OUR STORY
Six Points Theater began as Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company (MJTC), born in July 1994, shortly after Founder & Producing Artistic Director Barbara Brooks gave birth to her son. Through his infancy, she thought about her identity and how she could continue her Jewish heritage into the next generation. Beyond that, she wondered how her son and his future friends — Jew and non-Jew alike — would learn to share and find richness in each other’s diversity.
A native New Yorker, Barbara came to Minnesota to pursue a graduate degree in music therapy at the University of Minnesota after receiving a B.A. in Music from Vassar College. Schooling was followed by appearances in musicals and plays in the east and Midwest, and teaching in the St. Paul Public Schools.
As she became more familiar with the Twin Cities, she sensed that there were fewer opportunities here for people of every heritage to learn about each others' culture than there were in New York, and that many local Jewish people felt as disengaged from their roots as she did. Barbara decided that if other major cities had theaters devoted to Jewish culture, Minnesota should have one, too. She gathered together a diverse group of like-minded community leaders and formed the non-profit, professional Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, known now as Six Points Theater.
OUR MISSION
Six Points Theater ignites the hearts and minds of people of all cultural backgrounds by producing theater of the highest artistic standards. Rooted in Jewish content, our work explores differences, illuminates commonalities, and fosters greater understanding among all people.
Barbara Brooks,
Founder & Producing Artistic Director
THEATER FACTS / ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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Founded in 1994 by Producing Artistic Director, Barbara Brooks.
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Six Points Theater is nationally recognized as the longest-running, preeminent, independent professional theater in the United States focusing on Jewish history and culture.
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Since 1995, Six Points Theater has produced over 100 plays and musicals. These have included 12 world premieres, and five commissions.
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Six Points Theater’s work has garnered five Ivey Awards and two Broadway World Awards and is the recipient of the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Arts Achievement Award. Productions have regularly been featured in local media.
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The theater has operated in the black and has been debt-free since its inception.
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Known for intimate, thought-provoking, bold theater, Six Points Theater produces contemporary works ranging from compelling, one-person shows and family-friendly dramas, to comedies, musicals and holiday plays.
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Our audience is as diverse as our world today. Every year, patrons are Jewish and non-Jewish, in nearly equal numbers. Audience members hail from a variety of locations across the country, including the Twin Cities, surrounding suburbs, all areas of Minnesota, throughout Wisconsin, and other states from coast to coast. Groups who attend are from community organizations, public and private schools, synagogues and churches.
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Financial support has come from hundreds of individuals and prestigious institutional sources.
WHAT WE DO
Mainstage Productions: Our season of plays is composed of summer, fall, winter, and spring productions, including a holiday show that is geared towards the youngest theatergoers.
Doorways: Ongoing free programs, designed to open the doors to greater understanding and enjoyment of the plays the theater presents.
Wellsprings: Six Points Theater’s initiative to develop new Jewish plays and support for Jewish playwrights.
The theater’s home is the 149-seat Highland Park Community Center Theater in St. Paul, MN, where the intimate space enables a special connection between the audience and artist.