The
news that the
Bedlam Theatre will have to leave its West Bank space in six weeks to make room for an expanding mosque hit many fans of the offbeat troupe hard.
But Bedlam has periodically embraced and flirted with homelessness in the past as a possibly beneficial artistic state (see its 17-year history recounted in the
Twin Cities Daily Planet), only to be set straight by supporters who liked the company's current or earlier digs.
Now co-founder and -director John Bueche says exactly what the theater wants in a new space "is a good question. Sometimes our preconceptions have been proven short-sighted."
Even letting slip that the theater would concentrate its search within the city limits of Minneapolis was enough to generate emails from Bedlam-lovers in St. Paul and a phone call from the St. Paul mayor's office.
The group, founded by grads from St. Paul's Macalester College, has since backed off its insistence on the Mill City.
Would, say, a spot in a suburban strip mall be out of the question?
Bueche said the group, which has built up a loyal following through social events that go well beyond standard theatrical performance, now has two main criteria: "proximity to a young, diverse audience" and a location on "an alternative transit corridor."
That suggests that Bedlam's perfect space is the one from which they're being evicted--located only steps from the Cedar-Riverside light rail station and in the heart of the immigrant-rich West Bank neighborhood.
"It wasn't our choice," Bueche clarifies. "We'd be happy to stay." He sees a silver lining for the neighborhood Bedlam celebrated in its "West Bank Story" production. "We're moving because development is happening here"--due in part, he says, to resolution of decades-long lawsuits between local landowners.
Source: John Bueche, Bedlam Theatre
Writer: Chris Steller