IRT Program: Flyin' West

Community Engagement

That’s Built to Last

Building a better future together

The spirit of giving is strong at OneAmerica®. A community leader since our inception, we proudly support organizations, like the Indiana Repertory Theatre, that make a difference. OneAmerica is pleased to have further extended our support of the IRT. Our community commitment focuses on strategically investing in education; workforce development; community safety, wellness and success; and community vibrancy.

Visit OneAmerica.com to learn more about our involvement with local nonprofits.

MISSION

Rooted in the heart of Indiana, Indiana Repertory Theatre is committed to building a vital, vibrant, and informed community through the transformational power of live theatre. The Indiana Repertory Theatre produces inclusive, top-quality, professional theatre and community programming to engage, surprise, challenge, and entertain members of the whole community.

VISION

The Indiana Repertory Theatre will welcome the whole community, becoming a place of belonging for an ever-expanding audience of all ages and backgrounds seeking meaningful and enjoyable experiences. Using theatre as a springboard for both personal reflection and community discussion, our productions and programs will inspire our neighbors to learn about themselves and others. As the largest nonprofit theatre in the state of Indiana, IRT’s goal is to help make Indiana a dynamic home of cultural expression, economic vitality, and a diverse and engaged citizenry.

AS AN INSTITUTION, WE VALUE...

SUSTAINING A PROFESSIONAL, RESPECTFUL, INCLUSIVE, & CREATIVE ATMOSPHERE

• Producing diverse plays, we strive to provide insight and celebrate human relationships through the unique vision of the playwright.

• Employing professional artists of the highest quality, we nurture an environment that allows them to grow and thrive on our stages and in our communities.

• We foster a creative environment where arts, education, corporate, civic, and cultural organizations collaborate to benefit our community

BUILDING INCLUSION, DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND ACCESS (IDEA)

• Our community thrives when diverse voices and peoples gather to make, watch, and support theatre.

• It is our responsibility as a community resource to open our doors wide, welcoming all to our high-quality, relevant art.

• We acknowledge our history of privilege as a predominantly White institution as an initial and necessary step toward effectively supporting the dismantling of systems of oppression.

• To be an anti-racist organization we must seek knowledge and understanding to identify discriminatory practices and increase cultural awareness in collaboration with, and learning directly from, BIPOC, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex (LGBTQI+), functionally diverse, and other historically excluded communities.

PRUDENT STEWARDSHIP OF OUR RESOURCES

• As a public-benefit organization, we focus on community service, artistic integrity, and creating a range of ticket prices that allow all segments of our community to attend.

• Fiscal responsibility and financial security fuel our institutional sustainability.

• To ensure institutional longevity, we continue to grow our endowment fund as a resource for future development.

ACKNOWLEDGING THE LAND

Every community owes its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy to making the history that led to this moment. Some were brought here or removed from here against their will, some were drawn to leave their distant homes in hope of a better life, and some have lived on this land for more generations than can be counted. Acknowledgment of the land which the IRT now occupies is critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage.

We want to acknowledge that what we now call Indiana is on the ancestral lands of many indigenous peoples including the Miami, Piankashaw, Wea, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Delaware, and Shawnee. We pay respects to their elders past and present. Please take a moment to consider the many legacies of displacement, migration, violence, and settlement that bring us together here today.

This land acknowledgment was created in collaboration with Scott Shoemaker, PhD (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma). Portions of this acknowledgment come from the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (usdac.us).

ACKNOWLEDGING OUR BUILDING’S HISTORY

The Indiana Repertory Theatre moved to its current site on Washington Street in 1980, renovating and reopening a building that had been shuttered for nearly a decade.

The historic Indiana Theatre was built in 1927, a time when the shameful practice of racial segregation was the standard in movie theatres and public buildings across the United States. The Indiana Theatre building was originally segregated and at some point in its history this practice ceased. Many Indiana residents and their families’ heritage stories recall being treated as less than equal citizens in this building, with some even being barred from entering. We cannot erase this history.

We honor and respect all those who have faced discrimination and harm in this building. We strive every day to make the IRT a place that welcomes all people.

INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE PROFILE

HISTORY

The Indiana Repertory Theatre was founded in 1972 by Ben Mordecai, Greg Poggi, and Ed Stern. Since then, it has grown into one of the leading regional theatres in the country, as well as one of the top-flight cultural institutions in the city and state. In 1991 Indiana’s General Assembly designated the IRT as “Theatre Laureate” of the state of Indiana. The IRT’s national reputation has been confirmed by prestigious grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Fund, the Theatre Communications Group–Pew Charitable Trusts, the Shubert Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation, and by a Joyce Award from the Joyce Foundation.

The IRT remains the largest fully professional resident not-for-profit theatre in the state, providing 100,000 live professional theatre experiences for its audience in a typical season. The Theatre regularly serves thousands of students from more than half of Indiana’s 92 counties, making the IRT one of the most youth-oriented professional theatres in the country. A staff of year-round employees creates seven productions exclusively for Indiana audiences. Actors, directors, and designers are members of professional stage unions.

The IRT’s history has been enacted in two historic downtown theatres. The Athenaeum Turners Building housed the company’s first eight seasons. Since 1980 the IRT has occupied the 1927 Indiana Theatre, which was renovated to contain three performance spaces (OneAmerica Stage, Upperstage, and Cabaret) and work spaces, reviving this historic downtown entertainment site.

To keep ticket prices and services affordable for the entire community, the IRT operates as a not-for-profit organization, deriving more than 50% of its operating income from contributions. The theatre is generously supported by foundations, corporations, and individuals, an investment which recognizes the IRT’s mission-based commitment to serving Central Indiana with top-quality theatrical fare

PROGRAMS

The OneAmerica Season includes six productions from classical to contemporary, including the INclusion Series.

Young Playwrights in Process The IRT offers Young Playwrights in Process (YPiP), a playwriting contest and workshop for Indiana middle and high school students.

Community Gathering Place Located in a beautiful historic landmark, the IRT offers a wide variety of unique and adaptable spaces for family, business, and community gatherings of all types. Please email Jacob Lang, House Manager, at jlang@irtlive.comor call 317.916.4872 for more information.

Opportunities The IRT depends on the generous donation of time and energy by volunteer ushers; please email Jacob Lang, House Manager, at jlang@irtlive.comor call 317.916.4872 to learn how you can become involved.

Meet the Artists Regularly scheduled pre-show chats and post-show discussions offer audiences unique insights into each production.

Student Matinees The IRT continues a long-time commitment to student audiences with live school-day student matinee performances of all IRT productions. These performances are augmented with educational activities and curriculum support materials.

Educational Programs Auxiliary services offered include visiting artists in the classroom, study guides, pre- and post-show discussions, and guided tours of the IRT’s facilities.

Classes From creative dramatics to audition workshops to Shakespeare seminars, the IRT offers a wide array of personal learning opportunities for all ages, including our Summer Youth Workshops. Call 317.916.4842 for further information.

INCLUSION, DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND ACCESS (IDEA)

INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE: WELCOMING THE WHOLE COMMUNITY

We strive to celebrate and serve the diverse people and cultures that make up our whole community. The IRT is committed to providing access for all; to creating and maintaining an anti-racist theatre that is inclusive, safe, and respectful.

Whether you have been coming for years or are here for the first time—welcome to your Theatre!

VALUES

• Our community thrives when diverse voices and peoples gather to make, watch, and support theatre.

• It is our responsibility as a community resource to open our doors wide, welcoming all to our high-quality, relevant art.

• We must acknowledge our history of privilege as a predominantly White institution in order to effectively support dismantling systems of oppression.

• In order to be an anti-racist and inclusive organization we must seek knowledge and understanding to identify discriminatory practices and increase cultural awareness in collaboration with, and learning directly from, BIPOC, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex (LGBTQI+), functionally diverse, and other historically excluded communities.

COMMITMENTS

• We will represent and engage the diverse people, cultures, and communities of Central Indiana.

• We will employ more people of color and foster an inclusive culture of artists, staff, board, and vendors.

