Phoenix Theatre Hosts Post Play Discussions Following NORWAY

The Phoenix Theatre of Indianapolis will be presenting four post-play discussions following the January 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th performances of the Co-WORLD PREMIERE (with Boise Contemporary Theater) of Norway by Samuel D. Hunter. Post-play discussions are an important part of the Phoenix mission and have been offered throughout the theatre's 28-year history.

Norway opens Thursday, January 6, 2011 in the Frank & Katrina Basile Theatre at the Phoenix, and plays through Sunday, January 30, 2011. Hunter is a current playwright in residence at the Juilliard School. His play tells the story of two friends, Brent and Andy, who 10 years ago shared their secrets and became emotionally tied to each other forever. Brent now drifts from one college town to the next, lecturing and playing reinventions of Beethoven's Pathetique, while Andy secretly follows him. The story and the music shift in time across a decade, deconstructing the clichés of a "coming out" story and revealing how the boys' relationship caused Andy's father, Mark, to fulfill his own obsession to get to the bottom of his son's apparent suicide.
This powerful play addresses many challenging issues being faced by individuals in the world today, including suicide, bullying, predestination vs. conservative Christian thought, sexual identity, being gay in a small town, and the pull of familial love and loyalty against the love of a friend in those most fragile teenage years.

AfterWords: SUNDAY, JANUARY 9, 2011

A post-play discussion after the 2:00 pm performance (start time approximately 3:50 pm) will be hosted by Mary Landy, Indiana Society for Psychoanalytic Thought (ISPT). Landy is a psychiatrist in private practice in Indianapolis for 20 years. She is an advanced candidate at the Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Institute and is studying to become a Freudian psychoanalyst. She is a past President of the Indiana Society for Psychoanalytic Thought and has been actively involved in the training process of psychiatry residents here in central Indiana.

AfterWords: SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2011

A post-play discussion after the 2:00 pm performance (start time approximately 3:50 pm) will be hosted by Dr. Joseph Smedley, psychologist specializing in suicide prevention. Smedley is a Licensed Psychologist and business consultant to organizational leaders. His current responsibilities include developing professional development seminars for executives and professionals, and providing individual and group psychotherapy in a clinical setting.

Post-Play Discussion with Playwright Samuel D. Hunter: SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 2011

A post-play discussion after the 8:00 pm performance (start time approximately 9:50 pm) will feature Norway playwright Samuel D. Hunter and include Q and A from the audience.
Samuel D. Hunter is a graduate of NYU, the Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and Juilliard. Recent productions include A Bright New Boise (Partial Comfort at the Wild Project, NYC; one of New York Magazine's Top 10 Theater Productions of 2010) Jack's Precious Moment (Page 73 Productions at 59E59, NYC), Five Genocides (Clubbed Thumb at the Ohio Theater, NYC), I Am Montana (Arcola Theatre, London). His new play NORWAY will be produced regionally at the Phoenix Theater of Indianapolis and Boise Contemporary Theater in winter 2011. His plays have been developed at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, PlayPenn, Ojai Playwrights Conference, the Lark Playwrights Workshop, Juilliard, LAByrinth Theater Company, Rattlestick, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, and elsewhere. Awards: 2008-2009 PONY Fellowship from the Lark Theater, two Lincoln Center Le Compte du Nuoy Awards, others. He is a member of Ars Nova's Play Group and The Civilians' R&D Group, and he has taught at Fordham University, Rutgers University and The University of Iowa. Internationally, his work has been translated into Spanish and presented in Mexico City, and he has worked in the West Bank with Ashtar Theatre of Ramallah and Ayyam al-Masrah of Hebron. At Ashtar, he co-wrote The Era of Whales which was performed in Ramallah and Istanbul. A native of northern Idaho, Sam lives in New York with his partner, dramaturg John Baker.
AfterWords: SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 2011

A post-play discussion after the 2:00 pm performance (start time approximately 3:50 pm) will be hosted by Deara Ball, counselor specializing in helping parents talk with their teens about sexuality. Ball is a graduate of Indiana University. While there she obtained her Masters in Counseling and Educational Psychology from the IU School of Education. She has counseled adults and adolescents in community mental health centers, universities, outpatient hospitals and high schools and has given presentations on test anxiety, gambling addiction, stress management, communication skills and depression. Ball has chosen to participate in this discussion because she works with teenagers who are facing very similar issues to those addressed in Norway, and she feels it is important for parents and others in the community to have an open dialogue about the issues that are impacting teens today.
AfterWords: SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2011

A post-play discussion after the 2:00 pm performance (start time approximately 3:50 pm) will be hosted by Rusty C. Moe and Tim Hoover, counselors specializing in spirituality.

Rusty C. Moe is a native of Midland, Michigan and has been, for many years, a psychotherapist in private practice in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he lives with his partner, psychotherapist and jazz vocalist, Tim Hoover. He is a supervisor in the marriage and family therapy program at Christian Theological Seminary, an instructor with the Indianapolis Gestalt Institute, and a retreat animator for the Thomas Merton Institute for Contemplative Living.

Tim Hoover is a psychotherapist, social worker, and singer who has spent most of his life in music, from singing in church choirs and traveling with a gospel big band to singing with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir. Hoover holds degrees in psychology and pastoral counseling and a minor in music.

Ticket Prices

All seating is general admission on a first-come, first-served basis and all Thursday tickets are $15, thanks to a grant by Duke Energy; Friday, Saturday and Sunday performances are $25. Performance times are: Thursdays at 7pm; Friday and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. AfterWords talks are free of charge and are open to anyone, regardless of whether they attend the play or not.

Doors open ½ hour prior to curtain for seating. The Phoenix Pub, located inside the theatre, offers beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee, and bottled water, as well as treats, and all refreshments may be taken into the theatre and consumed during the performance.

For more information about any Phoenix productions or to purchase tickets, call the Phoenix Theatre box office at 317.635.7529. Tickets may also be purchased online. The theatre's website is www.phoenixtheatre.org.

ABOUT THE PHOENIX THEATRE
"The Phoenix Theatre has cornered the market on hip new works." -- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

The Phoenix Theatre is Indiana's only professional contemporary theatre, and has presented productions to challenge and entertain the Indianapolis community for 28 years. An Equity house, the Theatre presents the Midwest and Indiana premieres of many popular Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, and has presented more than 82 world premieres in its quarter century. The Phoenix operates the 130-seat proscenium Mainstage as well as the 75-seat cabaret-style black box Frank & Katrina Basile Theatre. The Phoenix Pub, located in the Basile Theatre, serves beer, wine, coffee, soft drinks, water, and treats, and patrons may take all refreshments into either theatre. Both venues are housed along with administrative offices in a renovated 1907 church in downtown Indianapolis' historic Chatham Arch neighborhood, part of the Mass Ave Arts & Theatre District. The Phoenix Theatre is a member of the National New Play Network and the League of Indianapolis Theatres, and is supported by the Indiana Arts Commission, the Arts Council of Indianapolis, and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as local corporate and foundation funders and more than 500 individual donors.