Milwaukee Repertory Theatre faces $5 million in damages following historic flood 

WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre insists the show must go on after its Wauwatosa facility was flooded following the heavy rain earlier this month.

Milwaukee Rep says the Wauwatosa warehouse stored some of their sets, props, as well as some of their art supplies.

“Pretty devastating loss,” said Melissa Vartanian, the Managing Director of the Milwaukee Rep.

When the theatre received an alert about motion in their Wauwatosa warehouse earlier this month, they assumed it was an intruder.

“Actually, the water rising in the facility and motion that was detected from things that were moving throughout the facility,” said Vartanian.

What they found was four feet of water instead.

“You can only imagine how much of our equipment and everything that was in there was underwater. That water, our understanding, was mixed with sewage,” said Vartanian.

The theatre opened their Wauwatosa warehouse a little over a year ago to store sets and other props, but in the historic flooding, lost nearly all of it.

That’s all of our scenic equipment, our lumber, our tools, every saw that we had, all the hand tools that we had. All of our paint supplies, equipment, and of course the shops in which we worked,” said Vartanian.

All of the items damaged, Vartanian says, total a hefty price tag and a long journey towards cleanup and recovery ahead of them.

“I think right now, it’s well north of $5 million worth of damage that we’re estimating,” said Vartanian. “I think we’ve all been pretty overwhelmed and I think everyone’s going through different levels of grief.

Staff say with the help of community members as well as donors, they are hoping to open their first show on time.