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Hi!
This is my first newsletter. I've been meaning to start one for years, and now I finally have a good reason.
For the past couple of years I've been building a show called MILKMAN ZERO. I've workshopped it at residencies and shown pieces of it along the way. This December it premieres: eight performances at Mitu580 in Gowanus, directed by Jerry Lieblich, with Kate McGee on lights and set and Ryan Gamblin on sound. I could not have asked for a better team.
The short version: it's a solo performance built inside a text adventure. I sit at a keyboard, I type, and the story spells itself out on a video wall behind me. It's a darkly funny horror story about a milkman trying to deliver milk. It gets much weirder from there.
Everything about the show lives at milkmanzero.com, and tickets are on sale today at matt-romein.com/tickets. Because you're on this list, the code CHUG gets you $25 tickets to any performance, and the first 10 tickets for each show are $20.
One ask: this is a self-produced show in a 60-seat theater, and word of mouth is everything. If you know someone who'd like this, forward them this email, send them to milkmanzero.com, or share it on Instagram.
I'd love to see you there.
Matt
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Key art by Yuan Peng
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Sad Soft Caves presents
MILKMAN ZERO
by Matt Romein · directed by Jerry Lieblich
One performer. One keyboard. One job. Deliver the milk…
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You are a milkman. You have a job to do. Deliver the milk. But the townspeople are insatiably milk-hungry, the mayor's eyes are brimming with milk-lust, and lurking in the milk-dark shadows, the Milk Monster stalks your every move. Still, you want to do a good job. Maybe even a great job…
MILKMAN ZERO is a darkly funny work of psychological horror built inside a text adventure, the oldest kind of computer game. No graphics, no images, just a world conjured with text and a blinking cursor waiting for the next command. Matt Romein plays the game live from a keyboard as the story spells itself out letter by letter on an LED wall behind him, every character landing with the clack of a typewriter. Like a ghost story around a campfire, the horror takes shape in the audience's collective imagination, one milk delivery at a time.
Work-in-progress showing at CATCH, The Invisible Dog Art Center, 2025. Photo: Maria Baranova.
Part solo performance, part live playthrough: over the course of an evening, the world of MILKMAN ZERO continues to exist only as long as the player keeps typing.
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When
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Week 1
Thu Dec 3 · 7:30pm (Opening)
Fri Dec 4 · 7:30pm
Sat Dec 5 · 7:30pm
Sun Dec 6 · 2:00pm
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Week 2
Thu Dec 10 · 7:30pm
Fri Dec 11 · 7:30pm
Sat Dec 12 · 7:30pm
Sun Dec 13 · 2:00pm
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Running time: 60 minutes, no intermission. Recommended for ages 13+.
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Where
MITU580
580 Sackett Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
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Tickets
$30 — General Admission
$20 — Early Bird (first 10 tickets for each performance)
$60 — Actual Cost Ticket
Use code CHUG at checkout for $25 tickets to any performance.
On sale now.
Get Tickets
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Credits
Writer, Coder, Performer: Matt Romein
Director: Jerry Lieblich
Lighting + Set Design: Kate McGee
Sound Design: Ryan Gamblin
Associate Producer: Leah Plante-Wiener
Key Art: Yuan Peng
Dramaturgical Consultant & Additional Material: James La Bella
Coding Consultant: Oren Shoham
A Sad Soft Caves Production
MILKMAN ZERO was made possible, in part, by the Franklin Furnace FUND 2025-26, supported by Jerome Foundation and the members and friends of Franklin Furnace Archive.
The production is developed, in part, with support from Theater Mitu's Artists-At-Home Program.
Full credits, bios, funders, and press info in the press release.
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