Original artwork by Tasha Beckwith and Kyle Ragsdale
CREATIVITY
ONEAMERICA FINANCIAL | LEGACY SPONSOR
Inspiration brings creativity to life. As a legacy sponsor of Indiana Repertory Theatre, OneAmerica FinancialSM is proud to celebrate world-class talent and enrich our local community through the power of the arts. Our 30-year commitment to supporting IRT is among the longest-standing in community theater nationwide. We look forward to enjoying the 2024-2025 Season with you.
—Scott Davison Chairman, President and CEO
OneAmericaFinancial,2024-2025SeasonLegacySponsor
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 2024-2025 Season.
Navient is a leading provider of asset management and business processing solutions to education, healthcare, and government clients at the federal, state, and local levels. Millions of Americans rely on financial support to further their education and improve their lives. We work hard each day to help our customers navigate financial challenges and achieve their goals.
We at Navient have a deep appreciation for the arts and for the hard work, passion, and emotion that go into them, as well as the positive influences the arts have on individuals and their communities. Our employees in central Indiana are proud to support our community through amazing programs like those offered by IRT.
Enjoy the show.
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 non-profit 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.
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.
are
permitted during the performance. The
of productions is a violation of
States Copyright Law and an actionable Federal Offense.
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: 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 creating and maintaining an antiracist theatre that is inclusive, safe, respectful, and accessible.
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 highquality, 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 antiracist 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, with a goal of 40% of all new hires being BIPOC, and foster an inclusive culture of artists, staff, board, and vendors.
• We will continue and 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 functionally diverse people, 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/idea.
Spotlight Partnerships
Indiana Repertory Theatre is thrilled to announce Girls Inc. of Greater Indianapolis as our 52 nd Season Spotlight Partner. Girls Inc. empowers young women to be strong, smart, and bold through innovative programs that break down gender stereotypes and build confidence.
Their commitment to inspiring girls to embrace their true selves aligns perfectly with our mission to tell stories that reflect the diverse lives of our community.
We look forward to shining a spotlight on their incredible work and supporting their mission throughout our upcoming season.
Fostering Artistic Expression
Faegre Drinker is proud to be an opening night sponsor for the 2024-25 season. We invest in the arts because vibrant communities are made more beautiful, inclusive and dynamic through creative expression.
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.
BENJAMIN HANNA
Margot Lacy Eccles
Artistic Director
IRT LEADERSHIP
Ben is in his second season as IRT’s Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director, following six years as the company’s Associate Artistic Director. At IRT he has directed LittleShopofHorrors,Clue, Fahrenheit451,TheBookClubPlay,AChristmasCarol, and Elephant&Piggie’s“WeAreinaPlay!,” among others. This season he directs ThePlayThatGoesWrong.
As a director, educator, and community engagement specialist, Ben is guided by the belief that access to highquality theatre helps build creative, empathetic people and healthy communities. Across his career, he has focused on building the next generation of artists and audiences by creating and advocating for multigenerational, multi-cultural, and family-oriented programming. Prior to his role at IRT, he spent five years at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and directed shows at the Bay Area Children’s Theatre. In his native Minnesota, he served on the education staff of Penumbra Theatre Company and was an artistic associate at Children’s Theatre Company. He is the recipient of the prestigious Theatre Communications Group Leadership University Award funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and is a graduate of the Stanley K. Lacy Leadership Program—Class XLVI.
Ben holds a degree in theatre arts from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He fell in love with telling stories at the age of eleven at the Prairie Wind Players community theatre in rural Minnesota, and he continues to create for his favorite audience: his five nieces and nephews.
SUZANNE SWEENEY Managing Director
Suzanne is a 26-year veteran of the IRT and is co-CEO of the company, where she oversees its administrative functions. During her tenure, the IRT has secured a long-term lease for the building with the City of Indianapolis, renovated the Upperstage Lobby and restrooms, raised $20 million for its Front and Center campaign, and $5 million for the renaming of the Upperstage Theatre to the Janet Allen Stage.
Suzanne was elected Treasurer of the national League of Resident Theatres, where she serves as a board member. She has been a panelist for Shakespeare in American Communities in cooperation with Arts Midwest. She was 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 treasurer of Indy Fringe.
Suzanne is a graduate of the College of William & Mary and Indiana University. She has worked in finance in Washington DC, Texas, Germany, Hawaii, and New Zealand. She is an alum of the Stanley K. Lacy Leadership Program (Class XXXI). She lives in Lockerbie with her son, Jackson, and spends some of her downtime in Huntley, Illinois, with her partner, Todd Wiencek.
You don’t have to step on stage to deserve a standing ovation
Whether a monthly donation or a planned legacy gift, your support creates experiences for an exciting today and an enriched tomorrow—that’s what we call encore-worthy!
Thanks to the Alan and Linda Cohen Education Fund, students and teachers all across Indiana can attend performances at the IRT. For the price of a coffee, you can help continue this gift and give a student a live theatre experience—some for the very first time!
Make your mark on the next generation of students, actors, and artists by joining the Ovation Society and creating a legacy gift at the IRT! Ensuring a lasting impact on your community can be as easy as changing your beneficiaries on insurance policies or including the IRT in your will.
Maiesha McQueen in the IRT’s 2024 production of Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer.
Andrea San Miguel, Nate Santana, Rebecca Marie Hurd, and Terry Bell in the IRT’s 2023 production of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Photo by Zach Rosing.
ThecastoftheIRT’s2024production
Celebrating how the arts connect and enrich our community.
Citizens Energy Group is a proud partner of the Indiana Repertory Theatre. This ad was not paid for by customer rates.
of The Folks at Home. Photo by Zach Rosing.
INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE STAFF & ASSOCIATES
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
Benjamin Hanna
Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director
Suzanne Sweeney
Managing Director
ADMINISTRATION
Drew Kowalkowski
Associate Managing Director
Jacob Lang
Executive Assistant
ARTISTIC
cara hinh
Associate Artistic Director
Jessica Huang
Playwright-in-Residence
Hillary Martin
Company Manager
Seavor M Roach
Production Manager
Richard J Roberts
Resident Dramaturg
Becky Roeber
Production Coordinator
ASL INTERPRETERS
Madison Cortes Jack London
Randy Nikolai Tara Parchman
Robin Reid
AUDIO DESCRIBERS
Paul Drew John Simmons
BUILDING SERVICES
Matthew Allen
Building Manager
Housekeeping
Tonika Miller
Cedric Mitchell
Kendall Thompson
COSTUME SHOP
Lane Fiorini
Wardrobe Supervisor
Heather Hirvela
Draper
Niamh Langfitt
First Hand
Bailey Lewis
Wardrobe Assistant
Rebecca Reyes
Junior Draper
Patrice N. Trower
Costume Shop Manager
DEVELOPMENT
Brady Clark
Development Systems
Tracy Heaton de Martinez
Development Associate
Jennifer Hiatt
Associate Director of Development
Nataly Lowder
Director of Development
Eric J. Olson
Institutional Giving Manager
Steven Stolen
Corporate Strategies, Senior Advisor/Consultant
EDUCATION
Anna E. Barnett
Education Manager
Claire Wilcher
Education Assistant
ELECTRICS
Aaron Burns Electrician
Beth A. Nuzum
Lighting Supervisor
Megan Stockreef Electrician
FINANCE ASSOCIATES
Crowe Horwath
External Auditors
Faegre Drinker
Legal Counsel
FINANCE
Jeffrey Bledsoe Director of Finance
Jen Carpenter
Payroll & Benefits Specialist
Amanda Keen Business Manager
INCLUSION
Devon Ginn
Director of Inclusion & Community Partnerships
MARKETING
Kerry Barmann
Associate Director of Marketing
Geneva Denney-Moore
Design & Communications Manager
Danielle M. Dove
Director of Marketing & Sales
Megan Ebbeskotte
Audience Development Manager
Noelani Langille
Multimedia & Design Manager
PAINT SHOP
Jessica Carlson
Assistant Charge Scenic Artist
Claire Dana
Charge Scenic Artist
Jim Schumacher
Scenic Artist
PATRON SERVICES
Assistant House Managers
Grace Branam
Stacy Brown
Paully Crumpacker
Preston Dildine
Dieter Finn
Christine Gordon
Marilyn Hatcher
Samantha Hines
Katy Thompson
House Manager
Tina Weaver
Bartender
Courtney Plummer
Ticket Office Manager
Molly Wible Sweets
Tessitura Administrator
Eric Wilburn
Sarah James
Alicia McClendon
Madison Pickering
Jeff Pigeon
Phoebe Rodgers
Kathy Sax
Karen Sipes
Sam Stucky
Assistant Ticket Office Manager
Customer Service Representatives
Spencer Downhour
Ashlee Lancaster
Owen Louden
Chelsea Senibaldi
Cara Wilson
Emily Worrell
PRODUCTION
LB Clark
Ben Dobler
Lee Edmundson
Trevor Greenlee
Katharine Ivey
PROPERTIES SHOP
Rachelle Martin
Properties Shop Manager
Dan Tracy
Properties Shop Carpenter
SCENE SHOP
Nick Chamberlain
Lead Carpenter
Chris Fretts
Technical Director
Andrew Hastings
Master Carpenter
Nick Kilgore
SceneShop/AutomationSupervisor
Samantha-Rae Oliver Carpenter
Jacob Spencer
Stage Operations Supervisor
SOUND & VIDEO
Brit Hayth
Lead Audio Engineer
Todd Mack
Head of Audio and Video
Chloe Pate
Audio and Video Technician
STAGE MANAGEMENT
Stage Managers
Nathan Garrison
Erin Robson-Smith
Production Assistants
Isabella Garza
Emma Littau
Natalie Stigall
TELESERVICES
Doug Sims
Group Sales & Teleservices Manager
Tiffany Theana Taylor and Dominique Allen Lawson in the IRT’s 2024 production of Little Shop of Horrors. Photo by Zach Rosing.
Welcome to the Indiana Repertory Theatre. Our 52nd season, the second with Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director Benjamin Hanna, promises to be full of laughter, tears, and music.
In this busy world, with so many demands on our time and our dollars, we appreciate not only your presence and your participation, but also your continuing financial support, which makes our work possible. On behalf of the Board of Directors, thank you for choosing the IRT.
Your contribution is a vital part of our success. If you enjoy this production, please encourage your friends to come see it. If you do not already have a season ticket or a smaller ticket package, why not join the family? Consider a membership in the Repertory Society, too.
Great art doesn’t just happen. It takes committed patrons such as you in tandem with talented artisans. Enjoy the show!
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OFFICERS
CHAIR
Andrew Michie
OneAmerica Financial
VICE CHAIR & CHAIR ELECT
Jill Lacy
The Lacy Foundation
MEMBERS
Kathryn Beiser
Kathy G. Cabello
Cabello Associates
Brooke Dunn
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
Tom Froehle*
Faegre Drinker
Biddle & Reath
Patricia Gamble-Moore PNC
Ashley Garry
Clarivate PLC
Ron Gifford
RDG Strategies LLC
Ricardo L. Guimarães
Indiana University Kelley School of Business
Carrie Hagovsky Fifth Third Bank
TREASURER
Joy Kleinmaier
Healthcare Executive
SECRETARY
Julian Harrell
Faegre Drinker
Biddle & Reath
Brenda Horn
Ice Miller LLP, Retired
Rebecca Hutton
Leadership Indianapolis
Lauren James
Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation
Sarah Jenkins Taft
Matt Jones KPMG LLP
Elisha Modisett Kemp Corteva Agriscience
Nicholas C. Pappas
Frost Brown Todd
Rita Patel
Jane Pauley Health Center
Brian Payne Central Indiana Community Foundation
BOARD EMERITUS
Robert Anker* (in memoriam)
Rollin Dick
Berkley Duck*
Dale Duncan*
James W. Freeman
Nadine Givens*
Michael Lee Gradison* (in memoriam)
Mike Harrington*
Margie Herald (in memoriam)
David Klapper
David Kleiman*
–AndrewMichie, IRTBoardChair
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR
Mark Shaffer* KPMG LLP
Mary E. Phillips Capital Group
Barath Raman
Lewis Wagner, LLP.
Peter N. Reist
Oxford Financial Group, Ltd.
Myra C. Selby Ice Miller LLP
Darshan Shah Central Indiana Corporate Partnership
Shelly Smith Ernst & Young LLP
Amy Waggoner Salesforce, Inc.
Michael Moriarty
Richard O. Morris* (in memoriam)
Jane Schlegel*
Wayne Schmidt (in memoriam)
Jerry Semler* (in memoriam)
Jack Shaw*
Mike Simmons
William E. Smith III*
Eugene R. Tempel*
L. Alan Whaley
David Whitman*
Sarah Lechleiter
E. Kirk McKinney Jr. (in memoriam)
Alan Mills
There’s an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that won’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines)—and that’s only the first act. It’s nothing you want in a show—and everything you want in a show!
curtain on the grandest production the village has ever seen, The Murder at Haversham —untilManor things go from bad to calamitous.
Society are more or less ready to raise the
The intrepid thespians of the Cornley Drama
Jingo M. de la Rosa
Original artwork by
APRIL 9 - MAY 11 unstoppable farce
presented by
License to INSPIRE
Purchasing an Arts Trust License Plate directly supports arts and creativity in Indiana. Funding from the Arts Trust License Plate helps supports festivals, concerts, murals, art classes, and more through the Arts Project Support grant program.
Latino Center for Wellness and Education (LCWE) Tippecanoe County Arts Project Support Grant Recipient
Learn more about the Arts Trust License Plate
Ticket sales only cover half of what it costs to produce a show at the IRT—the other half is funded by generous donors like you! Every gift, no matter the size, plays a significant role in sustaining the high-quality performances and educational programs that the IRT o ers. Your support, whether as a one-time contribution or a monthly donation, helps ensure that the Theatre continues to thrive and enrich our community.
A $125 per month pledge also earns you a spot in the IRT's Repertory Society! As a member, you receive special benefits, such as: exclusive invitations to select events, additional discounts on single tickets, complimentary
CREATIVE TEAM
Direction & Movement by Austene Van
Music Director & Piano________
MORGAN E. STEVENSON
Scenic Designer_________________
REGINA GARCIA
ONEAMERICA FINANCIAL STAGE FEBRUARY 4 - MARCH 2
REVIEWS
Share your review on social media by tagging us @IRTLIVE, using #IRTLIVE or by emailing REVIEWS@IRTLIVE.COM
PHOTO CREDIT (SET ONLY)
SCENIC DESIGNER: Regina Garcia LIGHTING DESIGNER: Nic Vincent
SEASON SPONSOR
Costume Designer____________
MATHEW J. LEFEBVRE
Lighting Designer_________________
Sound Designer___________________
Projection Designer_________________
Assistant Director & Violence_______
Associate Music Director & Piano_____
Dramaturg_________________
Stage Manager_______________
NIC VINCENT
JEFF BAILEY
MIKE TUTAJ
KIMBERLY ARLAND
TENÉH B. C. KARIMU
RICHARD J ROBERTS
NATHAN GARRISON
SEASON PARTNER
ASSOCIATE SPONSORS
SUPPORTING SPONSORS
BENJAMIN HANNA
Margot Lacy Eccles
Artistic Director
THE CAST
(in order of appearance)
Nina Simone____________________
Sarah______________________
Sephronia____________________
Sweet Thing__________________
AKILI NI MALI
JAMECIA BENNETT
ARIEL WILLIAMS
PRECIOUS OMIGIE
SETTING
September 16, 1963
Managing Director
Nina’s living room Mt. Vernon, New York, and the ruins of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
Production Assistant: Isabella Garza
Wig Designer: Andrew Elliot
Intimacy Consultant: Claire Wilcher
Understudy for Nina Simone & Sarah: PsyWrn Simone
Nina Simone: Four Women was commissioned by Park Square Theatre, St. Paul, Minnesota: Richard Cook, Artistic Director; C. Michael-jon Pease, Executive Director; and received its first public performance on March 8, 2016. Additional developmental support was provided by Kansas City Repertory Theatre: Stuart Carden, Artistic Director; Angela Gieras, Executive Director; and Milwaukee Repertory Theater: Mark Clements, Artistic Director; Chad Bauman Executive Director. Nina Simone: Four Women is presented by special arrangement with United Talent Agency.
