A high school track star trains for the biggest meet of her life while the air itself turns against her in Red Days, a new drama by playwright Rachel Bublitz now making its Wisconsin premiere in Milwaukee. The production runs September 11 through September 19 at Pink's Accessible Theater House, 1104 W. Historic Mitchell St., with tickets priced at $30 for general admission and $15 for seniors, students, artists, and veterans.
The play is set in a future where an environmental crisis has taken a critical turn, and the sky itself has turned red from more than wildfires. At the center of the story is Dianna Abel, played by Nessiah Grace, a high school track star navigating her senior year of classes, athletics, family relationships, an internship, and first love while trying to decide which dream to pursue as she develops her own voice. She is determined to save the future of a world she never asked to inherit. According to Urban Milwaukee, the production is presented by All In Productions and directed by Erica Case, with performances starting at 7:30 pm and ending at 9:00 pm.
The Milwaukee run is produced by All In Productions, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit theater organization founded in 2014 that has spent more than a decade producing intimate contemporary theatrical works and championing local talent. Case, the company's Artistic Director, previously directed All In Productions' fall 2025 production Embers, which marked the company's return to full-length staging after a pandemic hiatus.
A Script Years in the Making
Red Days is set in Salt Lake City, Utah, and uses its unsettling premise to explore how toxic air directly impacts student athletes who must breathe heavily during outdoor practice, according to Adjusted Realists.
The script received its world premiere in January 2024, staged by Adjusted Realists, the theater company's site notes. Red Days was later published for theatrical licensing in March 2026 by Gitelman & Good Publishers, making the full script and performance rights available to regional theaters nationwide, with licensing fees set at $65 per performance alongside script purchase fees, according to Bublitz's own site.
Bublitz brings notable credentials to the project. She was awarded the 2020 Will Glickman Award for best new premiere play in the San Francisco Bay Area for her full-length drama Ripped, and her work has been produced across the United States, Canada, England, and Australia, according to Concord Theatricals.
Staged in Milwaukee's Newest Accessible Venue
The Wisconsin premiere lands at a building with its own recent history. Pink's Accessible Theater House officially opened with a ribbon-cutting in June 2026 after Pink Umbrella Theater Co. purchased the former 3,600-square-foot event venue for $385,000 to establish what organizers describe as Milwaukee's first fully accessible theater building, Hoodline previously reported. The facility was designed specifically around physical and cognitive accessibility for performers and patrons alike.
That setting adds a layer of resonance to a play centered on environmental crisis and public health. The fictional atmospheric crisis Bublitz imagined for a Salt Lake City-inspired stage is central to the play's environmental-crisis premise.
Cast, Crew, and Performance Details
Alongside Grace as Dianna Abel, the cast includes Brittany Haut as Connie Abel, Dianna's mother and coach, Patrice Hood as Leona Day, and Graham Olen as Andrew Lee, according to Urban Milwaukee's event listing. The production also features a September 17 understudy showcase featuring an all-understudy cast of Madison Penzkover as Dianna Abel, Taylor Miñan as Connie Abel, Ailie Snyder as Andrew Lee, and Sarah Mankowski-Lahtrum as Leona Day, with six of the seven scheduled performances featuring the primary cast, per BroadwayWorld.
The production team includes production manager Alex Scheurell, stage manager Cat Sadler, assistant director Dennis Lewis, intimacy director KaiLee Evans, graphic designer Heather David, and sound and music designer Ekene Ikegwuani, per the event listing. Red Days is tagged as theater under arts and entertainment, and the Wisconsin premiere brings together a topical climate drama, an established local nonprofit theater company, and Milwaukee's newest accessible performance venue in a single run through September 19.
