A bunny named Dog was beloved mascot and social media star of Renaissance Theaterworks

Renaissance Theaterworks, a company founded and led by women, had one male on the leadership team who was there to be petted and cuddled and look handsome on social media.

Dog, a curiously named miniature Holland Lop rabbit, was the mascot, brand ambassador and emblem of the theater company's quirky warmth and lived in the Renaissance office space. On the Renaissance website's staff page, he is listed as Chief Therapy Officer.

After a period of declining health due to an inherited condition, he died April 19, said Suzan Fete, Renaissance artistic director and one of Dog's devoted den mothers. Dog was 11 years old.

Dog joined the Renaissance family in 2014 after performing for a different Milwaukee theater group.

Former Renaissance staff member and company friend Mallory Metoxen was directing a Splinter Group production of "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds," which calls for one character to have a pet bunny. Dog passed the audition. The plan was for an actor in the show to bring the bunny home to live with her after the production ended, but her dog objected.

During that show's run, Dog had been living temporarily in the Renaissance office for convenience during rehearsals. We "had grown really fond of him," Fete said. So she and her colleagues decided to keep him.

Where did the bunny's name come from? Renaissance marketing director Sarah Kriger Hwang had a high school theater friend with a dog named Bunny, so she playfully suggested the obverse, resulting in a bunny named Dog.

"Bunnies are great pets," Fete said. "I had no idea. They're really clean. And they're very affectionate."

Being prey animals, they don't like being held or having their feet off the ground, she said. But if someone sat on the floor, Dog would come sit in their lap or next to them. He loved to be petted.

He also had a mischievous streak. If someone left a door open unnoticed, he loved to dash down the hall to Milwaukee Chamber Theater's office, once surprising Marcella Kearns under her desk, Fete said.

His favorite thing, Fete said, was when the Renaissance women were in the middle of a big project. He liked to lay on the floor amid all the chaos.

Visitors mostly enjoyed Dog, Fete said. But the one person who slandered him by calling him a rodent never worked at Renaissance again, Fete said sternly.

Fete believes former Renaissance publicist Izzy Rees was the person who first made Dog a social media star, capturing a thing rabbits do when they are happy: binkying, or jumping straight up in the air.

When Maria Pretzl joined Renaissance as marketing manager in 2023, she raised Dog's public profile even higher, frequently using him in Facebook and Instagram posts, sometimes pairing him with Kriger Hwang's service dog, Goblin. Dog (bunny) and dog had a friendly in-office relationship, Fete said.

During the lockdown period of COVID-19, Dog lived with Fete for about 18 months and also lived with production manager Bailey Wegner. When Fete brought him to the veterinarian for the last time, "I thanked him for all the joy he's given us during COVID," she said.

In addition to many photos, the Renaissance office has the impression of one of Dog's paws to remember him by.

"It's made me so happy to see the things that people have posted about him and how much he gave us," Fete said.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Farewell to Dog the bunny who was the face of Renaissance Theaterworks