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION STAFF AFFILIATIONS
Indiana Repertory Theatre is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), a nationwide association of not for profit theatres.
The director is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union.
The actors and stage managers in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
The scenic, costume, lighting, sound, and projection 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.
“LIFE HAS TOSSED ME TO AND FRO, BUT I REMAIN UNBROKEN.”
Unseen but Heard
by Austene Van, Director
Every fiber of my being is acutely aware of the honor it is to be a medium of Christina Ham’s brilliant and beautiful Nina Simone: Four Women. This play challenges us to look, without blinking, past Ms. Nina Simone’s artistic genius and into the rubble of devastation that might have pinned her down and permanently paralyzed her, but instead forced her to sprout wings and fly.
September 16, 1963—the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama—was the catalyst, the tower moment for Ms. Simone.
The tragic, violent loss of four innocent little girls precipitated the violent birth pangs of a dynamic and courageous activist. From that day forward, Ms. Simone wielded her art to pique awareness and provoke critical changes necessary to secure an equal and safe place in this world for marginalized and devalued human beings, specifically Black and Brown bodies.
Christina Ham affords us the opportunity to imagine how Ms. Simone faced down the fact that she was the epitome of the “unseen” and honed her unique weapon: the gift of being one who is heard. By gathering disparate parts of herself, both natural and man-made, Nina forms an army to fight through her fear and explode as a force of resistance and transformation for those who misunderstand that Civil Rights are for all.
“If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.”
— Sojourner Truth
Playwright
CHRISTINA HAM
Christina Ham was recognized by American Theatre magazine as one of the 20 most-produced playwrights of the 2018-19 season. Her plays have been developed and produced by the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Center Theater Group, the Guthrie Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Goodman Theater, South Africa’s Market Theatre, the Tokyo International Arts Festival, and many others. Her plays for young audiences include Four Little Girls: Birmingham: 1963 and Ruby!: The Story of Ruby Bridges. She is a two-time recipient of a McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting as well as a Jerome Fellowship from the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, the Marianne Murphy Women & Philanthropy Award in Playwriting, and a MacDowell Colony Artist Residency. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California and holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. She is an Affiliated Writer at the Playwrights’ Center and a member of the WGAWest, the Dramatists Guild of America, the Kilroys, and the Playwrights Union. She was a Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Pillsbury House Theatre. She has written for the TV series Westworld, Brand New Cherry Flavor, Sweet Tooth, Them, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
The Bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church
The 16th Street Baptist Church was organized in 1873, the first Black church in the city of Birmingham, Alabama, which had been founded just two years before. The current structure, built in 1911, was designed by a Black architect and built by a Black contractor. As one of the primary Black institutions in Birmingham, the 16th Street Baptist Church has hosted prominent visitors throughout its history. W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Paul Robeson, and Ralph Bunche all spoke at the church during the first part of the 20th century. During the 1950s and 1960s, the church was a center for Civil Rights activism.
On Sunday, September 15, 1963, white terrorists, members of the Ku Klux Klan, planted a bomb at the church, set to explode as people gathered for Sunday worship. The explosion blew large holes in the church’s walls, destroyed the rear steps to the church, and blew a passing motorist out of his car. Several other cars parked near the site of the blast were destroyed, and windows of properties located more than two blocks from the church
were also damaged. All but one of the church’s stainedglass windows were destroyed in the explosion.
Dozens of people were seriously injured in the blast, and four girls were killed: Denise McNair, age 11; Carole Robertson, age 14; Addie Mae Collins, age 14; and Cynthia Wesley, age 14. Across the country, people were outraged by the loss of these young lives. Another 22 people were injured in the blast, including 12-year-old Sarah Jean Collins, sister of Addie Mae. Sarah, who lost an eye in the explosion, still says that “I really believe my life was spared to tell the story.”
Although four suspects were identified by the FBI within nine months of the bombing, there were no trials or convictions in the case until 1977, 2001, and 2002. A fourth suspect died of cancer in 1994 without ever coming to trial.
Today, many historians contend that the church bombing was among the pivotal events that helped the nation to focus on the need to protect the rights of all its citizens, leading to passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Nina Simone High Priestess of Soul
by Richard J Roberts, Resident Dramaturg
Nina Simone was a singer, pianist, songwriter, and activist. Rolling Stone magazine called her “one of the most affecting voices of the Civil Rights movement,” someone who could “belt barroom blues, croon cabaret, and explore jazz—sometimes all on a single record.”
She was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, in 1933. Her father, John Divine Waymon, was a handyman, barber, and entertainer who at one point owned a dry-cleaning business. He was also a church deacon. Her mother, Mary Kate Irvin Waymon, kept the home and raised eight children while also serving as an ordained minister in the Methodist-Episcopal Church.
Eunice began playing piano by ear at three or four. At five she began taking piano lessons with Murial Mazzanovich, a British woman living in Tryon. The teacher instilled in her pupil a rigorous piano technique and a lifelong love for classical music, especially Bach. Miss Mazzy encouraged Eunice’s development by arranging recitals to show off her protégé’s talents, leading to generous sponsors who paid for lessons that the Waylon family could not afford. At the first of these recitals, when Eunice was 12, her parents sat proudly in the front row, but then were forced to move to the back to make space for white people. Eunice refused to start the recital until her parents were returned to the front row.
When she graduated as valedictorian of her high school class, the Tryon community raised a scholarship for Eunice
to spend the summer of 1950 studying the piano at the Juilliard School in New York City. She auditioned for the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, but was not accepted. She always felt that she was refused because of her color, but officials at Curtis have denied this allegation, noting that only 3 of 72 applicants were accepted that year. She took private lessons with Vladimir Sokoloff, a Curtis professor, while herself giving lessons to local students.
In 1954, she was offered a job playing piano and singing in a bar in Atlantic City. Although she dreamed of becoming the first Black female concert pianist, she needed a job. Knowing that her mother would not want her playing “the devil’s music,” she created the stage name Nina Simone to hide the news from her family.
In 1958, Simone released a single, “I Loves You Porgy” from Porgy and Bess. It reached the Billboard Top 20 and was the biggest hit of her career. She released her first album, Little Girl Blue, in 1959. In need of cash, she sold her rights to the recording for $3,000; ultimately, she lost more than $1 million in royalties from that album over her lifetime.
Simone recorded 40 albums between 1958 and 1993. She became a popular concert and recording artist, performing around the world, including more than a dozen concerts at Carnegie Hall. In the early part of her career, she focused on the classic American songbook: Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers and Hart.
