Milwaukee Rep Makes Masks For Frontline Workers

With no sets to build and no costumes to construct, Milwaukee Rep has partnered with First Stage and Milwaukee Ballet to leverage resources to make masks and face shields for frontline workers at Children's Hospital, Froedert and the Medical College of Wisconsin. To date the organizations have donated over 10,000 pieces of PPE with weekly deliveries ongoing thanks in part to funding from the Northwestern Mutual Foundation.

Ten Milwaukee Rep employees, working in conjunction with First Stage and Milwaukee Ballet are producing 700-800 masks per week for Children's Hospital with an additional 100 masks going to Froedert every week. Twelve other employees, with the help of their families, are creating over 8,000 paper surgical masks per week for the Medical College of Wisconsin as long as mask-making kits are available. Additionally, Children's Hospital and Froedert will receive 200 face shields over the next 3 weeks that Milwaukee Rep was able to construct with materials found onsite.

"Jared Clarkin, our Director of Production at Milwaukee Rep is used to coordinating hundreds of talented people to bring a vision to life on stage," said Artistic Director Mark Clements. "That is why it is of no surprise to me that he proposed this effort and has worked tirelessly to utilize our resources and the resources of other performing arts groups for a common goal of protecting our frontline workers. As theater makers we are not used to sitting idle and while this may only be a small effort in the grand scheme of things, I'm glad our talented employees are stepping in to lend a hand."