The Upperstage JANUARY 12 - FEBRUARY 14
Original artwork by Kyle Ragsdale.
The OneAmerica Mainstage JANUARY 29 - FEBRUARY 28
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OUR MISSION
CONTENTS
Live theatre connects us to meaningful issues in our lives and has the power to shape the human experience. The mission of the Indiana Repertory Theatre is to produce top-quality, professional theatre and related activities, providing experiences that will engage, surprise, challenge, and entertain people throughout their lifetimes, helping us build a vital and vibrant community.
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OUR VISION The Indiana Repertory Theatre will be a life-long destination of choice for people of all ages and backgrounds seeking enjoyable and meaningful 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 an arts leader in the state of Indiana, the IRT invites collaborations with other top-quality community institutions, with the goal of making Indiana a vibrant home of cultural expression, economic vitality, and a diverse, informed, and engaged citizenry.
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AS AN INSTITUTION, WE VALUE: SUSTAINING A PROFESSIONAL, CREATIVE ATMOSPHERE The professional production of plays that provide insight and celebrate human relationships through the unique vision of the playwright • Professional artists of the highest quality working on our stages in an environment that allows them to grow and thrive • Our leadership role in fostering a creative environment where arts, education, corporate, civic, and cultural organizations collaborate to benefit our community. PRUDENT STEWARDSHIP OF OUR RESOURCES Our public-benefit status, where the focus is on artistic integrity, affordable ticket prices that allow all segments of our community to attend, and community service • Fiscal responsibility and financial security based on achieving a balanced budget • Growing our endowment fund as a resource for future development and to ensure institutional longevity. INCLUSIVENESS The production of plays from a broad range of dramatic literature addressing diverse communities • The involvement of all segments of our community in our activities • Using theatre arts as a primary tool to bring meaning into the lives of our youth, making creativity a component of their education • The employment of artists and staff that celebrates the diversity of the United States. HERITAGE AND TRADITION Our role as Indiana’s premiere theatre for more than 40 years, recognized by the 107th Indiana General Assembly in 1991 as“Indiana’s Theatre Laureate.”• The historic Indiana Theatre as our home, as a cultural landmark, and as a significant contributor to a vital downtown • Our national, state, and local reputation for 40+ years of quality creative work and educational programming • Our board, staff, volunteers, artists, audiences, and donors as essential partners in fulfilling our mission.
Mission & Values
6 Profile 8 Leadership
14 Board of Directors 16 The Mystery of Irma Vep 24 Company bios for The Mystery of Irma Vep 34 Interview with Janet Allen
40 To Kill a Mockingbird 46 Company bios for To Kill a Mockingbird 58 Donor Listing
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SEASON 2015 - 2016
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to a World Class Sponsor For over four decades, the Indiana Repertory Theatre has brought actors, friends, families, and community members together to enjoy great entertainment and performances. We are proud to continue our support of the IRT as a key cultural organization in Indianapolis. We hope that you will enjoy the 2015-2016 Season. —Scott Davison, President and CEO
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PROFILE: THE INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE HISTORY Since the Indiana Repertory Theatre was founded in 1971, 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 110,000 live professional theatre experiences for its audience last season. These experiences included 40,000 students and teachers from 54 of Indiana’s 92 counties, making the IRT one of the most youth-oriented professional theatres in the country. A staff of more than 100 seasonal and year-round employees creates nine 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-forprofit organization, deriving more than 45% 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 nine diverse productions from classical and contemporary repertoires, including Eli Lilly and Company presents: A Christmas Carol and the world premiere of Bingham Greenebaum Doll presents James Still's: April 4, 1968: Before We Forgot How to Dream. • New Play Development The IRT offers Write Now, a prestigious national workshop for adult playwrights writing for young audiences; and Young Playwrights in Process (YPiP), a playwriting contest and workshop for Indiana high school and junior high 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. Call the front desk at 317.635.4805 for more information. • Volunteer Opportunities The IRT depends on the generous donation of time and energy by volunteers; call 317.916.4848 to learn how you can become involved.
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• Meet the Artists Regularly scheduled pre-show Prologue talks, post-show discussions, and backstage tours offer audiences unique insights into each production. • Student Matinees The IRT continues a long-time commitment to student audiences with school-day student matinee performances of all IRT productions. These performances are augmented with educational activities and curriculum support materials. This season Eli Lilly and Company presents: A Christmas Carol; Peter Rabbit and Me; and To Kill a Mockingbird offer extensive opportunities for student attendance. • 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 Conservatory for Youth. Call 317.916.4842 for further information.
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LEADERSHIP: JANET ALLEN EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Creating world-class professional theatre for Central Indiana audiences of all ages has remained a career-long passion for Janet Allen. She began at the IRT in 1980 as the theatre’s first literary manager–dramaturg. After four years in New York City, she returned to serve ten years as associate artistic director under mentors Tom Haas and Libby Appel. She was named the IRT’s fourth artistic director in 1996, and is celebrating her 20th season in that role. In 2013, she was named the IRT's executive artistic director. During Janet’s tenure, the IRT has significantly diversified its education services to both adults and children, expanded its new play development programs, solidified its reputation as a top-flight regional theatre dedicated to diverse programming and production quality, and established the IRT as a generous content partner with organizations throughout central Indiana. Janet’s passion for nurturing playwrights has led to a fruitful relationship with James Still, the IRT’s playwright in residence for 18 years, and the creation and production of 13 new works, the Indiana Series, that examine Hoosier and Midwestern sensibilities (six of them by James Still). Her collaboration with playwrights has brought the theatre prestigious grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts, a Joyce Foundation Award, and a Doris Duke Foundation grant, as well as numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Shakespeare for a New Generation. Among the memorable productions she has directed on the IRT’s stages are The Glass Menagerie (1999), Ah! Wilderness (2002), The Drawer Boy (2004), Looking over the President’s Shoulder (2008), The Diary of Anne Frank (2011), and James Still's The House That Jack Built (2012). Celebrating the IRT's 44-year legacy this season, she directs To Kill a Mockingbird. Janet studied theatre at Illinois State University, Indiana University, and Exeter College, Oxford. As a classical theatre specialist, she has published and taught theatre history and dramaturgy at IUPUI and Butler University. Janet’s leadership skills and community service have been recognized by Indianapolis Business Journal’s “40 Under 40”Award, the Network of Women in Business–IBJ’s “Influential Women in Business”Award, Safeco’s Beacon of Light in Our Community 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 “Keeper of the Light”Torchbearer Award. She is a proud alum of the Stanley K. Lacy Leadership program (Class XIX) and the Shannon Leadership Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota and is a 2013-14 Arts Council of Indianapolis Creative Renewal Arts Fellow. In April 2015 Janet was inducted into the College of Fellows of the AmericanTheatre at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and received a Medallion Award for significant national contributions from the Children'sTheatre Foundation of America. Janet is a member of the Indianapolis Woman’s Club and Congregation Beth-El Zedeck. She lives in the historic downtown Chatham Arch neighborhood with her husband, Joel Grynheim, their two daughters, and two lovely mutts.
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Henry Woronicz in last season's production of Red. Photo by Zach Rosing.
LEADERSHIP: SUZANNE SWEENEY MANAGING DIRECTOR & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Suzanne is a 17-year veteran of the IRT, and has managed every administrative area within the theatre at one time or another during that period. Serving as the managing director is the capstone to her career here. Her main responsibility had been to serve as the chief financial officer of the theatre, running the business office, human resources, and information technology functions. As the CFO, she helped to steer the organization thorough 15 years of balanced budgets (and 15 audits!). She also served as the interim managing director for 18 months in 2004-2005. Suzanne is continuing the work of helping to implement a structured and inclusive fundraising effort, including moving the theatre more proactively into planned giving, as well as expanding its marketing efforts and creativity. She is excited to be moving into year three of this leadership role of the organization she loves. Suzanne is active in the community, having been the treasurer of Irish Fest for nine years and a member of the board of directors and treasurer of the Day Nursery Association for seven years and a past treasurer of Indy Fringe. Suzanne is a graduate of the College of William and Mary (undergraduate), and Indiana University (M.B.A.). She started her career as a CPA; prior to coming to Indianapolis, Suzanne 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). Suzanne is an alum of the Stanley K. Lacy Leadership Program (Class XXXI). Suzanne lives in the Old Northside, with her twelve-year-old son, Jackson, and their foxhound rescue dog, Gertie.
Ryan Artzberger in last season's The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Photo by Zach Rosing.
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LEADERSHIP: JAMES STILL PLAYWRIGHT-IN-RESIDENCE During James’s 18 years as playwright-in-residence, IRT audiences have seen his plays The House That Jack Built, I Love to Eat: Cooking with James Beard, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Heavens Are Hung in Black, Interpreting William, Iron Kisses, Looking over the President’s Shoulder (twice), The Gentleman from Indiana, Searching for Eden, He Held Me Grand, And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank (thrice), Amber Waves, and The Secret History of the Future. He has also directed many productions at the IRT, including Red, Other Desert Cities, God of Carnage, Becky’s New Car, Rabbit Hole, Doubt, Bad Dates, Plaza Suite, The Immigrant, and Dinner with Friends, as well as his own I Love to Eat, Looking over the President’s Shoulder (2001), and Amber Waves. This season the IRT produces the world premiere of his play April 4, 1968: Before We Forgot How to Dream and he directs The Mystery of Irma Vep. James is an elected 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 Todd McNerney New Play Prize from the Spoleto Festival, William Inge Festival’s Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, the Orlin Corey Medallion from the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America, and the Charlotte B. Chorpenning Award for Distinguished Body of Work. His plays have been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize, and have been developed and workshopped at Robert Redford’s Sundance, the New Harmony Project, Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, the Colorado New Play Summit, the Lark in New York, Launch Pad at UC-Santa Barbara, Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival, Telluride Playwright’s Festival, New Visions/New Voices, Fresh Ink, and Write Now at the IRT. Three of his plays have received the Distinguished Play Award from the American Alliance for Theatre & Education, and his work has been produced throughout the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. Other theatres that have produced James’s plays include the Kennedy Center, Denver Center, Geva, Cornerstone Theater Company, Ford's Theatre, People’s Light & Theatre, the Barter, Pasadena Playhouse, Portland Stage, the Station, the Asolo, Company of Fools, the Children’s Theater Company of Minneapolis, Metro Theater Company, B-Street Theatre, Tricklock, Vermont Stage Company, the Round House, American Blues, Illusion Theater, and the Mark Taper Forum. Premieres last season included the Denver CenterTheatre production of Appoggiatura which was a nominee for Outstanding New Play for the Henry Awards at the ColoradoTheatre Guild. Appoggiatura is the second play in the family trilogy that began with the award-winning The House That Jack Built. The final play in the trilogy is Miranda and is commissioned by Illusion Theater in Minneapolis. Also premiering last season was The Widow Lincoln at Ford'sTheatre in Washington, DC James's play When Miss Lydia Hinkley Gives a Bird the Bird is a current finalist for the Heideman Award from ActorsTheatre of Louisville. 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 was a producer and head writer for the series PAZ, the head writer for Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear, and writer for the Bill Cosby series Little Bill. He wrote The Little Bear Movie and The Miffy Movie as well as the feature film The Velocity of Gary. James grew up in Kansas and lives in Los Angeles. 10
Tyler Ostrander & Mitchell Wray in last season’s The Velveteen Rabbit., adapted by James Still. Photo by Zach Rosing.
