Indiana Repertory Theatre

Indianapolis, Indiana

The Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT)—Indiana 's Theatre Laureate—was founded in 1972 and is the only fully professional, resident, not-for-profit theatre in the state of Indiana. In 35 seasons, IRT has created a rich legacy of more than 310 classic and contemporary productions, ranging from Shakespeare to Shaw to August Wilson. The company is also the only professional producer of pre-20 th century dramatic literature in Indiana. The IRT's primary artistic activity for general audiences is its six-play subscription Signature Series and a much-loved adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. For students and families, the company produces a two-play Discovery Series, which consists of fully produced, 90-minute adaptations of text-based literature classics and newer works chosen for their direct link to Indiana curricula. The IRT has a long-standing commitment to commission and produce new works, creating 30 world premieres (17 commissioned by the IRT) and four American premieres, including works by James Still, IRT playwright-in-residence since 1998. Exemplifying excellence of achievement in the performing arts and arts education, the IRT has been recognized nationally through highly competitive grant awards from prestigious funders, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, Shubert Foundation, Lilly Endowment Inc., Kresge Foundation, and a Joyce Award from the Joyce Foundation.

Producing Shakespeare has become one of the IRT's most cherished community services; since 1975, the company has created 23 productions of 13 of Shakespeare's plays, with eight productions presented as part of the Discovery Series for students and families. Continuing this tradition, the IRT offered student matinees of Hamlet in the Upperstage Theatre as part of their Discovery Series, for students and families, from September 26 to November 3, 2007. (Their two-play Discovery Series consist of fully produced, 90-minute adaptations of text-based literature classics and newer works chosen for their direct link to Indiana curricula.) The Discovery Series production of Hamlet and its complementary educational activities allowed students to wrestle with complex issues and emotions as they examined our very human attributes – both positive and negative. Teachers were able to augment their classroom lessons with specially designed production study guides, prepared by IRT's resident dramaturg and education staff to teach students about relevant concepts that helped configure the Renaissance world-view and the concepts' relationships to contemporary thought. Each performance was followed by post-show discussions facilitated by the IRT's education department and cast members, asking opened-ended questions filled with contemporary resonance. Hamlet's ultimate question, "To be or not to be?," seen through the eyes of contemporary youth, might be reframed in debate as: "Am I worthy to live, and capable of defending my father's legacy?" Complementing their student matinees was IRT's artists-in-the-classroom program Exploring Shakespeare and, for educators, a new four-hour Teaching Shakespeare workshop, which was offered to approximately 25 central Indiana teachers.

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Feedback from Company

The highlight of the project was to offer students a 90-minute Hamlet. Schools have so little time for field trips, and a full-length Shakespeare play is often something they cannot afford the time to attend. Drawing on our experience, we were fortunate to have an extraordinary team of artists come together and creatively use their combined talents to take this mammoth play and focus on the revenge story, the inner circle of characters, and the intimacy of the characters’ interpersonal relationships. Director Andrew Tsao, Artistic Director Janet Allen, and Dramaturg Richard Roberts took on this task, creating a new version of the script that met the challenge, including visual clues, idioms, and concepts that would speak clearly to students. Tsao has wide experience in television, film, and theater and brought all those skills to bear in telling this story via video as the ghost appears to Hamlet and as Hamlet is tortured at Claudius’ behest, and with live-action freeze-frame and slow-motion.