Indiana Repertory Theatre
Encyclopedia
History
Indiana Repertory Theatre, frequently abbreviated IRT, is a theatre in Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
that began as a genuine repertory theatre with its casts performing in multiple shows at once. It has subsequently become a regional theatre
Regional theatre in the United States
Regional theaters, or resident theaters, in the United States are professional or semi-professional, theater companies that produce their own seasons. The term regional theatre most often refers to professional theatres outside of New York City...
and a member of the League of Resident Theatres. A standard season typically consists of nine or ten plays on two different stage (with at least two selected especially although not exclusively for student audiences, one of which is often a Shakespeare play) and the bulk of its season (including a holiday show, usually Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
) performed on the OneAmerica Stage.
The theatre company has history in two theatre buildings. It began in 1972 in The Athenaeum which now holds the American Cabaret Theatre. In 1980, the IRT moved to its current home, The Indiana Theatre, a former Paramount Pictures Publix Theatre on 140 West Washington Street, built in 1927 and converted from a movie theater for IRT's use.
Past Actors and Productions
Among the better known actors that have performed multiple times at the theatre are Priscilla Lindsay, former Assistant Artistic Director, Scott WentworthScott Wentworth
Scott Wentworth is an American actor currently living and working primarily in Canada.After starting his career in New York City, he began a long association with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in the 1985 production of The Glass Menagerie...
, a founding member, and John Henry Redwood, who would later pass away when touring a one-man show he premiered in 2001 at Indiana Repertory. This show, Looking Over the President's Shoulder, was commissioned by James Still (playwright)
James Still (playwright)
James Still is an American playwright. Still grew up in a tiny town in Kansas, and graduated from the University of Kansas. His award-winning plays have been produced throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Australia...
, the IRT's Playwright in Residence. This play is the true story of Alonzo Fields, who served as a butler to three presidents of the United States. Another playwright who has written works on IRT commissions is Charles Smith
Charles Smith (playwright)
Charles Smith is an African-American playwright born in Chicago. Many of his plays consider political and historical themes from anAfrican-American perspective....
, including Les Trois Dumas and Sister Carrie
Sister Carrie
Sister Carrie is a novel by Theodore Dreiser about a young country girl who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream by first becoming a mistress to men that she perceives as superior and later as a famous actress...
, and last season's Gospel According to James. Another actor, Johnny Lee Davenport played Deputy Marshal Henry in The Fugitive
The Fugitive (1993 film)
The Fugitive is a 1993 American thriller film based on the television series of the same name. The film was directed by Andrew Davis and stars Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. The film was one of the few movies associated with a television series to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best...
and U.S. Marshals
U.S. Marshals (film)
U.S. Marshals is a 1998 action thriller film starring Tommy Lee Jones and Wesley Snipes, and a sequel to The Fugitive. The storyline of U.S. Marshals does not feature the character Dr. Richard Kimble; the role of the protagonist has been passed onto Samuel Gerard and his team of U.S...
, as well as playing the title character in Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
. Tim Grimm makes regular appearances in the theatre, often, but not always, as a rural sort of character.
The theatre is well-known in the state for their production of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
as adapted by Tom Haas, a late IRT artistic director/member of the former repertory company. It is a chamber theatre
Chamber theatre
Chamber theatre is a method of adapting literary works to the stage using a maximal amount of the work's original text and often minimal and suggestive settings. In Chamber Theater, narration is included in the performed text and the narrator might be played by multiple actors . Professor Robert S...
production modeled on David Edgar
David Edgar (playwright)
David Edgar is a British playwright and author who has had more than sixty of his plays published and performed on stage, radio and television around the world, making him one of the most prolific dramatists of the post-1960s generation in Great Britain.He was resident playwright at the Birmingham...
's The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (play)
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is an eight-hour stage play, presented over two performances, adapted from the Charles Dickens novel of the same name by David Edgar. Directed by John Caird and Trevor Nunn, it opened on 5 June 1980 at the Aldwych Theatre in London. The music and lyrics...
, that retains many of the story's darkest elements, such as the scene featuring Want and Ignorance that Dickens himself considered its heart, but is often omitted.