LEADERSHIP: COURTNEY SALE ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR This is Courtney’s third season as the IRT’s associate artistic director. Courtney works closely with Janet Allen on all aspects of the artistic process, with particular emphasis on casting, education outreach programming, line producing, script selection, and new artistic projects. Additionally, she directs one or two productions a year. Past IRT productions include Jackie and Me, And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank, The Mountaintop, A Christmas Carol and The Giver; in the 2015-2016 season, she directs April 4, 1968: Before We Forgot How to Dream, A Christmas Carol, and The Mousetrap. Courtney is a director with a strong interest in new plays and devised work. Selected directing credits include Mario and the Comet that Stopped the World at NYU/Provincetown Playhouse; uncertain terms (Northwest Playwrights Alliance at Seattle Repertory Theatre); The There There (New Harmony Project, Denver Center Theatre), Zen Prayers and Songs written & performed by Kirk Lynn (Fusebox Festival), The Zoo Story (Secondhand Theatre), Plays for Horses (Performance Studies International at Stanford University), the world premiere of Steven Dietz’s 360 (round dance) (UT Austin), Emergency Prom (UT Austin), Dream of Perfect Sleep (UT Austin), The Tides of Aberdeen (UT Austin), Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls (The Management), The Chalk Boy (The Management), and A Bright Room Called Day (Strike Anywhere Productions). As co-artistic director of The Duplicates, she has co-created/directed The Poison Squad (2013 Austin Critics Award), The Fictional Life of Historical Oddities, Static (2012 Austin Critics Nominee), september play, The Man with the Dancing Eyes, and Expo 2054. Her production of Kristen Kosmas’s The Scandal! was nominated for the New York Innovative Theater Award and featured in American Theatre Magazine. Additionally, her work has been recognized in the Austin Chronicle, Dramatist Magazine, UT Know, and The Daily Texan. In 2001, she was one of fourteen emerging directors to participate in Peter Brook’s workshop in conjunction with his tour of Hamlet. Courtney was awarded a prestigious continuing fellowship through the Graduate School at UT. She has taught at the University of Texas at Austin, Seattle Children’s Museum, Summer at Cornish, Cornish College of the Arts, Booker T. Washington High School of Performing Arts (Dallas), and at Temple College. Courtney has a B.F.A. from Cornish College of the Arts, and an M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. Courtney lives in Indianapolis with her husband, Sean, and their son, Finn.
Henry Cooper and Matthew Brumlow in last season’s A Christmas Carol, directed by Courtney Sale. Photo by Zach Rosing.
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INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE STAFF EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CEO
Janet Allen
ARTISTIC Associate Artistic Director Courtney Sale General Manager Jane Robison Production Manager Brian S. Newman Resident Dramaturg Richard J Roberts Company Manager Hillary Martin Manager of Outreach Programs Milicent Wright Playwright-in-Residence James Still COSTUME SHOP Costume Shop Manager Guy Clark Cutter-Draper Jessica Hayes Costumers Francisnelli Bailoni dos Santos Julianne Johnson Wardrobe Supervisor Rich Taylor
ELECTRICS Master Electrician Beth A. Nuzum Assistant Master Electrician Elizabeth Smith Electrician Matt Griffin
Master Carpenter Betty Rupp
PAINT SHOP Charge Scenic Artist Claire Dana Assistant Charge Scenic Artist Jim Schumacher
SOUND Resident Sound Designer Todd Mack Reischman Lead Sound Engineer Maggie Hall Sound Engineer Jason Tuttle
PROPERTIES SHOP Properties Manager Geoffrey Ehrendreich Properties Carpenter Christina Buerosse Properties Artisan Rachelle Martin Wilburn SCENE SHOP Technical Director Chris Fretts Assistant Technical Director John Bennett Shop Foreman Kyle Baker
Carpenters Catharine Kerr David Sherrill Deck Manager Matt Shives
STAGE MANAGEMENT Production Stage Manager Nathan Garrison Stage Manager Joel Grynheim Production Assistants Brittany Cowgill Stephanie Hawkins Claire Stark Youth Actor Liason Gloria Caruana
INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE PART-TIME STAFF & ASSOCIATES ARTISTIC Dramaturgy Intern Austin Yoder
Kathi Ridley-Merriweather Beverly Roche Milicent Wright
Costumer Rachel McCullough
Teaching Artists Chelsea Anderson Andrew Black Iris Dauterman Karaline Feller Callie Burk Hartz Christina Howard Tom Horan Ronn Johnstone
ELECTRICS Electricians Lee Edmundson Kate Smith
PAINT SHOP Scenic Painters Lee Edmundson Jason J. Gill
COSTUME SHOP Dressers Whitney Klein Brittany Kugler
SCENE SHOP Carpenters Lee Edmundson Richard Landon Colin Shay Amanda Greene
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MANAGING DIRECTOR & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Suzanne Sweeney
ADMINISTRATION Receptionist / Administrative Assistant Seema Juneja Administrative Support Specialist Suzanne Spradlin Beinart DEVELOPMENT Associate Director of Development Jennifer Turner Individual Gifts Officer Lindsey Horan Foundations Officer Elisabeth Lesem Development Systems Brady Clark MARKETING Director of Marketing & Sales Brandee Bryant Marketing Communications Manager Carolyne Holcomb Subscription & Group Sales Manager Catherine Cardwell Graphic Designer Amber Mills
MARKETING ASSOCIATE Program Advertising Manager Dave Charrlin | New Moon Advertising FINANCE ASSOCIATES External Auditors Crowe Horwath LLP Legal Counsel Scott Himsel PATRON SERVICES Assistant House Managers Pat Bebee
EDUCATION Manager of Education Randy D. Pease Assistant Manager of Education Ann Marie Elliott FINANCE Director of Accounting & Human Resources Brenda Chappell Payroll & Benefits Specialist Jennifer Carpenter Accounting Supervisor Nancy Di Cicco INFORMATION SYSTEMS Director of Information Systems Dan Bradburn PATRON SERVICES Manager of Patron Services Robert Steele Ticket Office Manager Margaret Lehtinen Ticketing Systems Specialist Molly Wible House Manager & Special Events Coordinator Amanda Lyons
Terri Bradburn Rebecca Eccles Mac Ely Karaline Feller Rene Fox Marilyn Hatcher Bill Imel Sarah James Sherry McCoy Gail McDermott-Bowler Sherry Nielsen Deborah Provisor Pheobe Rodgers Kathy Sax
Customer Service Representatives Thomas Cardwell Mak Jungnickel Jacob Peterman Katie Phelan Julia Phipps Kimberly Reeves Building Services Dameon Cooper Gaylord Gaulden Dave Melton OUTREACH Manager of Subscription & Development Outreach Christopher Holden Assistant Manager of Subscription & Development Outreach Aaron Henze Priority Seating Representatives Melanie Conley Todd Kemmerer Nancy McCarthy James McWilliams Dustin Miller Russell McLaurin Mark Vogel
Karen Sipes Sheila Smith Maggie Ward Heather Welling Stacy Zehringer Bartenders Gayle Durcholz Sandra Hester-Steele Nancy Hiser Susan Korbin Tina Weaver
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THE BOARD: MICHAEL J. HARRINGTON INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE BOARD CHAIR Welcome to the IRT! On behalf of the IRT’s Board of Directors and staff, I want to thank you for joining us for another world-class performance created right here at Indiana's leading fully professional theatre. Whether you’ve been part of the IRT family for years or you are here for the first time, we’re glad to see you! As we begin our 44th season, we also want to thank you for continuing to support the IRT’s service to the people of Indiana. Your attendance, your gifts, and your good will are crucial components in our ongoing stability. With your participation, the IRT can continue its longtime role as a pillar of the state’s performing arts scene, an important downtown magnet, and a valuable community partner. Enjoy the show!
– Michael J. Harrington
BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS
MEMBERS
CHAIR
Sharon R. Barner -Cummins, Inc. Frank Basile -Community Volunteer
Jill Lacy -The Lacy Foundation
Mark Shaffer -KPMG
Sarah Lechleiter -Community Volunteer
Jennifer Vigran -Second Helpings, Inc.
Gerald Berg -Wells Fargo Advisors
Lawren K. Mills -Ice Miller LLP
Amy Waggoner -Salesforce
Carl W. Butler -Angie’s List, Inc.
Charlie Morgan -Emmis Communications
L. Alan Whaley -Ice Miller LLP
Ann Colussi Dee -Duke Realty
Michael Moriarty -Frost Brown Todd
David Whitman* -Community Volunteer
Amy Griman
Gary Denney -Eli Lilly and Company, Retired
Timothy W. Oliver -JP Morgan Chase Bank, NA
William O. Williams II -UnitedHealthcare
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR
Michael P. Dinius -Noble Consulting Services, Inc.
Brian Payne -Central Indiana Community Foundation
Michael J. Harrington -Eli Lilly and Company
VICE CHAIR | CHAIR ELECT
Thomas C. Froehle Jr. -Faegre Baker Daniels
SECRETARY
Nadine Givens -PNC Wealth Management TREASURER
-Fifth Third Bank
Daniel C. Emerson -Indianapolis Colts
Frank Esposito -Washington & Scoville LLC Richard D. Feldman -Franciscan St. Francis Health James W. Freeman -OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc.
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Becca Polak -KAR Auction Services, Inc. Tammara D. Porter -Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP James Reed -Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP
Rick Fuson -Pacers Sports & Entertainment
Peter N. Reist -Oxford Financial Group
Ron Gifford -Jump IN for Healthy Kids
Sue Ringo -Community Volunteer
Michael N. Heaton -Katz Sapper & Miller
Wayne Schmidt -Schmidt Associates
Brenda Horn -Ice Miller LLP
Michael Semler -Cushman & Wakefield
BOARD EMERITUS Robert Anker* Rollin Dick Berkley Duck* Dale Duncan* Michael Lee Gradison* Margie Herald David Klapper David Kleiman* E. Kirk McKinney Jr. Richard Morris* (in memoriam) Jane Schlegel* Jerry Semler* Jack Shaw* William E. Smith III* Eugene R. Tempel* * Past Board Chairs
MUSICIAN. TECHIE.
CITIZEN. EMPLOYEE.
We’re all citizens. Just like you. Whether she’s playing guitar or making sure computer programs are in sync, Julie knows the audience wants excellence. That’s no small challenge when your audience is 400,000 customers in and around Indianapolis. People who depend on Julie, and others like her for the water that brews coffee and fills dog dishes. So every day she makes sure her performance is the best it can be, because Julie doesn’t just work for Citizens Energy Group. She lives here, too.
Visit IndyCitizens.com to learn more.
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PRESENTS UPPERSTAGE
JANUARY 12 - FEBRUARY 14
REVIEWS? FACEBOOK/TWITTER: #irtlive EMAIL: reviews@irtlive.com
ARTISTIC
Director___________________ JAMES STILL Scenic Designer_____________________ TOM BUDERWITZ Costume Designer__________________________ GUY CLARK Lighting Designer____________BETSY COOPRIDER-BERNSTEIN Sound Designer___________________________LINDSAY JONES Dramaturg_______________________RICHARD J ROBERTS Stage Manager______________________ JOEL GRYNHEIM
ARTS PARTNERS
m a k i n g t h e a rts h a p p e n
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Season Sponsor
SEASON 2015 - 2016
JANET ALLEN
Executive Artistic Director Chief Executive Officer
SUZANNE SWEENEY
Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer
THE CAST Jane Twisden_______________ MARCUS TRUSCHINSKI Nicodemus Underwood______________ROB JOHANSEN Lady Enid Hillcrest____________________ROB JOHANSEN Lord Edgar Hillcrest___________ MARCUS TRUSCHINSKI An Intruder__________________MARCUS TRUSCHINSKI Alcazar________________________ROB JOHANSEN Pev Amri______________________ ROB JOHANSEN
THE SETTING Just after the turn of the last century. Mandacrest, an estate on the moors of England; and various places in Egypt. The performance will last approximately two hours with one intermission.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Mystery of Irma Vep—A Penny Dreadful is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. The cast and stage manager 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.
