Broom Street Theater

Broom Street Theater

Broom Street Theater, on Williamson Street
Address	1119 Williamson Street Madison, Wisconsin  United States
Coordinates	43°04′56″N 89°21′55″W / 43.08211°N 89.36525°W / 43.08211; -89.36525Coordinates: 43°04′56″N 89°21′55″W / 43.08211°N 89.36525°W / 43.08211; -89.36525
Owner	Broom Street Theater
Capacity	50 to 99
Current use	Live theater, music and dance performance
Opened	August 12, 1977 (building)
Years active	1969–present
Website
www.bstonline.org

Broom Street Theater (also known as Broom Street or BST) is an experimental black box theater located in the heart of Madison's isthmus. As one of the oldest and most prolific experimental theater companies in the United States, it has produced over 300 original works. Productions are most frequently written and directed by local playwrights and artists, who are able to realize their vision without censorship of content or presentation. Broom Street Theater is a 501(c)(3) member-run non-profit which currently produces nine to ten plays per year.

Broom Street Theater was founded by Stuart Gordon in early 1969 in reaction to censorship attempts by the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Gordon's on-campus theater troupe, Screw Theater. The controversy surrounding nudity in the production of Peter Pan had received national attention in the fall of 1968. BST's first public performance, a reinterpretation of Lysistrata, occurred on May 9, 1969, after a several-months delay due to legal action by the Dane County District Attorney. Gordon left Broom Street after its first production, founding the Organic Theater Company, which moved to Chicago in 1970. Broom Street Theater has never performed on Broom Street, but takes its name from the location of its first rehearsal space, the third story of the Heeb warehouse, condemned and demolished by the City of Madison in 1969 to make way for a left-turn lane onto University Avenue.

After Lysistrata closed, Gordon ended his involvement with Broom Street, and a search was made for his replacement. Until June 1970, the theater's organization was fluid and changing, in a variety of administrative styles. Don Hilgenberg served as artistic director for several months in late 1969, and in 1970 there was an aesthetics committee selecting plays. In June 1970, Joel Gersmann began serving as artistic director. A search committee had previously selected him to direct the theater's second play, Woyzeck, in July 1969. Gersmann would serve as artistic director until his death in 2005.