• We will deepen our Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) training for all board and staff.

• We will be accessible to all audiences, inviting those who have been unheard or unseen in the past, including people with disabilities, BIPOC, LGBTQI+, and under-resourced communities.

If you would like to read more about our Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) work, go to irtlive.com/about/idea.

KatieBradley,AndrewMay,andGavinLaweranceintheIRT’s2020productionofAgathaChristie’s Murder on the Orient Express.PhotobyZachRosing.

LEADERSHIP: JANET

ALLEN

Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director

Creating world-class professional theatre for Central Indiana audiences of all ages has remained a career-long passion for Janet Allen. After nearly 40 years of service, Janet will retire at the end of this, IRT’s 50th anniversary season, with gratitude for all the artists, audiences, administrators, and artisans who have delighted her over the years. During Janet’s tenure, the IRT has significantly diversified its services to both adults and children, and solidified its reputation as a top-flight regional theatre dedicated to diverse programming and production quality. Janet’s passion for nurturing playwrights has led to a fruitful relationship with James Still, the IRT’s playwright-in-residence for 25 years, and the creation of the Indiana Series—plays that examine Hoosier and Midwestern place-making. Her work has brought the theatre prestigious grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Joyce Foundation, and the Doris Duke Foundation, as well as numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Among the memorable productions Janet has directed on the IRT’s stages are TheGlassMenagerie(1999), Ah!Wilderness (2002), TheDrawerBoy(2004), James Still’s TheHouseThat JackBuilt(2012 & 2021), ToKillaMockingbird(2016), Looking OverthePresident’sShoulder(2008 & 2017), TheDiaryofAnne Frank(2011 & 2018), and Cyrano(2021). This season she directed AChristmasCarol

Janet’s leadership skills and community service have been recognized by the Network of Women in Business–IBJ’s “Influential Women in Business” Award, a Distinguished Hoosier Award conferred by Governor Frank O’Bannon, Girls Inc.’s Touchstone Award for Arts Leadership, and the Indiana Commission on Women’s Torchbearer Award. She is a proud alum of the Stanley K. Lacy Leadership Program (Class XIX) and a 2013-2014 Indy Arts Council Creative Renewal Arts Fellow. She is a member of two honorary gatherings in the America Theatre: the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, and the National Theatre Conference. In 2017 she was named an Indiana Living Legend by the Indiana Historical Society. In August 2022, she was honored with a May Wright Sewall Leadership Award by the Indianapolis Propylaeum.

Janet is a member of the Indianapolis Woman’s Club, the Gathering, and Congregation Beth-El Zedeck. She lives with her husband, Joel Grynheim, and a lovely canine mutt, in a downtown house built in 1855. They enjoy following the adventures of their three adult children and their grandchild, who are thriving on various continents.

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MARGOT LACY ECCLES WAS A LEADING PHILANTHROPIC SUPPORTER OF THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES. THE INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE CHERISHES ITS HISTORY WITH MRS. ECCLES AS A SUBSCRIBER, BOARD MEMBER, DONOR, AND CHAMPION OF OUR ORGANIZATION IN BOTH ITS EDUCATIONAL AND ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP. IN RECOGNITION OF MRS. ECCLES’S LEGACY AS BENEFACTOR AND ADVISOR, THE INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE IS PROUD TO HAVE NAMED ITS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR POSITION THE MARGOT LACY ECCLES ARTISTIC DIRECTOR.

LEADERSHIP:

SUZANNE SWEENEY Managing Director

Suzanne is a 24-year veteran of the IRT and is proud to work alongside her mentor and friend, Janet Allen, as co-CEO of the Theatre. Suzanne oversees all of the administrative functions of the organization, including marketing, fundraising, ticket office, house management, finance, human resources, information technology, and building operations.

During her tenure, the Theatre has secured a long-term lease for the building with the City of Indianapolis and renovated the Upperstage Lobby and restrooms. In June 2020 the Theatre surpassed its $18.5 million goal for its Front and Center campaign, raising $20 million.

Suzanne was elected Treasurer of the League of Resident Theatres, a nationwide association of regional theatres, and she serves as a member of their board of directors. In 2021 and 2016, she was honored to serve as a panelist for Shakespeare in American Communities in cooperation with Arts Midwest.

Suzanne is active in the community, having been the treasurer of Irish Fest for nine years, a member of the board of directors and treasurer of the Day Nursery Association (now Early Learning Indiana) for three years, and a past treasurer of IndyFringe.

Suzanne is a graduate of the College of William & Mary (undergraduate) and Indiana University (M.B.A.). She started her career as a CPA; prior to coming to Indianapolis, she worked in finance for more than 10 years, living in such varied locales as Washington, DC; Dallas, Texas; Frankfurt, Germany; Honolulu, Hawaii; and even working for three months in Auckland, New Zealand (where, yes, she went bungee jumping). She is a proud alum of the Stanley K. Lacy Leadership Program (Class XXXI). Suzanne lives in the Old Northside with her 19-year-old son, Jackson, and their foxhound rescue dog, Gertie, and spends some of her downtime in Palatine, Illinois, with her partner, Todd Wiencek.

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LEADERSHIP: JAMES STILL

Playwright-in-Residence

O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Colorado New Play Summit, the Lark, Launch Pad at UC–Santa Barbara, Telluride Playwright’s Festival, New Visions/New Voices, and Fresh Ink. Three of his plays have received the Distinguished Play Award from the American Alliance for Theatre & Education. James’s work has been produced throughout the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

Current projects include his new plays TheCratchits (inAmerica),PlaysaboutLonging,(A)NewWorld,Dinosaur(s),JoyWavestoYoufromaDistance,and new plays commissioned by Prison Performing Arts (St. Louis) and American Blues (Chicago).

James also works in television and film and has been nominated for five Emmys and a Television Critics Association Award; he has twice been a finalist for the Humanitas Prize. He wrote the short film ACityofStoriescommissioned by the New Harmony Project and recently featured in the Heartland Film Festival’s Indy Shorts. James was a producer and head writer for the TLC series PAZ, the head writer for Maurice Sendak’s LittleBear, and writer for the Bill Cosby series LittleBill.He wrote TheLittleBearMovieand TheMiffy Movieas well as the feature film TheVelocityofGary. James grew up in Kansas and lives in Los Angeles.

During his 25 years as playwright-in-residence, IRT audiences have seen all three plays in James’s “Jack Plays” trilogy (The HouseThatJackBuilt,Appoggiatura,and Miranda), as well as LookingOverthePresident’sShoulder;AndThenTheyCame forMe:RememberingtheWorldofAnneFrank;AmberWaves; TheLittleChoo-ChooThatThinksSheCan;April4,1968:Before WeForgotHowtoDream;ILovetoEat:CookingwithJames Beard;TheVelveteenRabbit;TheHeavensAreHunginBlack; InterpretingWilliam;IronKisses;TheGentlemanfromIndiana; SearchingforEden;HeHeldMeGrand,and TheSecretHistory oftheFuture.James has directed many productions at the IRT, including AChristmasCarol,TwelveAngryMen,ADoll’sHouse Part2,TheOriginalist,Dial“M”forMurder,TheMysteryofIrma Vep,Red,OtherDesertCities,GodofCarnage,Becky’sNewCar, RabbitHole,and Doubt. This season he directs Oedipus. James is a member of the National Theatre Conference in New York, and a Kennedy Center inductee of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. Other honors include the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award for drama for TheJack Plays, the Todd McNerney New Play Prize from the Spoleto Festival, the William Inge Festival’s Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, and the Orlin Corey Medallion from the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America. His plays have been nominated four times for the Pulitzer Prize, and have been developed at Robert Redford’s Sundance, the New Harmony Project, Eugene RobJohansen,QuintinGildon,andJenniferJohansenintheIRT’s2021productionof A

IN 2017, SARAH & JOHN LECHLEITER CREATED THE JAMES STILL PLAYWRIGHT-IN-RESIDENCE FUND, PROVIDING SUPPORT FOR THE PLAYWRIGHT-IN-RESIDENCE AS WELL AS THE CREATION OF NEW WORK FOR THE IRT.

