Milwaukee Chamber Theatre is inviting audiences to experience Maybe We'll Fly, a world-premiere play with music inspired by the life and work of Fox Point artist Mary Nohl, opening this week at the Broadway Theatre Center Studio Theatre. The production, created by playwright Marie Kohler with a score by composer Josh Schmidt, runs from Friday, September 18 through October 11. Opening weekend has already sold out.
As reported by TMJ4 News, the play was directed by Elizabeth Margolius and celebrates themes of creativity, individuality, and belonging. It includes live cello music and movement woven throughout the storytelling. The show clocks in at 80 minutes without an intermission, and its cast includes actors Karen Estrada, Leslie Fitzwater, Emma Rosenthal, Amelia Sajdak, and Lainey Techtmann, with cellist Alicia Storin performing live, according to the Broadway Theatre Center.
Kohler, an acclaimed playwright, described her approach to the material in an August statement reported by Milwaukee NNS, explaining that Maybe We'll Fly prioritizes emotional honesty over strict biographical accuracy, focusing on an aging artist coming to terms with mortality, control, and creative legacy. Rather than a documentary-style retelling of Nohl's life, the play is a thematic reimagining built around those universal questions.
Years of Workshops Shaped the Script
The play did not arrive quickly. It underwent a multi-year development process before this month's premiere, including public readings at the Warehouse Art Museum in 2023 and at Milwaukee Opera Theatre earlier in 2026, plus creative workshops hosted by American Players Theatre and Chicago's Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, according to details shared on Kohler's own site. That regional development path drew on collaborators across Wisconsin and Illinois before the piece reached the stage.
Composer Josh Schmidt, a Tony Award-nominated composer, brings national credentials to the project. He is known for scoring acclaimed productions including Adding Machine and The Minister's Wife, per VISIT Milwaukee. His involvement, paired with Kohler's decades in Milwaukee theater, gives the world premiere a level of polish rarely seen in a brand-new local work.
Who Was Mary Nohl
The real Mary Nohl, who lived from 1914 to 2001, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1930s before transforming her Fox Point cottage into a sprawling art environment filled with 59 concrete sculptures. That eccentric transformation earned her the local moniker “The Witch of Fox Point,” according to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. The property later received National Register recognition and Milwaukee County Landmark status; the Kohler Foundation discusses its preservation and endangered-property status, per the Kohler Foundation.
Nohl's influence didn't end with her death. She contributed $11.3 million to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation for visual arts and arts education, according to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. The Mary L. Nohl Fellowships support emerging and established local visual artists. That legacy also includes the Ruth Arts Mary L. Nohl Alumni Award, per the Lynden Sculpture Garden.
A Milestone Season for the Theater Company
Playwright Marie Kohler, a member of the Wisconsin Kohler manufacturing family, co-founded Milwaukee's women-run Renaissance Theaterworks in 1993 and served as its co-artistic director and resident playwright for 20 years before writing Maybe We'll Fly, according to her official biography. That long résumé in Milwaukee theater underlines just how deeply local this new production is rooted, even as it aims for wider recognition through Schmidt's national profile.
The timing carries extra weight for Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. The company has a five-decade commitment to producing professional plays by and for the local community, as underscored in promotional material shared by the theater. Audiences hoping to catch the show can save 20% on performances through October 4 using the promo code MaryNohl, with full ticket information available at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's website. Given that opening weekend is already sold out, theatergoers interested in the run through October 11 may want to move quickly.
