Marie Kohler's world premiere MAYBE WE'LL FLY opens this September at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre

Milwaukee, WI – August 28, 2026 – Award-winning Wisconsin playwright Marie Kohler is delighted to announce that her play with music MAYBE WE'LL FLY will have its world premiere production at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. It will run September 18 – October 11, 2026 at the Studio Theatre in the Broadway Theatre Center located in the Historic Third Ward. This new work includes music by Tony-nominated Josh Schmidt and is inspired by the life of Wisconsin outsider artist Mary Nohl. The production will be directed by noted Chicago theater artist Elizabeth Margolius – stage and movement director. The production will also feature cellist Alicia Storin performing live music.

Discussing what drew her to write the play, Marie shared: "The inspiration of Mary Nohl and her creativity are at the emotional heart of the story. As is Nohl's spirit of adventure, her outsider style of making art, her drive to live and work exactly as she chose – that was an especially strong inspiration for me. Also, both human beings and artists often wonder what we might leave behind as legacy at the end of our lives. How do we approach aging and the loss of control? Mary Nohl had great control in the second half of her life – but being human, did not have the ultimate control of avoiding mortality."

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She added: "For me, emotional honesty was closer to what I strove for in this piece than factual truth. I wanted to bring to life the emotions of an artist facing her end while considering what her life's contributions had been . . . and exploring whether or not she can 'let go' of her emotional difficulties. That is the story I wanted to spin and share."

To read the full blog post "Inspired By," please go to: mariekohler.com/maries-take/inspired-by

Play description: Marie Kohler collaborates with composer Josh Schmidt in this theatrical, fictional reimagining of the life and work of Wisconsin outsider artist Mary Nohl (1914 – 2001). Nohl's unique vision sparked her to transform cast-off materials she collected into one-of-a-kind creations in the yard of her lakeshore home. "I turn trash into treasure," the play's Artist proclaims joyously to her world. The play explores what drives this artist's aspiration to create, to deal with her birth family, to delight and provoke her community . . . andto try and make her mark.

To learn more about the production or to purchase tickets, please go to: milwaukeechambertheatre.org/maybe-well-fly

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In addition to the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre production of MAYBE WE'LL FLY this fall, Marie's play MIDNIGHT AND MOLL FLANDERS will be produced by Theatre III in Acton, MA, April 2027. A free adaptation of Defoe's classic novel, the play begins on the eve of Moll's hanging at Newgate Prison and explores the influence of gender, class, free will and luck in an era as wildly entrepreneurial as our own. For more information, please visit: theatre3.org/upcoming/MollFlanders

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About Marie Kohler

Marie Kohler is a Wisconsin-based playwright, director, writer and producer. Her plays have earned nominations for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (three times); the Harold & Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award & Citations; the Playwrights' Center PlayLabs Festival (Semi-Finalist); Abingdon Theatre Reading Series (Finalist); Wisconsin Wrights New Play Festival (twice a Finalist); Todd McNerney Playwriting Award (Finalist); Charlotte Repertory Theatre's New Play Festival (Finalist) and Playwrights First Best New Play Award (Semi-Finalist). Her play BOSWELL captured four-star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, went on to a sold-out Off-Broadway run at 59E59 Theaters (2022) and had a stellar run at Milwaukee's Next Act Theatre (2025). Milwaukee Opera Theatre produced a popular staged reading of Marie's latest play, MAYBE WE'LL FLY, and it is scheduled for its premiere production in the fall of 2026 at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. MIDNIGHT AND MOLL FLANDERS, among her other plays, earned "Best of the Year" reviews. Her published plays include MIDNIGHT AND MOLL FLANDERS (2024), BOSWELL (2024) and A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST (2018).

Kohler co-founded Milwaukee's women-run Renaissance Theaterworks and served as Co-Artistic Director and Resident Playwright for 20 years. Milwaukee Arts Board named her "Artist of the Year" and "Friend of the Arts." In 2024, Kohler was elected a Fellow by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters.

She received her BA at Harvard University (Magna Cum Laude) and her MA at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Kohler has served on the Wisconsin Humanities and University of Wisconsin-Parkside Arts Board. She is also deeply committed to environmental conservation. Marie and her actor husband Brian Mani live in Spring Green and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. mariekohler.com

About Milwaukee Chamber Theatre

Founded in 1975 by Montgomery Davis and Ruth Schudson, guided until 2020 by Michael Wright and Kirsten Finn,and now led by Executive Artistic Director Brent Hazelton, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) partners with other arts organizations, community-based organizations and universities to produce thought-provoking productions and innovative outreach programs on an intimate, human scale. As part of its five-decade commitment to strengthening Milwaukee and Wisconsin's local artist community, MCT provides regular employment and a stable artistic home to professional artists through a five-play subscription series, the Young Playwrights Festival (YPF) and the Montgomery Davis Play Development Series (MDPDS). For more information, to purchase tickets or to make a donation please visit: milwaukeechambertheatre.org