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VIRTUOSO FUN BY JANET ALLEN, EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Our invitation to you for The Mystery of Irma Vep is come have fun! As subscribers know, we often like to mix in some opportunities for us all to expand the horizons of our thinking and challenge our perceptions, but sometimes we need to just kick back and enjoy! The dead of winter is certainly one of those times. The Mystery of Irma Vep is designed to do just that: entertain us with virtuoso acting and theatrical design ingenuity, with the brilliant mind of creator Charles Ludlam to delightfully fuel the endeavor. The particular invention of this piece is the way that Ludlam rifts on many literary, theatrical, and film genres. For those who enjoy this kind of parody, you’ll notice many an homage to Victorian melodrama, thirties romance films, and thrillers of all kinds; but for those who just want to enjoy the hijinks, that works too! We’re particularly blessed to have two amazing performers back on our stage, and, as you’ll see, that’s what it takes to do a piece like this. Rob Johansen has been a gem of our local acting cadre for many years, but he took an IRT hiatus last year to begin teaching at Indiana University. While we’re grateful for the great pedagogical work that Rob is contributing to our profession, we are delighted we could make this work in his schedule and to have him back on the IRT stage, and in the kind of inventive work in which he so shines. With him is Marcus Truschinski, a core company actor from American Players Theatre in Wisconsin, who graced the IRT Mainstage last season as none other than Sherlock Holmes! Marcus is mostly known as a leading dramatic actor, so taking on this kind of comedic theatrical romp
Rob Johansen in the IRT’s 2014 production of The Game’s Afoot. Photo by Zach Rosing.
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will be a great opportunity for him, and a treat for us in the audience (as well as a nice change of pace for him before he returns to APT next summer for roles in King Lear and Death of a Salesman). Helming this piece is our playwright in residence, James Still, whom we also typically think of us as a theatre practitioner of gravitas. Well, he also has a big streak of comedic skills (remember God of Carnage?) and is exercising them with great aplomb on this theatrical gem. So, enjoy, delight, laugh, and be joyful in the new year at the IRT! There are many other diverse experiences waiting for you right around the corner!
CLASSIC MASH-UP BY JAMES STILL, DIRECTOR
What makes a cult classic a classic? One standard might be that it is frequently performed, or that it remains beloved through its hundreds of iterations around the globe, or even that it can be produced in different kinds of theatres with different kinds of audience configurations. The IRT’s decision to produce The Mystery of Irma Vep on our Upperstage with audience wrapped around three sides of the thrust playing area is bold and canny, because it demands that this beloved cult classic be reinvented yet again. While I am always led by story (whether my job is as director or playwright or audience), with this play the theatre itself becomes an important partner in all the choices made to bring Charles Ludlam’s theatrical mash-up to life. This play (and all the work of the great, late Mr. Ludlam) is uniquely one-of-a-kind while being influenced and
inspired by many, many genres, novels, movies, and archetypes. But before I go any further, let me be perfectly clear: the reason to do this play is to showcase two brilliant actors who get to explore their most outrageous, excessive selves while also creating characters and telling story and making art. Can ridiculous, campy, melodramatic excess also be called art? Charles Ludlam and his “ridiculous aesthetic”—he was the founder of the award-winning Ridiculous Theatrical Company in New York—makes the case that art can be the product of ridiculous plot and ridiculous story by going beyond the absurd and making its own style that feeds on surprise. Mr. Ludlam wrote a play that celebrates creepy movies and gloomy novels and the 19th century “penny dreadful” by also celebrating theatre itself: two actors play some seven characters who make dozens and dozens of costume changes to play those multiple characters. This is one of those plays that, happily, can only truly be itself in the theatre. Vampires, mummies, werewolves (or maybe a werewolf in wolve’s clothing?) are partnered with fog, thunder, lighting, a wooden leg, an Egyptian tomb, and a certain English manor that has very strange goingson going on, indeed. Watch (and listen) closely and you might be reminded of Dial “M” for Murder and Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and Gaslight and Rebecca and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Name another play, if you can, that somehow unapologetically references Shakespeare, Poe, the Bronte Sisters, and Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein. Working on The Mystery of Irma Vep has been like being inside the brilliant mind of a mad scientist who inexplicably creates a joyful theatricality, a Frankenstein of styles that ultimately ends up in the hands of two incredible actors and the laps of some very lucky audiences. A new year is the time to put to rest all of the holiday madness and begin again. Why not begin again with vampires, werewolves, and mummies? Marcus Truschinski in the IRT’s 2015 production of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Photo by Zach Rosing.
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CHARLES LUDLAM
RIDICULOUS PLAYWRIGHT
Born on Long Island in 1943, Charles Ludlam performed in community theatre and summer stock as a child. He and his fellow students developed their own theatre company in high school. In 1964 he graduated from Hofstra University with a degree in dramatic literature. In 1967, shortly after joining John Vaccaro’s Playhouse of the Ridiculous in downtown New York, Ludlam left to found his own company—at the age of 24. Over the next two decades, the Ridiculous Theatrical Company produced more than two dozen of his plays in a tiny grotto theatre in Sheridan Square. Ludlam’s plays are pastiches of gothic novels, Shakespeare, opera, old movies, and more. The playwright himself usually played the leading lady. The juxtaposition of classic literature with pop culture, the jumble of genres, and the use of travesty clearly placed Ludlam’s work in the avantgarde (although today these techniques are seen widely); yet his career in many ways recalled the classic theatre tradition of the actor-manager: writing, producing, directing, and starring in his own plays with an ongoing repertory company of actors. Ludlam’s work often parodied popular genres: opera in Der Ring Gott Farblonjet (1977); the gothic horror novel in The Mystery of Irma Vep (1984); film noir in The Artificial Jungle (1986), a mash-up of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, and Little Shop of Horrors. While often rooted in history and classic literature, his plays tweaked the absurdities of the contemporary world as well: the obsession with psychoanalysis in Reverse Psychology (1980); the rage for the latest “isms” in Le
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Bourgeois Avant-Garde (1983), inspired by Molière; our obsession with celebrity in Galas (1983), inspired by the life of Maria Callas. Often his work had numerous sources; Camille (1973) is equally inspired by Dumas’s scandalous play, Verdi’s tragic opera, and Garbo’s classic film. During his career, Ludlam was a widely respected artist,
BY RICHARD J ROBERTS, RESIDENT DRAMATURG
teaching at New York University, Yale, and Carnegie Mellon. He directed and acted in other writers’ plays at other theatres, as well as directing opera. His film and TV appearances included The Big Easy and Miami Vice. He won fellowships from the Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and Ford foundations, and grants from the National
Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, as well as six Obie Awards. In 1987 he died of AIDS at the age of 44, just as his work seemed to be on the verge of breaking into the mainstream. The Mystery of Irma Vep has remained his most popular work, a prime example of his serious exploration of the ridiculous.
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IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT... BETSY COOPRIDER-BERNSTEIN LIGHTING DESIGNER
My very first thought while reading this script was “Ohhhhh, what fun we’ll have!” In this play I am digging waaay back into my closet of tricks and old-school effect (which by today’s standards could fit the definition of camp). Writing this note in November, I imagine that many of the lighting’s special moments will be prompted by the imaginative rehearsal room work of these virtuoso actors and director James Still. My most difficult challenges will be deciding when to play just on the edge of heightened reality, and when to boldly cross the line … when to craft a beautiful moment, and when to “let it go” ... pacing the lighting effects like a marathon runner, so I have something left to sprint across the finish line. That, dear audience, is the art of theatrical stagecraft, even when it looks like silly fun.
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TOM BUDERWITZ SCENIC DESIGNER
This deceptive play lives in a uniquely fun theatrical world. It takes itself quite seriously and yet is also very playful at the same time. My goal was to create a highly functional space that answers the many challenges present in the text, and to keep an impish spirit of tongue-in-cheek humor present at all times. Scenery always wants to support the storytelling and, one hopes, add some additional insight into the characters, their history, and the world that they inhabit. We have tried to do all of these things with our jocular versions of Mandacrest and Egypt here in The Mystery of Irma Vep.
GUY CLARK
COSTUME DESIGNER In The Mystery of Irma Vep, an English lord and his new bride share the stage with a vampire, a mummy, and other fabulous creatures. Since records of the wardrobe of early 20th century werewolves are sketchy at best, the clothing in this fantastical world exists outside the timeline of accepted costume traditions, honoring enriched sincerity, and extreme enthusiasm, over historical accuracy.
LINDSAY JONES COMPOSER
The Mystery of Irma Vep is the kind of play that composers dream their entire lives about writing music for. Music isn’t just a part of the play, it’s a character in the play. It has been a thrill to collaborate with director James Still. We have spent hours enthusiastically sharing all our film music influences with one another, whether it’s the dizzying Bernard Herrmann scores of Alfred Hitchcock films like Vertigo and Marnie, or the sweeping lushness of Alfred Newman’s score for Wuthering Heights, or the high drama of Franz Waxman’s score for Sunset Boulevard. We’ve worked hard to combine the high drama and camp of those influences into something that is fun and exciting, yet grounded in just enough reality so you can identify with these characters as they hurtle through their zany adventures.
Left: Scenic elevation by designer Tom Buderwitz. Above: Renderings by costume designer Guy Clark for Lady Enid and Jane.
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THE COMPANY ROB JOHANSEN NICODEMUS UNDERWOOD, LADY ENID HILLCREST, ALCAZAR, PEV AMRI
After 18 straight seasons performing in 42 shows, Rob took last year away from the IRT so he could teach at his alma mater, Indiana University. “I am grateful for my time at both IU and the IRT. I wouldn't have a career without those two life-changing places. I can't find the words to describe how fortunate I feel for every moment I get to be with my IRT family. My hope is to start another 18-year streak this season.” Rob’s IRT favorites include The Game’s Afoot, The Grapes of Wrath, The Turn of the Screw, The 39 Steps, 9 years of playing Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol, and Cyrano. Rob has recently appeared at the Phoenix Theatre in Mr. Burns and The Cripple of Inishmaan, and he did aerial silks in the A Very Phoenix Xmas X. “I am thrilled to finally be directed by James Still! And to have a partner like Marcus, whose reputation as an actor and a wonderful person are renowned in the theatre world.” Rob is a proud and dedicated volunteer at the Indy Humane Society. “I hope anyone wanting a pet will go to a shelter, because that’s where the need—and love—are.”
