The Wake

Minneapolis has over 30 theaters and 100 theater companies, second only to New York City in the number of seats per capita. And with the thriving arts community, the Twin Cities are home to a multitude of creative ventures.

A group of students from Macalaster College started the Bedlam Theater Company 13 years ago, writing, rehearsing and producing plays together. In the spring of 1996 the Bedlam Studio opened on Cedar Avenue on the West Bank. The space was first used as rehearsal venue that the group used almost free of rent.

Soon the bare floors and red walls were filled with puppets, paintings and projects of all shapes, sizes and colors. Battle lines were drawn, showers were installed and artists were producing creative ideas all night and into the early morning.

An old surgical lamp, thrown out as trash by neighbors across the street, has become the center piece for a live performance, and stilts and fire-breathing are common tools used on stage.

The Bedlam Theater operates as a venue and laboratory for innovative art. They act not only as a community center but also as a creative hub for local artists. They also get visiting performances in theater, puppet and dance. “We are happy to have visiting artists using our space, we are happy to share our space,” Ward says.

In recent years, Bedlam has hosted performances by the Empere Theater and Unraveling Muses. They have featured shows directed by theater master Maxine Klein and hosted events such as ROMPS and the Dance off.

Bedlam Theater produces radical works with a unique blend of professional and community art. The Star Tribune called it “the gutsiest, riskiest theater around.” The bustling diversity of artists, ideas and culture in this city is what has fed the creative energy of the space.

“It has been a community center as much as a theater,” Ward says. “Our audience has become a part of our group.”

In American Theater Magazine Bedlam was listed among the “Hot, hip & on the Verge: A Dozen young American companies you need to know.”

“Bedlam’s radical hi-junks area tool for disseminating ideas about community, democracy and the power of the individual” American Theater Magazine says of the Bedlam Theater.

The Bedlam made their real connection to the community with their production of West Bank Story, which was produced in the summer of 2006 under Ward’s direction. The play is a Bedlam original based on the popular West Side Story. West Bank Story tells stories of past and current residents of the famous Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. From the Bohemian Flats below the hill to the towers that overshadow Cedar-Riverside.

The play goes all the way back to 1989 where Slovakian immigrants meet at the “boom-town-in-town” Cedar-Riverside. The scene is dominated by flour mill expansions and labor unions. It then moves to the West Bank in 1972, where immigrants fill a neighborhood of hippies, co-ops, rising towers and riots in the streets. Lastly, it’s two girls in 2006, one a spike-haired biker and the other a Somali. The two imagine ways for both their cultures to share one world.

The community was touched by the performance which highlighted their neighborhood and helped in creating a bond between the theater and the neighborhood in which it sits. The Bedlam has been receiving requests ever since for West Bank Story to run again.

“We have seen a lot of great things, if it wasn’t for Bedlam existing, not just as a place but the people, there would not be the kind of connections with the community that we have today,” Jo Manu said. “There was a lot of synergy made here.”

The building that Bedlam currently occupies on Cedar is shared with a mosque. Their landlord recently sold the building to the mosque, which has decided to use the entire building recently for their services. “We had always planned on moving but thought we had a few more years,” Ward said. Luckily for Bedlam, their new space is a five-minute walk from their old location. “The community was very supportive when we found out we were looking for new place,” Ward commented. “We were all happy to have found a place so close to our old location.”

The Bedlam Theater is moving down the road with only three of the original members left: Ward, John Bueche and Julian McFaul. The new space is located right by the Light Rail and the bike path on 6th and is over twice the size of the old location. They have a lobby, main stage and a fireplace room along with a large parking lot, office space and a deck with a view of the city. The new space, which they hope to open in January, offers a number of new opportunities for The Bedlam Theater. They are also hoping to obtain a liquor and wine license by late March.

“We are gearing up for an absolute blast at this space,” Bueche said. “It’s going to be jam packed with activity. Anyone in town with new, cool art should book it with us!”