Broom Street Theater, founded in 1969, is proud to announce that in celebration of our Fiftieth Anniversary Season, we are declaring a year of jubilee.

Admission to all shows will be free in 2019.

Artistic Director Doug Reed said, “Broom Street has always been about breaking down barriers and making the theater accessible. Storytelling is humankind’s oldest art form and live theater belongs to everyone. In that spirit, we’re getting rid of the gatekeeper. If there’s naught in your pockets but some lint and an old Jolly Rancher – come on in and see the show!”

It’s been our joy and privilege to bring locally-grown original theater to Madison for the last 50 years, and we look forward to the next 50.

Reed did add a few caveats, “Should you choose to contribute, we’ll still pass a basket before every show, and we’ll still make the tired old joke about going to church. We may sell a very few capitalist premium seats per show. Plus, there is a PayPal button on our website.”

Broom Street Theater is a non-profit, member-controlled theater located in Madison, Wisconsin. BST volunteers and staff foster artistic freedom, growth, and expression through non-traditional experimental and/or original artistic forms.

Shows in the Jubilee Season include:

Keep It!: Plucked From The Corpus of Joel Gersmann
Directed by Scott Feiner
Jan 25 – Feb 16

For our 50th Anniversary, we celebrate the artistic legacy of Joel Gersmann, our legendary artistic director from 1970 – 2005. Scenes and selections plucked from the over 100 plays he wrote. Compiled and directed by Scott Feiner.

Prom
Written by Rob Matsushita
Directed by Kathy Lynn Sliter
March 1 – March 23

Dust off your corsages for this slice-of life series of shorts, all somewhat connected to the 2018 Claymore High Senior Prom, in Claymore, New Jersey.

Best Friends Stab You (In The Front)
Written by Gina M. Gómez
Directed by Molly Vanderlin
April 5 – 27

As Kyle and Finn’s world comes crashing down,  secrets are discovered that not everyone is who they say they are.

Lysistrata
50th Anniversary Production!

By Aristophanes
Directed by Jen Plants
May 9 – June 1

Broom Street’s first production in 1969 was Aristophanes’ anti-war classic Lysistrata. It’s still as necessary today as it was then. Opens on May 9th, the 50th Anniversary of the 1969 production.

Sister Girl
By Prudence Wright Holmes
Directed by Janine Gardner
June 14 – July 6

The true story of Mary Elizabeth Bowser, a college-educated free black woman who was a spy in Jefferson Davis’ White House during the Civil War. Pretending to be a half-wit slave, she smuggled military secrets to the North for four years.