MARCUS TRUSCHINSKI JANE TWISDEN, LORD EDGAR HILLCREST, AN INTRUDER
Marcus played Sherlock Holmes in last season’s The Hound of the Baskervilles. He is a core company member at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, where he has worked for 13 seasons. Favorite APT roles include Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest, Chris Keller in All My Sons, Tony Cavendish in The Royal Family, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Henry Carr in Travesties. Regional credits include Orlando in As You Like It and Rat in the world premiere of Old Glory by Brett Neveu at Writers Theatre, Carl in the world premiere of Ten Chimneys by Jeffrey Hatcher at Arizona Theatre Company, and Alworthy in the Midwest premiere of Tom Jones at Northlight Theatre. Marcus is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
JAMES STILL DIRECTOR
James is the IRT’s playwright in residence. He has directed many productions at the IRT, including Red, Other Desert Cities, God of Carnage, Mary’s Wedding, Becky’s New Car, Rabbit Hole, Doubt, Bad Dates, Old Wicked Songs, Plaza Suite, The Immigrant, and Dinner with Friends, as well as his own I Love to Eat, Amber Waves, and Looking over the President’s Shoulder (2001). This season the IRT produced the world premiere of James’s April 4, 1968: Before We Forgot How to Dream. During his 18 years as playwright in residence, IRT audiences have also seen his plays The Velveteen Rabbit, The House That Jack Built, I Love to Eat, The Heavens Are Hung in Black, Interpreting William, Iron Kisses, Looking over the President’s Shoulder (twice), The Gentleman from Indiana, Searching for Eden, He Held Me Grand, Amber Waves, And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank (thrice), and The Secret History of the Future. (complete bio on page 10)
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TOM BUDERWITZ SCENIC DESIGNER
Tom has designed more than 250 theatrical productions for theatres across the United States, including South Coast Repertory, Center Theatre Group, the Shakespeare Theater, Berkeley Repertory, the Goodman Theater, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Intiman Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Denver Center Theatre Company, Laguna Playhouse, Chautauqua Theater Company, Arizona Theatre Company, San Diego Repertory, Artist Repertory, the Antaeus Company, Reprise Theatre Company, the Theatre @ Boston Court, PCPA Theaterfest, Riverside Theater, Florida Studio Theatre, Rogue Machine Theatre, Deaf West Theatre, and A Noise Within, among many others. He has been honored with four L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Awards (27 nominations) and three L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards. He has designed television specials and series for every major broadcast and cable network and received three Emmy Award nominations and an Art Director’s Guild Award nomination. www.TomBuderwitz.com
GUY CLARK COSTUME DESIGNER
A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Guy Clark manages the Indiana Repertory Theatre costume shop. During his 21-year career in professional theatre, he has created costumes for many original Broadway productions, including The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, and The Lion King. In 2007, Aretha Franklin commissioned him to design and build a dress for her performance at that year’s Grammy Awards ceremony, and the following year, he created the two gowns she wore to President Obama’s inaugural balls. At the IRT he has designed costumes for Peter Rabbit and Me, The Giver, The Velveteen Rabbit, Red, The Mountaintop, And Then They Came for Me, An Iliad, The House That Jack Built, God of Carnage, I Love to Eat, Fire in the Garden, and Mary’s Wedding.
BETSY COOPRIDER-BERNSTEIN LIGHTING DESIGNER
This is Betsy’s 38th production at the IRT, including On Golden Pond, The Giver (2015 and 2009), And Then They Came for Me, An Iliad, Jackie and Me, Julius Caesar, Mary’s Wedding, Love Letters, Macbeth, The Power of One, Romeo and Juliet (2004), and 10 seasons as associate lighting designer for A Christmas Carol. She has also designed many productions for the Indianapolis Opera, most recently Amahl and the Night Visitors and The Threepenny Opera. With her husband, Chef Alan Bernstein, Betsy owns Alan’s Catered Events; they have created sumptuous fare for a wide array of events in the Indianapolis area since 1993.
LINDSAY JONES SOUND DESIGNER
Lindsay designed sound for the IRT’s production of Good People. His Broadway credits include Bronx Bombers and A Time to Kill. Off-Broadway credits include Barbecue at the Public Theater, Bootycandy at Playwrights Horizons, Mr. Joy at LCT3, Through the Night at Union Square and the Westside, Top Secret for New York Theatre Workshop, Rx at Primary Stages, and many others. Regionally he has designed for the Guthrie, Hartford Stage, Alliance, Goodman, Arena Stage, Chicago Shakespeare, La Jolla Playhouse, Steppenwolf, Mark Taper Forum, Lookingglass, and many others. International credits include Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada and Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as productions in Austria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Scotland. He has received seven Joseph Jefferson Awards and 23 nominations, two Ovation Awards and three nominations, the LA Drama Critics Circle Award, two ASCAP Plus Awards, three Drama Desk nominations, and two Helen Hayes nominations, as well as nominations for Henry Hewes Design, Barrymore, and many others. Film scoring includes Magnolia Pictures’ The Brass Teapot and HBO Films’ A Note of Triumph (2006 Academy Award, Best Documentary). www. LindsayJones.com
RICHARD J ROBERTS DRAMATURG
Richard has been resident dramaturg for 18 of his 26 seasons with the IRT. He has also been a dramaturg for the New Harmony Project and Write Now. He has directed the IRT’s productions of The Night Watcher, Neat, Pretty Fire, The Giver (2009), The Power of One, and Twelfth Night, as well as four editions of A Christmas Carol; this season he directs Bridge & Tunnel. Other directing credits include Actors Theatre of Indiana (where this month he directs Sweeney Todd), the Phoenix Theatre, Edyvean Repertory Theatre, Indianapolis Civic Theatre, IndyShakes/Wisdom Tooth, Butler University, and Anderson University. Richard studied music at DePauw University and theatre at Indiana University. In 2003 he was awarded a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis.
JOEL GRYNHEIM STAGE MANAGER
This is the 91st production Joel has stage managed over 27 years at the IRT. He resides in an historic home in downtown Indianapolis where he works as a stay-at-home dad. He shares that home and his life with Janet Allen, their two daughters, Nira and Leah, and his son, Daniel. 25
S C H M I D T
A S S O C I A T E S
A R C H IT ECTS
ENGINEERS
R E I M A G I N I N G H I S T O R I C S T R U C T U R E S A N D D E S I G N I N G N E W S I N C E 19 76 .
W W W. S C H M I DT - A R C H . C O M
Our community outreach programs, sponsored by the Navient Foundation, support organizations and programs that address the root causes which limit financial success for all Americans. This season, the Navient Foundation is proud to support the Indiana Repertory Theatre as a sponsor for the student matinee for To Kill a Mockingbird and a sponsor for the production support of Fences. As the nation's leading loan management, servicing and asset recovery company, Navient helps customers navigate the path to financial success. The company supports the educational and economic achievements of more than 12 million Americans. A growing number of public and private sector government clients rely on Navient for proven solutions to meet their financial goals. In this year’s presentation of Fences, Troy, like many in America, struggles to make sufficient money to provide for his family or save for the future. Today, many Americans rely on financial support to further their education and improve their chances of financial success. We work hard every day to educate our clients and customers to help them through financial challenges so they can achieve their desired financial results. We at Navient share an affinity for the arts and an appreciation for the hard work, passion and emotion that goes into it, as well as the positive influence it can have on people’s lives. Navient and its over 1,500 employees in the Central Indiana area are dedicated to giving back to and supporting our community through amazing programs like those offered by IRT.
THE COMMUNITY WE’VE BECOME STARTED TAKING SHAPE A CENTURY AGO. THE COMMUNITY WE’LL BE IN 100 YEARS
STARTS WITH YOU.
Share your vision for the future of Central Indiana at CICF.org/BeIN.
Photo courtesy of Bass Photo Co Collection, Indiana Historical Society
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IRT CELEBRITY RADIO SHOW
JOIN US, FOR IRT'S ANNUAL FUNDRAISING EVENT! ONEAMERICA MAINSTAGE | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2016
Local celebrities will enact a hand-crafted script, presented as a 1940s radio program with live sound effects and audience participation. The evening will also include a glamorous party and silent auction where guests will have the opportunity to bid on pieces from past IRT shows, as well as other great items! It’s all for a great cause—proceeds from this event put world-class theatre on the IRT’s stages.
FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT IRTLIVE.COM/RADIOSHOW Above: The cast of IRT's 2015 Celebrity Radio Show. Photo by Ryan Kelly Jr.
A CURRENT FLOWING FROM THE HEART OF INDIANAPOLIS From the pride we feel in supporting the Indiana Repertory Theatre to the joy of being involved with more than 200 organizations, giving back is always cause for celebration at IPL. Because whether we’re serving meals at a community center or fixing up Indianapolis’ parks, the people of Indianapolis truly touch our hearts. IPLpower.com
Committed to the Role From dress rehearsal to the final bow, Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP is a proud supporter of the Indiana Repertory Theatre. Enjoy the show!
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AN INTERVIEW WITH
JANET ALLEN JANET ALLEN HAS WORKED AT THE IRT SINCE 1980 (WITH A THREE-YEAR BREAK IN THE MID-EIGHTIES), FIRST AS DRAMATURG, THEN AS ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, AND, SINCE 1996, AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR.
HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INTERESTED IN THEATRE? I grew up thinking that what I wanted to do was teach little kids how to read, because what mattered to me was that power of language to make us feel, and think, and go different places, and explore our imaginations—that was the stuff that mattered to me. I took piano lessons, and sang in church choirs, and took dance classes. But I didn’t get into the theatre until high school. I very quickly realized I didn’t actually think that acting was very much fun, and I started to do some other things. I stage managed a little bit. I was very beguiled by that delivery of text to audience, but I didn’t know enough to direct. What really got me interested was an
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independent study. My teacher gave me Martin Esslin’s book The Theatre of the Absurd. I was entranced by not just the scholarship, but how the scholarship related to how you could make more and different impact in producing. That was what really turned me on—that intersection of text and performance. I decided to go to Illinois State, which was essentially across the road from my high school, solely so that I could go on a studies abroad program as a freshman. I did a first semester on campus, and then I went to the University of Sussex, about an hour south of London. We went in on the train to see shows all the time. That’s when I started to get it: seeing a lot of text really well delivered, I started to go, whoa, this is powerful stuff!
HOW DID YOU BEGIN TO FOCUS YOUR INTERESTS? I decided that theatre history was something I wanted to sink my teeth into deeper, so I went to IU to study with Oscar Brockett, arguably the preeminent American theatre historian. The thing that was appealing to me about his books, versus other theatre histories, was that it was so contextualized with social history. It was not just, “the proscenium theatre started in 15-whatever,” but why the proscenium developed, and I found that stuff thrilling. I’d taken art history and music history and theatre history, and too much of it was devoid of its greater context. You can’t silo it like that!
I thought I was in a master’s program so I could teach theatre history in college, but I was floundering around a bit. I had been in school for so long, I couldn’t stand to be on a campus any more. Then I learned about the field of dramaturgy from one of my professors, Jon Farris. He introduced me to dramaturgy as a blend of academia and professional production application, and I fell madly in love. In the summer of ’79, I got a scholarship from the Institute of International Education to go on a studies abroad program to Oxford. And I saw a ton of plays. And the difference this time was, I went to see a couple of the same productions multiple times. I think I saw Stoppard’s adaptation of Schnitzler’s Undiscovered Country at the National probably eight or ten times. And I started to be able to see nuance in performance, how different audiences pulled different performances from a company. That was a giant window to me.
