Forward Theater To Present Wisconsin Premiere of IRONBOUND

For their third production of the 2025-26 season, Forward Theater Company will present Ironbound by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok. Directed by Marcella Kearns. Performances are in the Playhouse at Overture Center for the Arts, January 29 - February 15. 

After an award-winning off-Broadway run, Ironbound is finding a new life in regional theaters across the country. Forward continues its tradition of producing contemporary works, giving Madison theatergoers a chance to experience this humorous and heartrending play. 

“Ironbound has some personal resonance for me,” said director Marcella Kearns. “New Jersey was home base for some of my own immigrant Polish family. So much of this play is about scarcity and abundance. The transactional versus the free.”

“This is a love story: for a child, for a partner, for the self,” she continued. “But it's not a naive one, nor is it happily ever after. It's about acknowledging need in order to move forward. No one in this play gives in or settles in the end. They run towards what they need.”

It takes work to dream… especially at a bus stop in New Jersey. An immigrant fighting for a better life learns what's fleeting and what lasts, in this clear-eyed and darkly funny portrait spanning 22 years. Ironbound is a meditation on hope, love, and staying human.

Ironbound features Gabriel Anderle, Cassandra Bissell, Josh Krause, and Jonathan Wainwright.