Christmas Carol directedbyJamesStill.PhotobyZachRosing.

LEADERSHIP: BENJAMIN HANNA

Associate Artistic Director

Ben is a director, educator, and community engagement specialist whose passion for multigenerational theatre has influenced his work across the country. In all of his myriad roles, Ben is guided by the belief that access to highquality theatre helps build creative, empathetic people and healthy communities.

Ben is thrilled to be in his sixth season at Indiana Repertory Theatre, where he has directed Fahrenheit 451, The Book Club Play, Tuesdays with Morrie, This Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, The Little Choo-Choo That Thinks She Can, Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!,” and The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse. This season he directs Clue. As associate artistic director, Ben manages casting both locally and nationally, helps guide education and community programming, and connects IRT to new artists and ideas. Dedicated to eradicating systems of oppression, he is an advocate for creating and maintaining an anti-racist culture that breaks down historical barriers of access to the theatre. Along with Sarah Bellamy, IRT’s Equity Consultant, he guides IRT’s work to develop thoughtful, sustainable Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access initiatives.

Ben is the recipient of a Theatre Communications Group Leadership University Award funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The award supported his artistic mentorship at the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, the nation’s largest theatre for young audiences. Prior

to his role at CTC, Ben spent five years in California’s Bay Area, dividing his time between Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the Bay Area Children’s Theatre.

In his native Minnesota, Ben was honored to serve on the education staff of Penumbra Theatre Company, the nation’s leading African American theatre, where he helped to expand their education and outreach offerings. His proudest accomplishments during his four years with the company include growing the nationally recognized Summer Institute for Activist Artists into a three-year multidisciplinary social justice theatre training program, developing a multigenerational quilting circle, and helping to create and facilitate a racial equity training program through the company’s RACE workshop series.

Ben holds a degree in theatre arts from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He grew up on a small rural farm and fell in love with theatre at the age of eleven. He continues to create for his favorite audience: his five nieces and nephews.

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INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE STAFF

Eric Wilburn

Kathryn Burke

Assistant Ticket Office Manager

Janet Allen

Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director

Suzanne Sweeney Managing Director

Ariana Fisher Office Administrator

Malia Argüello

Production Manager

Benjamin Hanna

Associate Artistic Director

Hillary Martin Company Manager

Richard J Roberts Resident Dramaturg

Jane Robison General Manager

James Still Playwright-in-Residence

Erica Anderson

Lead Draper

Emily Candelario-Rosa First Hand

Guy Clark Costume Director Heather Hirvela Draper

Niamh Langfitt Costumer/First Hand Rebecca Reyes Wardrobe Supervisor

Lead Electrician

Beth A. Nuzum Master Electrician

Kevin Shannon Electrician

Jeffrey Bledsoe Director of Finance

Jen Carpenter Payroll & Benefits Specialist

Karen Chapman Business Manager

Devon Ginn

Director of Inclusion & Community Partnerships

Kerry Barmann

Associate Director of Marketing Geneva Denney-Moore Design & Communications Specialist

Danielle M. Dove Director of Marketing & Sales

Megan Ebbeskotte Audience Development Manager

Noelani Langille Graphic Designer

Claire Dana Charge Scenic Artist

Jim Schumacher Scenic Artist

Jacki Walburn Scenic Artist

Brady Clark Development Systems

Eric J. Olson

Institutional Giving Manager

Kay Swank-Herzog

Individual Giving Manager

Jennifer Turner Director of Development

Anna E. Barnett

Education Coordinator

Dameon Cooper Building Manager Housekeeping

Roger Cunningham Tonika Miller

Jacob Lang House Manager

Courtney Plummer Ticket Office Manager

Jay Hemphill

Customer Service Representative

Molly Wible Sweets

Tessitura Administrator

Madelaine Foster

Assistant Properties Shop Manager

Rachelle Martin

Properties Shop Manager

Abigail Stuckey

Properties Artisan

Carpenters

WonJun Brendon Choi

Samantha-Rae Oliver

Chris Fretts Technical Director

Nick Kilgore Automation Carpenter

Faith Seltzer Stage Operations Supervisor

David Sherrill Master Carpenter

Brittany Hayth Lead Audio Engineer

Todd Mack Reischman Resident Sound Designer

Kieran Shay Audio Video Engineer

Stage Managers

Nathan Garrison

Erin Robson-Smith

Matt Shives

Becky Roeber

Isaiah Moore

Assistant Stage Manager

Production Assistants

Isabella Garza

Andrea Haskett Corey Hollinger

Doug Sims Group Sales & Teleservices Manager

Bader

Crowe Horwath External Auditors

Faegre Drinker

Legal Counsel

Assistant House Managers

Grace Branam

Stacy Brown

Preston Dildine

Dieter Finn

Christine Gordon

Marilyn Hatcher

Lexi Hudson

Sarah James

Marissa Klingler

Claire Martin

Alicia McClendon

Jeff Pigeon

Phoebe Rodgers

Kathy Sax

Karen Sipes

Sam Stucky

Katy Thompson

Bartenders

Cheryl Statzer

Tina Weaver

Customer Service Representatives

Gale Fisher

Ashlee Lancaster

Chelsea Senibaldi

Cara Wilson

Lee Edmundson

Tara Parchman Robin Reid

Toni

Kate Abbruzzese, Susan Lynskey, and Gina Daniels in the IRT’s 2022 production of Steel Magnolias. Photo by Zach Rosing.

Welcome to the Indiana Repertory Theatre’s 50th Anniversary Season!

From its first eight seasons at the historic Athenaeum through the last four decades in the beautiful Indiana Theatre, the IRT has been an important part of the cultural fabric of Indianapolis.

The last two years have been among the most challenging in our history, as they have been for everyone. We are very excited to welcome you in person for our 50-year celebration! Great theatre sparks conversations, thoughtful questions, and ideas that reflect on and enlighten our lives, workplaces, and communities. Whether you’ve been part of the IRT family for years or are a first-time visitor, we are glad you are with us.

I am very grateful for the hard work, dedication, and adaptability of our staff, continuing to bring theatre to our audience in these extraordinary times. We are blessed with amazing leadership and talent. I also want to give a special thank you to all our patrons and partners for their loyal and tireless support, ensuring the IRT’s future for generations to come.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I thank you for joining us for this golden anniversary season—one which will inspire and entertain.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS

CHAIR

Mark Shaffer KPMG LLP

VICE CHAIR & CHAIR ELECT

Andrew Michie

OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc.

MEMBERS

Tammara D. Avant American Electric Power

Kathryn Beiser

Eli Lilly & Company

TREASURER

Joy Kleinmaier

American Specialty Health

SECRETARY

Jill Lacy

The Lacy Foundation

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR

Nadine Givens* PNC Wealth Management

Michael P. Dinius Noble Consulting Services, Inc.

Laurie Dippold KAR Auction Services, Inc.

Dan Emerson* Indianapolis Colts

Troy D. Farmer FORVIS

Tom Froehle* Faegre Drinker

Ashley Garry Viatris Inc.

Ron Gifford RDG Strategies LLC

Ricardo L. Guimarães

Indiana University Kelley School of Business

Julian Harrell Faegre Drinker

BOARD EMERITUS

Robert Anker*

Rollin Dick Berkley Duck*

Dale Duncan*

James W. Freeman

Mike Harrington

Eli Lilly & Company, Retired Michael N. Heaton Katz Sapper & Miller Holt Hedrick

Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P. Brenda Horn Ice Miller LLP, Retired Rebecca Hutton Leadership Indianapolis Lauren James Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation Elisha Modisett Kemp Corteva Agriscience Alan Mills Barnes & Thornburg LLP Michael Moriarty Frost Brown Todd, Retired Brian Payne Central Indiana Community Foundation

Peter Racher

Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP

Peter N. Reist

Oxford Financial Group, Ltd. Susan O. Ringo Community Volunteer

Myra C. Selby Ice Miller LLP Darshan Shah BioCrossroads

Shelly Smith Ernst & Young LLP

Sue Smith Community Volunteer Amy Waggoner Salesforce

L. Alan Whaley Ice Miller LLP, Retired

Michael Lee Gradison* (in memoriam)

Margie Herald (in memoriam)

David Klapper

David Kleiman*

Sarah Lechleiter

E. Kirk McKinney Jr. (in memoriam)

Richard O. Morris* (in memoriam)

Jane Schlegel*

Wayne Schmidt

Jerry Semler*

Jack Shaw*

William E. Smith III*

Eugene R. Tempel*

David Whitman*

–MarkE.Shaffer, IRT Board Chair

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THEATRE

Legacy giving is a simple and impactful way to ensure the live professional theatre you cherish lives on. Making a gift through your financial or estate plans can be very simple— as easy as changing your life insurance or retirement beneficiaries to include the IRT.