I came back from Oxford saying, there’s no way I’m going to be satisfied teaching. I finished my coursework, but I never finished my M.A. … which I have some regrets about. But I got a job at the IRT, by writing a letter to Tom Haas, who had been here about three months. I wrote a very snotty letter, saying “What do you mean you don’t have a dramaturg on your staff? You were one of the founders of the dramaturgy program at Yale!” When I interviewed, they were still building the Upperstage. And he hired me. YOU WORKED UNDER TWO OF THE IRT’S PRIOR ARTISTIC DIRECTORS: TOM HAAS (1980-1990) AND LIBBY APPEL (1992-1996). WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM? I learned the business from Tom. I had never been around the workings of a professional theatre at all. I knew nothing about union work, professional rehearsal process, schedule, budget, all of that stuff. Tom was one of those old-world artistic directors who really wanted to be directing full-time. So he would direct three or four productions a year, and I went to the staff meetings that he was supposed to be in. I learned a lot about the nuts and bolts of administration pretty quickly because I was shoved into it. I had to get answers from him about X, Y, and Z, and figure out how that got applied.
Tom was a savant in a lot of ways. Tom was entirely unpractical in most ways, incredibly genius-y and bored very easily. Unless things were happening at a pretty significant intellectual and emotional pitch, he
IRT productions directed by Janet Allen: Left: The company of The House That Jack Built by James Still (2012). Right: Constance Macy and Liz Kimball in Who Am I This Time? (2014) Photos by Zach Rosing.
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"I WANT TO MAKE THEATRE THAT MATTERS IN THIS COMMUNITY IN SOME WAY OR ANOTHER." just wasn’t interested. So Tom’s work was either brilliant or awful, and there was nothing in between. And I developed quite a view on that: you can’t actually work that way. You’ve got to figure out how to guarantee more consistent quality delivery. That’s where Libby was amazing. Libby was just a quality delivering machine. I got Lib as a mentor when I was 35 or 36, and I thought that I was too old to need a mentor. I didn’t understand that she was going to mentor me in a totally different way that was beautiful and that I was hungry for. Part of that was about gender: how do women lead? And part of that was that she was not as volatile a presence. She was very steady, smart, and really canny about management. It was a first artistic directorship experience for her, so she said to me, “You’ve been here a long time, you’re going to be able to help me. I hope you’ll stay.” Which was pretty unusual in that day, because new artistic directors would come in and clean house.
I loved Libby from about the minute I laid eyes on her, and learned so much from her about relationships with a community. She was so different from Tom in how she worked, and that was a tremendous lesson for me, that there are a lot of different ways to do this. And I had the great fortune of working very closely with both of them, to be able to pull what I thought worked from two very different leaders and bosses. Lucky me! HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR JOB AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR? I approach artistic directorship in a curatorial manner. I am first interested in what plays are going to resonate with different parts of this community. I want to make theatre that matters in this community in some way or other. And obviously each production matters in a different way. Some of them matter only in giving everybody an entertainment option, and others of them matter, I hope, deeply, from a very community-centric perspective. Some matter because they change our point of view or we learn something we didn’t know. Always we hope that they take the audience’s breath away a bit, and send them out wanting to connect to the world more. A lot of what I do is curate creative teams. What group is going to work on what project? And how will they go about that? I also view my job as a community spokesperson, and as a collaborator with staff and board and other community entities. WHAT IS YOUR VISION OF THE IRT IN THE FUTURE?
Well, first and foremost, I want the IRT to be here for a really long time. I hope it will always be community responsive. I hope it will always attract people throughout their lifetimes, because I think the mix of work we do for adults and work we do for kids is a great synergy for this institution, and a very great role 36
IRT productions directed by Janet Allen: Opposite: David Alan Anderson in Looking over the President’s Shoulder by James Still (2008). Below Left: Robert Elliot in On Golden Pond (2015). Below Right: Rebecca Buller in The Diary of Anne Frank (2011). Photos by Zach Rosing.
for the largest theatre in this state. I would hope that it would continue to do new work from time to time, because I think new work is important for a group of artists, and for a conversation in the community. Sometimes I have grandiose ideas. I would love every kid that gets out of high school in Indiana to have seen an IRT production of Shakespeare—and/or an American classic. Practically every day I run into somebody, or meet somebody, or audition an actor— we just interviewed a candidate for an administrative position, whose first theatre experience ever was in the second grade seeing a play at the IRT. I love that! That’s important work. I guess I hope most that our eye stays on the ball of quality creation. That’s a judgment, it’s an opinion, and everybody feels differently about that. And we have not always attained it at the level that I wish. But I think the idea of refining what quality means to
an organization like this, and to a community, is very important. It’s the primary conversation. You know, I’m not very good at the side of our business that is more about Barnum & Bailey, about building big flashy events for the sake of the flashy event. Actually, we’d probably be better served if I had a little bit more of the Barnum & Bailey in me! But that is just not what matters to me. What matters to me goes back to that experience of text and an audience. But it can’t just be text—it has to be text delivered brilliantly. Vocally and visually and emotionally. So that’s what we work at. Every day. READ MORE OF THIS INTERVIEW AT IRTLIVE.COM/PRESSROOM
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REATER INDIANAPOLIS IS OUR STAGE.
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PRESENTS ONEAMERICA MAINSTAGE
JANUARY 29 - FEBRUARY 28
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ARTISTIC
Director________________ JANET ALLEN Scenic Designer____________________ BILL CLARKE Costume Designer____________________LINDA PISANO Lighting Designer________ BETSY COOPRIDER-BERNSTEIN Sound Designer_____________TODD MACK REISCHMAN Original Music & Traditional Arrangements_____ TIM GRIMM Dramaturg___________________RICHARD J ROBERTS Stage Manager_______________ NATHAN GARRISON*
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JANET ALLEN
Executive Artistic Director, Chief Executive Officer
SUZANNE SWEENEY
Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer
THE CAST Jean Louise Finch_____________LAUREN BRIGGEMAN* Scout Finch_____________________ PAULA HOPKINS Jem Finch__________________________GRAYSON MOLIN Atticus Finch________________ RYAN ARTZBERGER* Calpurnia______________________MILICENT WRIGHT* Maudie Atkinson____________________JAN LUCAS* Stephanie Crawford____________ LAUREL GOETZINGER* Mrs. Dubose________________ LAUREL GOETZINGER* Arthur (Boo) Radley_____________CHRISTOPHER WALZ* Dill__________________________ MITCHELL WRAY Heck Tate________________________ TIM GRIMM* Judge Taylor_________________CHRISTOPHER WALZ* Reverend Sykes____________ JAMES SOLOMON BENN* Mayella Ewell________________ KATHERINE SHELTON Bob Ewell_______________________ ROBERT NEAL* Walter Cunningham_______________ CHARLES GOAD* Mr. Gilmer_____________________ CHARLES GOAD* Tom Robinson_________________ DANIEL A. MARTIN Helen Robinson________________ SHAWNTÉ GASTON
THE SETTING Maycomb, Alabama, 1935. The performance will last approximately two hours and 15 minutes with one intermission.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To Kill a Mockingbird is produced by special arrangement with Dramatic Publishing, Woodstock, Illinois. Dialect Coach: Nancy Lipschultz Fight Director: Adam McLean * 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.
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QUESTIONS BY JANET ALLEN, EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
To Kill a Mockingbird doesn’t need a particular cultural event to warrant revival. Its status as an iconic American novel of racial inequality—and core curriculum reading—is indisputable. But last winter, when the publishing world began to trumpet the appearance of a second Harper Lee novel depicting Atticus and Scout, we here at the IRT decided to jump on the bandwagon and re-explore the original text. When Go Set a Watchman finally came out in the summer, there was an avalanche of purchasing, reading, and commentary. I hope that many of you took the plunge, despite the reviews and the many questions of provenance. I found the opportunity to submerge myself in a fresh experience of reading Lee’s gorgeous prose to be enormously fulfilling, even while noting some significant differences between the narratives of the two books. In particular, experiencing the viewpoint of an adult Jean Louise in Watchman was a real catalyst in selecting which stage adaptation of Mockingbird we would produce for you in 2016. To follow the adult Jean Louise remembering this pivotal moment in her childhood, much as she does in Go Set a Watchman, seemed an unmissable opportunity to connect this uniquely American classic more deeply into the current zeitgeist. The title of the “new” book, also written when Lee was a young woman, is touched upon in a passage in the novel: “Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman is his conscience.” This wisdom is spoken in Go Set a Watchman not by Atticus, but by Atticus’s brother, Jack, a small-town doctor and practical observer of society to whom the 26-yearold Jean Louise goes for very needed perspective and counsel. 42
Suffice it to say that the new book continues Lee’s obsession with looking deeply into the abyss of race in America—whether in the 1930s, the 1950s, or, dare we admit, today. Despite her deep love for the South, the home of her birth and rearing, Lee pulls no punches. The tough questions she poses have a profound impact, regardless of where we live in this complex and divided country. They invite us to review our own beliefs, and to expand them beyond the narrow confines of history. They are questions that are still difficult to answer. Who are society’s haves and have-nots? Does the American justice system actually treat all people as equals? Why do we so often find our conscience struggling with our instincts, particularly when we encounter people who are different from us? To Kill a Mockingbird invites us into many innately American conversations—very important ones to have with our children and grandchildren. I hope our artistry gives each of you the opportunity for those discussions, and for being moved by Scout’s childhood actions and her adult reflections.
HARPER LEE, AUTHOR BY RICHARD J ROBERTS, RESIDENT DRAMATURG
Nelle Harper Lee was born in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama, a small town about 75 miles north of Mobile. Like the character Scout, Nelle was an unruly tomboy. Her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was a liberal-minded country lawyer, a newspaper editor, and a state legislator who ingrained a sense of justice in his daughter. From the balcony of the county courthouse, often accompanied by her childhood friend Truman Capote (who would later serve as inspiration for the character Dill), the young writer-tobe spent many afternoons watching her father at work.
languages. A 2008 survey showed it to be the most read book by high school students in the United States. Many lawyers cite the book as a significant influence and Atticus Finch as an important role model. In 1999, a poll by the Library Journal voted it the best novel of the century. There have also been attempts to ban the book because of its profanity, racial slurs, and frank discussion of rape. Nonetheless, in the more than half a century since it was first published, To Kill a Mockingbird has changed how generations of readers view the world they live in
After graduating from Monroeville's public school system, Lee attended Huntington Women's College in Alabama for one year before transferring to the University of Alabama. She went on to enroll in law school at the University of Alabama, but left six months before receiving her degree and moved to New York City to become a writer. Lee worked as a reservations agent for an airline until some friends gave her enough money to quit her job and write full-time.
In 2015, after many years of literary silence, a second Harper Lee novel was published. Go Set a Watchman has been variously described by Lee’s representatives as a sequel to or an early draft of To Kill a Mockingbird. The publication has raised questions about Lee’s mental competence at age 89 and the appropriateness of publishing the book at this time. Some readers have been shocked and dismayed by a different view of beloved characters, while others have celebrated a surprising new opportunity to enjoy Lee’s distinctive voice. The controversy surrounding Go Set a Watchman, however, should not in any way diminish our admiration for Harper Lee’s masterwork, the great American classic To Kill a Mockingbird.
To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 to great acclaim, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. A film adaptation in 1962 starred Gregory Peck and won three Academy Awards. Today, the novel has sold more than 40 million copies and has been translated into some 40 Harper Lee sitting in the “colored balcony” of the Monroeville courthouse, 1961.
