Shows Category: 2015-16

A brilliant, headstrong pioneer at the dawn of modern astronomy, Henrietta Leavitt must leave her Wisconsin home to pursue her dream of studying the night sky. But she soon discovers that the distance to the stars is less than the distance to acceptance in the man’s world of turn-of-the-century science. Family, music, love and history come alive beneath a blanket of stars in this magical story of a scientist’s quest for the heavens in a society determined to keep a woman in her place.

In a run-down movie theater in central Massachusetts, three underpaid employees mop the floors and attend to one of the last 35-millimeter film projectors in the state. Amidst the daily drudgery, they navigate the small triumphs and heartbreaking moments that are the substance of our daily lives. Issues of race, class, family, and sex underline this awkward, funny, and incredibly touching play. With keen insight and a finely-tuned comic eye, The Flick is a hilarious and poignant cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world.

In a not-so-distant future where the grid has failed, society has crumbled, and memories can no longer be stored on hard drives, a group of survivors bands together to recreate their vanished world through theater, music, and remnants of popular culture. Anne Washburn’s imaginative dark comedy takes us on a post-apocalyptic thrill ride to a time when memory is the new currency, and theater is the new social media. Whether you’ve never seen The Simpsons or you know every episode by heart, you’ll enjoy this animated exploration of how the pop culture of one era evolves into the mythology of another.

Last winter, Forward Theater Company asked Wisconsin-based playwrights to submit their works for an opportunity to participate in their Wisconsin Wrights New Play Festival, part of FTC’s 2015-16 season. Forward Theater Company accepted stewardship of the Wisconsin Wrights program from the UW-Madison Division of Continuing Studies in the summer of 2014 and is making the program a bi-annual part of their season.

The purpose of the project is to give three playwrights the extraordinary opportunity to develop their plays with professional directors, dramaturgs, and actors, with rehearsals culminating in a public reading. The goal is to support the expansion and exercise of the playwriting craft, exploration of characters, and constructive critique by caring, invested artists.
In response, they received an overwhelming number of plays from Wisconsin playwrights, which then endured a critical selection process.