For the most part, the theatre stopped doing musicals in the 1990's however the IRT did produce the world premiere musical Captive Heart: The Frances Slocum Story (1999), by Jeff Hooper (book) and Bob Lucas (music and lyrics). This musical is based on the story of Maconaquah
Frances Slocum
Frances Slocum was an adopted member of the Miami tribe taken from her family home by the Lenape in Pennsylvania at the age of five and raised in what is now Indiana. Her burial site is a Miami Indian shrine near Peoria, Miami County, Indiana.Frances was part of a family of early Quaker settlers...
, which is part of the standard history curriculum in Indiana, and an Indiana premiere of a musical with a book by Wentworth, Enter the Guardsman, based on the Ferenc Molnár
Ferenc Molnár
LanguageFerenc Molnár was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. His Americanized name was Franz Molnar...
play, The Guardsman
The Guardsman
The Guardsman is a 1931 film based on the play Testőr by Ferenc Molnár. It stars Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Roland Young and ZaSu Pitts...
, with music by Craig Bohmler and lyrics by Marion Adler. The IRT has done more recent productions of Crowns (Regina Taylor
Regina Taylor
Regina Taylor is an American actress and playwright. She has won several awards throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award and NAACP Image Award.-Biography:...
) and The Fantasticks
The Fantasticks
The Fantasticks is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. It was produced by Lore Noto. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play "The Romancers" by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into...
(Harvey Schmidt
Harvey Schmidt
Harvey Lester Schmidt is an American composer for musical theatre. He is best known for composing the music for the longest running musical in history, The Fantasticks, which ran off-Broadway from 1960 - 2002.-Biography:...
and Tom Jones
Tom Jones (writer)
Tom Jones is a lyricist of musical theatre. His best known work is The Fantasticks, which ran off-Broadway from 1960 until 2002, and the hit song from the same, Try to Remember. Other songs from "The Fantasticks" include "Soon It's Gonna Rain", "Much More" and "I Can See It"...
).
The theatre sponsors The Waldo M. and Grace C. Bonderman Playwriting For Youth National Symposium and an Indiana playwriting
competition for middle and high school aged writers, Young Playwrights in Process, funding in part by a gift from Robert and Margot Eccles.
2011-2012 Season
- Dracula- Steven DietzSteven DietzSteven Dietz is an American playwright whose work is largely performed regionally, i.e. outside of New York City...
- I Love to Eat- James StillJames StillJames Still was an American poet, novelist and folklorist. He lived most of his life in a log house along the Dead Mare Branch of Little Carr Creek, Knott County, Kentucky...
- Lost- Cathy Ostlere & Dennis Garnhum
- Nobody Don't Like Yogi- Tom Lysaght
- Julius Caesar- William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- A Christmas Carol- Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, adapted by Tom Haas - Radio Golf- August WilsonAugust WilsonAugust Wilson was an American playwright whose work included a series of ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama...
- God of Carnage- Yasmina RezaYasmina RezaYasmina Reza is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter. Her parents were both of Jewish origin, her father Iranian, her mother Hungarian.-Career:...
- Fallen Angels- Nöel CowardNoël CowardSir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
- The Miracle Worker'- William GibsonWilliam GibsonWilliam Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
2010-2011 Season
- Holes- Louis SacharLouis SacharLouis Sachar is an American author of children's books who is best known for the Sideways Stories From Wayside School book series and the 1998 novel Holes, for which Sachar won a National Book Award and the Newbery Medal...
- Mary's Wedding- Stephen MassicotteStephen MassicotteStephen Massicotte is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter and actor from Calgary, Alberta.-Plays:*The Jedi Handbooks trilogy**The Boy's Own Jedi Handbook**The Girls Strike Back...
- A Christmas Carol- Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, adapted by Tom Haas - The Diary of Anne Frank- Frances Goodrich and Albert HackettAlbert HackettAlbert Maurice Hackett was an American dramatist and screenwriter most noted for his collaborations with his partner and wife Frances Goodrich.-Early years:...
, newly adapted by Wendy KesselmanWendy Kesselman-Life:Wendy Kesselman came to the Actors Theater of Louisville in 1980. She lives in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.-Works:*Becca, 1977, 1980*Merry-Go-Round, 1981, 1981*I Love You, I Love You Not, 1982, 1982*Cinderella In A Mirror, 1987... - Neat- Charlayne WoodardCharlayne WoodardCharlaine "Charlayne" Woodard is an American film, stage and television actress and playwright. She has written four plays, titled Pretty Fire, Neat, In Real Life, which she starred in, and "Flight"....