“Critics started to talk about what sort of music I was playing,” Simone wrote in her autobiography, IPutaSpellonYou, “and tried to find a neat slot to file it away in. It was difficult for them because I was playing popular songs in a classical style with a classical piano technique influenced by cocktail jazz. On top of that I included spirituals and children’s song in my performances, and those sorts of songs were automatically identified with the folk movement. So, saying what sort of music I played gave the critics problems because there was something from everything in there, but it also meant I was appreciated across the board—by jazz, folk, pop, and blues fans as well as admirers of classical music.”
In 1963, in response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, Simone wrote “Mississippi Goddam.” She later said that she wrote the
song “in a rush of fury, hatred, and determination.” This song marked a change in her career: from that point forward, the Civil Rights message became an important part of her recordings and performances. Other songs from this era included “Old Jim Crow,” “Images,” “Four Women,” and “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black.” As her political activism increased, the number of albums she recorded decreased. She wrote in her 1992 autobiography, “I felt more alive then than I feel now because I was needed, and I could sing something to help my people.”
Simone married twice; both marriages ended in divorce. Her daughter, Lisa Simone, is a singer and actress who has performed leading roles on Broadway in Rent, The Lion King, and Aida.
In 1970, claiming that the music industry was punishing her for her political activism, Nina Simone left the United States and began living and performing abroad. In 1983, her 1957 recording of “My Baby Just Cares for Me” was used in a Chanel commercial seen around the world. The song returned to the charts and brought her a new generation of fans. Around 1990, while living in the Netherlands, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She suffered from breast cancer for several years before she died in her sleep in France in 2003.
Jim Fusilli, music critic for The Wall Street Journal, has written of Simone’s music: “It didn’t adhere to ephemeral trends, it isn’t a relic of a bygone era; her vocal delivery and technical skills as a pianist still dazzle; and her emotional performances have a visceral impact.” The poet Maya Angelou wrote, “She is loved or feared, adored or disliked, but few who have met her music or glimpsed her soul react with moderation.”
Songs of the Play
“Trouble in Mind” by Richard M. Jones | Sung by Nina Simone on her 1960 album Nina Simone at Newport
“Sea Lion Woman” | Traditional African American folk song. Sung by Nina Simone as “See-Line Woman” on her 1964 album Broadway-Blues-Ballads.
“Old Jim Crow” | by Jackie Alper, Nina Simone, & Ron Vander Groef, Courtesy of WC Music Corp. (ASCAP). Used by permission. Sung by Nina Simone on her 1964 album Nina Simone in Concert.
“God Be with You ’til We Meet Again” | by Jeremiah Rankin, William Tomer
“His Eye Is on the Sparrow” | by Civilla D. Martin & Charles H. Gabriel
“If He Changed My Name” | by Robert MacGimsey. Sung by Nina Simone on her 1962 album Nina at the Village Gate
“Images” | by Nina Simone, Courtesy of WC Music Corp. (ASCAP). Used by permission. Sung by Nina Simone on her 1964 live album Let It Out.
“Sinnerman” | Traditional African American spiritual. Nina Simone’s version courtesy of WC Music Corp. (ASCAP). Used by permission. Sung by Nina Simone on her 1965 album Pastel Blues.
“Everything Must Change” | by Bernard Ighner, Courtesy of Almo Music Corp. Used by permission. Sung by Nina Simone on her 1978 album Baltimore.
“To Be Young, Gifted, and Black” | by Nina Simone & Weldon Irvine, Used by Permission of EMI GROVE PARK MUSIC INC., NINANDY MUSIC. All rights reserved. Sung by Nina Simone on her 1970 album Black Gold.
“Mississippi Goddam” | by Nina Simone, Courtesy of WC Music Corp. (ASCAP) Used by permission. Sung by Nina Simone on her 1964 album Nina Simone in Concert.
“Shout: Oh, Mary” | Lyrics by Christina Ham. Music by the Company of Nina Simone: Four Women
“Four Women” | by Nina Simone Used by Permission of EMI WATERFORD MUSIC, INC., ROLLS ROYCE MUSIC CO. All rights reserved. Sung by Nina Simone on her 1966 album Wild Is the Wind.
THE COMPANY
JAMECIA BENNETT | Sarah NAACP Image Award 2025 nominee as featured singer in “Thankful” by Sounds of Blackness. Twin Cities theatre: Beauty and the Beast, Caroline or Change, A Raisin in the Sun (Guthrie Theater); Passing Strange, Crowns, Skeleton Crew (Yellow Tree Theater); The Color Purple, Marie, Rosetta (Park Square); Rent, Rocky Horror Show (Lab Theater); Get Ready, Girl Shakes Loose, The Owl Answers, Black Nativity, Detroit 67 (Penumbra Theater); Passing Strange (Mixed Blood); A Lonely Soldier (History Theater). Tours: Love Jones and Tyler Perry’s Family Reunion and I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Jamecia is C.O.O. of Pimento Jamaican Kitchen in Minneapolis–St. Paul.
AKILI NI MALI | Nina Simone Akili (she/her) is an actor and independent recording artist originally from San Diego, California. Regional: Snow Fever (Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre); Beautiful (Beef & Boards Dinner Theater); Chlorine Sky (Steppenwolf Theatre); Sense and Sensibility (Indiana Repertory Theatre); Richard III and Riverside (Indianapolis Shakespeare Company); Skeleton Crew (Summit Performance Indianapolis); Hairspray (Legacy Theatre). International: Norwegian Cruise Lines (2019). Film: Heist 88. Television: Chicago Fire, Chicago PD. Commercial: DenTek, Andre Champagne. Discography: Breathe (2020), Good Life (2020), Right (2021), Sold (2022), Lana Del Rey (2023) and 9-5 (2024). Education: B.F.A. Musical Theatre, Ball State University (2019).
PRECIOUS OMIGIE | Sweet Thing Precious (she/her) is an actress born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She found her love for the craft at an early age when she was enticed by the mystery and magic of acting. She aspires to impact and empower other artists through different mediums: theatre, film, and music. This show is her IRT debut.
AERIEL WILLIAMS | Sephronia Aeriel is grateful to be joining Nina Simone: Four Women. Off-Broadway: Trevor the Musical. National Tour: The Color Purple. Select Regional: Slippin’ Through... (Goodman Theater), Memphis (Porchlight), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Drury Lane), Caterpillar & Butterfly (Steppenwolf), Million Dollar Quartet (Center Theater), Dreamgirls (Paramount), Antigone, Gospel at Colonus, Oedipus Rex (Court Theater), Jitney (Congo Square), The Josephine Baker Story (Black Ensemble Theater) Genesis (Definition Theatre). Television: Chicago Med, The Chi, Empire. “Love to my family and The Tribe for loving me no matter the ‘journey.’ Special thanks to my manager Becky, and this company. Jeremiah 29:11.” @monaerie
PSYWRN SIMONE | Understudy for Nina Simone & Sarah PsyWrn Simone, a multi-hyphenate artist from Indianapolis, is overjoyed to return to IRT! Favorite theatre credits include: Toni Stone (Indianapolis Black Theater Company), Blackademics (Fonseca Theatre Company), Fannie: The Life and Music of Fannie Lou Hamer (Indiana Repertory Theatre), The Mountaintop (Cardinal Stage), The Color Purple Musical (Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre) and Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center. PsyWrn is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, a Founding Company Member of the Indianapolis Black Theater Company, the Associate Artistic Director for the Asante Art Institute of Indianapolis, and serves on the Board for Inspire Music Collective. IG: @psywrn.simone
AUSTENE VAN | Direction & Movement Guthrie: Skeleton Crew, A Raisin in the Sun, Choir Boy (choreography); Asolo Rep: Intimate Apparel; Yellow Three Theatre: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, The Rats and The Wasps’ Nest, Passing Strange, In the Next Room, Skeleton Crew, The Royale; History Theatre: Lonely Soldiers, A Civil War Christmas, The Defeat of Jesse James (choreography); Theatre North: Ain’t Misbehavin’ (director /choreographer); New Dawn Theatre Company: Crowns; Ordway: Annie, Blues in the Night; Ten Thousand Things: Intimate Apparel; Park Square Theatre: Rule of Thumb, Gee’s Bend, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill; Penumbra Theatre: Black Nativity. Awards: McKnight Theatre Artist Fellowship; Ivey Award.
