In 1997, the English-American Theater, based in Düsseldorf, Germany, was looking for up-and-coming theater companies and directors in London and New York to participate in their festival of American and British plays. New York director Lewis Magruder offered a production of Fool for Love, by Sam Shepard. The cast included Ty Burrell, Lowell Manfull, Virginia Queen, and Steve Wilson.
As this first gig was overseas, the name Broad Horizons Theatre Company caught on.
Fool for Love
October 23-27, 1997
Schauspielhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany
Virginia Queen as May and Ty Burrell as Eddie
After the successful fun of Fool for Love in Germany, the group returned home to New York. Before long, the idea emerged to pair a classic with a new piece and play them alongside each other in the same space or season. So, in 1998, the company produced a revival of Cloud 9, by Caryl Churchill, alongside Babble, a new piece created by brothers Ty and Duncan Burrell.
The Memorial Foundation for the Arts rewarded the company's production of Cloud 9 with an unsolicited grant and praise for high standards of production.
Cloud 9
January-February, 1998
New York City
Ty Burrell as Uncle Harry and Moss Roberts as Betty
Cap Pryor as Clive and Jeffrey C. Wolf as Joshua
Heather Landry as Lin and Lauren Dowden as Victoria
Helen Manfull as Maud
Cap Prylor as Clive and Heather Landry as Ellen
Lauren Dowden as Victoria and Moss Roberts as Edward
Babble
Ty Burrell
In 1999, war was raging in Kosovo and Myanmar. The company responded with a season whose focus was those victimized by the conflicts, in particular women refugees.
Staying with the idea of pairing a classic with something original, the company produced Women of Troy, the Greek tragedy by Euripides, as well as a multi-media event based on interviews and photographs of women who had survived as refugees of diverse conflicts around the globe.
Women of Troy
Summer, 1999
Kathy Lee Hart as Hecuba and Nedra Gallegos as Cassandra.
Kathy Lee Hart as Hecuba and Virginia Queen as Andromache.
Click the arrows below to learn about Broad Horizons' early years, from 1997 to 1999.
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