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CHILDHOOD MEMORIES LINDA PISANO,
COSTUME DESIGNER Although this is the second time I’ve designed costumes for this story, I continue to be struck by the depth of the characters and the profound impact time and place have on the way they live their lives; these impressions are reflected in their clothing. Director Janet Allen asked me to approach the characters with a sense of honesty and realism regarding their condition, but also to view the play a bit through the eyes of Jean Louise—the adult Scout. I’ve explored some of the nuances of silhouette and details that would stick with her as she recalls this time in her childhood. Despite the horrible events that take place in the play, through her memories, I’ve given a warmth and simplicity to the overall look of the costumes
BETSY COOPRIDER-BERNSTEIN, LIGHTING DESIGNER
Lighting a play written about a childhood memory prompts me to reflect on what I remember most about important places in my childhood. It’s those summer days spent on porches with my Grandma Myrtle … before the days of air-conditioning. Early in the day, we perched on the tiny back porch where the “light was good” for hand work. The hot sun, floating on the haze of dust whipped up from cars moving along the alley, would smack you in the eyes if you weren’t careful. To this day, just the soulful call of a mourning dove takes me back to that very place. But my favorite time of the day was late in the afternoon, when chores were done, lolling across the big glider on the front porch, begging my Grandma to fill my insatiable appetite for drama with “stories” from her childhood. I remember it as an easy time of day, marked by the see-saw sound of cicadas and the dappled patterns of sunlight changing shapes in the breeze … if you were lucky enough to catch a breeze.
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Above: Preliminary costume renderings for Jem (left), Scout (top right), and Dill (bottom right) by designer Linda Pisano.
BILL CLARKE,
SCENIC DESIGNER Our primary goal in designing To Kill a Mockingbird was to allow us to see the world through Scout’s eyes. In other words, we sought to depict not an exact replica of Maycomb in all its detail, but to emphasize the aspects of the town that are most important to Scout: her front porch, the Radley house, and the Radley oak tree. Adults revisiting their childhood homes often recall iconic features having loomed larger and, sometimes, spookier, than they now appear. This idea guided our decisions about how things should look for our audience. Bringing a sprawling novel to life onstage involves skillful cutting and streamlining to tell the main story without leaving anything important out. Likewise, the scenery must be designed so the action of the play moves swiftly, without any long pauses for scene changes. We hope to help you you experience Scout’s world in an exciting theatrical way.
Above: Preliminary sketch by scenic designer Bill Clarke.
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THE COMPANY RYAN ARTZBERGER ATTICUS FINCH
Ryan’s IRT credits include A Christmas Carol, The Great Gatsby, On Golden Pond, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Who Am I This Time?, The Crucible, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jackie and Me, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, God of Carnage, Julius Caesar, Fire in the Garden, Romeo and Juliet, The Heavens Are Hung in Black, Rabbit Hole, Iron Kisses, Tuesdays with Morrie, Our Town, Death of a Salesman, He Held Me Grand, Macbeth, and The Herbal Bed. Ryan is a member of Heartland Actors Repertory Theatre, where he has appeared in Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merchant of Venice, and In a Dark Dark House. At the Phoenix Theatre he performed in Reasons to Be Pretty. Regional credits include the Shakespeare Theatre and the Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., Shakespeare Santa Cruz, the Goodman Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Kansas City Rep, the Lookingglass, Great Lakes Theater Festival, the Denver Center, New Jersey Shakespeare, and Playmakers Rep. Ryan is a graduate of Ohio University and the Juilliard School.
JAMES SOLOMON BENN REVEREND SYKES
James is delighted to return to the IRT having performed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Great Expectations, and A Christmas Carol, as well as the role of Reverend Sykes in the IRT’s 1997 production of To Kill a Mockingbird. He appeared in Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Phoenix Theatre. He was Fats Waller in the jazz revue Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Starlight Musicals. James is choir director emeritus of the radical performance ensemble Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir in New York City, where his other credits inclue The Cradle Will Rock, Dial ‘N’ for Negress, and Transcending Form. Regional credits include Five Guys Named Moe and She Loves Me. Film credits include What Would Jesus Buy? and We Are the Hartmans with Richard Chamberlain. James holds a B.F.A. from Herron School of Art, IUPUI. “Many thanks to my supportive family for exposing me to great music and theatre.” jamessolomonbenn.com
LAUREN BRIGGEMAN JEAN LOUISE FINCH
Lauren is extremely excited to be making her IRT debut with To Kill a Mockingbird. Previous credits include Typhoid Mary (Mary), Seminar (Kate), In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play (Catherine), and The Housewives of Mannheim (May) at the Phoenix Theatre; The Taming of the Shrew (Bianca) and Othello (Desdemona) with Heartland Actor's Repertory Theatre; Hamlet (Hamlet) and Twelfth Night (Viola) with Acting Up Productions; and Yankee Tavern (Janet) with New Jersey Repertory Company. Most recently, she could be seen reprising the role of Morella in Q Artistry’s Cabaret Poe. “I would like to thank Janet for this wonderful opportunity, and my friends and family for their continued love and support.”
SHAWNTÉ GASTON HELEN ROBINSON
Shawnté recently graduated from the University of Southern Indiana, where she performed in several productions. She is very excited to be a part of her first play at the IRT.
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CHARLES GOAD WALTER CUNNINGHAM, MR. GILMER
Chuck’s IRT credits include A Christmas Carol, The Great Gatsby, The Miser, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Driving Miss Daisy, Our Town, Pygmalion, Blithe Spirit, All My Sons, The Fantasticks, To Kill a Mockingbird (2009), and Great Expectations. Chuck is also a founding member of the Phoenix Theatre, where he appeared last season in Clark Gable Slept Here and directed Buyer & Cellar. He most recently directed The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for Summer Stock Stage. Other local credits include The Merchant of Venice with Heartland Actors Rep, Beyond the Rainbow with Actors Theatre of Indiana, Spamalot with Bobdirex, Welcome to the Monkey House with ShadowApe, The Odd Couple at Brown County Playhouse, and Amadeus with Cardinal Stage. Regional credits include Cincinnati Playhouse, Missouri Rep, and Syracuse Stage.
LAUREL GOETZINGER STEPHANIE CRAWFORD, MRS. DUBOSE
Laurel is pleased to make her IRT Mainstage debut in this production. Previously on the IRT’s Upperstage she played Elizabeth Riley in Ride a Blue Horse and directed The Gifts of the Magi; she sang and acted in IRT Cabaret shows as well. In Indiana, she has performed at Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre and with Indianapolis Opera, the New Harmony Project, and the Bonderman Festival. Laurel spent the last fifteen years as the director of the Boze Lyric Theatre and a member of the voice faculty at Anderson University; she previously taught and directed at Butler University, DePauw University, and Miami of Ohio. She is delighted at this opportunity to return to acting.
TIM GRIMM HECK TATE, ORIGINAL MUSIC & TRADITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
Tim has appeared in numerous productions at the IRT, including God of Carnage, Interpreting William, Art, Dinner with Friends, State of the Union, Amber Waves, and An Almost Holy Picture; he has composed music for The Grapes of Wrath and Inherit the Wind and (with Jason Wilber) for Amber Waves and He Held Me Grand. He has directed (The Handler) and acted (Bluff and Pure Prine) at the Phoenix Theatre. Other regional credits include Asolo Rep, Victory Gardens, Steppenwolf, Cleveland Play House, Center Stage, the Goodman, Madison Rep, and the Chester Theatre. He has worked extensively in television and film, including two seasons on NBC’s Reasonable Doubts; his numerous film credits include Clear and Present Danger, The Express, Backdraft, Joshua, and Formosa Betrayed. An award-winning singer-songwriter with several recordings, Tim tours much of the United States and Europe with his music. He has a song in the soundtrack of the recent Robert Redford film A Walk in the Woods. He developed the stage-concert piece Wilderness Plots with other noted Indiana singersongwriters, based on the book of short stories by Hoosier author Scott Russell Sanders, that was filmed for PBS. Tim and his wife, Jan Lucas, lead tours of Ireland and the Netherlands each year. www.timgrimm.com
PAULA HOPKINS SCOUT FINCH
Paula is making her debut appearance with the IRT. She has spent several years performing with the Young Actor’s Theatre. Paula is a fifth-grade student in Indianapolis Public Schools. When not acting, she enjoys soccer, video games, watching movies, and playing with her wonderful dog.
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THE COMPANY JAN LUCAS MAUDIE ATKINSON
Jan is thrilled to be back at the Indiana Repertory Theatre after an eight-year hiatus. She has previously been seen on the IRT stage in Amber Waves, Dinner with Friends, Inherit the Wind, He Held Me Grand, The Gentleman from Indiana, Sister Carrie, and A Christmas Carol. Other regional credits include the Phoenix in Indianapolis and the Goodman, Steppenwolf, and Remy Bumpo in Chicago. She has been seen in countless TV commercials. She tours with her husband Tim Grimm, performing Americana roots music all over the United States and throughout most of western Europe. Every year, along with touring their own music, they lead music-focused tours to Ireland and to the Netherlands.
DANIEL A. MARTIN TOM ROBINSON
Daniel is making his IRT debut in To Kill a Mockingbird. He was trained at an early age by the Asante Children’s Theatre. He has traveled and performed in such roles as Joseph Asagai in A Raisin in the Sun at Crossroads Repertory Theater, David Keaton in Exonerated at Spotlight Theatre, and Franco Wicks in Superior Donuts at Theatre on the Square, just to name a few. Daniel is also the founder and artistic director of Act a Foo Improv Crew, a comedic improvisational group here in Indy. When not entertaining for audiences, Daniel enjoys entertaining his beautiful daughter, Alexis.
GRAYSON MOLIN JEM FINCH
Grayson is thankful to have had the opportunity to appear at the IRT in The Giver and the last two seasons of A Christmas Carol. A home-schooled 8th grader, Grayson has also performed in various home-school productions, including Pilgrim’s Progress; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Charlotte’s Web; The Secret Garden; and The Love of the King. “I want to thank Courtney and Janet for this amazing experience. I would also like to thank my parents for their commitment to me.”
ROBERT NEAL BOB EWELL
This is Robert’s fifteenth season with the IRT, where he has performed in more than 30 productions. He recently played Lennie in Cardinal Stage Company’s Of Mice and Men. He is a company member of Heartland Actors Repertory Theatre, where he was last seen as Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night in HART’s Shakespeare on the Canal series at White River State Park. Other local theatres include ShadowApe Theatre Company, Prairie Ditch Productions in the Indy Fringe, and the Phoenix Theatre; he has also performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Early Music Festival. In 2012 he reprised his role as James Beard in James Still’s I Love to Eat for the James Beard Foundation Awards at Lincoln Center in New York City. Regional theatre credits include Syracuse Stage, the Blackstone Theatre, the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre, Pennsylvania Center Stage, the Oklahoma and Kentucky Shakespeare festivals, and the Brown County Playhouse, as well as the English American Theatre Festival in Dusseldorf, Germany. Television credits include NBC’s Chicago Fire. Robert’s training is from Penn State (M.F.A.) and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. 48
KATHERINE SHELTON MAYELLA EWELL
Katherine is thrilled to return to the IRT, finally as an adult! She was last seen here in 2007 in Our Town; before that, she appeared in A Christmas Carol. Since then, she has worked with various theatres around town. Most notably, at Butler University she originated the role of Lovemore in The Water Carriers, and at the Phoenix Theatre she portrayed Caroline in the new play I and You. She will be Mandy in Time Stands Still at Theatre on the Square this summer.“I am grateful for this opportunity and humbled by everyone who has made it possible.”