RonE.Rains,PriscillaLindsay,and HelenJooLeeintheIRT’s2022productionof Sense & Sensibility. PhotobyZachRosing.

Take a Bow

Faegre Drinker is proud to support the actors and staff who bring the Indiana Repertory Theatre to life. We are thrilled to be celebrating their 50th season of theatre and wish them success in their upcoming programming.

Committed to the Arts

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SUZANNE SWEENEY Managing Director

SETTING

Fall, 1898, outside the all-Black town of Nicodemus, Kansas. APPROXIMATE RUN TIME: 2 hours and 20 minutes, including a 15 minute intermission.

Act One Scene

A fall evening Scene 2___________ Two days later, early afternoon Scene 3________________ The same day, evening Scene 4___________________ The next morning Scene 5_____________________ Late that night

Act Two Scene 1 ________________ Early the next morning Scene 2__________ The next Sunday, early morning Scene 3___________________ Sunday afternoon Scene 4____________________ Sunday evening Scene 5____________________ Monday morning

Flyin’West is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Flyin’West was originally commissioned and produced by the Alliance Theatre Company, Atlanta, Georgia— Kenny Leon, Artistic Director, and Edith Love, Managing Director—in association with AT&T On Stage. The play was developed with support from the Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Fund Resident Theatre Initiative.

Fight Choreographer: Denise Alessandria Hurd | Dialect Coach and Intimacy Coordinator: Rachel Finley Wig Design: Jerrilyn Lanier-Duckworth | Assistant to the Director: María Amenábar Farias

Actors and stage managers are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. The director is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union. Scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers are represented by United Scenic Artists Local 829, IATSE. Photography and recording are forbidden in the Theatre. The videotaping of this production is a violation of United States Copyright Law and an actionable Federal Offense.

JANET ALLEN

Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director

OriginalartworkbyTashaBeckwith

Producing Pearl Cleage’s work this 50th anniversary season is both intentional and celebratory. As one of the wisest voices in the African American writing community, and, arguably, our most revered African American woman playwright, Cleage’s work has appeared on IRT stages three previous times. In 1994 we produced the Midwest premiere of Flyin’ West; in 2003 we produced her Blues for an Alabama Sky; and in 2015 we produced her What I Learned In Paris—all very different, memorable, and moving, and all deeply insightful productions. Returning to Flyin’West, 30 years after its writing, is to reinvestigate a work that has now become a classic and has only gained in stature, eloquence, and community need.

Cleage’s voice sings most deeply at the intersection of feminism and racism, lifting stories of African American womanhood and survivorship. She writes:

My response to the oppression I face is to name it, describe it, analyze it, protest it, and propose solutions to it as loud[ly] as I possibly can every time I get the chance. I purposely people my plays with fast-talking, quick-thinking black women since the theatre is, for me, one of the few places where we have a chance to get an uninterrupted word in edgewise.

Flyin’West is a testament to exactly that thinking. Cleage peoples her play with a group of four strong women whom she places in the historic town of Nicodemus, Kansas, just before the turn of the last century. Thirtyfive years after the Emancipation Proclamation, these women fight to make a place for themselves as free citizens and landowners. Through their trials, and the many forces aligned to limit their power, Cleage also reveals a little-known chapter in American history, one shared deeply in Indiana: the creation of all-Black towns. Indiana once was home to at least 30 of these Pan African settlements, established in the decades between 1820

and 1850. Of those, the only remaining community is Lyles Station in Gibson County in southwest Indiana. You may remember this as the birthplace of a storied Indiana personage, Alonzo Fields, the subject of IRT’s playwrightin-residence James Still’s much-loved Looking Over the President’s Shoulder.

Because Cleage is gifted in many writing genres, including fiction, journalism, poetry, and playwriting, she is well attuned to the differences in each. Her craft as a playwright is remarkable and highly theatrical. As a theatre-goer, one is always aware of the intensity of her storytelling, as well as her ability to deliver characters and plot in a way that is utterly captivating—and never to be confused with film or television writing. Awardwinning actor Ruby Dee wrote eloquently:

Pearl Cleage is a passionate, challenging playwright whose concerns for the species are unmistakable and profound. As a woman, as an African-American, her artistic objectivity and sensitivity to history combine with, but do not overshadow, her capacity to dig for truth and present it flat out as she sees it—with a finger snap or a shout and sometimes with a wink. Among the most satisfying roles I’ve undertaken on stage is surely Miss Leah in Flyin’ West. She brings the bushel nuggets of drama and humor that capture the ear, the heart, and the imagination. She’s devilish, too.

As a life-long activist, Cleage uses her voice as a clarion call to action. She urges us to remember our history and use it to change the future. This is a viewpoint that is embraced by the production’s director, Raelle Myrick Hodges, whose refreshing approach to the play reminds us that art must always be multi-faceted in its communication: it reminds us of who we have been, who we can be, and how the narrative of this country must change for the better.

Top Left: Elizabeth Van Dyke, Sharlene Ross, Kimberly Hawthorne, & Peter Jay Fernandez (rear) in the IRT’s 1994 production of Flyin’West. Top Right: David Alan Anderson & Michelle Wilson in the IRT’s 2003 production of BluesforanAlabamaSky . Bottom: Erika LaVonn & Tracy N. Bonner in the IRT’s 2015 production of What I Learned in Paris

PLAYWRIGHT

PEARL CLEAGE

Pearl Cleage was born in 1948 in Springfield, Massachusetts, and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Her father was a prominent minister and her mother was an elementary school teacher. An academically gifted student, Pearl enrolled at Howard University, where she studied playwriting and had two one-act plays produced. She left Howard in 1969 at the age of twenty to marry Michael Lomax, an Atlanta politician. Upon graduating in 1971 from Spelman College, Cleage worked at a number of media jobs including hosting a local, Blackoriented interview program as well as being director of communications for the city of Atlanta and press secretary for Mayor Maynard Jackson. Cleage divorced Lomax in 1979 and married Zaron Burnett Jr. in 1994.

Cleage gained national attention as a playwright in 1992 with Flyin’West, which premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta and was subsequently produced at a number of regional theatres across the country (including the IRT in 1994). Blues for an Alabama Sky (IRT 2003) is set in 1930 as the creative euphoria of the Harlem Renaissance gives way to the harsher realities of the Great Depression.

What I Learned in Paris (IRT 2015) is a comedy that mixes the personal with the political and the social, set in Atlanta during the 1973 election of Maynard Holbrook Jackson, the first African American mayor of a major southern city. Cleage’s other plays include Bourbon at the Border and A Song for Coretta. She wrote We Speak Your Names for Oprah’s 2005 Legends Ball, a celebration of 25 extraordinary African American Women. She has taught drama at Spelman College for many years.

Cleage’s first novel, WhatLooksLikeCrazyonanOrdinary Day, was a 1998 Oprah Book Club selection, a New York Times bestseller, and a BCALA Literary Award winner. Her most recent is 2011’s Just Wanna Testify. Most of Cleage’s eight novels are set in Atlanta, and some characters recur from book to book.

