Wild for Theater

There are few people more active in the Madison theater community than Brian Wild, who is a whirlwind of theatrical energy. Besides working a full-time job to pay the bills he is an actor, sound designer, composer, director, playwright, and Artistic Director, in addition to serving as a Board member and Treasurer of Broom Street Theater.

Wild started his theatrical career in school plays in central Wisconsin—in his hometown of Wausau and at college at Stevens Point—where he earned kudos for performances in Play It Again, Sam and Tartuffe. After moving to Madison he got involved with Madison’s experimental theater, Broom Street Theater, an avant-garde theater that produces nothing but original works. He has appeared on stage in dozens of roles with several groups, mostly at Broom Street. He has played everything from a lesbian doctor in The Abortionist to a child-molesting priest in Sexy Priests to the title character in Count Fagula. He was also memorable as the title character of Judge, Gene Rodenberry in I am Star Trek, and Col. Krink in Yoshi’s Heroes, among others.

Aside from acting he is an accomplished musician and composer. In central Wisconsin he was a singer and the keyboardist for the group, After You. In Madison his musical talents have been used primarily in sound design, a field in which he has been heralded as among the best in Wisconsin. He created the sound design for First Banana’s production of Angels in America, as well as dozens of others for several theater groups. In addition he wrote the scores for three musicals, including the smash hit, The Legend of Pinkbeard: Pirate of Men. He has written single songs for many other productions.

After many years on the boards Wild decided to try his hand at writing and directing in 1997. Since that time his plays form a litany of some of the more successful plays in the history of Broom Street Theater: Tales for a Millennium; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Dying; Pippi Long Stalking; Sex Kittens from Mars; The Ghost and Dr. Liz; The Dumb Ass; Tales for a New Millennium; Flowers for Dubya; 667: The Number of the Neighbor of the Beast; A Very Bitchy Christmas; and most recently, Dork Side of the Moon.

Wild has been the Artistic Director of Madison’s LGBTQ and allied youth theater group, Proud Theater, for the last four years. As Artistic Director he is responsible for the overall running of the organization, as well as putting together performances throughout the year and a culminating year-end performance, which this year will be held at the end of May at the Evjue Theater. After those performances he has about a week of free time scheduled before he gets back to work on his next project.