In a converted firehouse in Cedar-Riverside, Mixed Blood Theatre has pursued one mission since 1976: theatre that tells the whole American story, in all its languages and colors. Founded by Jack Reuler, the company premieres works by playwrights of color and builds productions with — not just about — the East African, Latino and Indigenous communities at its doorstep.
Its boldest idea is Radical Hospitality: since 2011, admission to every mainstage show has been free on a first-come basis, removing price as a barrier to art entirely. The results fill the Alan Page Auditorium with the most genuinely mixed audiences in town — students beside elders beside first-time theatregoers from the towers next door.
Mixed Blood proves access isn’t a marketing word. It’s a promise, kept nightly in a firehouse on the West Bank.