Cleage has long contributed essays to national magazines such as Essence, the New York Times Book Review, Ms., and Black World. In 1990 and 1993 she published collections of her essays entitled, respectively, Mad at Miles: A Black Woman’s Guide to Truth, and Deals with theDevilandOtherReasonstoRiot. In 2014 she published a memoir entitled ThingsIShouldHaveToldMydaughter: Lies, Lessons, and Love Affairs. Frequently focused on topics concerning sexism and racism, Cleage writes on such issues as domestic violence and rape in the Black community, AIDS, and women’s rights. She speaks at colleges, universities, and conferences on these and other topics such as the role of the artist in wartime and the citizen’s duty in a participatory democracy.

“The purpose of my writing, often, is to express the point where racism and sexism meet.” - Pearl Cleage

In 1862 the Homestead Act was passed, allowing for citizens over 21 years of age to claim up to 160 acres of land. This program, of course, came at a cost to Indigenous tribes throughout the Midwest and Western regions of the United States. So first, I wish to acknowledge that these theatre seats rest on the ancestral lands of the Miami, Piankashaw, Wea, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Delaware, and Shawnee.

More than a century after the Homestead Act, in 1993, playwright Pearl Cleage wrote Flyin’ West—a tale of the Old West seen through the visionary eyes of Sophie Washington, an African American settler in Nicodemus, Kansas, around the turn of the last century. The characters of Sophie and her two sisters, their elderly “auntie,” their self-loathing brother-in-law, and their loyal neighbor are fictitious. But Cleage’s story elements—struggling to make a home, the desire to protect family and legacy, the need to find love—resonate both with our shared American history and with our contemporary American life.

This iconic depiction of American life is told in the most American of genres: the Western. I grew up watching my father watch Westerns. Honestly, just this past Thanksgiving, there I was, popping into “Dad’s space” to hear the voice of Eric Fleming in Rawhide or, an hour later, the opening credits of Bonanza Flyin’ West is melodramatic, funny, and the most American play I have ever directed. It transports us to a world that is American history. While the play is subtle in its conversation with

history, it is an organic portrayal of the American belief in change and the American drive to stand up for what we believe in.

This fictional Western takes place in a very real place: the town of Nicodemus, Kansas. Settled by freed slaves in 1877, it was one of many Black communities established west of the Mississippi River after the Civil War. An almost mythical town to us these days, Nicodemus conjures images of endless plains, tumbleweeds, and a vast night sky with haunting echoes of a howling coyote or a distant train. Nicodemus is a great lens into the beautiful ugliness that is the genesis of any community. Flyin’ West shows us violence, gun use, and women making decisions without permission.

The women in Westerns are usually inspired by the Calamity Janes and Annie Oakleys of known history. But what of the brazen lives of other true characters of character who redefined the Old West? Western pioneers such as Mary Ellen Pleasant or Abby Fisher are historically fascinating, as are our beloved Stagecoach Mary or Bridget “Biddy” Mason.

Flyin’ West challenges the Western genre with this building of a Black town, challenges our societal assumptions about women, and challenges our vision of leadership in the middle of America.

From Left: Mary Ellen Pleasant (1815-1904) was an Underground Railroad agent who escaped capture by sailing to San Francisco, where she became an entrepreneur, financier, real estate magnate, and women’s advocate. Abby Fisher (1831-1915) published the second known cookbook by a Black woman in the United States, What Mrs.FisherKnowsaboutOldSouthernCooking , in San Francisco in 1881. Mary Fields (circa 1832–1914), also known as Stagecoach Mary, was the first African American woman mail carrier in the United States, delivering mail across 200 miles of Montana wilderness from 1895 to 1903. Bridget “Biddy” Mason (1818-1891) was a nurse, a real estate entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and one of the founders of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles.

NICODEMUS, KANSAS

In 1877, W. H. Smith, an African American minister, and W. R. Hill, a White land developer from Indiana, formed the Nicodemus Town Company. Whether they named their new town for the Biblical figure or for a legendary African prince who was taken into slavery and later purchased his own freedom, they hoped to create a community where Black people could live in peace and prosperity. They located their community along the northern bank of the Solomon River, an area suitable for farming. Flyers touting the area’s resources and benefits were distributed across the South. By September of 1877, more than 300 Black pioneers had disembarked from the closest train station in Ellis, Kansas, and had walked the 35 miles to Nicodemus.

EarlyhomesteadersinNicodemus,Kansas.PhotocourtesyoftheNationalParkService.

A lack of timber forced early settlers to live in sod huts. Those without horses and farm equipment had to work with hand tools. Nonetheless, by 1880 Nicodemus had a population of 600 served by a local bank, two hotels, three churches, three general stores, a pharmacy, and a newspaper. By 1887, the town had a literary society, a baseball team, a band, and an ice cream parlor. When a plan to bring the railroad to Nicodemus failed, however, businesses began to close, and the population began to dwindle. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl brought further challenges, and today Nicodemus has a population of only 20. Nonetheless, Nicodemus, Kansas, is the only remaining Western community established by African Americans after the Civil War.

Because we are free women, born of free women, who are born of free women, back as far as time begins, we celebrate your freedom.

Because we are wise women, born of wise women, who are born of wise women, we celebrate your wisdom. Because we are strong women, born of strong women, who are born of strong women, we celebrate your strength. Because we are magical women, born of magical women, who are born of magical women, we celebrate your magic.

Mysisters,we are gathered here to speak your names. We are here because we are your daughters as surely as if you had conceived us, nurtured us, carried us in your wombs, and then sent us out into the world to make our mark and see what we see, andbewhatwebe,but better,truer,deeper because of the shining example of your own incandescent lives.

We are here to speak your names because we have enough sense to know that we did not spring full blown from the forehead of Zeus, or arrive on the scene like Topsy, our sister once removed, who somehow justgrowed. We know that we are walking in footprints made deep by the confident strides of women who parted the air before them like the forces of nature that you are.

We are here to speak your names because you taught us that the search is always for the truth and that when people show us who they are, we should believe them.

We are here because you taught us that sisterspeakcan continue to be our native tongue, no matter how many languages we learn as we move about as citizens of the world and of the ever-evolving universe. We are here to speak your names because of the way you made for us. Because of the prayers you prayed for us. We are the ones you conjured up, hoping we would have strength enough, and discipline enough, and talent enough, and nerve enough to step into the light when it turned in our direction, andjustsmileawhile. We are the ones you hoped would make you proud because all of our hard work makes all of yours part of something better,truer,deeper. Something that lights the way ahead like a lamp unto our feet, as steady as the unforgettable beat of our collective heart. Wespeakyournames. We speak your names.

IRT—THE 1990S

EXCERPTS FROM FIVE DECADES OF WONDER: INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE BY DONNA L. REYNOLDS

1990’s production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, featuring Michael Gross of TV’s Family Ties and Indianapolis Colts place kicker Dean Biasucci, garnered an audience of more than 23,000, breaking all previous box office records.

The 1990-91 season saw the introduction of a program, long in the planning stages, called the Junior Works series of three plays specifically for junior high and high school audiences. It embraced a new age group of theatregoers and allowed IRT to reopen the Upperstage to active production and to establish a young, multicultural company of local professional actors.

The IRT’s 25th season opened with a world premiere based on Hoosier author Booth Tarkington’s book The Magnificent Ambersons, set in Indianapolis. New artistic director Janet Allen was especially pleased to be “celebrating the life of this wonderful writer on the fiftieth anniversary of his death” with a play written by another Hoosier, James Fesuk-Geisel.

Dean Biasucci & Michael Lipton in Julius Caesar, 1990. Connie Oates & David Alan Anderson in Tales from Olympus, 1991.

The company of The Magnificent Ambersons, 1996.

When playwright James Still agreed to join IRT’s artistic director, Janet Allen, in 1997 to apply for a grant that would fund a playwright-in-residence position, they both thought it would be a two-year experience. Then the role expanded and became a permanent part of the IRT budget, and that partnership has endured for 25 years, which testifies to both Still’s prodigious talents and the IRT audience’s love for his work. A Midwesterner by birth and at heart, Still has resided in other parts of the country and worked internationally, but his understanding of and telling of Indiana-centered stories always rings true.

