Shows Category: 2019-20

Mary Jane is a single mother and tireless force. Armed with prescriptions, feeding tubes, and medical equipment, she fully embraces the daily grind of caring for her young, sick child. Mary Jane finds laughter and camaraderie within her community, and her grace and optimism fend off the persistently looming undertow.

Unexpected humor and exuberant warmth illuminate this beautifully detailed and moving story of one woman’s commitment to finding the light in a very dark world.

Ann and her four siblings gather at their childhood home to crack jokes, argue politics, and share stories. For Ann, each reminiscence brings her back to a favorite childhood memory: her star turn as Peter Pan on their hometown stage.

Soon, these brothers and sisters hear the call of Neverland, a magical place where the refusal to grow up does battle with the inevitability of growing old. A loving mixture of deathbed vigils, marching bands, the aches and pains of aging and the miracle of flight, For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday celebrates all the magic that theater – and life – have to offer.

You’re seven years old. Mum’s in hospital. Dad says she’s ‘done something stupid’. She finds it hard to be happy. So you start to make a list of everything that’s brilliant about the world. Everything that’s worth living for.

#1. Ice cream.
#2. Water fights.
#3. Staying up past your bedtime and being allowed to watch TV.

You leave it on her pillow, hoping. And you add to the list throughout your life.

An immersive storytelling experience blends comedy, improv, and audience interaction to tell the story of a boy growing up in the shadow of mental illness, and learning to grapple with his own adult experiences with love, loss and depression. Every Brilliant Thing provides a life-affirming jolt of humanism, reminding us that hope comes from the miracles of life’s minutiae.

Hollis is a performer in an itinerant troupe of actors attempting to outrun the Black Plague in this 14th century-set comedy by the author of Marjorie Prime. The Renaissance is still in the future, and so is the concept of self-determination. So when Hollis stops a performance to wonder why Mrs. Noah would get on that ark, she throws her castmates into chaos.

This thought-provoking and centuries-spanning play delights in the imaginations of theater-makers and theater-goers everywhere. And in a tale as inventive and hilarious as its characters, The Amateurs ponders the purpose of art in turbulent times.

Forward Theater Company’s biennial Wisconsin Wrights New Play Festival is an investment in new works that awards Wisconsin playwrights the rare opportunity to develop their plays in a professional public reading series.

Three full-length plays by Wisconsin authors were be chosen to receive a week-long rehearsal process with professional directors and actors. These plays will be read before the public over a three-day weekend, giving audience members the chance to peek behind the scenes of the play development process.