- Fire in the Garden- Ken Weitzman
- In Acting Shakespeare- James DeVita
- The Gospel According to James- Charles SmithCharles Smith-Academics:*Charles Emrys Smith, British economist, educator at Swansea Metropolitan University*Charles Roach Smith , founding member of the British Archaeological Association*Charles Saumarez Smith , art historian...
- World Premiere - The 39 Steps- adapted by Patrick BarlowPatrick BarlowPatrick Barlow is an English actor, comedian and playwright. His comedic alter ego, Desmond Olivier Dingle, is the founder, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the two-man National Theatre of Brent, which has performed on stage, on television and on radio.-Radio:Barlow is the scriptwriter, as...
, original concept by Simon CorbleSimon CorbleSimon Corble is an English playwright, director and performer. At the age of sixteen he played Hamlet at Lymm Grammar School, Cheshire and "never looked back". After training as an actor at Manchester Polytechnic he went on to create his own dramatic works...
and Nobby Dimon, based on the novel by James BuchanJames BuchanJames Buchan, born 11 June 1954, is a British novelist and journalist.-Biography:Buchan is the son of William Buchan, 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir and grandson of John Buchan, the Scottish novelist and diplomat. He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, and began his career as a Financial...
2009-2010 Season
- Love Letters - A.R. Gurney
- Romeo and Juliet - William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- A Christmas Carol - Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
] - Pretty Fire - Charlayne WoodardCharlayne WoodardCharlaine "Charlayne" Woodard is an American film, stage and television actress and playwright. She has written four plays, titled Pretty Fire, Neat, In Real Life, which she starred in, and "Flight"....
] - The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan DidionJoan DidionJoan Didion is an American author best known for her novels and her literary journalism. Her novels and essays explore the disintegration of American morals and cultural chaos, where the overriding theme is individual and social fragmentation...
- After Paul McCartney - David Hoppe
- Becky's New Car - Steven DietzSteven DietzSteven Dietz is an American playwright whose work is largely performed regionally, i.e. outside of New York City...
] - Around the World in 80 Days - Jules VerneJules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
, adapted by Mark BrownMark BrownMark Brown may refer to:* Mark A. Brown, American businessman and gaming industry executive* Mark N. Brown, NASA astronaut* Brownmark, bassist of Prince's Revolution* Mark Malloch Brown, United Kingdom politician... - The Heavens are Hung In Black - James Still
- The Giver - book by Lois LowryLois LowryLois Lowry is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s...
, adapted by Eric Coble
2009-2008 Season
- Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure - adapted by Steven DietzSteven DietzSteven Dietz is an American playwright whose work is largely performed regionally, i.e. outside of New York City...
, based on the original 1899 play by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Macbeth - William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- A Christmas Carol - Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, adapted by Tom Haas - This Wonderful Life - written by Steve Murray, conceived by Mark SetlockMark SetlockMark Setlock is an American actor and playwright living in New York, NY.He is the youngest of an Italian-Polish family. He attended the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at American Repertory Theater at Harvard University...
- To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper LeeHarper LeeNelle Harper Lee is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama...
, adapted by Christopher Sergel - Crime and Punishment - Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor DostoevskyFyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
, adapted by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus - The Ladies Man - Georges FeydeauGeorges FeydeauGeorges Feydeau was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his many lively farces.-Biography:Georges Feydeau was born in Paris, the son of novelist Ernest-Aimé Feydeau and Léocadie Bogaslawa Zalewska. At the age of twenty, Feydeau wrote his first comic...
- Crowns - Regina TaylorRegina TaylorRegina Taylor is an American actress and playwright. She has won several awards throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award and NAACP Image Award.-Biography:...
, adapted from the book by Michael CunninghamMichael CunninghamMichael Cunningham is an American writer, best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999.-Early life and education:...
and Craig Marberry - Rabbit Hole - David Lindsay-AbaireDavid Lindsay-AbaireDavid Lindsay-Abaire is an American playwright and lyricist. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 for his play Rabbit Hole, which also earned several Tony Award nominations.-Early life and education:...
- Interpreting William - James Still