On the morning of January 28, 1991, Artistic Director Tom Haas left his home to go jogging in a cold fog, and never returned. He was hit by a van and rushed to a hospital, unconscious, but because he was not carrying identification, no one was immediately notified. Joel Grynheim, the Theatre’s production stage manager at the time, had been boarding at Haas’s house and had gone to work, unaware that Haas was injured. For a few hours, Haas’s absence from both home and work raised no alarms. But early that afternoon, Grynheim and his young son heard a radio report that an unidentified man, injured in a jogging accident, was at a local hospital, and authorities were asking for help identifying him. Thunderstruck, the two raced to the hospital. Once stabilized and showing some improvement, Haas was transferred in February from the neurological critical care unit to a rehabilitative unit. But on Thursday morning, February 21, Haas died of a pulmonary embolism, the result of his injuries. IRT regular Scott Wentworth joined Janet Allen to co-direct Hedda Gabbler, which Haas had been scheduled to direct. Wentworth recalled Allen saying, “We’re the grown ups now,” with a sense for both of them that this passing of the IRT artistic torch was a coming-of-age experience in the worst possible way.

During her third year as artistic director, Libby Appel had temporary platforms built in the wings of the Upperstage for audience seating, reconfiguring the Upperstage from a proscenium space to a thrust space. In 1997, a complete renovation of the Upperstage made this arrangement permanent.

Tom Haas.

Saidah Arrika Ekulona & Brenda Thomas in Having Our Say on the Upperstage, 1998.

Marita Clark & Christen Page in And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank, 1996.

The IRT Celebrity Radio Show is the Indiana Repertory Theatre’s annual fundraising event, an evening that celebrates and raises money to support what the IRT does best—putting together a night of high quality theatrical entertainment. Featuring a show cast with local business leaders and celebrities that will keep you in stitches, those Fabulous Torts will continue to sing the night away, and a silent auction that you will want to bid early and bid often on – it is a night you won’t want to miss!

THE COMPANY

KAYLA MARY JANE | MINNIE DOVE CHARLES

Kayla is earning her B.F.A. in Drama at the Tisch School of the Arts. She is a proud CanadianAmerican actress of Jamaican descent and has a passion for projects that engage her artistic integrity, such as her roles in some of her favorite productions: Hopetown, How Black Mothers Say I Love You, and Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes She has had training in the Meisner Studio, Practical Aesthetics at the Atlantic Theatre Company Acting School, and OnCamera Acting techniques at the Stonestreet Studio.

ENOCH KING | WIL PARISH

Enoch is excited to make his IRT debut. Recent credits include Chicken and Biscuits (Dominion Entertainment), The Light (Horizon Theatre), Toni Stone (Alliance Theatre—Suzi Bass Award for Outstanding Featured Performer), The Bluest Eye (Synchronicity Theatre), It’s a Wonderful Life and Skeleton Crew (American Stage), Paradise Blue and Skeleton Crew (True Colors Theatre), Hands of Color (Synchronicity Theatre—Suzi Bass Award for Best World Premiere), A Christmas Carol (Shakespeare Tavern), Between Riverside and Crazy and A Raisin in the Sun (American Stage, St. Petersburg, Florida), and The Christians (Actors Express—Suzi Bass Award for Best Supporting Actor). Enoch can currently be seen on TV and film in Atlanta, Till, and The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey. “Shout out to the Tribe of 5. Manifest!”

DWANDRA NICKOLE LAMPKIN | MISS LEAH

Dwandra is thrilled to be returning to the Indiana Repertory Theatre. Prior IRT credits include Doubt and To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as NO. 6, which she directed. Dwandra holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the National Theatre Conservatory and is an Associate Professor of Acting at Western Michigan University. She has worked regionally at the Denver Center Theatre Co., the Huntington Theatre in Boston, the Human Race Theatre in Dayton, and the National Black Theatre in NYC. Some of her television credits include Law and Order, Third Watch, Law and Order: SVU, and the critically acclaimed ABC series Wonderland. Dwandra has also written a one-woman show entitled The Conviction of Lady Lorraine. For booking information, visit her website dwandra.com

L’OREAL LAMPLEY | FANNIE DOVE

L’Oreal is honored to be making her debut at Indiana Repertory Theatre. Theatre credits include the Public Theater’s For Colored Girls (Lady in Blue, u/s) and Coriolanus (Ensemble), an audio play of The Tempest (Miranda) with Resounding Live, and Trinity Rep’s Othello (Bianca). Education: Brown/Trinity Rep M.F.A. Acting. “All glory to God! For Sarah, Jeri, Angela, Lineth, Kamiyah, Shenyse, and Ashley.”

by Pearl Cleage

LAKESHA LORENE | SOPHIE DOVE

LaKesha is an actress, producer, and creative entrepreneur. A passionate artist, her work spans into arts administration as owner of a film production company, Loving Life Productions LLC; founder of Indy’s first Black Equity theatre, Naptown African American Theatre Collective; and Marketing & Community Engagement Coordinator for the Indianapolis Shakespeare Company. Her recent stage credits include Elizabeth in Ricky 3—A Hip Hop Shakespeare Richard III; No AIDS, No Maids, a one-woman show; and IRT’s NO. 6. “My work in entertainment is a lifelong dream that I feel blessed to live out on a daily basis. Sending big love to Janet, Ben, and Raelle for trusting me with this important story! And thank you to God, friends, and family for all the support!” @thereallakeshalorene

ALLEN TEDDER | FRANK CHARLES

Indiana Repertory Theatre Debut. Allen’s other professional credits include Broadway: To Kill a Mockingbird (Guitarist); Off Broadway: King Lear (Delacorte Theater); The Alchemist (Red Bull Theater); Regional: PlayMakers Repertory Company. Training: UNC Chapel Hill, the Juilliard School. Allen is from North Carolina. “I am very grateful to have made it onto the stage here at the Indiana Repertory Theatre with these great artists. I am glad to be working with Indiana Repertory Theatre.”

RAELLE MYRICK-HODGES | DIRECTOR

Raelle directed Pipeline at the IRT and has also worked at the Magic Theatre, Public Theater, National Black Theatre, and Atlanta Shakespeare Company, among others. A self-taught theater artist with no arts degree, she is a master teacher/adjunct professor with Actor’s Studio, Atlantic Acting School, Pace University, and Brown University, and she recently finished an artist residency with Cornell University. Recent work includes an all-non-binary Coriolanus adapted by Sean San José for UNCSA, and He Has the Prettiest Handwriting, a work-inprogress about Raelle and her dad’s joyous relationship. Raelle will next be working with Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright James Ijames on his adaptation of Medea in collaboration with Bryn Mawr College. “I dedicate this production to my father Ray Hodges—he loves himself a good Western!”

THE COMPANY

JUNGHYUN

GEORGIA LEE | SCENIC DESIGNER

At the IRT Junghyun has designed scenery for The Chinese Lady, The Book Club Play, and Pipeline; costumes for This Wonderful Life and The Unexpected Guest; and both for Twelve Angry Men. She is a Korean-born New York–based scenic and costume designer. She has designed for New York Theatre Workshop (Drama Desk Nomination, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord), Public Theatre (TheChineseLady), Ma-Yi, Soho Rep, the Play Company, Alley Theatre, the Guthrie Theater, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, PlayMakers Rep, and the Acting Company. She earned her M.F.A. at the Yale School of Drama. junghyungeorgialeedesign.com

LEVONNE LINDSAY | COSTUME DESIGNER

LeVonne has designed NO. 6 at the IRT. She is the Costume Shop Manager and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She has a B.S. in fashion design from Philadelphia University and an M.F.A. in costume design from the University of Maryland, College Park. Academic positions held at Stevenson University, James Madison University, and Valdosta State University. Recipient of the Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship at Arena Stage 2001-2003, and Resident Designer for the African Continuum Theatre in Washington DC 2002-2004. Recent design credits: Kill Move Paradise, Wilma Theater; TheGarbologists,Sweat, Philadelphia Theatre Company; IntotheWoods,Ragtime,GemoftheOcean,TheBluestEye, Arden Theater Company; NativeGardens,TheHamptonYears, Virginia Stage Company.