MORGAN
E. STEVENSON | Music Director & Piano Morgan is a versatile connoisseur of music. Her theatre journey began in 2021 and is marked by significant contributions to acclaimed productions where she’s served as music director, conductor, and keyboardist. Credits include Fannie:TheLifeandMusicofFannieLouHamer(Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, True Colors Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, City Theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Indiana Repertory Theatre); Marie&Rosetta(Northlight Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre); PassingStrange(Theatrical Outfit); Fela!(Lambert-Smith Media); LittleShopofHorrors(Indiana Repertory Theatre). For more on Morgan’s musical projects, culinary explorations, and more, visit linktr.ee/morganemusicnow.
REGINA GARCIA | Scenic Designer Regina (she/her/ella) is a Chicago-based scenic designer from Puerto Rico. IRT: Steel Magnolias, Mrs. Harrison. She has had long standing relationships with the Latinx Theatre’s renowned Teatros including Repertorio Español, Teatro Vista and Pregones Theater. Recently completed projects include American Players Theatre and the Alley Theatre. Regina is a Fellow of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers and the Princess Grace Awards, USA; a Regional Associate member of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is the Head of Scenic Design at The Theatre School, DePaul University, and a founding organizational member of La Gente: The Latinx Theatre Production Network.
MATHEW J. LEFEBVRE | Costume Designer At the IRT, Mathew has designed costumes for Fences, What I Learned in Paris, and Boeing, Boeing. Mathew has designed costumes for more than 25 productions at the Guthrie Theater, including A Christmas Carol, A Streetcar Named Desire, 1776, and She Loves Me. Other regional credits include the Seattle Opera, Penumbra Theatre Company, Old Globe, the Acting Company, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Minnesota Opera, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Trinity Repertory Company, Cleveland Play House, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Geffen Playhouse, the Jungle Theater, and American Players Theatre.
NIC VINCENT | Lighting Designer Nic (he/him) is a lighting designer based out of New York City and Toronto. He is pleased to be making his Indiana Repertory Theatre debut with such incredible collaborators. Recent OffBroadway: Theater Row/Keen Company, Lincoln Center Theater, Roundabout, Atlantic, New Ohio, the Apollo, New York Live Arts, 59E59, Mabou Mines, Rattlestick. Regional: Geva Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, People’s Light (Barrymore nominated), Sacramento Opera. Other work includes NightGowns (Sasha Velour/Quibi), and numerous projects at La Mama and the Cell. Up next: Portland Opera. Founding member: Associated Designers of Canada ADC IATSE 659, M.F.A.: Yale School of Drama. nicvincent.com
THE COMPANY
JEFF BAILEY | Sound Designer Theatre: Guthrie: A Raisin in the Sun, Skeleton Crew, Intimate Apparel; Asolo Rep: The Royale; Park Square: Agatha Christie: Rule of Thumb; New Dawn Theatre Company: Divas after Dark, Crowns. Film/Television: White Savior (Sparkhouse). Professional bassist: Jonathan Brooke, Mike Stern, Geoffrey Keezer, Fareed Haque, Charles Lazarus, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Andrés Prado, Charley Drayton, Doc Martin, Joey McIntrye. Training: M.M., Bass Performance, McNally Smith College of Music; University of Minnesota (James Clute). Jeff is a Hamline University Professor of Practice and Director of the Hamline Music Production Program.
MIKE TUTAJ | Projection Designer At the IRT, Mike has designed projections for Fannie, Sense and Sensibility, The Book Club Play, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Mountaintop. Based in Chicago, his credits include the Goodman, Steppenwolf, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Second City, Victory Gardens, Lookingglass, Writers’ Theatre, the Court Theatre, and many more. Off-Broadway credits include MCC Theater, p73, EnGarde Arts, and the York Theatre. Regional credits include the Alliance Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, South Coast Rep, Center Stage, Syracuse Stage, and more. Mike is an artistic associate with TimeLine Theatre and a member of United Scenic Artists local 829.
TENÉH B. C. KARIMU | Associate Music Director & Piano Tenéh (she/her) is elated to return to the IRT. She is a multi-hyphenate creative encompassing talents in piano, voice, theatre, and creative direction. Tenéh attended Hampton University and returned to Indianapolis to contribute to the local arts scene. In 2020 she was honored to be chosen as a Featured Artist by the Arts Council of Indianapolis for its annual Art and Soul series. She has performed and taught throughout the city and recently was presented the Broadway World award for music and orchestral direction for Sophisticated Ladies. “I thank my tribe, family, friends, and all those fighting for oppressed people.”
KIMBERLY ARLAND | Assistant Director & Violence Since childhood, Kimberly has been immersed in acting, dance, boxing, martial arts, sports, modeling, music, and teaching. By 13, she had her own production company, and she had written and toured a couple of her original plays by 17. Because of her desire to support and platform others’ talents, by 23 she’d added Casting Director and Talent Agent to her resume. Her love of people and creative interconnectivity has inspired her to continue directing theater, video, multimedia, and concert productions in Minneapolis, then Los Angeles. “What a joy it’s been working with Austene Van again, and at the IRT for the first time!”
ANDREW ELLIOT | Wig Designer Andrew is a makeup artist, wig designer, and stylist. His work can be seen with IU Opera and Ballet Theatre, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre, Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre, Actors Theatre of Indiana, Phoenix Theatre, Zach & Zack Productions, Summer Stock Stage, and more. As a makeup artist and stylist, his work can be seen locally and nationally in various publications, commercials, industrials, and editorials. He spent 2020 recreating icons of film, fashion, and theatre, which gained national attention, with features in the New York Times, NowThis News, The Indianapolis Star, and Indianapolis Monthly. andrewelliotbeauty.com
CLAIRE WILCHER | Intimacy Consultant Claire earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theatre from Michigan State University, where she specialized in acting, pedagogy, and intimacy direction. Claire is a Certified Intimacy Director with IDC Professionals (Intimacy Directors and Coordinators), advocating for consent-based theatre spaces, bodily autonomy for actors, and safe-yet-creative storytelling. Her intimacy choreography has been seen on the stages of the IRT, Phoenix Theatre, IndyShakes, Summer Stock Stage, Summit Performance, Purdue University, Marian University, Williamston Theatre in Michigan, Three Brothers Theatre in Waukegan, and Redtwist Theatre in Chicago, among others. More at clairewilcher.com
RICHARD J ROBERTS | Dramaturg This is Richard’s 35th season with the IRT, and his 27th 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, Bridge & Tunnel, The Night Watcher, Neat, Pretty Fire, The Cay, The Giver, The Power of One, and Twelfth Night. This season at Actors Theatre of Indiana he directed She Loves Me. Richard studied music at DePauw University and theatre at Indiana University and was awarded a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis.
NATHAN GARRISON | Stage Manager This is Nathan’s 29th season at the IRT. He has also worked with Center Stage in Baltimore, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and Brown County Playhouse; and he is a company member with the Indianapolis Shakespeare Company.
OUR ARTIST SUPPORTERS
Each season, some of our donors choose to celebrate the artistry of the IRT by recognizing our amazing artists, both onstage and behind the scenes. This exclusive giving opportunity is a benefit for Repertory Society members in the Artist, Director, and Playwright Circles.
