Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis
Launching 2014-2015 Season
By: Melissa Hall - Sep 13, 2014
This season the Phoenix Theatre is presenting the various ways we laugh. Humor is how we manage to get through the tragedies and absurdities of life. They've put together a lineup of stories featuring a rich variety of comedic styles.
All of the shows have their fair share of substance, but the Phoenix has found a balance of humor to go with that drama. As they say- comedy equals tragedy plus time.
Clark Gable Slept Here by Michael McKeever
September 18 – October 19, 2014
As one of the silver screen's brightest stars charms his way through the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, his staff tries to figure out what to do with the dead male prostitute in his hotel room at the famed Chateau Marmont. This glamorously dark satire explores the make-believe world of Hollywood, where nothing is ever what it seems and closets are used for so much more than hanging up your tuxedo.
Old Jews Telling Jokes by Peter Gethers and Daniel Okrent
October 23 – November 23, 2014
This Off-Broadway hit comedy pays tribute to and reinvents classic jokes of the past and present. Think you’ve heard them all before? Not this way. If you’ve ever had a mother, visited a doctor or walked into a bar with a priest, a rabbi, and a frog, Old Jews Telling Jokes will sit in the dark, give you a second opinion and ask you where you got that. You'll laugh 'til you plotz.
A Very Phoenix Xmas 9: Flashing Through the Snow
November 28 – December 21, 2014
Share your holiday with us! We’re back with another round of all-new sketches, songs and dances! We’ve got everything on your list: traditional holiday music, madcap comedy skits, and some very talented people to help you celebrate this most joyful—and stressful—time of year. We turn the holidays on their head with local and national playwrights putting a new spin on all things traditional. An Indy favorite!
River City by Diana Grisanti (an NNPN Rolling World Premiere)
January 8 – February 1, 2015 mention NNPN
Shaken by her father's death, Mary sets off to uncover three generations' worth of family secrets buried in the West End of Louisville, Kentucky. Mary's journey spans four decades and investigates race, memory, and the ghosts that haunt one American city. River City is a fascinating and funny story about how you find your “people” when you check more than one box to define your cultural heritage.
The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh
February 5 – March 1, 2015
When a Hollywood director visits a remote Irish island to cast his latest film, the locals clamor for their once-in-a-lifetime chance at movie stardom. But it's Billy, a frail young man with the odds stacked against him, who has the biggest Hollywood dream of them all. Direct from a smash-hit run on Broadway, this dark comedy features a cross-eyed look at Irishness and what it means to follow your heart, twisted as it may be.
Buyer and Cellar by Jonathan Tolins
March 5 – April 5, 2015
Alex More has a story to tell. A struggling actor in L.A., Alex takes a job working in the Malibu basement of a beloved megastar, Barbra Streisand. One day, the Lady Herself comes downstairs to play. It feels like real bonding in the basement, but will their relationship ever make it upstairs? This hugely successful Off-Broadway hit is an outrageous one-man comedy about celebrity, the oddest of odd jobs and the pursuit of utopia.
Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea by Nathan Alan Davis (an NNPN Rolling World Premiere)
April 9 – April 26, 2015
18-year-old Dontrell Jones III decides that it is his duty and destiny to venture into the Atlantic Ocean in search of an ancestor lost during the Middle Passage. But his family is not at all ready to abandon its prized son to the waters of a mysterious and haunting past. Blending poetry, humor, wordplay and ritual, Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea is a present-day hero’s quest exploring the lengths and depths we must go to redeem history’s wrongs.
Typhoid Mary by Tom Horan ( Phoenix Theatre playwright in residence)
April 30 – May 24, 2015
You’ve probably heard of “Typhoid Mary,” but most of us are unfamiliar with Mary Mallon, the cook behind the name. This quirky, anachronistic telling of the discovery of Mary’s peculiar disease, as well as her forced quarantine, unfolds in front of a backdrop of changing notions of medicine, morality and cleanliness – Did she willfully infect others? Was she a victim of a misguided medical authority? Or is the truth even stranger?
To Be Determined
May 28 – July 5, 2015
We are currently negotiating a contract for a show that has done so well nationally and internationally, the Phoenix would be the first non-touring production of it in the region. We pride ourselves on bringing you the most recent hits, and this time we’ve definitely hit our mark with this fresh and high energy musical. That’s all we can say till spring.
Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play by Anne Washburn
July 9 – August 9, 2015
What will endure when the cataclysm arrives—when the grid fails, society crumbles and we’re faced with the task of rebuilding? This imaginative dark comedy propels us forward nearly a century, when what begins as a simple reminiscing of foundation a past episode of The Simpsons eventually leads to the development of the of a new civilization. Mr. Burns is a vibrant exploration of how the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology of another.
Reposted courtesy of Melissa Hall and Stage Write.