, I think we punch above our weight in terms of art. We punch above our weight in terms of restaurants and bars. And I think it's a hidden treasure. 

“And I do remember seeing in a magazine like Vogue a couple of years ago saying that Milwaukee was one of the greatest hidden treasures in the U.S. and I think that's true. I feel very at home here. A couple of times other folks have been knocking at the door and saying, ‘Hey, would you be interested?’ And I remember at one point talking to my wife about it and she's thought about it and she said, ‘oh, that would mean we'd have to leave Milwaukee.’ That would be pretty tough at this point because the donors, the trustees, our audience are just so very supportive and have been great. And it's testament to the fact that we're building an $78 million new building.”

Q: What does it mean to have an organization like the Milwaukee Rep in our city?

Clements: “I think in this city we punch above our weight in so many ways. I think having a theater that is definitely regarded in the top 10. I mean for recruiting actors and auditioning folks and getting real A-list designers, people often go, ‘oh, it's like Broadway.’ In fact, we just came back from a trip with 30 donors to New York City and we saw five plays in four days. And people were like, ‘I just love what you're doing at the Rep just as much.’ I always say jokingly that I want us to be the theatrical version of the Green Bay Packers. I love it when you go, I remember going to Hawaii and there was Green Bay Packer flags everywhere. I like the idea with the Packers, people go ‘Where is Green Bay?’ And they're just this sort of very local roots, local driven entity, but beloved nationally and internationally. And I think that's always been my aspiration for the company to have high expectation when you come in and then go away leaving with even more.”

Q: One of the great Milwaukee traditions of course is “A Christmas Carol,” and it's something that from year to year, families and everyone of all ages just loves the production. What do you think just makes it so special?

Clements: “My adaptation has been going since 2016 and the last couple of years I think we've really dialed it in. It's a very simple book. I mean, people who've not read it, it's 80 pages. And it's very basically a short story plus, but it packs in so much. It's a story I think about humanity. Charles Dickens was obviously an agent of social change and commentary and wanted to make sure that the ills of the world were being talked about. 

People love their traditions. It's in the Pabst, which is a beautiful space. When I did mine, I wanted to make sure that children stayed. They didn't want to go to the bathroom. They didn't want to go to the concession stand. That it wasn't too wordy. And at the time when I was writing it, my kid was sort of seven or eight and we were watching “Frozen” 33 times every night. And I was just watching how Disney constructed, how they keep attention as a science behind it. And so I try to apply that science to our version.”

Q: Beyond the new theater center, if you think about the Milwaukee Rep in five or 10 years down the road, what is your biggest dream and desire for the company?

Clements: “I think the executive leadership jobs in theater are about being a custodian. You put your mark on the place, you hope to put your creative stamp on it, and then it's for somebody else to take that and pivot and go away. My two predecessors were terrific directors and had different kind of focuses in their work from my own. And I think, for me, it's like each time you're kind of broadening people's horizons with each experience and you're on a journey with your audience. I want that to grow. And then I want someone, whoever follows me then to take that and run with that and see where that takes them. And they have their own passions and predilections for art and what they want to say.”