Milwaukee Opera Theatre presents a new play reading of MAYBE WE'LL FLY this Sat., Jan. 17 @ 4:30 p.m.

Name of Event: Milwaukee Opera Theatre presents a developmental reading of Maybe We’ll Fly, a new play with music by Marie Kohler and Josh Schmidt with direction by Elizabeth Margolius.

Description: Maybe We’ll Fly play is about one woman’s unstoppable desire to make art and is inspired by the life and work of Wisconsin outsider artist Mary Nohl (1914 – 2001), who built large, whimsical statues from cement and cast-off objects found around her lakeside home. The play explores what drives this artist’s aspiration to create, to delight and provoke her community . . . and to make her mark.

Dates & Times:

Friday, January 16 at 6:30 p.m. – SOLD OUT!

Saturday, January 17 at 1:30 p.m. – SOLD OUT!

Saturday, January 17 at 4:30 p.m.

Location: Florentine Leuders Opera Center; 926 E Burleigh Street; Milwaukee WI 53212

Cost: Tickets are $20 and support the development of new work at MOT!

For more info and to buy tickets: milwaukeeoperatheatre.org/maybe-well-fly-reading1

Website: Milwaukee Opera Theatre

This production is part of World Premiere Wisconsin. To learn more about the 2026 festival, please go to: worldpremierewisconsin.com

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About Marie Kohler

Marie Kohler is an American playwright, director, writer and producer. Her plays have earned nominations for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Harold & Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award & Citations, among others. Her play Boswell captured four-star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, went on to a sold-out Off-Broadway run and had a recent critically acclaimed production at Milwaukee’s Next Act Theatre. Her published plays include A Girl of the Limberlost, Boswell and Midnight and Moll Flanders. Kohler co-founded Milwaukee’s women-run Renaissance Theaterworks and served as Co-Artistic Director and Resident Playwright for 20 years. She received her BA at Harvard University and her MA at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. mariekohler.com/

About Milwaukee Opera Theatre

Milwaukee Opera Theatre (MOT) was founded in 1998 by soprano Charissa York Glazner, who perceived a need for a community-rooted, professional opera company in the Milwaukee area. MOT’s inaugural production, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, was staged in June 1999, marking the company’s first and only offering that initial season. The production enjoyed artistic enthusiasm and community support, enabling MOT to expand to three productions the following season while also building a board of directors and formally incorporating as a 501(c)3. After Charissa’s final performance in 2004, MOT was led by Dawn Riesing (2004-2006) and then Jillian Bruss (2006-2009). Through their leadership, MOT continued providing crucial career building opportunities to young singers and sharing approachable, accessible opera with area families. With the arrival of Jill Anna Ponasik in 2009, MOT began investing more time and attention in the development of new work, especially work created by Milwaukee-based artists, and in reimagining how opera might be shared with audiences in the twenty-first century. MOT entered a super charged, highly collaborative, era that now includes three to five full productions each season, three free educational programs and continuous new work in development.

MOT is now known for its eclectic repertoire: from classic operas staged in unconventional venues (like Zie Magic Flute staged at Tripoli Shrine) to new work, for new audiences (like Camille’s Rainbow – an opera for babies presented on the floor of an office suite) and its strong emphasis on local talent, ensuring that programming not only serves area audiences, but directly supports Milwaukee-based creatives, reinforcing their bedrock belief in art as a force for community-building.