Indiana Repertory Theatre

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT) was designated by the Indiana General Assembly as the state's theater laureate in 1991. In 37 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-21st-century dramatic literature in Indiana, and looks for opportunities to engage a multi-generational audience in work that connects to their lives. IRT's primary artistic activities are a six-play subscription series, an adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and a production that has a direct link to Indiana school curricula. Additionally, the theater hosts a variety of educational services that support learning and theatrical arts, particularly in the area of playwriting. The company has a long-standing commitment to commissioning and producing new works, which have included 31 world premieres (18 commissioned) and three American premieres, including the work of James Still, who has served as playwright-in-residence since 1998. Exemplifying excellence of achievement in the performing arts and arts education, Indiana Repertory Theatre has been recognized nationally through competitive grant awards from prestigious funders including the National Endowment for the Arts, Lila-Wallace Reader's Digest Fund, Shubert Foundation, Lilly Endowment, Kresge Foundation, and a Joyce Award from the Joyce Foundation.

As part of Shakespeare for a New Generation, Indiana Repertory Theatre will offer student matinees of Romeo and Juliet in its 600-seat Mainstage Theatre. The teenage love story, with its compressed dramatic arc, its deep familiar tensions, and its volcanic eruptions of violence, will certainly engage students. IRT will expand and deepen this intrinsic engagement through a dramatic, contemporary lens, allowing students to see and examine the thematic concepts of hatred and the negative perception of “the other.” One of the two warring families will be white and the other black, and their story will be set in the racially charged 1950s. These matinees will be enhanced with a study guide, post-show discussions, and a new artists-in-the-classroom program, A Scene Still Divided: Romeo and Juliet. The company will also involve 50 students attending their 2009 Summer Conservatory for Youth in Romeo and Juliet–themed activities. Finally, the artistic and education staff will work with five area high schools to have their students perform scenes from Romeo and Juliet at Indiana Repertory Theatre, which will create another access point for students to participate in the life of the play and the issues in the play that connect to their lives.

Visit them at: www.irtlive.com