Thank you to these donors for celebrating our remarkable artists! a revolution in song FEBRUARY 4MARCH 2
PRECIOUS OMIGIE as sweet thing
SUPPORTED BY CATHERINE TURNER
AKILI NI MALI as nina simone
SUPPORTED BY CHERYL WALDMAN
PSYWRN SIMONE as understudy for nina simone & sarah
SUPPORTED BY GARY DENNEY & LOUISE BAKKER
AERIEL WILLIAMS as sephronia
SUPPORTED BY DR. CHRISTIAN WOLF & ELAINE HOLDEN-WOLF
MORGAN E. STEVENSON music director
SUPPORTED BY JOY KLEINMAIER
celebrating the arts that bring us together.
Whether on the page, on the screen, on the stage, or anywhere else, art brings life to life. KeyBank is grateful for the passion and creativity that inspire and enrich all our lives, and we’re proud to support the arts across our communities. Thank you, Indiana Repertory Theatre, for making a difference.
JANET ALLEN STAGE MARCH 11 - APRIL 6
REVIEWS
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PHOTO CREDIT (SET ONLY)
SCENIC DESIGNER
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Directed by JAMES STILL
Scenic Designer______________
Costume Designer___________________
Lighting Designer______________
Original Music & Sound Designer____
Dramaturg_________________
Stage Manager______________
Casting_____________________
Casting____________________
EDWARD T. MORRIS
YAO CHEN
MICHELLE HABECK
MELANIE CHEN COLE
RICHARD J ROBERTS
ERIN ROBSON-SMITH
CLAIRE SIMON, CSA
CLAIRE YENSON, CSA OriginalartworkbyKyleRagsdale
Edward T. Morris
Michelle Habeck CREATIVE TEAM
SEASON SPONSOR
SEASON PARTNER
ASSOCIATE SPONSOR
Margot Lacy Eccles
Artistic Director
FELIPE CARRASCO JULIE FISHELL THE CAST (in order of appearance)
Tom Wingfield_________________ Amanda Wingfield_________________
Laura Wingfield________________ The Gentleman Caller___________
DELANEY FEENER
SAM BELL-GURWITZ
SETTING
a memory of an alley in St. Louis the past
Act 1: Preparations for a Gentleman Caller
Act 2: The Gentleman Calls
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION STAFF
Production Assistant: Emma Littau
Intimacy Consultant: Claire Wilcher
Movement Consultant: Mariel Greenlee
Violin & Additional Music by Jo Brook
Brass Instruments & Additional Music by Matthew Benenson Cruz
The Glass Menagerie is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
AFFILIATIONS
Indiana Repertory Theatre is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), a nationwide association of not for profit theatres.
The director is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union.
The actors and stage managers in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
The 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.
“GLASS BREAKS SO EASILY. NO MATTER HOW CAREFUL YOU ARE.”
BENJAMIN HANNA
SUZANNE SWEENEY Managing Director
CLASSIC & NEW
by James Still, Director
One of the many astonishing things about The Glass Menagerie is that so many of the elements in its story that make it a “classic” are the same elements that make it shockingly contemporary and relevant in 2025. The play shimmers and aches with its bold and knowable themes of changing family dynamics, dreams, abandonment, romance, memory, promise, regret, yearning, and a desire to escape suffocating responsibilities in the wild hope of pursuing potential and adventure. In other words, this play that met the world in Chicago in 1944 continues to engage us in 2025 because of the mirror it gently and unflinchingly holds up for us to consider. We can’t look away because at the heart of this play we are looking at our neighbors, our families, and ourselves. Our production of The Glass Menagerie is a fresh and rigorous embrace of past and present and offers IRT audiences a chance to discover and/or rediscover a play that continues to fascinate, endure, and reinvent the complexities of stories about the American family.
I consider every play I write or direct as some kind of invitation; but this one is more than an invitation … it’s a demand. It grabs me as a storyteller, it challenges the designers and actors, and finally it becomes fully itself with the audiences who will choose to spend two hours in the dark watching the production we’ve made. It’s been months in the making, and for me it’s a deep, spirited conversation that I’m having with Tennessee Williams and his Wingfield family. The whole world of the play takes place inside the familial walls of a St. Louis apartment. But it’s also a world that is bursting at the seams with tension and pressure and anxiety—which is why our production busts down the walls and boldly suggests a world that is real but not real, sturdy but delicate, tiny but enormous, emotionally available but full of secrets. It is a play that is dusted with queerness, which for me makes it especially heartbreakingly tender yet unsentimentally brutal. Somehow in the restless heart of Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie lives in the past, present, and future—which is its great gift and mystery. Our task as the lucky artists who get to make this production for you is to find all the ways we can crack the play open for all of you to experience as if it’s a new play.
Anthony Ross, Laurette Taylor, Eddie Dowling, and Julie Haydon in the original
Assumptions about Disability— On and Off Stage
by Talleri A. McRae, IRT Access Consultant Access Dramaturg for The Glass Menagerie
Many of society’s views or “models” of disability assume that having a disability is a bad thing to be judged, pitied, or fixed. For example, many people who have physical disabilities and/or are different are judged through a “moral model”: their differences are treated as character flaws. Throughout history, people with disabilities have often been portrayed as evil or morally weak.
Using a “charity model,” people with disabilities are often reduced to being objects of pity in need of philanthropy to survive. This view of disability objectifies disabled bodies and minds, often to make nondisabled observers feel better about themselves—even subconsciously. (Think of any movie, TV show, or story where a disabled person exists primarily to help a nondisabled person grow or “be better.”)
Today, many people use a “medical model” and understand disability as a “problem” to be fixed or cured. While it is true that physiological differences and impairments can be challenging, the “medical model” of disability often focuses on “fixing” people, and denies that the experience of disability can be complex. While it can be frustrating to navigate inaccessible environments, being disabled can also be a happy, creative, joyful, and even cultural experience.
These three views—the moral, charity, and medical models—frame disability through a deficit lens, and are very common in literature, television, and film. Popular culture frequently leaves out the “social model” of disability. In this model, disability is not characterized as an individual deficit, but rather as an experience of being excluded from largely inaccessible, unwelcoming environments. Furthermore, mainstream references to disability almost always ignore or erase the lives of disabled people who experience other marginalizations: for example, race, class, and gender identity. Yet today, many disabled advocates who identify as Black and/or Brown and/or Queer and Disabled offer an alternate to the models above.
In The Glass Menagerie, some characters’ attitudes reflect the “medical model” of disability that was prevalent in society in the 1940s when the play was written. The assumption was that having a disability was a bad thing. People whose bodies and minds were “different,” needed to have their differences either “overcome” or “fixed.” Historically, many tellings of TheGlassMenagerie have microfocused on references to Laura’s physical disability. In contrast, this production intentionally explores wider definitions of disability and difference, and asks the following question: How are all of the characters in this story—their bodies and minds—disabled … by their environment? by their loved ones? by themselves? by the expectations placed on them? Indeed, Tennessee Williams’s sensitive, insightful, timeless play invites us all to consider disability and difference then and now. Our considerations can impact not just us as individuals, but our communities. How might we, together, create spaces that welcome all bodies and minds to truly “come as we are”?
Together we provide accessible, arts based education experiences to students with disabilities, prekindergarten through grade 12.
Tennessee Williams Searching for Light in the Darkness
by Richard J Roberts, Resident Dramaturg
Tennessee Williams was one of the most important American playwrights of the 20th century. In his finest plays, he redefined the possibilities of both the subject and form of theatre.
He was born Thomas Lanier Williams III in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1911. His father, Cornelius Coffin Williams, was a traveling shoe salesman, often away from home. His mother, Edwina Dakin, was the daughter of a music teacher and an Episcopal priest. Along with his older sister Rose and younger brother Walter, the family lived in his grandfather’s rectory.