THOM WEAVER | LIGHTING DESIGNER

Thom’s Off-Broadway credits include Sandra (Vineyard); The Total Bent (Public); Kingdom Come (Roundabout); Exit Strategy (Primary Stages); King Hedley II, How I Learned What I Learned, The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre Company); and Teller’s Play Dead (The Players Theater). Regional: Huntington, Arden, Wilma (Associate Artist), Philadelphia Theatre Company, Milwaukee Rep, Chicago Shakespeare, Getty, Children’s Theatre Company, Cleveland Play House, Portland Center Stage, Folger Theatre, Asolo Rep, Round House, Hangar, CenterStage, California Shakespeare Theater, Syracuse Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Williamstown, Spoleto, Lincoln Center Festival, and Yale Repertory Theatre, as well as numerous designs with Pilobolus. Awards: two Jeff Awards, six Barrymore Awards, and two AUDELCO Awards. Education: Carnegie Mellon and Yale. Thom is a member of Wingspace Theatrical Design and Co-Founder of Die-Cast. “Black Lives Matter.”

by Pearl Cleage

MICHAEL KILEY | SOUND DESIGN AND COMPOSER

Michael is a Philadelphia-based composer, sound designer, performer, and educator working in dance, theatre, and public installation. He creates original work under the name The Mural and The Mint. Theatrical collaborations include School Pictures, Minor Character, and Mr. Burns, a Post Electric Play at the Wilma Theatre; The Stinky Cheese Man and John at the Arden Theatre; As You Like It, Hamlet, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Acting Company; and Ludic Proxy at the Play Company. He is a four-time nominee and two-time recipient of the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre. Michael’s work has been supported by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, the Independence Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the American Composers Forum, FringeArts, the Wyncote Foundation, and the Hambidge Center.

DENISE ALESSANDRIA HURD | FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER

Denise is happy to be making her debut with IRT. She has worked as an actor, teacher, fight choreographer, and intimacy director all over the country. She teaches in the Theatre Department at City College of New York. As a Fight Director, she has worked on such shows as Sweat, Bruise & Thorn, Pipeline, Ruined, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, The Three Musketeers, Dorothy’s Coming Out Party, I Hate Hamlet, Henry V, King John, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Macbeth. “I wish to thank my mother, Merlyn, for her love and support, and my sisters, Michelle and Adrienne, for all their support and inspiration, and to remember my father, Hugh, for his loving heart and generous soul.”

RACHEL FINLEY | DIALECT COACH AND INTIMACY COORDINATOR

An alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, Rachel is an intimacy coordinator, director, actor, accent coach, and Arizona State University professor. She is a member of the board of directors for Intimacy Coordinators of Color, and a founding collaborator of The Blueprint, an organization that provides POC-centric actor training at no cost to students. Rachel’s creative work, which includes film, theatre, performance art, devised theatre, motion capture, voice over, spoken word poetry, new media, and other forms, has appeared on stages, in studios, and on sets from Miami to Los Angeles and Canada to New Zealand. Rachel has recently worked on the national tour of the Broadway musical On Your Feet; productions for Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Southwest Shakespeare Company, Virginia Stage, Netflix, and Xbox Studios; and several indie film and theatre companies.

THE COMPANY

JERRILYN LANIER-DUCKWORTH | WIG DESIGN

Jerrilyn is thrilled to be designing wigs for Flyin’West. She is the founder and creator of Bridging the Gap: A Look into African American Hair & Makeup for Theatre. She is a freelance costume, hair, and makeup designer. In the fall of 2020, Jerrilyn was appointed Vice-Chair of Hair and Makeup for the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT). She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design and Production from the University of Alabama. She also has a Bachelor of Arts degree in general theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi. Jerrilyn’s designs have been on the stages of Ensemble Theatre in Cincinnati, Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, Indiana University, Illinois State University, and Millbrook Playhouse.

MARÍA

AMENÁBAR

FARIAS | ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR

María is a director from Guatemala currently pursuing her M.F.A. in Directing at Illinois State University. She received her bachelor’s degree at the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in both Economics and Theatre. Her work focuses on theatre for social change, using her directing craft to create provocative pieces that encourage conversation and change in society, specifically in the context of racial equality, cultural diversity, and women’s rights. María is also very interested in conducting research on identity-conscious casting practices and their role on theatrical storytelling. Previous titles she has directed include Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive, Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play, and Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview, among others. For more information, follow her professional endeavors on Instagram @mariadirects

RICHARD J ROBERTS | DRAMATURG

This is Richard’s 33rd season with the IRT, and his 25th as resident dramaturg. He has also been a dramaturg for the New Harmony Project, Write Now, and the Hotchner Playwriting Festival. He has directed IRT productions of A Christmas Carol (four times), Bridge&Tunnel,TheNight Watcher,Neat,PrettyFire,TheCay,TheGiver,ThePowerofOne, and TwelfthNight. Other directing credits include Actors Theatre of Indiana (where he recently directed Violet), the Phoenix Theatre, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Edyvean Repertory Theatre, Indianapolis Civic Theatre, Butler University, University of Indianapolis, Marion University, and Anderson University. Richard studied music at DePauw University and theatre at Indiana University and has been awarded a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Indy Arts Council.

BECKY ROEBER | STAGE MANAGER

Becky is now an Indianapolis local and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. This is their sixth season working at Indiana Repertory Theatre. They also serve as Production Manager for Summer Stock Stage and as Production Stage Manager for Summer Stock Stage’s young professionals branch, Eclipse. “I am proud to be a part of the Indianapolis theatre community and grateful to continue to produce theatre with the team at IRT.”

David Daniel adapted by

Through its community outreach efforts, the Navient Community Fund supports organizations and programs that address the root causes which limit financial success for all Americans. The Navient Community Fund is proud to support the Indiana Repertory Theatre as the Education Partner for the 2022-2023 Season.

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Enjoy the show.

As a plague ravages Thebes, the citizens turn to their leadership. Oedipus is an extraordinary hero: courageous, flawed, determined to do what he must to protect his community—even if it means his own undoing. From the mists of Greece comes this compelling story of fate, human nature, and the devastating peril of secrets.

Her husband is the most famous man in literary history. She has been cloaked in silence and invisibility. Now Anne Hathaway tells her side of the story, full of love and loss, secrets and sacrifices. Inspired by what little we know about Anne, this witty and imaginative play creates a surprisingly modern portrait of a proudly imperfect wife and mother: a liberated woman living on her own defiant terms.

Invited to dinner by a mysterious host, Mrs. Peacock, Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, and the rest of the usual suspects roll the dice at a gloomy mansion where blackmail and murder are on the menu. As the players become victims, the plot thickens and the noose tightens. With thrills and chills, twists and turns, and lots of laughs, it’s going to be a night they’ll never forget…and neither will you!

Pictured

Ticket revenue covers just half of what it costs to produce world-class professional theatre at the Indiana Repertory Theatre. The IRT gratefully acknowledges the remarkable support we receive from our generous and committed donors whose contributions ensure that the show does go on!