CHRISTOPHER WALZ ARTHUR (BOO) RADLEY, JUDGE TAYLOR
After graduating from Syracuse University with a B.F.A. in theatre, Chris worked as an actor and musician with the Goodman, Court, Shakespeare Rep, About Face, and other theatres in Chicago. He toured nationally as Woody in Woody Guthrie’s American Song, later playing the role at both Northlight and Briar Street theatres. In 1996 he joined the teaching staff at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music and has been there ever since. He spent three and a half years tour with the Special Consensus Bluegrass Band and can be heard on two of their recordings: Our Little Town and 25th Anniversary. Chris has opened for the likes of Allison Brown, Peter Rowan and Don Edwards, Larry Sparks, Rory Block, and Norman Blake. In 2005 he acted and played several instruments in the IRT production of The Grapes of Wrath. He has been seen in such Michael Miles productions as 1941, 1968, and The Transcontinental Railroad. A member of the bands Long Journey Home and Hard Times and the recently formed Lambert & Walz with Eric Lambert, Chris now divides his time between teaching and performing. “I am real happy to be working again with my buddy, Tim Grimm.”
MITCHELL WRAY DILL
Mitchell made his IRT debut as Young Steve in The Velveteen Rabbit last season and is thrilled to be returning. He lives in Carmel and was recently seen in Mary Poppins as Michael Banks and in Alice In Wonderland at Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre, where has been a young actor for more than four years. Film credits include Crossroads of America (29 Libran Films), which is currently in post-production. “I would like to thank my entire family for their support of my passion for film and stage. I would also like to thank the Jr. Civic program at Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre for teaching me the fundamentals of theatre and for giving me the tools necessary to grow. I would especially like to thank Brent Marty and Courtney Sale for giving me opportunities on stage. What a journey!”
MILICENT WRIGHT CALPURNIA
At the IRT Milicent has appeared in four one-person shows: Pretty Fire and its sequels Neat and The Night Watcher, and The Power of One; later this season she appears in a fifth, Bridge & Tunnel, telling the stories of different American immigrants. Other notable IRT appearances include The Crucible, Julius Caesar, Holes, A Woman Called Truth, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Mother of the Movement, nine seasons of A Christmas Carol, and Hard Times, one of her favorites. Recently at the Phoenix Theatre she appeared in the rolling world premiere of Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea by Nathan Davis, and their sold-out Love, Loss, and What I Wore. She has been seen in Twelfth Night for HART, Doubt for Cardinal Stage in Bloomington, and Stonewall Jackson’s House at the Human Race Theatre in Dayton. Milicent is the IRT’s manager of outreach programs and a resident teaching artist in the IRT’s Summer Conservatory for Youth. She has also done youth programming for the Asante Children’s Theatre and Young Audiences of Indiana, and adult classes for Indianapolis Civic Theatre. Milicent was a 2011 Arts Council of Indianapolis Creative Renewal Fellowship recipient.
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THE COMPANY JANET ALLEN DIRECTOR
Janet has been the IRT’s artistic leader for 20 seasons. Among the 18 IRT productions she has directed are On Golden Pond, Who Am I This Time?, The House That Jack Built, The Diary of Anne Frank, Looking over the President’s Shoulder (2008), The Drawer Boy, Ah, Wilderness!, and The Glass Menagerie. (see full bio on page 8 and interview on page 34.)
BILL CLARKE SCENIC DESIGNER
Bill has previously designed The Diary of Anne Frank, The Ladies Man, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Nerd, and Long Day’s Journey into Night at the IRT. He has designed A Walk in the Woods and Abby’s Song on Broadway; his Off-Broadway work includes the acclaimed recent revival of Lemon Sky (Keen Co), So Help Me God! (Lortel), Eccentricities of a Nightingale (T.A.C.T.), The Daughterin-Law (Mint Theater; NYTimes 10 Best List), June Moon (Drama Dep’t), Ann Magnuson’s You Could Be Home Now (NYSF), The Cherry Orchard (Juilliard), and many more. Regional credits include Seattle Rep, Old Globe, Milwaukee Rep, Alley, Asolo, Denver Center, A.R.T., Huntington, McCarter, Coconut Grove, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, and Pittsburgh Public. Bill earned his M.F.A. at the Yale School of Drama. He is the recipient of Merimack Rep’s Artistic Achievement Award, IRNE (New England) Award, New Hampshire Theatre Award, Hollywood Drama-Logue Award, and the San Diego Theater Critics’ Circle Award.
LINDA PISANO COSTUME DESIGNER
Linda has designed On Golden Pond, A Little Night Music, Julius Caesar, The Diary of Anne Frank, Romeo and Juliet (2010 and 2004), The Giver (2009), To Kill a Mockingbird (2007), Tuesdays with Morrie, … Young Lady from Rwanda, Old Wicked Songs, and Painting Churches for the IRT. She is professor of costume design and head of design and technology at Indiana University–Bloomington, where she also directs the overseas theatre program in London. She is a four-time winner of the Peggy Ezekiel Award for Excellence in Design, and a three-time jury winner of the National Design Exposition. Her work was featured at the Quadrennial World Design Exposition in Prague. Currently her work is on exhibit in the A. A. Bakhrushin Museum in Moscow, Russia, including images from her designs of the IRT’s A Little Night Music. She has designed more than 100 productions around the United States for such theatres as the Utah Shakespeare Festival, BalletMet, Opera San Antonio, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Lyric Repertory Company, CATCO, IU Opera Theatre, and many others. Several of her ballet designs continue to tour throughout England, Canada, and the United States. She serves on the Board of Directors for the United States Institute of Theatre Technology.
BETSY COOPRIDER-BERNSTEIN LIGHTING DESIGNER
This is Betsy’s 39th production at the IRT, including The Mystery of Irma Vep, On Golden Pond, The Giver (2015 and 2009), And Then They Came for Me, An Iliad, Jackie and Me, Julius Caesar, Mary’s Wedding, Love Letters, Macbeth, The Power of One, Romeo and Juliet (2004), and 10 seasons as associate lighting designer for A Christmas Carol. She has also designed many productions for the Indianapolis Opera, most recently Amahl and the Night Visitors and The Threepenny Opera. With her husband, Chef Alan Bernstein, Betsy owns Alan’s Catered Events; they have created sumptuous fare for a wide array of events in the Indianapolis area since 1993.
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TODD REISCHMAN SOUND DESIGNER
During the last 14 seasons as resident sound designer Todd has created effects and music for many IRT productions. He has worked in theatres all around the country, both on stage and off, since the age of 10. Away from the theatre Todd works with a variety of musical collaborators recording and performing around town. Hobbies include crafting custom umbrellas for garden gnomes, molecular photography, tree wrestling, and piloting paper airplanes, and he was recently honored as the premiere bicycle spoke polisher in Indiana.
RICHARD J ROBERTS DRAMATURG
Richard has been resident dramaturg for 18 of his 26 seasons with the IRT. He has also been a dramaturg for the New Harmony Project and Write Now. He has directed the IRT’s productions of The Night Watcher, Neat, Pretty Fire, The Giver (2009), The Power of One, and Twelfth Night, as well as four editions of A Christmas Carol; this season he directs Bridge & Tunnel. Other directing credits include Actors Theatre of Indiana (where this month he directed Sweeney Todd), the Phoenix Theatre, Edyvean Repertory Theatre, Indianapolis Civic Theatre, IndyShakes/Wisdom Tooth, Butler University, and Anderson University. Richard studied music at DePauw University and theatre at Indiana University. In 2003 he was awarded a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis.
NATHAN GARRISON STAGE MANAGER
This is Nathan’s 20th season at the IRT. He has also worked with Center Stage in Baltimore, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Brown County Playhouse, and Heartland Actors Repertory (HART).
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IRT SPECIAL OFFERINGS TEA TALKS
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A.J. Allen & Kathy Maeglin Cheri & Rollie Dick Mary Findling & John Hurt Dick & Brenda Freije Paul & Beth Gaylo 58
Janet Allen & Joel Grynheim Katy &Tim Allen Anonymous Katrina Basile, Realtor Gerald & Moira Berg Benjamin & Ashley Blair
Dan Bradburn & Jane Robison CarlW. Butler Vince & Robyn Caponi David & Judith Chadwick Doug & Brenda Chappell Alan & Linda Cohen Cowan & King, LLP Susan M. Cross Daniel & Catherine Cunningham Gregory Dedinsky MD Ann & Kenneth Dee Drs. Richard & Rebecca Feldman Barrie K. & Gary R. Fisch Jim & Julie Freeman Drs. Sheldon & Cheryl Freidman Rick Fuson Phyllis & Ed Gabovitch Dorothea & Philip Genetos Robert & Jo Ann Giannini Ron & Kathy Gifford The Glick Family Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Jeff Griman Caryl & Brady Hancock Jane Herndon & Dan Kramer William & Patricia Hirsch Brenda Horn David & Sherry Hughes Robert Hunchberger & Kathy Callahan Tom & Kathy Jenkins DanielT. Jensen & Steven Follis Denny & Judy Jones Mike & Pegg Kennedy Arthur & Jacquelyn King Alan P. &Tonya A. Ladd Dan & Martha Lehman Andrew & Lynn Lewis Joe & Deborah Loughrey
REPERTORY SOCIETY, CONT. John & Barbara MacDougall Sharon R. Merriman Michael D. Moriarty Mr. & Mrs. Robert L. Nagy Stephen & Deanna Nash Mr. & Mrs. John Null Larry & Louise Paxton Brian & Gail Payne Tammara Porter Bob & Kathi Postlethwait Phil & Joyce Probst
DONOR GUILD
(1500 +) | JULY 1, 2015 - NOVEMBER 15, 2015 Myrta Pulliam Peter & Karen Reist Ken & Debra Renkens Karen & Dick Ristine Charles & Jenny Schalliol Tom & Barbara Schoellkopf Jack & Karen Shaw Reuben & Lee Shevitz Michael & Cynthia Skehan Cheryl & Bob Sparks Edward & Susann Stahl
Robert & Barbara Stevens Suzanne Sweeney &ToddWiencek Joe & JillTanner JenniferTurner John & KathyVahle Jennifer & GaryVigran Dr.William C.Vladuchick & Ms. Susan M. Meloy J. Edgar & DorothyWebb CarolWeiss Bob & DanaWilson Jim & JoyceWinner
ANNUAL CAMPAIGN GIFTS ($250 +) | JULY 1, 2015 - NOVEMBER 15, 2015
Every dollar counts – donations of all sizes allow world-class theatre to continue on the IRT’s stages. We thank our donor guilds for giving their support to the IRT. * Denotes Sustaining Member DRAMA GUILD $650 - $1,499
Robert & Patricia Anker Jesse L. & Carolynne Bobbitt Brady Clark Keith & Marion Michael John & Carolyn Mutz Brian S. Newman THEATRE GUILD $250 - $649
