First Stage Milwaukee, Incorporated | Milwaukee, WI **
Equity stage managers for First Stage's 2025-26 Season.
Please submit your resume for consideration to Sammy Brown, Director of Production. **Deadline:** 04/01/2025
- Artistic Director: Jeff Frank - Associate Artistic Director: Michelle LoRicco - Director of Artistic Inclusion and Community Engagement: Samantha Montgomery - Director of Production: Sammy Brown - Academy Director: J.T. Backes - Education Director: Brinn Hill - Academy Manager: Chris Orth See breakdown for production specific personnel.
See breakdown for production specific dates.
Equity contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to submit.
FIRST STAGE is proud to employ between 24-32 professional actors every season, and there are opportunities for Internships, Understudies, and Teaching Artist Fellows. FIRST STAGE employs Actor’s Equity Association actors and Non-Equity actors under a Theatre For Young Audience (TYA) Contract. First Stage is one of the nation’s largest professional theatres for young audiences. We are an Equity theatre that also hires non-Equity actors and understudies for all shows. Contracts run in length from six to nine weeks. We do age-appropriate casting for our young roles, and cast anywhere from five to twenty-five young performers per show. We also are interested in actors who have experience or potential as teaching artists either in our Theater in Education department or our nationally acclaimed Theater Academy. For more information about auditions, contact Artistic Director Jeff Frank at
jfrank@firststage.org,
auditions@firststage.org or (414) 267-2981 – or Associate Artistic Director Michelle LoRicco
mloricco@firststage.org. When possible, please submit your headshot and resume electronically ahead of time.
We are always looking for teaching artists for our Theater in Education programs during the school year, and our Theater Academy during the school year and in the summer. Please send your interest and resume to J.T. Backes at
jtbackes@firststage.org if you are interested in Academy opportunities or Brinn Hill at
bhill@firststage.org if you are interested in working in our in-school and after school education programs.
First Stage 2025-26 Season
ABOUT FIRST STAGE:
Artistic Director: Jeff Frank
Associate Artistic Director: Michelle LoRicco Director of Artistic Inclusion and Community Engagement: Samantha Montgomery Director of Production: Sammy Brown Academy Director: J.T. Backes
Education Director: Brinn Hill
Academy Manager: Chris Orth
See breakdown for production specific personnel.
See breakdown for production specific dates.
OTHER
Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to submit.
FIRST STAGE is proud to employ between 24-32 professional actors every season, and there are opportunities for Internships, Understudies, and Teaching Artist Fellows. FIRST STAGE employs Actor’s Equity Association Actors and Non-Equity actors under a Theatre For Young Audience (TYA) Contract. First Stage is one of the nation’s largest professional theatre for young audiences. We are an Equity theatre that also hires non-equity actors and understudies for all shows. Contracts run in length from six to nine weeks. We do age-appropriate casting for our young roles, and cast anywhere from five to twenty-five young performers per show. We also are interested in actors who have experience or potential as teaching artists either in our Theater in Education department or our nationally acclaimed Theater Academy. For more information about auditions, contact Artistic Director Jeff Frank at jfrank@firststage.org, auditions@firststage.org or (414) 267-2981 – or Associate Artistic Director Michelle LoRicco mloricco@firststage.org. When possible, please submit your headshot and resume electronically ahead of time.
HOW TO GET MORE INVOLVED AT FIRST STAGE?
We are always looking for teaching artists for our Theater in Education programs during the school year, and our Theater Academy during the school year and in the summer. Please send your interest and resume to JT Backes at jtbackes@firststage.org if you are interested in Academy opportunities or Brinn Hill at bhill@firststage.org if you are interested in working in our in-school and after school education programs.
Book and Lyrics by John Maclay
Music and Lyrics by Danny Abosch
Based on Phantom of the Auditorium from the Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine Directed by Jeff Frank
Originally commissioned by First Stage and Oregon Children’s Theatre.
Rehearsal Dates: Sept. 17 – Oct. 10, 2025
Tues-Fri 4-8:30pm
Sat 12:30-4pm, 5-8:30pm
Sun 10-1:30pm, 2:30-6pm
Performance Dates: Oct. 11 – Nov. 2, 2025
*There will be two casts of young performers performing on alternating dates Wednesday through Sunday.
SYNOPSIS: Best friends and long-time horror fans Brooke and Zeke are cast as the leads in the school’s new production of an old play about a phantom. Strange things start disrupting rehearsals and they have to wonder: is this someone’s idea of a joke? Or is the Phantom real?
By Mo Willems with music by Debbie Wicks LaPuma
Directed by Michelle LoRicco
Inspired by his book DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE SLEIGH
Rehearsal Dates: Oct. 29 – Nov. 20, 2025
Tues-Fri 4-8:30pm
Sat 12:30-4pm or 5-8:30pm
Sun 10-1:30pm or 2:30-6pm
Performance Dates: Nov. 21 – Dec. 28, 2025
*There will be two casts of young performers performing on alternating dates Wednesday through Sunday.
SYNOPSIS: Mo Willems has crafted a new holiday musical sure to delight fans of all ages. Featuring Elephant and Piggie, Pigeon and a bunch of our friends from the Unlimited Squirrels series this musical adventure takes us to the north pole on a rollicking journey to discover the magic of Christmas and the power of true friendship.
Adapted by Doug Rand from the Novel by JM Barrie
TYA version adapted by Jeff Frank and First Stage
Directed by Jeff Frank
Rehearsal Dates: Jan. 28 – Feb. 19, 2026
Tues-Fri 4-8:30pm
Sat 12:30-4pm or 5-8:30pm
Sun 10-1:30pm or 2:30-6pm
Performance Dates: Feb. 20 – Mar. 22, 2026
*There will be two casts of young performers performing on alternating dates Wednesday through Sunday.
SYNOPSIS: Rediscover the loopy fun and the darker corners of J.M. Barrie's original novel with this faithful, fast-moving, and easy-to-stage adaptation. When the carefree and careless Peter Pan flies into the nursery of the Darling home, Wendy follows her instincts for maternity and adventure, bringing her little brothers along to the magical Neverland to take care of the motherless Lost Boys. Soon the Darling children are swept into Peter's deadly battle with Captain Hook and his mostly-fearsome pirate crew. With so much excitement, why ever go home again...?
NOTE: This show will involve highly stylized, Koken movement, lifts, and potential stage combat, puppetry
Music and Lyrics by Robert Lopez and Kristin Anderson-Lopez
Book by Jennifer Lee
Originally directed on Broadway by Michael Grandage
Based on the Disney film written by Jennifer Lee and directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee. Directed by Michael Dean Morgan
Assistant Directed & Choreographed by Michelle LoRicco
Rehearsal Dates: Mar. 11 – April 10, 2026
Tues-Fri 4-8:30pm
Sat 12:30-4pm or 5-8:30pm
Sun 10-1:30pm or 2:30-6pm
Performance Dates: April 11 – May 17, 2026
*There will be two casts of young performers performing on alternating dates Wednesday through Sunday.
SYNOPSIS: Based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature film, Disney’s Frozen includes all the film’s beloved songs by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, along with new music written exclusively for the stage. In the beautiful mountainous kingdom of Arendelle, Princesses Anna and Elsa grow up sheltered inside their castle, isolated from the world and increasingly distant from each other. When Elsa is crowned queen, the magical powers she’s desperately tried to conceal from her sister take control, and she flees into the mountains. As a ferocious winter descends on Arendelle, Anna sets off on an epic journey to find Elsa and bring her home – with the help of hardworking ice harvester Kristoff, his loyal reindeer Sven, and a happy-go-lucky snowman named Olaf.
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