Our Home States

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Scott Feiner

Two actors playing trees observe another actor at center stage.

Joel Davidson, Christian Kind and Amy Rowland (from left) in the short play "Gullen, Kansas" by Alex Goldberg, part of the Broom Street Theater production "Our Home States," 2023.

Broom Street Theater, where local playwrights usually rule, presents the start of one of its long-term projects. Our Home States is a series of short plays that the theater solicited from each of our fabulous 50 states (though of course some are a little less fabulous than others — the states, that is, not the plays!). Broom Street begins what will be four years of productions with a compilation of plays from the Midwest. Shows are at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday (no show Aug. 3).

media release: Broom Street Theater is proud to present Our Home States, a short play festival presenting one play from each of our 50 "united" states. This is the inaugural year of the four year festival, and Broom Street has chosen to kick off close to home, with plays focused on exploring the 12 Midwestern states.

"We put out a nationwide call for submissions asking for writers who were born in, lived in, or had some connection to each of the midwestern states." said Broom Street's Artistic Director Maria Dahman. 

Our Home States received submissions from every midwestern state except the Dakotas. Festival coordinator Doug Reed said "Try as we might, we couldn't get a play focused on either Dakota. So Maria Dahman wrote a short piece about her experiences in South Dakota and I wrote about a landmark I once drove through in North Dakota."

The plays, which range from two to ten minutes long, are Lady Balls by Allison Fradkin (Indiana), Bikers Of The Corn by Marisa Kahler (Iowa), Enchanted Highway by Doug Reed (North Dakota), Roots by James McLindon (Ohio), Five Miles Long, Two Hundred Feet High by Maripat Allen (Michigan), Why A Duck? by Claudia Haas (Wisconsin), Guellen, Kansas by Alex Goldberg (Kansas), Becky And Tom by Rex McGregor (Missouri), Soul Laid Bare by Maria Dahman (South Dakota), A Paper Forest by Claudia Haas (Minnesota), Between Corn And Warren Buffett by Jean Koppen (Nebraska), The Margarine Runners by Kathleen Allison Johnson (Illinois/Wisconsin border - but mostly Wisconsin)

"We had two submissions for Wisconsin we really liked, and one of them focused on the Illinois border, so rather than accept a submission from Illinois we gave their slot to a Wisconsin play. It's a nice middle finger to our neighbors from the south" said Doug Reed, the festival's coordinator. Reed then went on to add many unprintable observations about Illinois drivers. 

Dahman says that the festival features a mix of theatrical veterans and first-timers. She sees the festival as a chance to cultivate new actors and new directors. "It's sometimes easier to get your feet wet on a short play than it is to be thrown into a full-length two-act production."

The cast includes Samuel Alvarez, Miranda Belle, Joel Davidson, Allen Jeannette, Christian Kind, River Knight, Colleen Murphy, Abby Pawelski, Carol Robinson, Amy Rowland, Maria Segura, Steven E. Smith, and Brent West.

The plays were directed by Bernie Hein, Brent Holmes, Jan Levine Thal, Kathleen Tissot, and Robyn Norton.

Performances begin at 8pm Thursday - Saturday night from July 21 - August 12. There will be no show Thursday August 3. Advance tickets are available at www.bstonline.org. 

Broom Street Theater always reserves a block of seats for walk-up audience members. Walk-up tickets are always Pay-What-You-Can. "Even if the website says we're sold out," says Dahman, "we're not sold out. You can always get in line at the theater and see the most affordable show in town."