BOISE CONTEMPORARY THEATER

About the Theatre

Boise Contemporary Theater is a professional theater company in Boise, Idaho, whose mission is to inspire our community to examine our perspectives and better understand ourselves, each other, and the world around us by creating thought-provoking stories of the human experience.  

Founded in 1997, BCT is the only nonprofit professional theater within 300 miles dedicated to producing challenging new work. BCT is a recipient of the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, a two-time recipient of the National Theater Company Award from the American Theater Wing, and the 2022–23 City of Boise Cultural Ambassador. In its first 25 Seasons, BCT presented over 90 MainStage productions, including 25 world premieres, such as Eric Coble’s The Velocity of Autumn (which continued to Broadway). 

Our MainStage season of five productions brings more than 12,000 visitors to BCT. Another 3,000-plus visitors enjoy our season-long reading series and summer reading series, both dedicated to bold new works, as well as a children’s reading series. Our annual BIPOC Playwrights Festival, launched in 2021, furthers our commitment to presenting diverse new voices. 

BCT’s education program, A.C.T. at BCT, strives to reach a broad audience representative of our community. We serve over 2,000 students through onsite and outreach Theater Lab programs in which students conceive, write, produce, and perform in their own original productions. We continue expanding our outreach programs to include more underserved schools with high populations of low-income, at-risk, and refugee students. 

BCT’s intimate black box space seats 231 guests. We own and perform in a historic building in the BODO District of downtown Boise, the hub of Boise’s cultural community. BCT hosts or collaborates with myriad local arts organizations, including The Morrison Center for the Performing Arts, Opera Idaho, Idaho Botanical Garden, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and Treefort Music Fest.

Primary Trust

Feb 4 – Feb 21, 2026

Primary Trust shows how small acts of encouragement impact others in unpredictable ways- how friendship can be a cure for loneliness for us all.

The Life You Gave Me by Novid Parsi

Apr 23 – May 10, 2025

WORLD PREMIEREThe Life You Gave Meby Novid ParsiDirected by Hamid Dehghani2023 BIPOC Playwrights Festival SelectionA son tries to save his mother. She has other ideas. So...

BCT's Fourth Annual BIPOC Playwrights Festival

Aug 21 – Aug 25, 2024

Playwrights of Color workshop five new works with directors and actors, then present staged readings and performance pieces for their first audience.

CLYDE'S by Lynn Nottage

Feb 14 – Feb 17, 2024

"mesmerizing... a whirling tour de force, both brazen and fragile," Jeanne Huff, BOISE WEEKLY

Middle of the World

Oct 11 – Oct 28, 2023

"How far would you go for the ones you love?" Fast-paced dramedy spans two continents, and many Uber rides to bring political intrigue and laughter.

BREAK IT DOWN, written and performed by Herb Newsome

Aug 26

Held at the Morrison Center at 2PM & 7PM, Boise Contemporary Theater celebrates the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop with this one-man multimedia show telling...

Wild Wild Jest & This Town of Perfect Flaws

May 11 – May 13, 2023

Why is that cactus dressed like a clown? And what's with the basketball?Theater Lab students perform their own original works WILD WILD JEST & THIS...

Tiny Beautiful Things

Mar 8 – Mar 25, 2023

March 8 - 25, 2023, Run Time: Approximately 90 minutes with NO intermission“…a show that aims to open our eyes to the tiny moments when the...

Sweat

Jan 25 – Feb 11, 2023

SWEATby Lynn NottageJanuary 25 - February 11, 2023Run Time: Approximately 2 hours with a 15 minute intermissionFilled with warm humor and tremendous heart, SWEAT tells the story...

"The Hollow In Between" & "Dead Ends"

Nov 3 – Nov 5, 2022

Where are we? How did we get here? How do we get out?? Is this a cult? Similar questions, but two very different stories. Find...

The Show on the Roof

Apr 15 – May 9, 2020

Enter into this show Ive created. It may not be real, but reals overrated. Theres a nightly floor show at the local drive-in on the...

Super Secret Site Specific Something

May 13 – Jun 6, 2015

A dynamic leap into site-specific performance, S5 invites audiences to a unique theatrical adventure somewhere in Boise. Immerse yourself in stories that move through a...