Indiana Repertory Theatre


Indiana Repertory Theatre, frequently abbreviated IRT, is a professional regional theatre in Indianapolis, Indiana that began as a genuine repertory theatre with its casts performing in multiple shows at once. It has subsequently become a regional theatre and a member of the League of Resident Theatres. A standard season typically consists of nine or ten plays on two different stages and the bulk of its season performed on the OneAmerica Stage.
The theatre company has history in two theatre buildings. It began in 1972 in The Athenaeum. In 1980, the IRT moved to its current home, The Indiana Theatre, a former Paramount Pictures Publix Theatre at 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 Wentworth, 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, 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, including Les Trois Dumas and Sister Carrie, and last season's Gospel According to James. Another actor, Johnny Lee Davenport played Deputy Marshal Henry in The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals, as well as playing the title character in Othello. 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's A Christmas Carol as adapted by Tom Haas, a late IRT artistic director/member of the former repertory company. It is a chamber theatre production modeled on David Edgar's The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, 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 1990s however the IRT did produce the world premiere musical Captive Heart: The Frances Slocum Story, by Jeff Hooper and Bob Lucas. This musical is based on the story of Maconaquah, 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 play, The Guardsman, with music by Craig Bohmler and lyrics by Marion Adler. The IRT has done more recent productions of Crowns, The Fantasticks, and Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music starring Sylvia McNair.
The theatre sponsors an Indiana playwriting competition for middle and high school aged writers, Young Playwrights in Process, funded in part by a gift from the late Robert and Margot Eccles.

Past Seasons

2016-2017

  1. The Three Musketeers 09/20/16 Dumas/Bush Woronicz, Henry
  2. Finding Home: Indiana at 200 * 10/18/16 multiple writers & Grimm Amster, Peter
  3. A Christmas Carol 11/19/16 Dickens/Haas Allen, Janet
  4. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner 01/10/17 Rose/Kreidler Greer, Skip
  5. The Cay 01/28/17 Taylor/Cornelison Roberts, Richard
  6. Stuart Little 02/25/17 White/Robinette Walters, Lori
  7. Boeing Boeing 03/07/17 Camoletti/Cross & Evans Gordon, Laura
  8. Miranda 03/28/17 Still, James Godinez, Henry
  9. Dial “M” for Murder 04/25/17 Knott, Frederick Still, James

    2015-2016

  10. The Great Gatsby 10/01/15 Fitzgerald/Levy Amster, Peter
  11. April 4, 1968: 10/21/15 Still, James Sale, Courtney
  12. Before We Forgot How to Dream #
  13. A Christmas Carol 11/11/15 Dickens/Haas Sale, Courtney
  14. Peter Rabbit and Me 11/17/15 Potter/Harris Bable, Wendy
  15. The Mystery of Irma Vep 01/12/16 Ludlum, Charles Still, James
  16. To Kill a Mockingbird 01/26/16 Lee/Sergel Allen, Janet
  17. Fences 03/09/16 Wilson, August Bellamy, Lou
  18. Bridge & Tunnel 03/29/16 Jones, Sarah Roberts, Richard
  19. The Mousetrap 04/26/16 Christie, Agatha Sale, Courtney

    2014-2015

  20. The Two Gentlemen of Verona 09/16/14 Shakespeare, William Ocel, Tim
  21. Red 10/14/14 Logan, John Still, James
  22. A Christmas Carol 11/13/14 Dickens/Haas Sale, Courtney
  23. The Velveteen Rabbit 11/18/14 Still, James/Williams North, Carol
  24. Good People 01/07/15 Lindsay-Abaire, David Allen, Janet
  25. The Giver 01/23/15 Lowry/Coble Sale, Courtney
  26. The Hound of the Baskervilles 02/18/15 Wright/Pichette Amster, Peter
  27. What I Learned in Paris 03/17/15 Cleage, Pearle Bellamy, Lou
  28. On Golden Pond 04/14/15 Thompson, Ernest Allen, Janet

    2013-2014 Season

  29. The Crucible - Arthur Miller
  30. An Iliad - by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare adapted from Homer translated by Robert Fagles
  31. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
  32. and then they came for me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank - James Still
  33. Kurt Vonnegut's Who am I this Time? - Aaron Posner
  34. Other Desert Cities - Jon Robin Baitz
  35. The Mountaintop - Katori Hall
  36. Ken Ludwig's The Game's Afoot

    2012-2013 Season

  37. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' - Robert Louis Stevenson, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
  38. The Night Watcher - Charlayne Woodard
  39. The Syringa Tree - Pamela Gien
  40. The House That Jack Built - James Still
  41. Jackie and Me - Dan Gutman, adapted by Steven Dietz
  42. A Little Night Music - music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler
  43. The Whipping Man - Matthew Lopez
  44. A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare

    2011-2012 Season

  45. Dracula - Steven Dietz
  46. I Love to Eat - James Still
  47. Lost: A Memoir - Cathy Ostlere and Dennis Garnhum
  48. Nobody Don't Like Yogi - Tom Lysaght
  49. Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare
  50. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens, adapted by Tom Haas
  51. Radio Golf - August Wilson
  52. God of Carnage - Yasmina Reza
  53. Fallen Angels - Noël Coward
  54. The Miracle Worker - William Gibson

    2010-2011 Season

  55. Holes - Louis Sachar
  56. Mary's Wedding - Stephen Massicotte
  57. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens, adapted by Tom Haas
  58. The Diary of Anne Frank - Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman
  59. Neat - Charlayne Woodard
  60. Fire in the Garden - Ken Weitzman
  61. In Acting Shakespeare - James DeVita
  62. The Gospel According to James - Charles Smith - World Premiere
  63. The 39 Steps - adapted by Patrick Barlow, original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, based on the novel by James Buchan

    2009-2010 Season

  64. Love Letters - A.R. Gurney
  65. Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
  66. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
  67. Pretty Fire - Charlayne Woodard
  68. The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
  69. After Paul McCartney - David Hoppe
  70. Becky's New Car - Steven Dietz
  71. Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne, adapted by Mark Brown
  72. The Heavens are Hung In Black - James Still
  73. The Giver - book by Lois Lowry, adapted by Eric Coble

    2009-2008 Season

  74. Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure - adapted by Steven Dietz, based on the original 1899 play by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  75. Macbeth - William Shakespeare
  76. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens, adapted by Tom Haas
  77. This Wonderful Life - written by Steve Murray, conceived by Mark Setlock
  78. To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee, adapted by Christopher Sergel
  79. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky, adapted by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus
  80. The Ladies Man - Georges Feydeau
  81. Crowns - Regina Taylor, adapted from the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry
  82. Rabbit Hole - David Lindsay-Abaire
  83. Interpreting William - James Still