Time’s Fool Company is a nonprofit professional theatre based in Wethersfield, CT, committed to creating accessible, innovative, and inclusive theatre in the Greater Hartford Area.
Time’s Fool has a core belief: that art is a human right.
The ways in which we live our mission and values are expressed through some of the following practices.
For our audience
Our summer Shakespeare offering will always be free. Cost should not be an obstacle to attending the highest quality of professional theatre.
Our other events have a variety of ticketing opportunities that foster access for everyone.
We currently produce our work in shared, found, community, and public spaces, as many arts spaces are not welcoming to all people and families. Everyone should feel welcome and feel like they belong.
We have incorporated many accessibility practices into our performances based on practices for neurodiverse individuals. A few examples include actors introducing themselves before the show, practicing audience integration moments, and a loud/jarring sound list in the program.
We believe in making it easy to attend our productions. That’s why parking, sidewalks, and physical access to our events is at the forefront of our producing practice.
If you have questions, feel free to reach out to our Accessibility Officer and Associate Artistic Director, Breauna Jurkowski, at breauna@timesfool.org
For our artists
All our artists are paid employees. All our internships are also paid (unless the law or funding for a school program prohibits). Everyone is paid equitably for their time.
Unless a role is dialect specific, all our artists are encouraged to work within their own idiolects.
We incorporate many practices into our rehearsals from consent work to games, to create a space of play, safety, and boundless imagination. We believe that the rehearsal room should be filled with love, kindness, generosity, insatiable curiosity, and a desire to make some simple magic.
Union and non-union workers share the same working conditions, consideration, and environment.
Casting
We strive to ensure that our casts resemble our community. We believe in providing access to actors who may have been traditionally shut out of roles, and that they should be able to play and explore on our stages. This includes race, gender, culture, religion, disability, and more.
If we want to inspire the next generation of theatre makers, they must see themselves reflected on our stages.
Play selection
We are drawn to classic plays and stories from literature because no matter who you are and what your background may be, all humans can enter into these imaginary worlds as equals. They can showcase the diversity of human experience and require audiences to use their full imaginations. These are plays that can be placed in any time period and allow for fluid or unconventional casting.
Our community
We believe that theatres need to do more than simply put on plays. We are always searching for ways to connect with the amazing people in our community. Participating in local events such as Bicycles on Main, Scarecrows on Main, Wethersfield Art Walk, and our Farmers Market is an important part of our values.
We know that art and theatre are economic drivers. Studies clearly demonstrate that for every dollar we spend making art, $1.6 dollars is returned to the community. In fact, live theatre is one of the three greatest drivers of tourism (the other two are live sports and casinos).
And that’s not all. Attending live theatre reduces your risk for depression, dementia, and heart disease. A thriving arts sector fosters a healthy community.
Leadership and Board
We have eliminated minimum donations for board membership. We only ask that every board member participates in matching campaigns, no matter the size of the donation. We believe that the three Ts – time, talent, and treasure – can mean different things to different people, and everyone has something important and powerful to contribute regardless of your income level. Passion for professional theatre, our mission, and the work we do is what’s paramount.
Land Acknowledgment
At Time’s Fool we respectfully recognize that by being in Wethersfield, CT, we are on the traditional, unceded, and ancestral territory of the Mohegan and Wappinger, Wangunks, Tunxis, and Podunk people who stewarded this land for generations. They were telling their stories here first.
Executive & Artistic Leadership
Producing Artistic Director - Wesley Broulik, Director of Education
Associate Artistic Director - Breauna Jurkowski, ADA and EDI Officer
Executive Director - Mandy Broulik
Board Members
Amy Northrop Wittorff
Peter Watts
Dr. Joe Paskale
Bryce Hardy
Kerri Hardy
Ryan Biggs
Susan Spivey
Sarah Oschmann
Andrea Velez
*Mandy Broulik
Kaitlin Henderson
CS Dunn
Kit Webb
Julia Brzezicki
*Breauna Jurkowski
*Wesley Broulik
*Denotes Ex-officio