Bedlam Theatre–collaborative, community and professional–has been producing radical theater since 1993."…the GUTSIEST, RISKIEST THEATER AROUND…"
- StarTribune on freewheeling in the Attic of Whim (2001)

Bedlam Theatre produces radical works of theater with a focus on collaboration and a unique blend of professional and community art. Since 1993, we have cultivated a distinctive aesthetic, which combines an overtly playful performance style with low-tech spectacle, experimental adventure, satyric barbarism and socio-political imagination.

THE YEAR AHEAD…

Along with ongoing programs and annual events, our main focus for 2006 is an expansive community creation process for our new musical, West Bank Story–which will premiere at Mixed Blood Theater in June 2006.

In our nine years in residence in Minneapolis’ West Bank, the bustling diversity of Minnesota’s most densely populated neighborhood has fed the energy of Bedlam’s work. This summer we began to develop West Bank Story, a new musical and original Bedlam creation. The title harkens the popular Broadway musical West Side Story about two gangs on the west side of New York City. West BANK Story will tell stories of past and current residents of the West Bank, it’s rollicking history in an original script, score and style befitting the Bedlam aesthetic and neighborhood’s vivid eclecticism.

In addition to this and other Bedlam Theatre feature productions, our ongoing programs include:

• Operation of Bedlam Studio as a venue and laboratory of innovative art. Bedlam Theatre’s West Bank Studio opened in 1996 as a new laboratory of the imagination. Uniquely placed in Minneapolis’ historic theater district, our Studio is not only a community center but also a creative hub for the invention, construction, rehearsal and performance of new works by the Bedlam company. In addition, other local and visiting performers–including theater, dance, puppet, and performance artists–also regularly inhabit our Studio for their own productions.
• The Bedlam Community Ten-Minute Festival, now in it’s 5th year. This festival features workshops in playwrighting, collaboration, directing and acting, bringing together Bedlam and local artists with community members of all skill levels to create new work. The 2005 festival featured 14 new plays and involved 70 actors, directors and writers–about half of whom were doing so for the first time. All performances sold to capacity.
• Bedlam Romps: unique cabarets that serve as an outlet for experimental artists to showcase new work alongside Bedlam?s regular installments of "The WYaskY Evening News" and ‘Five Minute Movies’ (live homages to Hollywood classics). A mainstay with Bedlam audiences since 1998, Romps create a highly charged, social atmosphere that encourages audience members to transcend passive observation and create their own performances.
• In partnership with Barebones Productions, Bedlam Studio has been the puppet factory for the a community created Halloween pageant since 1996. The Halloween Show engages 200 artists and volunteers an is seen by over 3000 audience members in Twin City parks every October.

THE YEAR BEHIND…

Local media consistently cite Bedlam’s distinct originality, and the company has begun to garner national attention. In December 2004, American Theater Magazine profiled Bedlam Theatre among innovative companies nationwide in it’s cover story: ‘Hot, Hip & on the Verge: A dozen young American companies you need to know.’

Bedlam Theatre feature productions in 2004-2005 included:

• To Shining Sea: the Imperial American History Pageant a 2002 hit by company members John Bueche and Tom Snell, remounted for a multi-city tour last summer, culminating in a three day run at New York’s acclaimed Theater for the New City. This winter we will continue to develop To Shining Sea and explore opportunities for a tour of the Midwest Region and Southwest U.S.
• In April 2005 we presented an original adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s classic Greek tale ‘The Flies.’ Incorporating bits from Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Don Marquis as well as narrator cockroaches Bedlam’s production was a multi-faceted feat.

Bedlam Studio productions by upstart companies and associate artists included:

• AUTOTOMY, a hand and shadow puppet show by Kristi Ternes and Roger Peet: cited in City Pages ‘Best of the Twin Cities 2004′ issue
• Empere Theater’s production of The Crucible directed by Maxine Klein
• Bloodlines – written and directed by Ariel Pinkerton
• Bright Eye Productions with Standing on the Table by Emma Nadler
• Artifacts/Redshift, an movement theater installation composed by Lelis Brito

‘Bedlam’s radical hi-jinks are a tool for disseminating provocative ideas about community, democracy and the power of the individual’
American Theater Magazine on Bedlam Theatre (2004)