In Memorium: Robert Neal

ROBERT NEAL | 1961-2021

One of the IRT’s most loved colleagues, Robert Neal, died on November 21 after a nearly two-year battle with brain cancer. A towering yet deeply warm presence in the Indianapolis acting community, Robert had a large and generous spirit that he shared with everyone he met. Our love and condolences to his wife, Sally; their children, Kathleen and Robert; and their entire family.

Born in Clay County, Indiana, Robert graduated from Brazil High School and earned a B.A. in English literature at Indiana University in Bloomington. He briefly taught middle and high school before earning his M.F.A. in acting at Penn State.

From 1998 to 2019, Robert acted in 45 productions at the IRT. He loved Shakespeare, and he particularly relished As You Like It, King Lear, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, and two productions of Romeo and Juliet. His other IRT favorites included Becky’s New Car, Jackie and Me, Who Am I This Time?, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Noises Off, and ten seasons in many different roles in A Christmas Carol. Perhaps Robert’s greatest triumph at the IRT was his solo performance as the larger-than-life television chef James Beard in the world premiere of James Still’s I Love to Eat. In 2012, Robert reprised this performance at the James Beard Foundation Awards at Lincoln Center.

Robert was also a member of the Indianapolis Shakespeare Company (formerly Heartland Actors Repertory Theatre), where he acted in The Tempest and Twelfth Night and directed The Winter’s Tale and Coriolanus. Robert contributed his musical prowess as a guitar player and singer-songwriter to productions at both Indy Shakes and the IRT, allowing our community to share in his multifaceted talents.

Robert’s other local work included the Phoenix Theatre, ShadowApe, and Cardinal Stage, as well as appearances with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Early Music Festival. His regional credits included Syracuse Stage, the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre, and several Shakespeare festivals. Early in his career, Robert performed Shakespeare throughout Germany with the English-American Theatre Festival of Dusseldorf. From 1996 to 1999 he was a founder and artistic director of the Indiana Shakespeare Company in Bloomington. In 2015 he appeared on NBC’s Chicago Fire.

Robert’s passion for teaching made him a valuable mentor to many young actors at DePauw University, Anderson University, and the University of Indianapolis, as well as in a dozen years of the IRT’s Summer Conservatory for Youth. Always deeply interested in language, Robert wrote a novel, Will unto Law, available from Amazon. Set in Indiana in 1968, it is a story of murder, small-town corruption, and the local Shakespeare Round Table.

Robert was committed to his Midwestern roots but thrived on honing his skills out in the world. In 2007, he received a Creative Renewal Grant from the Arts Council of Indianapolis that enabled him to study Shakespeare at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He received a 2016 Theatre MVP Grant from the Central Indiana Community Foundation, and he was a 2017 Lunt-Fontanne National Fellow at Ten Chimneys, where he worked with master teacher Alfred Molina. These experiences had a deep impact on Robert, and he brought the things he learned in these programs right back to his students and colleagues.

In a career where one is constantly required to bare one’s soul, Robert never built protective walls around himself. He loved to share his personal foibles and laugh together with his friends. Even in some of the darkest moments of his illness, he could still laugh at the ironies of his own life. He was a fine actor, but even more, a remarkable human being. We miss him.

Robert’s family have identified two not-for-profits to receive funds in his memory: the Indiana Repertory Theatre and Indianapolis Shakespeare Company.

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the ties that bind

MARCH 23 - APRIL 16

It’s 1866, and the Civil War has ended. Madison Hemings, son of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, and Israel Jefferson, formerly enslaved footman, return to Monticello in search of Israel’s brother. Together, they must face their conflicting feelings about the man who wrote “All men are created equal.”

Part of IRT’s INclusion Series: Celebrating Diverse Storytelling