A tale of two theater companies: The birth of Forward Theater Company and The Bricks Theatre

When the 40-year-old Madison Repertory Theatre shuttered its doors for good in March, it left a sizable hole in Madison’s professional theater world. It meant the loss of productions that rivaled shows in Chicago and New York, but more so, it marked the death of a key component in the Madison/Milwaukee/Spring Green theater nexus that allowed many talented professionals to cobble together successful careers among its various companies. Luckily, two groups of enterprising theater folks with ties to the Rep decided to found professional companies with very different charters and goals. The A.V. Club spoke with The Bricks Theatre’s Producing Director George Gonzalez and Forward Theater Company’s Artistic Director Jennifer Uphoff Gray to see how they got here, and what each company has in store for the upcoming year and beyond.

General measurements
The Bricks Theatre: TBT is billing itself as a professional theater, though with a slightly different definition than is normally employed at equity houses: Employees and actors will be paid for their time, and be required to keep a schedule, just not at union wages (for the time being, anyway). And that name? “It came directly from the fact that a theater is built with many pieces,” Gonzalez says. “I’ve always been fascinated with the behind-the-scenes nuts-and-bolts stuff that no one ever sees.”

Forward Theater Company: FTC is diving right in as an equity, union-wage theater, though it’s by no means a group of snooty types gazing down from an ivory theater tower. In fact, FTC is holding an open forum at the Madison Public Library’s downtown branch on Sept. 14. There, members of the public will be welcome to share thoughts on what they’d like to see from FTC both on and off the stage. “Our commitment is to hear from the community, so we know what they want,” Uphoff Gray says.

From the ashes
The Bricks Theatre: TBT was founded by three former Rep employees (Gonzalez, Ric Lantz, and Dave Pausch) who were prodded by the type of inspiration the recently jobless so often experience: fear. “When the Rep closed, me and my coworkers were sitting on our hands,” Gonzalez says. “We just decided to do this thing.”

Forward Theater Company: The Rep’s closing didn’t maroon any of the FTC founders (though some had former ties to the company), but its loss was still felt. The founding members thought the Rep’s shutdown would prompt at least some of the excellent theater pros in the area to leave, and they didn’t want that to happen. “For the past 20 years or so, there was the sense that theater professionals could build a career between Madison, Milwaukee, and Spring Green,” Uphoff Gray says. “Losing the Rep felt like the middle just dropped out.”

Mission impossible?
The Bricks Theatre: TBT knew firsthand that Madison’s demographic would make it tough to support theater on the scale of what’s put on in Chicago or even Milwaukee. That said, it did feel there was a niche to fill in Madison’s music- and sports-crazed community, so TBT decided to not take itself all that seriously (Tagline: "For entertainment purposes only"), concentrate on fun, and try to appeal to the massive crowd in the 18-34 age bracket. “We’re trying to make TBT fit Madison, and not the other way around,” Gonzalez says. “Theater can be just as rocking as a concert, or as fun as a sporting event.”

Forward Theater Company: While FTC is taking a much more straightforward approach to its endeavor, and Uphoff Gray readily admits it wouldn’t exist if the Rep hadn’t gone under, its structure is one that goes beyond the traditional setup of most theater companies. It’ll have a standard artistic staff and board of directors, but also a third branch made up of artists—the advisory company—that’s paired one-to-one in a buddy system with each of the board members. Uphoff Gray says companies often get into trouble when the board and artistic staff have trouble communicating. By creating the advisory company, FTC hopes to avoid these types of conflicts, as no decisions will be made without sign-off from both the board and advisory committee. “We didn’t want a situation where a small group of people could get rid of the artistic or managing director,” Uphoff Gray says.

Act I and everything after
The Bricks Theatre: The key elements of TBT’s strategy to market theater to those who might think of it as a stodgy enterprise is twofold: unusual venues and equally unusual productions. TBT’s first show will be held at the music club and bar The Frequency (121 W. Main St.), with plans in the works to explore holding shows at the Majestic Theatre, Café Zoma, and even abandoned and “found spaces.” In turn, the first show TBT is producing is An Adult Evening Of Shel Silverstein, which includes six of Silverstein’s short works originally collected by David Mamet. For those who only know Silverstein from his books The Giving Tree and Where The Sidewalk Ends, Silverstein was in fact a tireless artist who penned numerous songs, and even drew cartoons for Playboy. “The play is a really fun time, and doing it at a place like The Frequency just made sense to us,” Gonzalez says.

Forward Theater Company: Even with FTC’s mission being a little less irreverent, its initial three-play season still places a heavy emphasis on lightheartedness. After opening with the classic All About Eve, and closing with a staged reading of Kiritsis (the winner of the Wisconsin Wrights New Play Festival), FTC scored big by securing the rights to the centerpiece of its season, Why Torture Is Wrong, And The People Who Love Them. It’s a political satire that played to fantastic reviews in New York, and this will be its first Midwestern production. “It’s silly and funny and has something to say,” Uphoff Gray says, “And for us, that’s really the Holy Grail."