MILKMAN ZERO Turns a Text Adventure Into Live Horror Theater
Matt Romein types every command onstage in a solo show directed by Jerry Lieblich, premiering at Mitu580 in Brooklyn.
- When
- Dec. 3 to 13, 2026; Thursdays to Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
- Where
- Mitu580, Gowanus, Brooklyn
- Cost
- $20 early bird, $30 general admission, $60 actual cost
- When
- Jan. 20 to 24, 2027
- Where
- Mitu580, Gowanus, Brooklyn, as part of Under the Radar
MILKMAN ZERO is a text adventure played live onstage. Matt Romein sits at a keyboard and types commands such as "open door" and "deliver milk," and the story spells itself out letter by letter on a video wall behind the performer, each character landing with the clack of a typewriter while a foley soundscape fills in the town. There are no graphics. The player is a milkman on a route through a town that wants more milk than any route can supply, with a Milk Monster waiting in the dark, and the world lasts only as long as Romein keeps typing. The show uses the oldest kind of computer game to point at the newest habit: typing to a machine and waiting for it to type back.
The 60-minute solo show is the first production from Sad Soft Caves, Romein's new Brooklyn company, and is directed by Jerry Lieblich. It premieres at Mitu580, Theater Mitu's 60-seat black box in Gowanus, Dec. 3 to 13, then returns Jan. 20 to 24, 2027, as part of the Under the Radar festival. Earlier versions were shown at CATCH at the Invisible Dog and at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam in 2025, and it was part of Peter Burr's Cartune Xprez anniversary program at Roulette. The run is recommended for ages 13 and up. The details, team and tickets live on the show's site, built as an old desktop computer you click around.
Kate McGee, the Obie-winning lighting designer, handles lighting and set, and Ryan Gamblin, who composes with found media and uses systems as instruments, does sound. James La Bella, Romein's collaborator on God Mode at the Brick, is dramaturgical consultant; Oren Shoham, who builds real-time systems for experimental performance, consulted on the code; and Yuan Peng drew the key art. Romein's previous show, Bag of Worms with Peter Mills Weiss and Julia Mounsey, played Under the Radar in 2024.
Key art by Yuan Peng, and two views of a work-in-progress showing. Photos courtesy Matt Romein.
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