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Craig & Marsha Dunkin

Troy D. Farmer

Drs. Richard & Rebecca Feldman

Joan M. FitzGibbon

Mary L. Forster, M.D. Brian & Lorene Furrer

Future Keys Foundation

Ashley & Andrea Garry

Mr. Jim Gawne*

Dorothea & Philip Genetos

Ron & Kathy Gifford

Bruce Glor

Walter & Janet Gross

Bill & Phyllis Groth

Ricardo & Beatriz Guimarães

Mary & Gary Gustafson

Lisa Harris, M.D.*

Michael N. Heaton

The Hedges-Dillman Family*

Kurt & Charlene Heinzman

William & Patricia Hirsch

Richard & Elizabeth Holmes

Drs. Meredith & Kathleen Hull

Colette Irwin-Knott & Gary Knott

Lauren James

Patrick & Barbara James

Tom & Kathy Jenkins

Daniel T. Jensen & Steven Follis

Mrs. Janet Johnson

Elisha & Reed Kemp

Max Kime

Kurt & Judy Kroenke

Dr. & Mrs. Alan Ladd

Ed & Ann Ledford

Dan & Martha Lehman

Barbara MacDougall

Marlene & Bob Marchesani

Kellie McCarthy

Sharon R. Merriman

Andrew & Amy Michie

Douglas and Detra Mills Giving Fund

Lawren Mills & Brad Rateike*

Dr. David H. Moore & Dr. Kris Beckwith

Linda & Don Neel

Tammie L. Nelson & David McCaskill

Rob & Sara Norris

Dr. Joseph M. Overhage & Dr. Mary R. Brunner

Larry & Louise Paxton

Kenneth A. & Joan C. Peterson

Dr. & Mrs. Lee Phipps

Gail & William Plater

The David and Arden Pletzer

Endowment Fund, a fund of Hamilton County Community Foundation

Bob & Kathi Postlethwait

Phil & Joyce Probst

Scott & Susan Putney

Michael & Melissa Rawlings

Peter & Karen Reist

Ken & Debra Renkens

Karen & Dick Ristine

Chip & Jane Rutledge

Paula F. Santa

Jane W. Schlegel

Darshan & Rebecca Shah

Jack & Karen Shaw

Lily Smith & Leonid Sirotkin*

Edward & Susann Stahl

Robert & Barbara Stevens

Jim & Cheryl Strain

Jeff & Janet Stroebel

Kay Swank-Herzog & Robert Herzog

Suzanne Sweeney & Todd Wiencek

John & Deborah Thornburgh

Jennifer C. Turner

Jennifer & Gary Vigran

Amy Waggoner

Dorothy Webb

Dr. Rosalind Webb

Alan & Elizabeth Whaley

Cliff Williams

Jim Winner

Frederick & Jacquelyn Winters

John & Linda Zimmermann

THE SUPPORTING CAST INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE DONORS

ANNUAL CAMPAIGN GIFTS $300 - $1,499 | JULY 1, 2022 - DECEMBER 12, 2022

Allen B. Carter & Patricia Hester

Jeffrey & Jeni Christoffersen

Anonymous

John Champley & Julie Keck

Brady Clark

Robert Clifford Daniel P. Corrigan

Drs. Eric Farmer & Tate Trujillo & Christopher Scott*

Peter Furno & Pamela Steed

Priscilla Gerde

Richard & Sharon Gilmor

Anita & Henry Johnson

John & Carolyn Mutz

Ann Marie Ogden & Brian Murphy Roger & Anna Radue

Sallie Rowland

Thomas & Teresa Sharp Lee Shevitz

Michael Skehan Cheryl & Bob Sparks Mary Ann Thiel Nancy Woolf

Shane and Andrea Crouch* James & Carolyn Curry Karen Dace*

Fr. Clem Davis*

Paul & Carol DeCoursey*

Tom Dorantes & Sunah C Kim Dorantes*

Nikki Eller

Margie Ferguson*

Arthur Field IV

Roger & Susan Frick Phyllis & Ed Gabovitch

Thecla Gossett

Greg Grossart

John & Jana Mason Gruner Ron & Ellie Hackler

Diane Hall

Emily F. (Cramer) Hancock* Don & Elizabeth Harmon Andrea Hatch & Rich Dionne Steve & Kathy Heath Sandra Hester-Steele Eleanor & Joseph Hingtgen David Jackoway

Jim & Judi Mowry

Terry & Lew Mumford

Sharon & Dan Murphy* Dr. LeeAnne M. Nazer Merrell & Barbara Owen Mr. & Mrs. Robert M. & Kelli DeMott Park

Greg Pugh & Jill Woerner

Richard & Ann Riegner Benjamin & Anna Roberts Richard & Christine Scales Jim & Sara Schacht Rev. Robert & Dr. Rita Schilling Dr. Jill Shedd* Linda J. Shinn Doug Sims

Katy & Tim Allen

The Todd A. Andritsch Family Fund

Anonymous (2)

Mark K. Bear

Constance C. Beardsley*

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph B. Black III

Jesse L. & Carolynne Bobbitt

Barbara & Christopher Bodem* Karry Book & John Hansberry

Steve & Darlene Bricker

Vince & Robyn Caponi

Greg & Pat Jacoby Patricia Johnson & Michael Wilson Steven & Mary Koch* Michelle Korin*

Andra Liepa Charitable Fund, a fund of The Indianapolis Foundation Carlos & Eleanor Lopez Linda Lough*

Mark Magee* Lyle & Deborah Mannweiler Dr. & Mrs. Peter Marcus* Gayle Mayne Rev. Mary Ann Moman*

Kimberly Sorg-Graves Luke Stark* Nela Swinehart* Dr. Tim & Tina Tanselle Steve & Barb Tegarden* Garrett & Elaine Thiel Dr. James & Linda Trippi Robert & Barbetta True* Barbara S. Tully* Bill & Janet Wakefield Norma B. Wallman

Richard M. Warren & Tammey Kikta Sherry Watkins Angie & Andy Wilkinson Prof. Gail F. Williamson Robert & Deborah Wingerter Reba Boyd Wooden* Zionsville Physical Therapy*

*Denotes sustaining members

The Ovation Society is an exclusive program that recognizes donors that have made a legacy gift to

Gary Addison

Janet Allen & Joel Grynheim

Bob & Pat Anker

Bob & Toni Bader

Frank & Katrina Basile

Charlie & Cary Boswell

Ron & Julia Carpenter

John R. Carr (in memoriam)

John & Mary Challman

Sergej R. Cotton

Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Dapp

Nancy Davis & Robert Robinson

Rollie & Cheri Dick

Nancy & Berkley Duck

Dale & Karen Duncan

Jim & Julie Freeman

Meg Gammage-Tucker

David A. & Dee Garrett (in memoriam)

Michael Gradison (in memoriam)

Emily F. (Cramer) Hancock

Michael N. Heaton

Bruce Hetrick & Cheri O’Neill

Tom & Nora Hiatt

Brenda Horn

Bill & Nancy Hunt

David Kleiman & Susan Jacobs

Frank & Jacqueline La Vista

Andra Liepa Charitable Fund, a fund of The Indianapolis Foundation

Barbara MacDougall

Donald & Ruth Ann MacPherson

Stuart L. Main (in memoriam)

Michael R. & Sue Maine

Megan McKinney Sharon R. Merriman

David & Leslie Morgan

Michael D. Moriarty

Richard & Lila Morris

Mutter Marines--Jim & Carol

Deena J. Nystrom

Marcia O’Brien (in memoriam)

George & Olive Rhodes (in memoriam)

Jane W. Schlegel

Michael Skehan

Michael Suit (in memoriam)

Gene & Mary Tempel

Jeff & Benita Thomasson

Christopher J. Tolzmann

Alan & Elizabeth Whaley

never seen

John & Margaret Wilson

CORPORATE

Barnes & Thornburg LLP

Corteva Agriscience

Faegre Drinker

Frost Brown Todd

KPMG

Navient Community Fund

OneAmerica Financial Partners

Oxford Financial Group, Ltd.

Printing Partners

FOUNDATION

The Jerry L. and Barbara J. Burris Foundation

Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation

Christel DeHaan Family Foundation

The Margot L. Eccles Arts & Culture Fund, a fund of CICF

The Glick Family Foundation

Lacy Foundation

Lilly Endowment, Inc.

Nicholas H. Noyes Memorial Foundation, Inc.

The Penrod Society

The Shubert Foundation

GOVERNMENT

Indiana Arts Commission

Indy Arts Council and the City of Indianapolis

Supported by the Indy Arts and Culture Restart & Resilience Fund: An Indy Arts Council program made possible by Lilly Endowment Inc.

National Endowment for the Arts

IN-KIND/TRADE

DeBrand Fine Chocolates of Indianapolis LAZ Parking/Victory Field

National Institute of Fitness & Sport Pac-Van, Inc.

Printing Partners