Young Thomas nearly died of diphtheria, leaving him frail and housebound for a year. His father, a violent-tempered alcoholic, considered his son weak and effeminate. His mother, trapped in an unhappy marriage, fixated her attention on the helpless boy. From a young age, Thomas took refuge in storytelling, and he soon began to write. His dysfunctional family would influence his work throughout his career.
When Thomas was eight, the family moved to St. Louis. At 16, he published a prize-winning essay in Smart Set, a popular Jazz Age literary magazine that launched many writers’ careers. A year later he published an Egyptian revenge story in Weird Tales.
Williams attended the University of Missouri, entering his poetry, essays, stories, and plays in various writing contests. After he failed his military training course, his father pulled him from school and sent him to work at the International Shoe Company. He hated the job and intensified his writing regime, typing late into the night and all weekend. At age 23 he suffered a nervous breakdown and quit his job. Around this time his parents separated.
Williams finally earned his B.A. in English at the University of Iowa in 1938. He began using Tennessee Williams as his pen name, taking it from a college nickname. He wandered from California to New Orleans in a string of menial jobs, writing wherever he went. In 1939 he won a $1000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, which led to a six-month writing contract with MGM in Hollywood that led nowhere.
In 1944 Williams wrote TheGlassMenagerie, which developed from several short stories and an an unused screenplay. The play featured many autobiographical elements: his mother’s
shame at the family’s diminished circumstances, his father’s frequent absence, his sister’s mental fragility, and his own feelings of entrapment. The play was produced in Chicago, although the producers had doubts and tried to pressure Williams for a happy ending. They expected to close quickly, but the play was championed by Chicago critics. It became a hit, leading the producers to move the production to Broadway. It won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award as Best American Play and ran for a year and a half. The play has since had worldwide acclaim and seven more Broadway productions.
Williams’s next play, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), was a huge success despite or perhaps because of its sexuality and violence. It won the Pulitzer Prize and is generally considered Williams’s masterpiece, one of the most influential plays of the 20th century. The Broadway production and the Oscarwinning 1951 film launched Marlon Brando’s career, inspiring generations of Method actors.
Williams’s other best-known plays include Summer and Smoke (1948), The Rose Tattoo (1951—Tony Award), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955—Pulitzer Prize), Orpheus Descending (1957), Suddenly Last Summer (1958), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). Many of his plays had popular film adaptations, and Williams himself wrote some of those screenplays. His 1946 one-act 27 Wagons Full of Cotton was the basis for the controversial 1956 film Baby Doll. His 1950 novel The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone was filmed in 1961; while not a financial success, Williams considered it his favorite film adaptation.
Although Williams continued to write until his death, and had many productions of new plays with varying degrees of critical success, none of his later works reached the heights of his earlier acclaim. Throughout this time, Williams increasingly feared for his own sanity, leading to increased use of alcohol and drugs. His sister Rose had been subjected to a lobotomy in 1943, requiring her to be institutionalized, and Williams always dedicated portions of his royalties to her perpetual care.
In 1948, after numerous failed relationships, Williams fell in love with Frank Merlo, an occasional actor who became his long-term partner. Merlo’s high spirits and solid temperament stabilized Williams and brought him unexpected happiness. “He was so close to life,” Williams later said. “He tied me down to earth.” Merlo acted as Williams’s secretary and provided a haven of stability until his death from lung cancer in 1963. Merlo’s death sent Williams into a period of nearly catatonic depression and drug use, leading to several hospitalizations and commitments to mental health institutions. Yet he
continued to write. “I’m very conscious of my decline in popularity,” he said shortly before his death. ‘‘But I don’t permit it to stop me…. It was a great act of providence that I was able to turn my borderline psychosis into creativity— my sister Rose did not manage this. So I keep writing. I am sometimes pleased with what I do. For me, that’s enough.’’ He died in 1983 from an overdose of Seconal.
Writing in conservative mid-century America, Tennessee Williams pushed against the boundaries of what was considered taboo, often with a poetic style that contrasted his dangerous subject matter. His work highlights moments of beauty and delicacy struggling to survive in a brutal landscape of dark memories and dangerous desires. He stated that his goal was to open the “closets, attics, and basements of human behavior” to let out the guilt and desperation that trapped people inside themselves. He fearlessly explored our most human vulnerabilities with unflinching honesty, deep empathy, and poetic artistry.
THE COMPANY
SAM BELL-GURWITZ | The Gentleman Caller Sam (he/him) is thrilled to be making his IRT debut! Broadway: Goodnight, Oscar. Regional credits include: The Boys in the Band, (Windy City Playhouse), Goodnight, Oscar (Goodman Theatre), A Shayna Maidel (Timeline Theatre Company), Three Sisters (UV Theatre Project). Television: Next. Proudly represented by Stewart Talent and graduate of the University of Michigan. “I owe everything and more to my fiancée, Savanna.”
FELIPE CARRASCO | Tom Wingfield Felipe (he/him) is very excited and grateful to be with you all at IRT. He has worked nationally and internationally with A Red Orchid Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Teatro Vista, 16th Street Theatre, Invictus Theatre Co., The Artistic Home, St. Louis Repertory, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theatre Center, Riverside Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland, and others. TV : Chicago Fire. Felipe is represented by Grossman and Jack Talent. He holds an M.F.A. from Southern Methodist University. He is cofounder of DaughterBoy Collective, based in Chicago. @daughterboy_collective.
DELANEY FEENER | Laura Wingfield Delaney (she/her) is thrilled to be making her IRT debut! Off-Broadway: Richard III (NY Classical Theater), The Cause (Women’s Project Theater). Regional Theatre: Bring Down the House, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Othello, Twelfth Night (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival). Film: Come As You Are (2019), Single (SXSW Special Jury Recognition). TV: FBI: Most Wanted. Member of the Mercury Store Acting Company in NY. “Endless love to my family and friends.” Instagram: @delaneyfeener
JULIE FISHELL | Amanda Wingfield Julie is back home in Indiana and honored to make her IRT debut. Credits include The Death of Papa (with Jean Stapleton); Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike (dir. Libby Appel); Private Lives; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The Tempest (Prospero); Angels in America; Beckett’s Happy Days; Death of a Salesman; James Still’s Everybody’s Favorite Mothers. Select stages: NYC/the Public Theater, the Acting Company. Regional: Hartford Stage, Kennedy Center (DC), Virginia Stage Co. International: Prague Shakespeare Co., Moscow Art Theatre (USSR). PlayMakers Repertory Company member (23 seasons), professor of acting UC-Santa Barbara. Education: University of Evansville and the Juilliard School. “For 4J’s&G”
JAMES STILL | Director James works as a writer and director in theatre, television, and film throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, South Africa, China, and Japan. Four-time Pulitzer nominee, five-time Emmy nominee, an elected member of both the National Theatre Conference in New York and the College of Fellows of the American Theatre at the Kennedy Center, he is also an Affiliated Artist with American Blues in Chicago. He lives in Los Angeles. The Glass Menagerie is the 24th production he has directed at the IRT.
