The Phoenix Theatre is Indiana's only professional contemporary theatre, and has presented productions to challenge and entertain the Indianapolis community for 26 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 70 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 (buh-SEAL) 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.
Since the Indiana Repertory Theatre was founded in 1972, it has grown into one of the leading regional theatres in the country, as well as one of the top-flight cultural institutions in the city and state. In 1991 Indiana's General Assembly designated the IRT as "Theatre Laureate" of the state of Indiana. The IRT's national reputation has been confirmed by prestigious grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, the Theatre Communications Group-Pew Charitable Trusts, the Shubert Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation, and by a Joyce Award from the Joyce Foundation.
The IRT remains the leading professional resident not-for-profit theatre in the state, providing 120,000 live professional theatre experiences for its audience last season. These experiences included 45,000 students and teachers from 62 of Indiana's 92 counties, making the IRT one of the most youth-oriented professional theatres in the country. A staff of more than 100 seasonal and year-round employees creates eight productions exclusively for Indiana audiences. Actors, directors, and designers are members of professional stage unions.
The IRT's history has been enacted in two historic downtown theatres. The Athenaeum Turners Building housed the company's first eight seasons. Since 1980 the IRT has occupied the 1927 Indiana Theatre, which was renovated to contain three performance spaces (Mainstage, Upperstage, and Cabaret) and work spaces, reviving this historic downtown entertainment site.
To keep ticket prices and services affordable for the entire community, the IRT operates as a not-for-profit organization, deriving more than one third of its operating income from contributions. The theatre is generously supported by foundations, corporations, and individuals, an investment which recognizes the IRT's mission-based commitment to serving Central Indiana with top-quality theatrical fare.
For tickets and more information, visit www.phoenixtheatre.org.