John & Eileen Ahrens* Sarah C. Barney Dr. Richard Brashear & Mrs. Harriet Ivey
Bob & Brandee Bryant David & Beverly Butler Daniel P. Corrigan Ditech Inc. Mr. Ed & Dr. Cheryl Fleming Darrell & Thecla Gossett Emily Hancock* John Hurlbut Ron & Shannon Jones Dave & Donna Kaiser Ernest & Susan Kobets Ignacio M. Larrinua & Mary Wolf
Tom & Sandy Mason Melissa Maulding Marie McNelis Dane & Shannon Mize Susan & Jim Naus Ross & Rosemarie Springer Richard & Lois Surber Nela Swinehart* Dr. James & Linda Trippi Jim & Leah Turner Frederick & Jacquelyn Winters Reba Boyd Wooden*
OVATION SOCIETY The Ovation Society is an exclusive program that recognizes donors that have made a planned gift to the IRT. The IRT truly appreciates those individuals whose gift will ensure that the Theatre can continue to provide meaningful and inspirational experiences for future generations of Hoosiers. Gary Addison Ron & Julia Carpenter John R. Carr John & Mary Challman Nancy & Berkley Duck Dale & Karen Duncan
Meg Gammage-Tucker David A. & Dee Garrett Michael Gradison Emily Hancock Bruce Hetrick & Cheri O'Neill David Kleiman & Susan Jacobs
Frank & Jacqueline LaVista Stuart L. Main Michael R. & Sue Maine Richard & Lila Morris Deena Nystrom Marcia O'Brien
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THE SUPPORTING CAST INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE DONORS, CONTINUED OVATION SOCIETY, CONT. RobertV. Robinson & Nancy J. Davis Jane & Fred Schlegel Jerry & Rosie Semler
Gene & MaryTempel Jeff & BenitaThomasson Christopher J.Tolzmann
Alan & ElizabethWhaley John & MargaretWilson
PLANET JANET Janet Allen may be the only Artistic Director in the country to be hired as a dramaturg, distinguished as a literary manager, work her way up through that institution’s ranks and eventually assume its artistic leadership.The IRT would like to thank those individuals who have donated in tribute to celebrate Janet’s 20th Season as Artistic Director. Janet holds the longest leadership tenure in the 44-year history of the IRT. EXECUTIVE PRODUCER $5,000+
Bob & Toni Bader Dan & Ginny Emerson Michael & Judy Harrington Sarah & John Lechleiter ASSOCIATE PRODUCER $2,500 - $4,999
Mel & Joan Perelman Jane & Fred Schlegel Wayne & Susan Schmidt Alan & Elizabeth Whaley DIRECTING SPONSOR $1,000 - $2,499
Susie & Joel Blum Gary Denney & Louise Bakker Tom & Jenny Froehle Jane Herndon & Dan Kramer
Scott & Amy Kosnoff Jill & Peter Lacy Carl Nelson & Loui Lord Nelson, Ph.D. Katie & Richard Norton Jackie Nytes & Michael O'Brien Jonathan & Rebecca Polak James Reed & Kris Martin Mark & Gerri Shaffer Simmons Family Foundation, a fund of CICF David Whitman & Donna Reynolds STAR SPONSOR $500 - $999
Katrina Basile, Realtor Ann & Kenneth Dee Cheri & Rollie Dick Drs. Richard & Rebecca Feldman Jim & Julie Freeman Dick & Brenda Freije
David & Ann Frick Brenda Horn Bill & Nancy Hunt Kevin Krulewitch & Rosanne Ammirati Andrew & Lynn Lewis Charlie Morgan & Kelly Smith David & Leslie Morgan Mr. & Mrs. Kimball Morris Tim Oliver Brian & Gail Payne Peter & Karen Reist Joe & JillTanner Jennifer & GaryVigran Cheryl & RayWaldman RosalindWebb & Duard Ballard CarolWeiss
BICENTENNIAL FUND The IRT is developing a new work for Indiana audiences to celebrate Indiana’s Bicentennial. This work will premiere in the 2016-2017 Season. Thank you to those individuals whose support is making this new work possible. Janet Allen & Joel Grynheim Susie & Joel Blum Tom & Jenny Froehle Michael & Judy Harrington Donald & Teri Hecht Bruce Hetrick & Cheri O'Neill 60
Brenda Horn Sarah & John Lechleiter David & Leslie Morgan Carl Nelson & Loui Lord Nelson, Ph.D. Jackie Nytes & Michael O’Brien Courtney Sale & Sean Manning
Jane & Fred Schlegel Simmons Family Foundation, a fund of CICF Cheryl & Jim Strain Cheryl & Ray Waldman Alan & Elizabeth Whaley
CORPORATE, FOUNDATION, & GOVERNMENT
ANNUAL CAMPAIGN GIFTS ($250 +) | JULY 1, 2015 - OCTOBER 10, 2015 CORPORATE
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Barnes &Thornburg LLP BASi Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP Eli Lilly and Company Faegre Baker Daniels FifthThird Bank, Indiana Frost BrownTodd Indianapolis Power & Light Company Navient OneAmerica Financial Partners Oxford Financial Group, Ltd. PNC Printing Partners
Schmidt Associates, Inc. Stifel Nicolaus T2 Systems Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Nina Mason Pulliam CharitableTrust Pacers Foundation Myrta Pulliam
FOUNDATIONS
Arts Council of Indianapolis Indiana Arts Commission National Endowment for the Arts
AllenWhitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation The Arthur Jordan Foundation Christel DeHaan Family Foundation F.R. Hensel Fund for Fine Arts, Music, and Education, a fund of The Indianapolis Foundation, a CICF affiliate The Indianapolis Foundation, a CICF affiliate Lacy Foundation Lilly Endowment, Inc. The Margot L. and Robert S. Eccles Fund, a fund of CICF
GOVERNMENT
TURN YOUR OLD CAR INTO A CONTRIBUTION TO THE IRT Donate a vehicle to the IRT and we will sell it at auction. The proceeds will go to the IRT and you can qualify for a tax deduction. WANT MORE INFORMATION? Contact Jennifer Turner jturner@irtlive.com 317.916.4835
Erik Hellman and Ben Tebbe in IRT's Romeo and Juliet (2010)
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THE SUPPORTING CAST INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE DONORS, CONTINUED IN-KIND/TRADE GIFTS 9 on Canal Brooks Publications/Urban Times Candlewood Suites Coby Palmer Designs Emmis Communications Corp ESG Security Geoff Chen Photography Grins and Giggles, LLC Hoaglin Catering
ANNUAL CAMPAIGN GIFTS ($250 +) | JULY 1, 2015 - OCTOBER 10, 2015 IBJ Corp Markey's Rental & Staging Midwest Parenting Publications National Institute of Fitness & Sport New Day Craft NUVO The Oceanaire Seafood Room Pac-Van, Inc. Scotty's Brewhouse
Studio 2000 Vanilla Bean Bakery WFYI WICR
THE ALAN AND LINDA COHEN EDUCATION FUND
ANNUAL CAMPAIGN GIFTS ($250 +) | JULY 1, 2015 - OCTOBER 10, 2015
We are enormously grateful to the Cohens for this visionary gift which directly benefits students attending all of our many student matinees this season and in future seasons as well.With the support of this fund, the IRT is able to underwrite ticketing four our young audiences. Eli Lilly and Company
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F.R. Hensel Fund for Fine Arts, Music and Education, a fund of the Indianapolis Foundation
Pacers Foundation Robert & Barbara Stevens
I N D I A N A
H I S T O R I C A L
S O C I E T Y
E X H I B I T
NOW OPEN Presented by The O’Bannon Foundation, a fund of Central Indiana Community Foundation, and Jock and Penny Fortune EUGENE AND MARILYN GLICK INDIANA HISTORY CENTER 450 WEST OHIO STREET | DOWNTOWN ON THE CANAL
www.indianahistory.org
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DON'T MISS OUR ANNOUNCING OUR 2015-2016 SEASON 2015-2016 SEASON 2015-2016 SIGNATURE SEASON SHOWS
SEPTEMBER 30 - OCTOBER 25
OCTOBER 20 - NOVEMBER 15
An intimate look at an Indianapolis family’s collision with history
Roaring 20s American classic
MARCH 9 - APRIL 3
MARCH 29 - MAY 1
Powerful drama from Wilson’s epic cycle
JANUARY 12 - FEBRUARY 14
Comedy tour de force
APRIL 26 - MAY 22
A one-woman celebration of American diversity
World’s longest running stage play
ADD-ON SHOWS
NOVEMBER 14 - DECEMBER 26
A favorite holiday tradition
NOVEMBER 21 - DECEMBER 20
Cherished characters and their playful adventures
JANUARY 29 - FEBRUARY 28
America’s most beloved novel comes to life All art by Kyle Ragsdale
6 Play Subscriptions Starting at $136
OFFICIAL CATERERS A FINE SELECTION FOR YOUR EVENT AT THE IRT Betsy Cooprider-Bernstein | 317.396.5310 5635 East County Road 450 N., Brownsburg, IN 46219 www.alancaters.com
Amy von Eiff | 317.575.9514 12955 Old Meridian Street, Suite 104, Carmel, IN 46032 www.acutabovecatering.com
Antonia Zunarelli | 317.236.1874 antonia@indianaroof.com 140 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204 www.indianaroof.com
Rob Hoaglin | 317.924.3389 The Stutz Business Center II 217 West 10th Street, Suite 100, Indianapolis, IN, 46202 www.hoaglinfinecatering.com
Jaquie Hensley | 317.283.2776 9840 North Michigan Road, Carmel, IN 46032 www.jacquiesgourmetcatering.com
Anne Perry | 317.636.4444 2502 East 52nd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46205 www.mbpcatering.com
OVER 40,000 STUDENTS
FROM ALL OVER INDIANA EXPERIENCE THEATRE AT THE IRT. Without The Alan and Linda Cohen Education Fund, almost half of those students would not have been able to attend.
"A student told me he couldn’t pay for the trip because his family doesn’t have a lot of money right now. I told him that the IRT had helped cover the cost. His eyes lit up and he kept saying “thank you” throughout the day." -an Indiana teacher More Information: Brady Clark bclark@irtlive.com | 317.916.4831 Zoe Turner in IRT's And Then They Came for Me. (2014) Photo by Zach Rosing.
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Make the happen! Show your support for the arts by purchasing or renewing your Arts Trust license plate! Photos courtesy of Music for All
IRT STAGE DOOR RESTAURANTS
DISCOUNTS FOR IRT SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 317.635.5252
THANK YOUR TO OUR 2015-2016 SEASON DESIGNER DINNER PARTNER, OCEANAIRE! 30 S. Meridian St. | 317.955.2277 Free appetizer or dessert with purchase.
CERULEAN
CHAMPIONS SPORTS BAR
Complimentary glass of sparkling champagne and artisan cheese pairing.
20% off, excluding alcohol. 3 hours of complimentary parking.
HARD ROCK CAFE
MCCORMICK & SCHMICK'S
339 S Delaware St. 317.870.1320
49 S Meridian St. 317.636.2550
350 W. Maryland St. 317.405.6111
110 N. Illinois St. 317.631.9500
Free appetizer *Excluding the Jumbo Combo
20% off, excluding alcohol.
POTBELLY
PUNCH BURGER
Free 22oz fountain drink with purchase.
Free side with any burger purchase.
55 Monument Circle 317.423.9043
137 E. Ohio St. 317.426.5280
CIRCLE CITY BAR & GRILLE
350 W. Maryland St. 317.405.6100
COLTS GRILLE
110 W. Washington St. 317.631.2007 20% off, excluding alcohol.
20% off, excluding alcohol. 3 hours of complimentary parking.
PALOMINO
THE PITA PIT
49 W. Maryland St. 317.974.0400
1 N. Pennsylvania St. 317.829.7482
$10 off purchase.
Free drink & chips with purchase.
TASTINGS
WEBER GRILL
50 W. Washington St. 317.423.2400
10 N. Illinois St. 317.636.7600
20% off total purchase. (Night of performance only)
20% off, excluding alcohol.
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Oxford proudly supports the Indiana Repertory Theatre.
Oxford is independent and unbiased — and always will be. We are committed to providing families generational estate planning and institutions forward-thinking investment strategies.
CHICAGO ✦ CINCINNATI ✦ GRAND RAPIDS ✦ INDIANAPOLIS ✦ TWIN CITIES 317.843.5678 ✦ WWW.OFGLTD.COM/IRT