EDWARD T. MORRIS | Scenic Designer IRT debut! Edward has designed for Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Atlantic Theater Company, the Barrow Group, Cherry Lane Theater, Goodspeed Opera House, Kansas City Rep, Martha Graham Dance Company, Oklahoma City Repertory Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, the New Group, TheatreSquared, Virginia Stage Company, Weston Playhouse, Westport Country Playhouse, and Yale Repertory Theatre, among many others. He is an advocate and consultant on sustainability in the performing arts. He is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and Wingspace Theatrical Design. He is a graduate of University of Michigan and Yale School of Drama. @drawdeedward
YAO CHEN | Costume Designer Yao (she/her) works extensively internationally and domestically. She has been an active collaborator with Indiana Repertory Theatre (TheFolksatHome,ThePaperDreamsofHarryChin,TheHouse ThatJackBuilt,TheDiaryofAnneFrank), Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Seven Ages, Ltd, Beijing China, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, First Stage, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Berkshire Theatre Group ,Trinity Repertory Company, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Orlando Repertory Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Boston Playwright Theatre, TheatreSquared, Lyric Company of Boston, Geva Theatre Center, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Espresso Theatre in San Jose, Costa Rica. USA 829, yao-chen.com
MICHELLE HABECK | Lighting Designer This is Michelle’s tenth show at the IRT, including Oedipus. Fahrenheit 451, Twelve Angry Men, A Doll’s House Part 2, Looking Over the President’s Shoulder, and Dial “M” for Murder. Broadway: slide artist for Thoroughly Modern Millie; associate/assistant lighting design for The Boy from Oz, Movin’ Out, Thoroughly Modern Millie, King Hedley II. Off Broadway: Fifty Words for MCC Theatre. Regional: Guthrie, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Alliance, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Minneapolis Children’s Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Arizona Theatre Company, Penumbra, Lookingglass. Michelle leads the lighting program in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas at Austin.
MELANIE CHEN COLE | Original Music and Sound Design Melanie is a San Diego–based sound designer. IRT: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Regional theatre credits: Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Alley Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Geffen Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, Northern Stage, The Old Globe, PlayMakers Rep, South Coast Rep, Studio Theatre, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Education: MFA in UC San Diego. melaniesound.com, @melaniechencole
ANDREW ELLIOT | Wig Designer Andrew is a makeup artist, wig designer, and stylist. His work can be seen with IU Opera and Ballet Theatre, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre, Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre, Actors Theatre of Indiana, Phoenix Theatre, Zach & Zack Productions, Summer Stock Stage, and more. As a makeup artist and stylist, his work can be seen locally and nationally in various publications, commercials, industrials, and editorials. He spent 2020 recreating icons of film, fashion, and theatre, which gained national attention, with features in the New York Times, NowThis News, The Indianapolis Star, and Indianapolis Monthly. andrewelliotbeauty.com
THE COMPANY
CLAIRE WILCHER | Intimacy Consultant Claire earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theatre from Michigan State University, where she specialized in acting, pedagogy, and intimacy direction. Claire is a Certified Intimacy Director with IDC Professionals (Intimacy Directors and Coordinators), advocating for consent-based theatre spaces, bodily autonomy for actors, and safe-yet-creative storytelling. Her intimacy choreography has been seen on the stages of the IRT, Phoenix Theatre, IndyShakes, Summer Stock Stage, Summit Performance, Purdue University, Marian University, Williamston Theatre in Michigan, Three Brothers Theatre in Waukegan, and Redtwist Theatre in Chicago, among others. More at clairewilcher.com
RICHARD J ROBERTS | Dramaturg This is Richard’s 34th season with the IRT, and his 26th 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, The Cay, Bridge & Tunnel, The Night Watcher, Neat, Pretty Fire, The Giver, The Power of One, and Twelfth Night. Other directing credits include Actors Theatre of Indiana, the Phoenix, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and the Edyvean. Richard studied music at DePauw and theatre at IU and was awarded a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis.
ERIN ROBSON-SMITH | Stage Manager Since moving to Indianapolis, Erin has had the pleasure of working with IRT and its incredible staff. Favorite productions include A Christmas Carol, The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin, and Pipeline at IRT; The Hotel Nepenthe and Love Bird with Phoenix Theatre; The Convent with Summit Performance Indianapolis; Julius Caesar with Indy Shakes; Sometimes a Great Notion with Portland Center Stage; and Metamorphoses with Artists Repertory Theatre. Erin spent the summers of 2008 and 2009 working with the JAW Festival at Portland Center Stage and recently stage managed for New Harmony Project’s inaugural PlayFest Indy.
CLAIRE SIMON, CSA | Casting Based in Chicago, Claire Simon CSA has worked with the IRT for the past 25 years on casting more than 40 productions, including A Christmas Carol, Spelling Bee, Little Shop of Horrors, The Folks at Home, Frankenstein, Clue, Oedipus, Sense and Sensibility, and many more. Other regional credits include Syracuse Stage, Asolo Theatre, Lyric Opera, Milwaukee Rep, and the Tony Award–winning Million Dollar Quartet. TV credits include Empire, Easy, Sense8, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Crisis, and Betrayal. Film credits include Divergent, Contagion, Unexpected, and Man of Steel. Claire has won two Artios Awards.
CLAIRE YENSON, CSA | Casting Claire Yenson (she/her) is a casting director who works in film, TV, and theatre. She is the resident casting director at New York Theatre Workshop and Playwrights Realm. Other theatre credits include Edinburgh Fringe, JACK, 59E59, the Public Theater, Studio Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, and the Donmar Warehouse. Film/TV includes XO, Kitty (Netflix); Pachinko (Apple TV+); Fleishman Is in Trouble (FX); Sharper (A24); and Modern Love (Amazon).
CRAIG & BETSY DYSKTRA
SEASON SUPPORTERS OF SUZANNE SWEENEY
Managing Director
SUSAN & CHARLIE GOLDEN SEASON SUPPORTERS OF ROB JOHANSEN
ANDREW & AMY MICHIE SEASON SUPPORTERS OF BENJAMIN HANNA
Margot Lacy Eccles
Artistic Director
SARAH & JOHN LECHLEITER
SEASON SUPPORTERS OF JESSICA HUANG
Playwright-in-Residence
SEASON SUPPORTERS
THE SUPPORTING CAST
INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE DONORS
CAMPAIGN GIFT $1,500+ | JULY 1, 2024 – JANUARY 3, 2025
DIRECTOR CIRCLE
$10,000
Anonymous
Bob & Toni Bader
David & Jackie Barrett
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Rollie & Cheri Dick
The Michael Dinius & Jeannie Regan-Dinius
Family Fund, a fund of the Indianapolis Foundation
Nancy & Berkley Duck
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$5,000 - &9,999
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Joan Perelman
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Charitable Fund
John Workman
CIRCLE $3,000 - $4,999
A.J. Allen
Anonymous
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TO VIEW FULL LIST
PATRON CIRCLE
$1,500 - $2,999
Janet Allen & Joel Grynheim
Anonymous (4)
Anonymous Fund of Hamilton County Community Foundation
Trudy W. Banta
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The Michael L. Smith and Susan L. Smith Family Fund, a fund of Hamilton County Community Foundation
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THE SUPPORTING CAST
INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE DONORS
CORPORATE, FOUNDATION, & GOVERNMENT
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Candlewood Suites
Capital Group
Corteva Agriscience
The Ackerman Family Foundation
Elba L. & Gene Portteus Branigin
Foundation, Inc.
Allen Whitehill Clowes
Indiana Arts Commission
Indy Arts Council and the City of Indianapolis
CORPORATE FOUNDATION GOVERNMENT IN KIND/TRADE
F.A. Wilhelm Construction Co., Inc.
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
Frost Brown Todd
Glick Philanthropies
Indiana Economic Development Corporation
KeyBank
KPMG LLP
Navient Community Fund of the Delaware Community Foundation
Old National Bank
OneAmerica Financial Partners
Oxford Financial Group, Ltd.
Printing Partners
Star Financial Group
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Charitable Foundation
The Margot L. Eccles Arts & Culture Fund, a fund of CICF
The Glick Family Foundation
Indiana Humanities
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Lacy Foundation
Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lumina Foundation
The Nicholas H. Noyes Jr.
Memorial Foundation
The Penrod Society
The Shubert Foundation
Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, a CICF Fund
DeBrand Fine Chocolates
Krannert School of Physical Therapy at University of Indianapolis
LAZ Parking
Victory Field
