Located on Williamson Street in the heart of Madison's artsy coffee-shop neighborhood, the Broom Street Theater has had a reputation since 1968 of putting on original shows with radical subject matter. The theater has a long history of facing government opposition to putting a radical theater in Madison, but managed to stay afloat—keeping alive its mission to make sure no idea will ever be off-limits and to guarantee society's norms can always be challenged.
Written and directed by Broom Street Theatre member Callen Harty, ""Debs in Prison"" takes on socialism and anti-war fervor in 1918 Ohio, on the outbreak of World War I. A group of women are thrown into prison after some of them protest against the war at their debutante ball. The debutante prisoners include protesters Angie and Emily; Adelma, Angie's mother; Barb, whose ball was ruined by her best friend Angie and Monica, a manners coach.
It is very confusing as to why the latter three are in there at all, until plot twists later in the play reveal why. Before the ""debs"" are thrown in, the prison is occupied by Bernadette, a brash older woman whose sentence is almost up, and Francine, a quiet middle-aged woman who has had a previous relationship with Monica and keeps her reason for being in jail a secret.
Each woman has a different personality, which makes the seven-women-stuck-in-a-jail-cell dynamic interesting, but the personalities are such one-note stereotypes that the novelty wears thin fast. It gets tiring to hear Barb screaming that she hates sleeping on wooden beds and misses her pretty things, or Monica yelling at everyone to keep their bad language in check. With the exception of Bernadette, it's hard not to want to strangle all of them when each one shares her sob story or pushes her political agenda in the others' faces.
Because the debutantes are young people with idealist theories, we expect a degree of immaturity, but instead of learning to do something constructive, we get the adults cheering them on. The intent of the playwright no doubt was to take radical subject matter and humanize it by showing the faces of women on all sides of the spectrum. But it never really does that, as Adelma, Monica and Barb, who seem to represent the conservative, capitalist side of things midway through the plot flip sides, inhibiting any chance for good, political conversation.
The play brings up the issue of socialism, but never really follows through with it. Eugene Debs, the socialist and anti-war activist for which the play is named, is introduced in the first half hour of the play, yet never spoken of after. It is almost as if—in the interest in winning over an audience—the play is afraid to commit to a strong social stance, and the result looks like whiny radicalism without any backing.
The show's weakness doesn't lie in the subject matter, but the way in which it shies away from taking a strong stance on anything that isn't already preaching to a mostly liberal audience. The actresses don't do anything to help the poor writing and when a few of the characters do get out of prison, you wonder if they learned anything at all.
